The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-28

It will be observed that the number of patients treated shows an increase of four teen, and it was in fact the largest num- Der which has been reached in any year for twenty years. It should be observed also that the number of deaths shows de- crease of five, and the number of those dis. charged an increase of twenty-one. or those discharged five hundred and seventy, two were discharged cured; two hundred and seventy-two improved, and fifty eight unimproyed. This is on the whole an ex- hibit favorable to the hospital, while 1t un- covers year of active service.
 Of the whole number under treatment seven hundred and thirty-three were males, and four hundred and twenty-on were fe- males. Of the twenty-eight births five were males and twnty-three were females. There the list of deaths. Other statistics are given in the superintendent's report, which need not be introduced here, as his report Is herewith transmitted
 The item in the above statement which will excite most attention is the exception ally large deficit, showing an increase as compared with last year. in spite of the ad- dition of nearly five hundred dollars to cur crease In expenditures requires of your com mittee full explanation. We therefore submit the following facts:
 The increase in the daily average of pa
 tients is six and four-tenths; and the in crease in the cost of supporting the patients has been eighteen and half cents per
 week. This increased cost has been partly due to the addition of two to the staff of attendants, head night nurse, and another orderly for service in Farnam ward and on the ambulance. The first was at the urgent request of the Connecticut Training School
 for Nurses, and the other at the repeated
 and most urgent request of the attending surgeon, it having been represented to your
 committee by the latter that the coming of an orderly from another ward into the Far
 nam ward, and his passing freely between
 diSadVnDtnpnOnS L.
 tions of the Farnam ward; and at the sane
 time such service was insufficient. This iIl-
 crease of our expenses was regretted by your committee, but they felt constrained
 to consent to it.
 In the second place, our insurance poli-
 cies expired, and we had to pay the pre-
 mium for renewal. Moreover, the compa-
 nies demanded that the society either be-
 come co-insurer with them, or pay an in-
 creased premium. After much conference
 and correspondence we judged that the
 Hospital society should not become CO
 insurer, even if it had to meet the demand
 for higher premium. We asked for a lower
 valuation; for q lower rate, for a change in
 our policies. We finally substituted for our group of policies on separate buildings, a blanked policy on our whole plant with the exception of some detached buildings, and paid TOT five years insurance the premium of $954 IS, or. less than $200 per annum. But this premium was heavy Item in this years accounts. Another such item is an increased expenditure in repairs and i'm
 provements. The increase under this head, as compared with the previous year is
 $935.17, explained as follows: It became apparent to your committee in 1896 that
 the plumbing ill the west wing of the Con
 gress avenue building required to be re-
 newed. and thy went so far as to contract with the lowest responsible bidder for the work. But the necessity arising for install ing a disinfecting apparatus which the board of directors ordered, your committee ventured to ask the contractor to postpone the work for few months and he gener- ously consented. But In the spring of 1897 it was done and cost S664. 4O The decay of floor timbers in our laundry necessitated a further outlay of $40, and notification by the public authority to repair the Congress avenue sidewalk of $s6.S2 In none of these instances did the committee Oyerpass their obvious duty.
 The serious Illness of our office clerk for several weeks imposed upon us the expense of additional help in the office, and this in- creases the outlay for salaries and wages. Water cost us S109 more than the previous year, and ice S121. 20 more. The Hygeia company, which has supplied us hitherto at lump sum per annum, has retired from that arrangement, and charges us by the hundred pounds. By reason of the very nc. | tive service, in 1897 the expenditures for medicines Instruments and surgical dress | ings shows an increase of $4S4. 42 From the advance in the prices of food in the lat | ter part of the year, and the exceptionally | large orders of meat and eggs by the phy- | sicians, the cost of food has increased as | 36. The demand for meat has increased by | 7.9551k pounds, costing $S35. .59, and for egg, | by 2,0S0 dozen, costing S544 s. Fuel has | cost HIS S451 S1 more To repanitulate the