Report of the Committee on Inquiry into the Departments of Health, Charities, and Bellevue and Allied Hospitals in the city of New York / appointed by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

  • New York (N.Y.). Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Committee on Inquiry into the Departments of Health, Charities, and Bellevue and Allied Hospitals.
Date:
1913
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee on Inquiry into the Departments of Health, Charities, and Bellevue and Allied Hospitals in the city of New York / appointed by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    XLVI, the number committed in 1904 was only 40; in 1905, 48; in 1906, 47. There was a slight increase in 1907 to 56 State Poor committed to this Home. This was followed in 1908 by a marked reduction to only 20 cases. The figures for the 1909 commitments to this Home do not appear in the Annual Report of the State Board of Charities for that year, but in 1910 there were only 44 committed, and in 1911 only 20. Similarly, the total number of those supported diminished, as will be seen from the same table. The first 2 years of this lo-year period were marked by the commit- ment of a large number of State Poor to the Manhattan City Home. There were 634 committed in 1902 and 933 in 1903. In 1904, however, the number committed dropped to 532, and the following year to 126; after that it did not exceed 234 in any one year of this lo-year period. The marked decrease in the number of State Poor reported and main- tained by the State in the State at large has been commented upon in the opening section of this Report dealing with the State Poor, and an explana- tion will be found there in which the State Board attributes this falling off to their more rigid examinations of alleged State Poor and speedier removals. It is remarkable that, while from 1902 to 1911 the burden of the City had increased steadily, the payments by the State for the maintenance of State Poor in two of the City's almshouses decreased. In the year 1902, accord- ing to the records of the Department of Public Charities, that Depart- ment received $5,516.44 for the maintenance of State Poor in New York City, whereas the sum paid for this maintenance in 1912 was only $606.79 Nor was this diminution in the payment from the State to the City for such charges made up for by any corresponding increase in the expense incurred by the State in removing these State Poor cases from New York State. On the contrary, it was found that, whereas in 1902 there was $9,062.54 spent in such removals, this expenditure had decreased to $1)595-36 in 1909, and to $2,816.36 in 1911. Again, the proportion New York City received out of the entire funds paid to New York State decreased from 43 per cent, in 1902 to as low as 10 per cent, in 1906, and although there were variations in the percentage received by the City during the next 4 years, at no time did it exceed the 18 per cent, paid to the City in 1910. In 1911, the last year for which information was avail- able, only 14 per cent, of the total expense of maintenance paid by the State was paid to New York City. In figuring these percentages atten- tion is called to the fact that the year represented in the Annual Report of the Department of Public Charities does not correspond exactly to the year of the Reports of the State Board of Charities, the fiscal year in the latter ending September 30, and of the former December 31. This, however, does not affect the fact that there has been a very marked decline in the proportion of the maintenance of State Poor paid to New York City. (Table XLVII.) The removals of the State Poor by the State Board of Charities from New York City formerly constituted a large majority of the removals from the entire State, including the City. For example, in the year 1902, and also in 1903, 82 per cent, of the removals of State Poor from the entire State were from the two City Homes of New York City. In the year 1911 this proportion was just one-half, or 41 per cent. (Table XLVIII.) The decision as to who should be considered a State Poor person and who should not would seem to be made by the State Board of Charities