SERVICE, UNITED STATES MARINE HOSPITAL. 



791 



Individuals, at a cost of $4,000, be purchased by 

 tin' (lovornnu'iit. They make favorable men- 

 linn ,,f tlio Charleston hospital, then operated 

 iiiidor a contract with the city authorities. At 

 Moliilf, they state that they could not find tho 

 surgeon of the institution; that "he pursues 

 liis own private business in the circuit of tho 

 city, und an assistant represents him for months 

 in the wards of his hospital." The name of 

 the surgeon is not stated. They consider it 

 questionable whether a hospital is necessary at 

 Paducah, and think that ono hospital above 

 New Orleans, at Natchez, with the one at St. 

 Louis, will bo sufficient. Tho one at Napoleon, 

 they are of the opinion, would be of no use. 

 They speak favorably of the marine hospital at 

 Louisville, then near its completion, also of the 

 hospital at Pittsburgh ; and they recommend 

 hospitals at Detroit, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and at 

 one or more ports in Maine. They favor a ton- 

 nage duty on all vessels, including fishing ves- 

 sels. In conclusion, they speak of the tedious 

 way in which the hospitals have been con- 

 structed. They review the various regulations 

 that have been issued from time to time, and 

 say that tho greatest defect which exists " is 

 that no method of government and internal 

 regulation has been entered upon which would 

 render them parts of a uniform whole " ; and 

 they propose to place the hospitals under the 

 control of a " chief surgeon, who shall have his 

 bureau attached to the Treasury Department." 

 The "regulations which are to govern the hos- 

 pitals should emanate from him." The sur- 

 geons employed in the several hospitals should 

 be responsible to him for the proper manage- 

 ment of the institutions. 



On January 25, 1849, a resolution of the 

 House directed the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to "inquire and ascertain the most favorable 

 terms on which suitable sites can be obtained 

 for marine hospitals at Buffalo, Oswego, Gal- 

 veston, Detroit, Wilmington, N. C., Newport, 

 R. I., Erie, Pa., and Appalachicola ; and that 

 he report the same, with his opinion upon the 

 expediency of erecting hospitals at those places, 

 to Congress at the next session." The Secre- 

 tary (W. M. Meredith) reported, March 20, 

 1850, that, "looking only to the comforts and 

 advantages of hospital treatment and accom- 

 modation over the existing system of relief at 

 places indicated in the resolution, public hospi- 

 tals would undoubtedly be desirable in them 

 all. But judging of the wants and claims of 

 other districts, and the insufficiency of tho 

 fund for their maintenance, and the conse- 

 quent dependence of the fund on appropria- 

 tions to be made by Congress, ... I can not 

 recommend so large an addition at one time, 

 nor indeed any addition." The reports of tho 

 various collectors are transmitted, all warmly 

 recommending the establishment of hospitals 

 at their respective ports. 



In a report to Congress for 1850, the Hon. 

 Thomas Corwin, Secretary of the Treasury, 

 states that " means have been taken for the 



conversion of a building at San Francisco, 

 known as the Presidio, into a hospital, to be 

 used until a suitable structure shall be erected 

 for that purpose." No action having been 

 taken by Congress to secure uniformity in the 

 marine hospitals, or to provide for a medical 

 corps, as recommended in the Edwards-Loring 

 report, we are not surprised that the Secre- 

 tary, becoming disgusted with their manage- 

 ment, prefers a return to the " farming-out " 

 method as the lesser of the two evils. The 

 Secretary (Thomas Corwin), in a report dated 

 June 30, 1862, says he does not "adviie the 

 erection of more marine hospitals. The ex- 

 perience of the Department induces me to be- 

 lieve that it is in every way preferable to make 

 an arrangement for the care of sick seamen 

 with local hospitals of high standing, which 

 are under the immediate and vigilant super- 

 vision of citizens of the highest respectability 

 at the respective places." He also states that 

 " there is probably no instance where so much 

 relief is granted, and so generally distributed, 

 and with so much advantage to the parties, as 

 that by the marine hospital fund under the 

 present regulations." In conclusion, he re- 

 quests an additional appropriation for the 

 Evansville hospital. Much difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in procuring a site for the marine 

 hospital at San Francisco ; and a contract hav- 

 ing been made with Charles Homer to con- 

 struct the hospital, he was kept waiting for a 

 period of thirteen months before he could begin 

 upon his work. Mr. Homer claimed damages 

 to the extent of $45,182.47, which Congress 

 declined to allow. 



The hospital at Chelsea having been in us 

 nearly thirty years, and the land in its vicinity 

 having become valuable, the Secretary of the 

 Treasury (James Guthrie) recommended (De- 

 cember 17, 1854) that the ground be parceled 

 into lots and sold, and that the proceeds be de- 

 voted to the construction of a new hospital. 

 He also recommended that ten acre* of the 

 navy-hospital grounds be appropriated for the 

 site of the new building. 



Whatever may have been alleged against 

 Secretary Cobb, he at least exercised a watch- 

 ful care against unnecessary expenditures in 

 the marine hospitals, and showed great severity 

 in his rulings. Indeed, he desired the abolition 

 of the entire system, as shown in his report of 

 June 30, 1858, which states that small neces- 

 sity existed for the many appropriations that 

 had been made for costly marine hospitals, 

 and at the same time showed the " glaring dis- 

 crepancy between the amount appropriated 

 and the necessities of the case." Thus, "At 

 Natchez, Miss., where a marine hospital had 

 been erected at a cost of $53,250, there have 

 been no returns of patients admitted during 

 the past year. At Portland, Me., a building 

 has been constructed costing over $100,000, 

 and it is estimated it will cost over $4.000 to 

 finish it. The returns for the past year are for 

 only 61 patients relieved, at an average cost of 



