Thirty-fourth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester. October, 1866.

  • State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thirty-fourth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester. October, 1866. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the legislature, to expend money “ for permanent repairs or improvements, which, in their (Trustees) judgment, will promote the interest of said hospital.” The work of removal and reconstruction was begun, and nearly or quite completed in the year 1855, at a cost of $49,862.88. By this the hospital was put in a very complete sanitary condition ; and the almost perfect immunity from any form of acute disease since that date, vindicates the wisdom of the then Trustees in making the expenditure. But the cost was to be paid from the surplus funds of the hospital. The legislature made no appropriation for any part of it. The funds of the hospital are derived from two sources only, viz., from dona¬ tions of private individuals, and the profit on the board of pri¬ vate and town patients,—at present only from private patients. The surplus money in the treasury not being sufficient to meet this large expenditure, a debt was necessarily entailed on the hospital. It was contemplated, however, by the Superintend¬ ent and Trustees, that the surplus income of a few years would suffice to extinguish this debt, without recourse to the State for aid. In ordinary times it would, doubtless, have been cancelled. Since the beginning of the war, 1861, and the consequent advance in the price of provisions, and of everything pertaining to the support of the hospital, we have been unable to more than meet the current expenses of living and necessary repairs. It became necessary, about two years ago, to rebuild the dam from which we obtained our water supply, and to renew our aqueduct, the old one being of insufficient capacity and much out of repair. A grant of $4,000 was obtained from the State ; but the job cost us $6,000, although much of the ordi¬ nary labor was done by our own patients. This, however, was paid, without increasing the debt. This debt, varying during the last ten years from $20,000 to $15,000, has been carried by the hospital by temporary loans. It has not been introduced into the annual reports of the Trustees: first, because it was considered a renewal or construction debt, and had no particu¬ lar relation to the current expenses of the hospital; and, secondly, because it was confidently expected, until some time after the beginning of the rebellion, that, in a few years, it might be paid by the surplus income of the hospital, without making the cost of board burdensome to private patients. >
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