WORK OF THE LADIES' AID ASSOCIATION. 59 cation of the hospital. The Ladies' Aid Association now addressed to the women of America a circular letter asking contributions and at the same time making a statement of the financial work done by the women during the ten years, from May 1882. This statement was as follows: In May, 1894, a new administration building was occupied. Offices, lecture rooms, dining rooms, and apartments for officers and nurses were thus provided, and new wants were created by the growth of the work and the enlargement of facilities. Also a free dispensary was opened. A pathological and bacteriological laboratory was equipped and placed under the charge of Dr. Philip Jaisohn. By an arrangement with the Home for Incurables and the Washington Home for Foundlings those institutions were supplied with nurses, the number being increased from 13 to 30. The buildings of the hospital are now six in number, costing $135,750, The value of the lands is estimated to be $250,000. From the opening of the institution to December 31, 1896, 7,364 patients have been treated in the hospital and 4,366 in the dispensary, which latter branch of the work is self-supporting. The superintendent, who is the chief resident physician, receives $1,000 per annum, and the matron and superintendent of the training school for nurses also receives $1,000. No compensation is received by the medical staff. The training school has graduated 25 nurses. The consulting staff for 1896 was: Doctors William W. Johnston, president; Nathan S. Lincoln, James W. II. Lovejoy, Z. T. Sowers, Henry C. Yarrow. The attending staff was: Doctors George N. Acker, Samuel S. Adams, G. Wythe The hospital received in 1896 from Congress an appropriation of $19,000 a year; from endowment ($10,000) an income of $500; from pay patients $14,417.78; from membership fees, donations, and entertainments $1,807.08, making a total income of $35,724.86. The property of the hospital is mortgaged for $75,000, and the other debts amount to $1,200; the interest paid amounted to $4,217.77. The number of patients in 1893 was 515, as against 1,302 in 1895, besides 1,700 dispensary patients. The average daily number of patients increased from 30 to 79. The receipts from private patients rose from $7,000 to over $14,000, while the cost of maintenance increased by only $4,556. The average cost per patient per day has been reduced from $1.89 to 89 cents, thus bringing the hospital in line with the great hospitals in other cities. In a certain way the United States Government has committed itself to the Garfield Memorial Hospital project. Mention has already been made of the circular letters addressed to the diplomatic and consular officers of the United States, soliciting funds for the erection of the hospital; also, through appeals sent out by the Post-Office Department, the postmasters throughout the country were made the agents for collecting subscriptions from people all over the land. While it is true that the circulars so sent out were marked "unofficial," yet at the same time the whole machinery of the Government, both at home and abroad, was utilized in furtherance of the project. Churches of every denomination and benevolent associations of every kind sent in their subscriptions for varying amounts. For example, Benjamin F. Peixotto, United States consul at Lyons, France, issued a circular in French, making an appeal for funds for the erection at Washington of an international hospital designed to perpetuate the memory of President Garfield, and announced himself as authorized by his Government to receive and transmit to the Treasurer of the United States all subscriptions received for this object. This circular named as the executive committee W. T. Sherman, General Commanding the Army of the United States; James Gilfillan, Treasurer of the United States; James G. Blaine, ex-Premier Ministre, and William Windom, ex-Ministre des Finances. The American Register, Paris, for March 11, 1882, contained a list of subscribers to the fund, including the Empress Augusta of Germany, 600 francs; the King and Queen of Belgium, 1,000 francs; the Queen of Spain, 300 francs; the Empress Eugenie, 250 francs; the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden, 300 francs; His Imperial Highness the Grand Duc Constantine of Russia, 200 francs; the Convent of the Cook, secretary; Middleton F. Cuthbert, Henry D. Fry, Arthur A. Snyder, Albert L. Stavely, J. Ford Thompson, John Van Rensselaer, Leonard Wood, W. Holland Wilmer, in charge of diseases of the eye; Joseph H. Bryan, in charge of diseases of the throat, nose, and ear; James C. McGuire, in charge of diseases of skin. The dispensary staff was: Doctors Henry B. Deale, first assistant; Thomas A. Claytor, second assistant. EMANCIPATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 61 Sacred Heart, Paris, 150 francs; Lord Justice Sir Henry Hawkins, 20 francs; and other subscriptions to the amount of 17,265 fr. 35 c.1 King George of Tonga sent $239.50 through the American consul at Opia, Samoan Islands. Japan, India, Brazil, Australia, Haiti, Mexico, Demerara, China, Russia, Canada, England, and other countries sent subscriptions. Indeed, no place seemed too remote to make its contribution to perpetuate the memory of a man whose assassination stirred the whole world. It is true that the Windom bill (S. 35, Forty-seventh Congress, first session), to incorporate the hospital, failed to pass the House of Representatives, but the hospital was incorporated under the regular incorporation act of the District of Columbia, which made provision for such corporations, and at the instance of the directors of the hospital the general incorporation laws were changed so as to cover all possible needs of such an organization. The fact that the hospital has since its organization commended itself to Congress is seen from the annual appropriation of $19,000 which it receives from the United States Treasury. No gifts for lands, buildings, or equipment, however, have been made. III. The outbreak of the war of the rebellion brought Congress face to face with the question of slavery in the District of Columbia. Congress attempted to meet the situation by emancipating the slaves and sending them out of the country. The first section of the act of April 16, 1862, provides: That all persons held to service or labor, within the District of Columbia, by reason of African descent, are hereby discharged and freed of and from all claim to such labor or service; and from and after the passage of this act, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, whereof the party shall be duly convicted, shall hereafter exist in said District. An appropriation of $1,000,000 was made to carry out the provisions of the act; and of this amount $914,942.18 was expended from 1862 to 1868,3 on the basis of $300 paid for each slave. The same act appropriates $100,000, to be expended under the direction of the President, to aid in the colonization and settlement of such free persons of African descent then residing in the District of Columbia, including those to be liberated by that act, as might desire to emigrate to the Republic of Haiti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the United States as the President might determine, the expenditure to be limited to $100 per each emigrant. On July 16, 1862, a further appropriation of half a million dollars was made to enable the President to carry out the District emancipation act above adverted to, and "to colonize those to be made free by the probable passage of a confiscation bill." This money was to be repaid to the Treasury out of confiscated property. The President had full control over the fund, to 1Toner MSS. relating to Garfield Hospital, in Library of Congress, p. 42. 3 Senate Ex. Doc. No. 84, Forty-fifth Congress, second session, p. 180. |