The sun., 1915-11-08
IS A HOSPITAL NEEDED,
lnstitutlons Already Established South
Of Fulton Street.

! 10 THE EDITOR OF The SUN-Sr. The
letter signed wall Street" and printed
under the caption "a Needed Hospital
requires careful consideration.
The proposition to erect large gen.
| eral hospital on Broad street to care
for the regular and floating population
south OF Fulton street Is almost gro-
tesque. The figures showing tho cases
or measles. scarlet fever, diphtheria. &C.
on the lower West Side as an argument
FOR building general hospital down.
town are absurd. Not one Of these con-
tagious cases could be admitted to such
a hospital They all belong to hospitals
or the Board Of Health.
| The statement that "the hospital
which Is supposed to serve the dis
trict has large tenement sections to at
tend to and is not always able to an
swer n call promptly" Is misleading and
far from tho facts. II II also u very
ungenerous reflection on the House of
Relief In Hudson street, which. since
1875, has continuously and most
gratuitously performed the monumental
and enviable. though scarcely recognized,
service in the district south OF Canal
street. still further. this hospital is
hardly a. mile from Battery Park and
not "a mile and n half away"
| Tho financial district is served not
alone by the House OF Relief on the
West Side, as the letter pretcnds. The
| Volunteer Hospital. now IN its new
| buildings at Bcekman and Water streets
on the East Side is hardly half mile
| from the lower end OF Broad street.
These distances are nothing for a motor
| ambulance
Long experience on hospital boards
teaches ine that hospital building, while
IA serious undertaking, is only the be-
| Gnpfintfe1 In yzi 10
"a work OF constant struggle. In addi-
ton TO my general knowledge OF tho
| subject, l have taken pains to secure
| these facts of immediate interest:
From January I to October I the
House Of Relief made from Chamber rs
to Fulton street. west OF Broadway. 602
calls: from Fulton TO Rector street.
42s calls; from Rector street TO tho Bat
terry. 332.
The Volunteer. east side, during the
| same period. has made from Chambers
TO Fulton street. 73t calls; Fulton to
Wall street, 245: Wall street to the
Battery. $40. Both hospitals have made
! hundreds OF calls between Chambers and
Canal streets.
No plan for a new hospital can be
entertained for moment for down.
| town New York that excludes these
well tried institutions from the territory
they were created to serve. The only
possible distrio, for this proposed hos
pital Is that south OF Wall and Rector
streets.
Consider that territory for a moment.
| In the nine months to October there
were received 6,2 calls from that dis
trict, all average OF about two and "A
half calls a day. OF these 673 calls
| 90 we're private cases. not cmcrgent.
| and perhaps 30 per cent. of the rest.
| 4 very low estimate. were alcoholic
cases. \ very poor basis for hospital
service and support.
| In letter sent out appealing for
| funds for this new hospital. as show
| ing its needs ia this district. Is the
story that there was "a delay Of an
| hour In an ambulance call for an acci-
dent case In front Of 80 Broadway.
\ careful inquiry shows that the story
I Is not true there was no such delay.
There is no need. then, as claimed,
| for IA new hospital on the grounds set
forth. IL the hospital is built, who will
support it? Can the patients be relied
upor for a large part Of the costs &?
The experience of the House OF Relief
/ is not encouraging. The year 1914 was
not exceptional. and yet among its 5,7e:
patients 9l.i per cent. OF all OF them
We're treated free. Among the accident
cases to city paid s6.l7G.35. or Sl.5
a day, for cases tina, cost the hospital
s2.ij.
The Volunteer Hospital received from
the city s..y60.6J. Thus II Is seen there
is no hope of large returns from the
| city FOR hospital service and next to no
I hope from the patients themselves. In
/ the meantime the House of Relief eN-
pended S55.3s4.I9 for maintenance alone.
Both hospitals did lot of worrying to
get that money, and they do II every
year
| Much is said about the need for care
| OF the transient population. This Is a
NONRESIDENT element. and II sick will
not come ia or down to business. They
will be cared for ~, home or leave home
| for the hospital near by, Men do not
60 into the downtown district expect
/ ing To be taken i'll or to 20 10 "A hos
I pital there " sick or injured after
| their arrival at business either of the
two hospitals named can swiftly take
care Of them. These are exceptional
and emergent cases.
The Volunteer people are now about
ready to double their new plant. and
1 the House of Relief. which is really the
New York Hospital. can be depended
upon to maintain plenty OF room.
The spirit of the trustees of this hos
pital, founded In l1Ti. the oldest. proud
est and most experienced corporation of
Its Kind IN the country, and which never
received "A dollar of city money until
lately. can be Judged by report in
| 1914 of George l.. Riyes. thcir president.
who blandly congratulated the board
that they had deficit OF Sil.203.l5 to
make up. instead Of the s95,Ss4.79 of
the year before.
Instead Of complcating matters by
raising subscriptions for "A hospital in
a doubtful section Of the city. why not
| ask the State Board of Charities for
| Its approval in advance OF the flnan-
| cial campaign? With all the money In
| hand it is doubtful II the board could
see the proprlety OF saddling our chari-
tably inclined citizens with another in-
s:itution that could be got along with
| out and that must be sustained by
frantic annual appeals for funds No
| hospital can do business without the ap-
proval OF this board,
IL the hospital expects to support IL
| self by making contracts TO care for
ra tients OF the compensation commits
| sion, IL becomes business proposition
and should seek nothing from benevo-
lence. 1t cannot get many patients
from It's own ueighborhood and should
look for them nowhere else.
THE SUN ON October l6 announced
that, when built, a business house has
promised to give the proposed hospital
Il motor ambulance II business men
would Immediately give three motor
ambulances to the House of Relief and
| two to the Volunteer Hospital. costing
$2.l00 each every part Of the business
district would actually he within the