782 



SERVICE, UNITED STATES MARINE HOSPITAL. 



are received in the city hospital at a fixed rate per 

 week, paid out of the marine nospital fund. 



4th. Portland, New London, Wilmington, North 

 Carolina, Newbern, Edenton, and Alexandria, where 

 temporary relief is afforded in private boarding houses. 



5th. Savannah, from which no returns have been re- 

 ceived. 



By the statement B it appears that the whole sum 

 received from seamen, either in private or in public 

 service, amounts to 147,875 dollars and 58 cents, of 

 which 6,185 dollars and 33 cents have been applied to 

 the purchase of the hospital at Gosport. near Norfolk, 

 and 74,636 dollars and 51 cents have been expended 

 for the relief of sick seamen ; that 73,761 dollars and 

 61 cents remain unexpended in the hands of sundry 

 collectors and agents, and that 6,707 dollars and 87 

 cents are due to certain agents who have expended 

 more than has been received by them. 



This last circumstance has taken place in Newport, 

 Norfolk, and Charleston, namely, in three of the four 

 marine hospitals which have been established ; and it 

 will be perceived, by a recurrence to the same state- 

 ment, that to tho.se three places the navy fund has been 

 exclusively applied ; but this last fund being nearly 

 exhaustedj it is impracticable to continue any longer 

 the established hospitals at Norfolk and Charleston, 

 unless Congress shall think proper to grant them some 

 aid, or to make such alterations in the law as will per- 

 mit a more general application of the fund. 



Under existing circumstances, if no alteration shall 

 be made, it will be necessary to write to the collectors 

 of both places to discontinue in toto the hospitals after 

 the 31st of March next. For the advances made by 

 them must, by this time, exceed twelve thousand dol- 

 lars ; these have been paid out of the proceeds of the 

 duties on import and tonnage, and cannot be admitted 

 to their credit in their accounts as collectors. It will 

 be necessary for them to continue to collect the seamen 

 money until they shall have been fully reimbursed for 

 their advances. 



If it be asked why the funds have proven insuffi- 

 cient in those two places, the following reasons, it is 

 believed, may be assigned : 1st. The establishment of 

 an hospital, instead of having had recourse to city or 

 State institutions, as in Philadelphia and New York, 

 which has drawn with it all the expenses of superin- 

 tendence, attending physicians, etc. For what reason 

 the Gosport hospital was purchased from the State of 

 Virginia, I am at a loss to know ; but if it was intend- 

 ed for the navy, it should be supported out of the funds 

 appropriated tor that department and placed under its 

 control. The building is much too large, and in an 

 unfinished state, and wants immediate and expensive 

 repairs. 2d. Those two seaports are more expensive, 

 and generally, so far especially as relates to non-resi- 

 dents, more sickly than the more northern ports. 3d. 

 The provision of the law which makes seamen on board 

 coasting vessels pay only in the port to which they be- 

 long, is unjust in its operation, and bears more par- 

 ticularly on the Southern ports. 



It is necessary to state that complaints are frequently 

 received from those ports where no relief has yet been 

 granted ; the seamen complaining that they pay with- 

 out deriving any benefit from it. This may be the 

 case in some instances ; but it is doubtful whether the 

 application of the funds in such manner that they 

 mig_ht find relief in all the important ports of the 

 Union, may not be more beneficial to them than a pro- 

 vision in the ports where they reside, and where they 

 want it least. 



Whilst the expenditure of the money is restricted to 

 the port or State where it is collected, it cannot be con- 

 sidered in any other light than as a municipal estab- 

 lishment, and would more conveniently be placed un- 

 der the control of the State itself. 



I have the honor to be. very respectfully, Sir, 



Your obdt. Servt., 

 (Signed) ALBERT GALLATIN. 



The President of the United States. 



("American State Papers," vol. vii., "Commerce 

 and Navigation.") 



On May 3, 1802, an act was passed amend- 

 ing the act of 1798, by which the moneys col- 

 lected on account of the hospital tax were 

 constituted a general fund; the sum of $15,000 

 was appropriated for the erection of a hospi- 

 tal at Boston ; the President was authorized to 

 take the necessary measures for providing re- 

 lief at New Orleans ; masters of every kind of 

 river-craft entering the port of New Orleans 

 were required to pay the hospital money at 

 Fort Adams ; the President was authorized to 

 appoint a director for the hospital at New Or- 

 leans; sick and disabled seamen from foreign 

 vessels were authorized to be admitted into 

 the marine hospitals on the application of their 

 respective commanding officers ; and it was 

 further enacted that the directors of the marine 

 hospitals should be held accountable in the 

 same manner as other receivers of public mon- 

 eys, and they were allowed a commission of one 

 per centum on the money disbursed. 



On May 6th the Collector at Boston was re- 

 quested to designate a site for the hospital; 

 but on the 21st of June the following letter 

 was written him : 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, ) 

 2\st June, 1802. f 

 BENJN. LINCOLN, Esq., 



Collector of Customs, Boston. 



SIK : I have the honor to enclose a letter from the 

 Secretary of the Navy to Samuel Brown, Esq., di- 

 recting him to designate the ground, not exceeding 

 five acres, which, out of that purchased for a Navy 

 Yard, is to be appropriated for a Marine Hospital. 



In order to obtain an eligible plan, it appears proper 

 and I request you to insert in one of the newspapers 

 an advertisement offering a premium of 50 Dollars for 

 the most approved plan of an hospital of 4,000 square 

 feet area, two stories of 10 and 8 feet high, with cel- 

 lars below ; the rooms for the sick to be well aired, 

 and of varied sizes from 12 to 20 feet square ; the con- 

 venient distribution of the rooms and economy of 

 space and construction will be principally regarded in 

 the decision. 



A ground plan, elevation, and section will be ex- 

 pected to be transmitted to the office of the Secretary 

 of the Treasury, on or before the 15th day of August 

 next. 

 Plans not approved shall be returned. 



I have the honor to be, respectfully, Sir, 

 Your obedient Servant, 



ALBEKT GALLATIN. 



The hospital received from the State of Vir- 

 ginia was in a dilapidated condition. On Au- 

 gust 6, 1802, $600 were ordered to be expend- 

 ed in the construction of a new wing, and the 

 entire roof, which was rotten and insecure, 

 was ordered repaired at a total expense of 

 $1,500. 



A letter was written to Collector Robert 

 Purviance at Baltimore, in regard to the ex- 

 penses of that port, as follows : 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, I 

 August, 8th, 1802 f 



EOBBET PtJKVIANOE, Esq., 



Agent Marine Hospital, Baltimore. 

 SIR : Your letter of the 8th ult. was duly received. 

 It is expected that the expenses attending the Bal- 

 timore Marine Hospital may exceed the collections 

 made on that account in that port, but, at all events, 

 they should not exceed the total amount collected in 

 the State. The rule adopted in other ports, and 



