The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-02
A YEARS WORK
 AMONG THE POOR
More Calls on Board of Charities During
 l9oS Than in Any Previous Year.
h Five Years the Number of Names on the List Has Increased from 76
 to 367.

The past year has been one of the most strenuous for the board of Char ities in the history of the city. The fiscal year ends on April 1 and the calculations for the year 1908 will in- clude parts of two fiscal years. Su- perintendent of Poor Joseph V. Bren- nan estimates that there will be a de- ficiency of $20000 this year. The fi- nancial stringency has thrown many out of work and these have immed- lately called upon the board of Chari- ties for assistance.
 The board divides it's work into three departments, Lakeview Home, Outside Poor, and Ambulance and Emergency Hospital The Lakeview Home is the old town farm modernized. The out side poor includes all the expenditures for the Insane Asylum at Middletown, the School for Imbeciles at Lakeville, the Home for Incurables at Newing- ton, and the local hospitals. It also includes the assistance given to fam flies in the way of provisions, payment of rent, etc. The department seldom takes notice Of any applications ex- cept those which come from families.
 The city has its physicians who treat
  tion to the department. The calls up- on the physicians have nearly doubled this year over the general run. The patients in the local hospitals who are treated at the expense of the city have also doubled.
 Bridgeport has suffered more from the general business stagnation than any other city in the State. Bridge port is a manufacturing city pure and simple. When business is brisk then the city thrives like a green bay tree. last five years. This growth has been largely made up of those who derive their support from the many factories in the city. The men earn small sal- aries. They have come from foreign lands where race suicide has never been heard of and the families are al- most always large. When the fa- ther gets out of work then the family suffers. A large proportion of the emigrants who have settled in the city in the last few years are improvident. here than in the countries from which they come. They have great faith in America and grow careless. When the men are laid off then the demands upon the board of Charities begins to increase.
 The families of those dependent up- on the shops become more liable to disease on account of the lack of nour- ishing food and children who fall i'll must be taken to the hospitals to be cared for There are few facilities in' the homes of the unemployed and the mortality rate immediately increases, especially among the infants. The of foreigners in the city of Bridgeport is larger than in any other city in the State This class is more to certain diseases and aii- ments than native born residents. The of insanity has increased in the last five years with alarming rapidity and it is almost entirely con- fined to foreign born residents. Love affairs, money and religion are the most prominent causes.
 The minds of the foreign born seem to be more easily unbalanced by un- usual excitement from any of these causes. This condition obtains in community to a greater degree than in one given to other pur- suits. Bridgeport is the manufaetur- ing center of the State and for that reason has more cases of insanity 1n it's various forms, mild and severe, than any other city in the State.
 A large number of foreign born fam flies have returned to their native sur roundings since the hard times came on. This class had money saved up and knowing that they could live cheaper "at home'' than in this coun- try they packed up and left while they had money. Others would have been glad to do so had they the necessary means. Others remained hoping that times would soon be better and as their funds decreased their demands on the board of Charities became more ire uuent. At first it was only for the city physician. later for medicine un- til finally they have become wholly dependent upon charity.
 With all these demands and the fact that Bridgeport is not a rich clty' made so by the contributions of the remainder of the country for years as is the case with the Capital which has drawn a revenue from the whole coun- try for a century through its insurance companies, or with New Haven into which money has been poured through it's university both by contributions, legacies and the steady income from the expenditures of it's students, nol ono ic allowed to suffer here for medl-