Number of patients remaining in hospital March 1, 1900. 23 Remaining in hospital March 1, 1901... 28 6.466 Received from county treasurer for conveying patients to County Home.... 56 77 Received from sale of horse... Received from other towns for non-resident poor. 65 00 78 20 117 80 1,167 50 $1,740 95 MUNICIPAL LODGING HOUSE. 113 and 115 Market street, Syracuse, N. Y. The Municipal Lodging House of Syracuse remains in the same building in which it was first established. At the last inspection the difficulty of exit in case of fire was noted. During the interval since that inspection the arrangement of dormitories has not been altered for the better; on the contrary, two cells have been placed upon the second floor. These are intended for the confinement of persons suspected of insanity. They are furnished with bedding, and the doors are strongly barred. The lavatory is not such as should be provided for an institution of this kind, nor are the baths of the best character. There is no method for sterilizing clothing, the laundry is rather primitive, and the roller towels in use may spread disease. One serious defect in the equipment of the building is the provision made for homeless females. As has been said heretofore, it is not wise to have men and women kept in the same building. During the past year the number of night lodgings was 6,724. Many of these lodgings were furnished to women, so that there is evidently a necessity that provision be made for them, but it is not advisable to gather these dependents under one roof with men. Some more suitable arrangement should be made for the care of homeless women. As was stated last year, the fire danger is greater for the women than for the men, owing to the fact that the rooms assigned to them are more secluded and separated by locked doors from the only stairway as well as the apartments of the men. The building has no fire-escapes, and in case of a fire in the building, unless the fire department were quick in the work of rescue, many of the inmates, especially the women, would be burned. Fortunately the fire department is located within a short distance of the building. This does not lessen the responsibility for making ample provision for safety. The custody of the insane in cells is not the proper work of a municipal lodging house. If the city desires to establish a place for the temporary detention of those suspected of insanity, a pavilion should be erected in connection with some hospital, and certainly the care of the insane ought not to be made any part of the work of a home of this character. It were better to confine the cases of suspected insanity in the city hall itself, under the observation of police surgeons, than to associate them with the homeless men and women who depend upon the Munici pal Lodging House for shelter. It is very doubtful if there be any legal warrant for making the Municipal Lodging House a place of detention for the insane, and, in fact, the association of the poor and the insane is in direct contravention of the spirit of our charity laws. The furnishing of the Municipal Lodging House is well worn and requires renovation. The beds and tables need repairs, while the bedding should have mending. The total expense for the maintenance of this institution for one year was $6,066.48. This money paid for rent, salaries, groceries, coal, light and other supplies. The county of Onondaga paid $621.75 for meals and lodging furnished to non-residents, and there was a further bill of $376.35 pending against the county. Nine hundred and forty-six persons gave one hour's work each for the single meal they received from the lodging house. This, added to the work for night lodgings and meals, gave a total of 27,843 hours' work on the streets of the city of Syracuse. At the regular pay for eight hours' work per day, which is the time worked by city laborers, the labor of the lodgers amounted to $5,220.36, making the net expense to the city for the maintenance of the lodging house $846.12, provided the lodging house does not exact double pay from the county, that is, labor from the men and money from the county for the entertainment of nonresidents. The city can well afford to pay $846.12 for the care of this class of temporary dependents. The number of homeless men and women requiring shelter during the month of July, when the demand was lightest, was 252. The largest number in any one month was in December, when 848 persons applied for food and lodging; beside these, 49 persons in the same month applied for meals. From October to April the number did not fall below 600 persons per month, lodged and fed. |