The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-06
.BEHRENS DISPUTES
 JOHNS0N'S CLAIM
 TO ALL THE CREDIT
Success of Department Due to Morrissey and Others As
 We'll As Johnson.
Johnson Claims Behrens is Represented to Have Made MisstatementS-His
 Fixtures.

Regarding statements accredited to
 President F. w. Behrens of the Chari- ties Board, that appeared in the local
 press yesterday Superintendent Fred erick w Johnson of the Charities De
 pertinent. gave out this statement to-
 day:
 President Behrens must have been
 misuuoted as his alleged. statement relative to the expenses Of the de- facts My report for last year which he and the Board of Charities accept
 ed and submitted to the Common Council, shows a decrease in the to- tai expenditures of the departments as compared. with the previous year, of $e.58o.70. This decrease was made in spite of an increase Of almost $2.- 900 in the care of the tubercular and
 s1, 300 in the care of general hospital leases.
 900 by the Board of Apportionment in
 the amount requested by the Board |of Charities, a cut which President Behrens has time and again deplored,
 and in spite of abnormal business conditions which were not foreseen. at the time, the budget for the year was granted. prospects are that our deficit will not exceed $6,O00 The
 sub- committee of the Board Of Ap- portionrnent has informed us that in. previous years deficits in the work of the Board have run as high as s26,- GOO.
 s.In a department of charities, as in other municipal work service is just as essential a factor as economy It would temporarily be cheaper for the Board of Chafitfes to allow the ltubercular, our most rapidly growing item Of expense, to remain in the com
 munity and be source Of infection for others It would be cheaper to allow children without their mothers to Stay insthe alnshouse rather than to board them out in homes. It
 would be cheaper to let epi1eptics stay at home, even though the state of Connecticut has provided an in stitution for them.
 But these and other improvements
 are what the people demand, and what those of us in charitable work GncIuding the members Of the Board ures of humanity and progress When shown the statement of Su- lperintendent Johnson today. President Behrens of the board, said:
 1T notice that Superintendent John Esou in his statement does not say anything about the expenditures for this year. which even in the last few months of the fiscal year, have been larger than ever before. think the deficit this year will greatly exceed isss100 s es-s sarss sFe.s, | ssSuperintendents Johnson wants to take all the credit for the good work done during the past two years while, as a matter of fact the credit really belongs to Investigator Morrissey, the members of the Board of Charities and others who are connected with the charities partment. If it had hot
 been for the bumper crops raised this year on the Lakeview Home farm, our expenses in caring for the poor and needy would have been much greater than will be reported.
 ssSuperintendent Johnson assumes
 the attitude that any good accomplish l ed in the department has been through his efforts alone. He does ] not give the credit to whom it right l fully. belongs. z