Evening star., 1946-08-11

The American citizen who visits the
City of Washington is thrilled to find
developing here one Of the greatest of
world capitals, one toward which the
eyes of democratic and peace-loving
peoples throughout the world are turned
in hope.
He is impressed by the stately build
ings and the beautiful parks, but he
also can come and go without once be-
coming aware of some of the skeletons
in our closet. Unless he should be
stricken i'll while here he will be wholly
unconscious of perhaps the biggest and
most troublesome skeleton of all.
But If he should meet with misfortune
in the course of his visit and the out
come is a detour to a typical Washing
ton hospital he will probably depart a
sad and disillusioned man, carrying
away with him some shocking men,
ories. He will have the attention of
some of the most skillful physicians
and surgeons in the world and of some
But he will find their efforts handi-
capped at every turn by physical limi-
tations, overcrowded conditions and in
adequate facilities with which to work.
Among the reasons for this deplorable
state of affairs is the fact that during
from a city of some $50 900 into great
metropolis with q population pressing
the million mark, virtually no new hos
pital construction was possible. Labor
and materials were too badly needed in
the primary war effort.
Transient Population.
There are other reasons. Few hos
pitals are able to support themselves
from fees paid for services; generally
they must rely upon private philan-
thropy or the gifts of friends. But the
population is less firmly attached here
than that of any other large city in
the world. Many thousands consider
themselves residents of Washington only
for the time being-for few months
or years. They maintain legal residence
elsewhere, pay their taxes to other States
and communities. They have no voice
in the conduct of Washington as
municipality. They make no decisions
respecting the direction of Washington
affairs; the decisions are made for them
by members of Congress who, also, are
transient visitors to the Capital with
major interests elsewhere. To expect
such persons to be muniflcent in their
voluntary support Of Washington insti-
tutions is unrealistic. Witness the heart
breaking progress of the Childrens Hos
pital money-raising campaign.
One survey after another has estab-
lished the low state to which our hos
pitals have fallen. That point Is no
longer debatable. The well-attested fig
ures show that there are now in the
District OF Columbia $3.50 hospital beds
un this sense hospital bed is a
measure of capacity including not only
the piece of furniture to which the
patient is confined but the space it
occupies and the auxiliary facilities
necessary to the treatment of the
patientD OF those $3.50 beds 1000 rep
resent a capacity which is obsolete, un-
safe or insanitary. That leaves bed
capacity fit for use of only 1850, whereas
the total minimum requirement, merely
to keep Washington in fair health and
to guard against epidemics, is 5,oOo
The Federal Works Agency is building
at Georgetown and George Washington
Universities new bed capacity to the
number of $50. That still leaves
deficit of 2,750, and it remains to be
noted that an extensive remodeling job
must be done to salvage many of the
remaining usable beds.