REFORM OF PUBLIC CHARITY. 753 



for miscellaneous charitable work, of which there is no public or 

 official inspection, should be discontinued at once. It has been the 

 practice for some years past, both in Brooklyn and New York, to 

 donate annually lump sums of money to such organizations. In 

 New York these amounts have been for the most part compara- 

 tively small, and principally derived from the Theatrical and Con- 

 cert-License Fund. In Brooklyn the amounts have been larger, 

 and were obtained originally from the Excise Fund, and later 

 directly from the budget. This practice should be wholly discon- 

 tinued. The charter itself contains stringent prohibitions against 

 the distribution of outdoor relief by the Department of Public 

 Charities, and the spirit of these provisions would certainly seem 

 to disfavor accomplishing the same result in an indirect manner. 

 Many of these recipients of public funds devote themselves exclu- 

 sively to outdoor relief, and an examination of the purposes of some 

 of these organizations shows that, however proper these may be as 

 the result of private benevolence, they are extremely improper 

 objects of the public bounty. The immediate and permanent dis- 

 continuance of appropriations to all such societies and institutions 

 will correct one of the gravest abuses of the present system. If 

 the persons conducting these miscellaneous charities are really sin- 

 cere, and believe that they are doing good, they can readily obtain 

 from private sources the funds necessary to carry on the work. 



I shall urge that all appropriations to institutions of every 

 kind not controlled by the city be limited to per-capita payment 

 for the support of public charges, and that a system of thorough 

 inspection be at once established to ascertain if present and future 

 inmates are really persons entitled to maintenance at public ex- 

 pense. In addition to this precaution, the comptroller should have 

 full power to withhold payments to any institution after an ap- 

 propriation has been made if in his judgment, after examination, 

 the money has not been earned. The payment of city money to 

 dispensaries should be discontinued, except in special cases where 

 the work done is clearly a proper charge against the public treas- 

 ury. No money should be paid for the treatment of dependent 

 persons in any private hospital while there is unoccupied room in 

 the city hospitals. 



The city maintains its own hospitals, while at the same time 

 subsidizing private institutions which compete with them. Dur- 

 ing the last few years great improvements have been made in the 

 city hospitals, but their condition is still capable of considerable 

 further improvement. While sometimes overcrowded, it frequent- 

 ly happens that the city hospitals are not filled to the limits of 

 their capacity, and it would seem as though the city should not 



VOL. LV. 52 



