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and stagnation of business; we must either find them in work or support them, with their families, in the almshouse. Our city bonds offer the most secure investment for money, which is now a glut in the market, our city fives commanding a premium.

If needed in peace, a hospital will be doubly needed now, for the glories of war are only to be purchased by disease and wounds, and it would be but a poor requital for services which at the hazard of life have saved our national existence and all we hold dear, did we not endeavor to secure in season for those who may require them, the best medical treatment, in comfortable rooms, and in as healthy a location as we can provide.

We do not propose to forestall the judgment of our associates in either branch as to the plan of the buildings to be erected. Had there been found among ourselves but one opinion as to the selection, the order offered would have specified it. But we doubt the policy of recommending any particular plan before every member has had an opportunity of comparing the different designs in the possession of the Committee. The collection of facts embraced in this report are the accumulation of several weeks, during which our attention has been busily occupied with the subject of hospital arrangement, and we would respectfully suggest that many who have not heretofore been called upon to give much thought to its consideration, will be better able to come to some conclusion after examination of these plans and of the views which we have presented. The orders offered can then be amended, in accordance with the prevailing opinion of the City Council, or recommitted with instructions, to report the plan that is preferred, in order to simplify final action. But whatever the decision, much latitude should be allowed to the committee superintending the construction; for if trammelled by a specific plan, without any liberty of modification, the City will lose the benefit of new improvements, as also of that constantly enlarging information and experience resulting from the long-continued consideration of what is best. It will be observed that the amount limited in the order is one hundred

thousand dollars. This can be reduced or increased, as may be determined, when action is taken.

As the most suitable season for building is rapidly passing, we respectfully invite the attention of every member to the wisdom of a speedy determination. And in order to narrow the question to a more definite issue, we would suggest that the plans of Mr. Bryant, for reasons already stated, were generally preferred both by the Committee and our medical advisers. As it may be concluded to build forthwith, and upon his plan, some estimate of the cost may not be out of place Probably the most courageous would not venture to recommend at present more than the erection of the central building and two pavilions, with such detached offices as may be indispensable. The former sixty feet square, we are informed, will cost forty thousand dollars; the pavilions, one hundred and seventeen feet by twentyeight, twenty thousand dollars each. In the opinion of the Committee, the principal front should be upon Harrison Avenue, and not on Springfield Street; and, if this be so decided, a rearrangement of the pavilions will become necessary. Some small additional sum will be needed for fences, shrubbery, and trees, and whatever remains of the loan can be appropriated for such simple furniture as may be required.

If one only of the pavilions be erected, complete for forty patients, the cost will be twenty thousand dollars. Should this last course be thought the most judicious, we must endeavor so to place it that, in case our successors should abandon the plan that we select and substitute another, it may not be in the way. Isolated buildings will always be wanted as a part of the establishment, whatever plan be adopted, and can always readily be worked into any grouping or arrangement that may be preferred by an artist of skill. It should be borne in mind in favor of the most extended plan that may be deemed consistent with prudent economy in the existing crisis, that the sound of the hammer and trowel are annoying to persons who are ill and suffering, and that the process of building at intervals will seriously interfere with any efforts to embellish the grounds with shrubbery or turf.

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That full justice may be done to the designs of Mr. Bryant, a communication addressed by him to the Committee is appended for their explanation.

Should the City Council conclude to adopt this plan, and pass the orders attached to this report in season to allow of the immediate commencement of the work, it is anticipated that the buildings will be completed ready for occupation by the first of the coming year. It will be, consequently, good policy to provide in the course of the summer for the government of the institution. An ordinance for this purpose was drafted in 1857, being Document No. 78 of that year, but has never been acted upon. It should be revised, and rules and regulations framed under it, so that the City Council may have time to consider and pass upon them before the hospital is prepared for the reception of patients. Postponed to the last moment, they will be made in haste, and be less perfect than if matured with deliberation. If the orders pass in time for the driving of the piles in July, we would suggest that the ordinance should be taken into consideration as early as October, and the Trustees chosen in November.

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CITY OF BOSTON.

In Common Council, June 6, 1861.

ORDERED: That the Committee on Public Buildings, in concurrence with the Joint Standing Committee on the City Hospital, be directed to erect suitable buildings for a City Hospital on a site selected for that purpose on Harrison Avenue, at a cost not exceeding One Hundred Thousand Dollars.

ORDERED: That the Treasurer be, and he is hereby directed to borrow, under the direction of the Committee on Finance, the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars, the same to be appropriated for the purpose of the erection of a City Hospital Building on Harrison Avenue.

SUBSEQUENT REPORT.

CITY OF BOSTON.

In Common Council, June 13, 1861.

THE Joint Standing Committee on the Free City Hospital, would respectfully submit the following

REPORT.

At the last session of the Council, they offered a report which was laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed. When that report was read to the Committee on the day preceding that on which it was presented, it was adopted, and all present voted in favor of submitting it to the Council the following evening. The chairman was authorized to prepare orders to accompany the report, which he accordingly did. The Committee being now of opinion that orders distinctly and explicitly expressing a preference for some particular plan would be more in accordance with the expectations of the City Council than those submitted, recommended the passage of the following orders as substitutes for those before reported.

NOTE.

For the Committee,

THOMAS C. AMORY, JR., Chairman.

Corrections were made and a few facts added, with the consent of

the Committee, while the report was in the press.

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