New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-09-28
THE CoysUnpTIrE HOSPITAL SITE

THE CONSUMPTITE HOSPITAL SITE.
In fixing on site for the proposed State Hos
ptal for Consumptives it is highly important
that this departure in public charities
should be commended to the people as wisely
managed conservative and economical. New
York has suffered so much from waste through
government by commission that when the voters
new commission and n new project they
are inclined 10 examine it critically. A wide
spread feeling exists that the activities of the
State are being unreaSonably and dangerously
extended. There seems to be an irresistible
tendency toward embarkng OF new public en-
terprises. State schools, charitable and profcs-
sional; State hospitals for the blind and the in
sane, State refOrmatOries and homes for all
classes and conditions. Each project is excel
lent in itself and commands the sympathy Of
all humane people. Yet the sum total Of the
movement is an unduly expensive and compli-
Gated government machine which each year
more and more Usurps the functions Of individ-
ual citizens and private charitable enterprise.
Incipient consumptives are certainly a class en-
titled to help on their own account and the
public welfare calls for measures to limit the
spread of this dread disease. Yet to many peo-
pie the project for State hospital speaks only
Of a new departure and a new expenditure of
unnecessary money for extravagantly planned
institutions.
Such feelings should be disarmed but we
fear they will not be unless the State authori-
ties show a frugal disposition to utilize exist
ing State properties instead Of indulging large
schemes which may happen better to suit their
tastes When told that the hospital trustees
have selected a site at Big Clear Lake which
it Will cost at least $4,000 to purchase or con-
denim. when the State already owns thousands
of acres of Adirondack lands as beautiful as
healthful and as convenient to a railroad the
average taxpayer will be inclined to protest at
the lack Of business sagacity. He will be even
more astOnishcd to learn that the chance of
saving from % to 40 per cent on the cost Of
construction is being deliberately thrown away.
almost if not entirely for sentiment The
Prison Commission wished the trustees to select
a site near Clinton Prison at Dannemora
There the State owns a large tract of land adj
mirably situated, with gravelly soil sloping to
the south. with varied views of mountain and
woodland and excellent and plentiful water
The hospital could be built out of sight of the
prison, far enough from it to have Il separate
railroad station and name of its own which
would avoid confusion and unpleasant sugges-
ton to the patients and their friends At the
same time it would be near enough to utilize
the labor of the convcts, saving the State n
large sum. and furnishing much needed outlet
for their energies, dangerously restricted by our
existing prison labor laws. The convicts have
just been building near DannemOra hospital
calculated to cost $4,000. which actually has
cost only $4,000 owing to their work
OF course, valuable as such saving in land
and buildings and such relief for idle convfcts
would be, nobody would propose locating the
hospital near DannemOra if another site would
be really better for the health of the con-
sumptves. Just the contrary, however ap-
pears to be the fact There is - per cent more
rainfall at Big Clear Lake than at Dannemora
and the average winter temperature Is 10 de-
grees lower. The air ut Dannemora IS dry and
clear. and experience with consumptive prison
ers who are regularly sent there shows that
for climate nothing better could be desired
while Big Clear Lake though doubtless reason
ably suited by climate for conSumptivps is sub
ject to mists over the water The Adirondack
region is, of course, a large one and the State
owns great deal Of land throughout it, so that
it may not even be necessary to go so far north
for an ideal site for consumptives' hospital
But the Dannemora district has been carefully
examined and has been shown to be specially
adapted TO this specific purpose. In view of this
fact the people will want to know why Big
Clear Lake has been selected.
The hospital trustees have really pitched upon
the most expensive land in the whole Adirondack,
region, ana propose to purchase and condemn II
and establish their institution in close proximity
TO a large summer community of camps and
hotels They do not like the idea Of putting it
anywhere near the prison, and the style and
equipment Of the railroad to Rig Clear Lake
are more TO their taste than those of the line 70
Dannemora If they were putting a hospital
in this city probably they would think Central
Park Plaza offered more attractive site than
the Bellevue Hospital grounds. Doubtless their
motives are of the highest, hut they seem 10 he
swayed too much by unessential considerations
and aesthetic feelings. Their plans are subject
to the revision and veto of the Forest Preserve
Board and the State Board Of Health and those
bodies should be extremely cautious about Civ
ing assent to n scheme unnecessarily elaborate
and expensive and likely to subject the States