790 



by Congress for the erection and organization thereof; 

 and whereas there is no such institution on the whole 

 extent of the lakes, navigated by more than 400 steam- 

 boats and other vessels, and in the navigation of 

 which there are employed more than 4,000 men : and 

 the necessity of a hospital for the reception of sick and 

 disabled seamen is urgent, and, in the opinion of this 

 General Assembly, such as demands the immediate 

 attention of Congress ; therefore, 



Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of 

 Ohio, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, 

 and our Representatives requested, to use their exer- 

 tions to procure an appropriation by that body^ at its 

 present session, of such sum as shall be neediul for 

 the erection and efficient organization of such hospital 

 in the said city of Cleveland. 



Resolved, That the Governor be requested to for- 

 ward a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolution, 

 to each of our Senators and Kepresentatives in Con- 

 gress. EDFUS P. SPAULDING, 

 Speaker of the House of Kepresentatives. 

 JAMES J. FARAN, 



Speaker of the Senate. 



January 27, 1842. 



An amusing example of circumlocution oc- 

 curred in relation to the hospital at Ocracoke, 

 N. C. The act establishing it was approved 

 August 29, 1842. The site for the location 

 was selected in January, 1843 ; the purchase 

 was sanctioned by the Secretary of the Trea- 

 sury in April, 1844 ; the title was examined 

 and made good by the Attorney-General in 

 May, 1844; and in January, 1845, the Depart- 

 ment was officially advised of the transfer of 

 the title to the United States by the State of 

 North Carolina. The proposals for the build- 

 ing were received in March, 1845 ; and the 

 Department attended to the subject May 7, 

 1845, and referred the papers to the Collector 

 of Customs at Ocracoke. The Collector ex- 

 pressed his dissatisfaction with the previous 

 proceedings, and recommended that the pro- 

 posals to construct the building should be re- 

 newed ; and the Hon. R. J. Walker reported 

 to the House that the building would be com- 

 pleted in September, 1845, at a cost of $5,497. 



An act was passed March 1, 1843, extending 

 the provisions and penalties of the act of July 

 16, 1798, to the toasters, owners, and seamen 

 of registered vessels employed in the carrying 

 and the coasting trade, and authorizing the 

 issue of such instructions from the Secretary 

 of the Treasury as would insure the collection 

 of the hospital money. This was simply a re- 

 enactment, the section of the original act in- 

 cluding coasting vessels having been suspended 

 by construction since the year 1831. 



Secretary of the Treasury John C. Spencer 

 states in a communication to Congress that the 

 act of March 1, 1843, extended the tax to own- 

 ers of vessels, and he asks that the tax be still 

 further extended, and that monthly or yearly 

 assessments be made in proportion to the ton- 

 nage of the vessel. 



On Febuary 21, 1843, the General Assembly 

 of Indiana passed a resolution setting forth the 

 necessity of a system of marine hospitals for 

 boatmen, and approving the plan adopted in 

 1837 ; but the resolution expressed the opinion 

 that such hospitals should be placed upon a 



footing separate and distinct from the general 

 marine hospital system of the United States, 

 and their Senators and Representatives in Con- 

 gress were instructed to use their exertions to 

 obtain an appropriation sufficient to carry out 

 " these views." 



The Committee on Commerce, April 2, 1844, 

 reported favorably upon the establishment of a 

 hospital at Key West, Florida, and asked prac- 

 tically that it should be used as a quarantine. 

 Accompanying this report was a presentment 

 of the grand jury of the city of Key West, 

 county of Monroe and Dade, soliciting aid from 

 the General Government on account of yellow- 

 fever cases treated by the city among the sailors. 

 A letter from Dr. James Davis to the Collector 

 of the port sets forth the smallness of his com- 

 pensation : $3 per week for board and nursing, 

 and 37^ cents for medical attendance, and the 

 last for twenty-five days only. 



A bill was introduced by Mr. John P. Ken- 

 nedy, of the Committee on Commerce, in 1844, 

 making appropriations for the erection of ma- 

 rine hospitals on the Western waters, and to 

 provide for the purchase of a site at the city 

 of Baltimore. In 1848 a petition was present- 

 ed in the House praying the sale of the marine 

 hospital and grounds in Chelsea, in order that 

 the lands might be given up to the city for 

 taxation. 



In compliance with an act of Congress passed 

 March 3, 1849, Dr. Thomas O. Edward* of Lan- 

 caster, Ohio, and Dr. George B. Loring of the 

 marine hospital at Chelsea, made a report, Oc- 

 tober 1, 1849, in relation to marine hospitals 

 and the marine hospital fund. These gentlemen 

 made an inspection of the hospitals then in 

 operation and in process of construction. The 

 report recites the various enactments of Con- 

 gress in relation to the service, and then pro- 

 ceeds to speak of the several hospitals. The 

 commissioners state that the " condition, inter- 

 nal arrangement, and expense of the hospitals 

 already in operation vary with their number 

 and location," and "neither in form nor in 

 character has any uniformity in their arrange- 

 ment been observed." They also state that " it 

 is impossible at this date to give in general de- 

 tail any sketch of a system that could be un- 

 derstood as being applicable to the hospitals 

 collectively ; but both in the mode of construc- 

 tion, and in all after-management, each district 

 presents its own individual picture." They 

 then proceed to the consideration of individual 

 hospitals, and recommend that the hospital 

 grounds and building at Chelsea be sold, and a 

 part of the naval tract purchased, and a new 

 building, adequate to the needs of the service, 

 be built thereon. They speak in highly eulo- 

 gistic terms of the hospital at Norfolk and its 

 able management. They recommend the dis- 

 continuance of the hospital at Ocracoke, and 

 erecting one instead at Wilmington. At the 

 latter place they speak of the great necessity 

 for a hospital, and recommend that a building 

 already erected at the private expense of a few 



