it. We voted $500 at an early session to pay a Committee their expenses in connection with the Training School Report, something that is going to be of great value to us. The expense of printing the transactions this year will be close to $500. A number of recommendations for the improvement of the Transactions have been made that will increase their cost. The treasury now contains $1,200. The dues for 1908 have been paid up to date; they never have been paid at a Convention meeting as they have at this meeting. There is little coming in during the next year except what we receive from new members. The running expenses of all the executive officers has been approximately $400 or $500 during the past year. You can readily observe that this year the Treasurer will not have enough money in the treasury to buy shoe strings for the baby. I know that a paid Secretary would be a desirable acquisition if we could afford one. When we have 1,000 members we will be able to afford a Secretary who can do a great deal for the Association that perhaps cannot be done now on account of lack of time or lack of means.

DR. HURD: Cannot we get around that by adding the words, "Not to exceed $360, not to exceed $120." Then let us pay what is necessary. If it is necessary to do so, let us raise our dues. If it is not necessary to pay as much as that, let us pay what is needed anyway. We ought not to be objects of charity.

PRESIDENT: Do you offer that as an amendment?

DR. HURD: Yes.

MR. WEBSTER: I second that.

The amendment was put and carried.

PRESIDENT: I do not agree with the Secretary that we will have no income at all during the coming year. I think one of the reasons that prompted this resolution was a desire that the canvassing for members should be continued, and it is reasonable to assume that a canvass conductea through the year will result in a substantial addition to our income. We have on hand sufficient to cover all expenses, except the proposed allowances.

will

PRESIDENT: The amendments in their modified form go to the Committee on Constitution.

According to a recent compilation there exists in something like thirty-three States of the Union whereby the State or the municipality co-operates in a pecuniary way with voluntary or private hospitals. A comparative study of the methods pursued in various States tends to show that the most rational method, the method best for the taxpayer and best for the voluntary hospital, the method which has the most stimulating effect and that tends more than all others to establish and maintain the right standard in private and public hospitals, is the method of the State of New York, or rather the method of the City of New York under a State law. In New York City the work of checking the bills against the city of all the private hospitals, which bills amount to several hundred thousand dollars a year, falls upon a Bureau of the Finance Department. I think we are fortunate in having been able to attract to this meeting the chief of that department, a man whom I believe has done more and is doing more and will do more to stimulate the work of private hospitals in New York City than any other man in the city. Dr. Potter will present his paper entitled "The Private Hospital as a Municipal Agent."

Dr. D. C. POTTER, Chief of Charitable Institutions Division, Department of Finance, City of New York, N. Y.: If I had known as much the day before yesterday as I know now, perhaps many of the things that appear in this paper could have wisely been omitted. It would have been a case of visiting St. Paul's Cathedral and looking for the monument of Sir Christopher Wren, and inviting the tourists to look around. Do you know they do in Toronto precisely what I am hoping some day we will have wit enough to do in New York. There is no public hospital system in Toronto. There is a Private Hospital Board of the City-and they have a pretty good system, too, for a town of this size. We have 69,000 patients a year in private hospitals; we have 32,000 children in the charitable institutions connected with my office. I had better say it is a city office; one practices the possessive sense and owns the city after a while. The Toronto plan might not apply in a tremendously large city, but then the principle would, and it is easy enough to work out the details. Toronto pays seventy cents a day to a hospital called The General Hospital. It pays the same, I am

told, to the Children's Hospital. Then the Province of Ontario adds twenty cents a day, so there is a per diem of ninety cents paid to these institutions practically under the control of private boards. I believe that Toronto is too poor to pay for the ungrudging and continuous, the munificent and splendid services given by the gentlemen and the ladies who preside at the Boards of these great hospitals of Toronto. It is a gift to humanity and to the Almighty. So, instead of inflicting on you this tirade, I might have said, "Go and look at the system of Toronto, and you will have the essence of a system that can be applied, and should be applied everywhere." (See page 292.)

PRESIDENT: Next in order is the Report of the SubCommittee on Hospital Construction, by Dr. J. N. E. Brown, Superintendent Toronto General Hospital. (See page 303.)

PRESIDENT: Before the conclusion of today's business we have not only to hear from Mr. Sturm, of Chicago, but also are to have the satisfaction of hearing from a most welcome guest, Dr. Donald Mackintosh, of the Western Infirmary, Glasgow.

Most of the literature on the subject of hospital construction deals with the application of certain principles to large, monumental buildings. I suppose, however, that

most of the members of this Association are rather more interested in the application of these same principles to the hospitals of smaller cities and towns, since the majority of our membership comes from such communities. I am very happy to say that we have with us this afternoon an expert upon the subject of the construction of small hospitals, and I have great pleasure in presenting to you Mr. Sturm, of Chicago, who will read a paper entitled "The Planning and Construction of Hospitals for Smaller Cities and Towns" and will illustrate his paper with lantern slides. (See page 320.)

The papers were discussed by Dr. Donald Mackintosh, of Glasgow, Mr. Robertson, Dr. Ross, Dr. Goldwater and Mr. Sturm. (See discussions following papers.)

Meeting adjourned at 5:30 p. m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2—MORNING SESSION.
Conference resumed at 10 a. m.

PRESIDENT: Dr. Washburn will read the report of the sub-committee, Dr. Joseph B. Howland, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, on "Medical Organization and Medical Education." (See page 342.)

PRESIDENT: Dr. Robert J. Wilson, Superintendent of Hospitals, Department of Health, City of New York, will read the next paper, entitled "Infectious Diseases in General Hospitals: Their Proper Control from the Standpoint of Sanitary Science." (See page 346.)

PRESIDENT: Dr. Wilson's very suggestive statement, admirable for its clearness and conciseness, will be doubly interesting to us when taken in connection with the paper which is to follow. Professor Edsall, of the University of Pennsylvania, had promised to be with us this morning. Unfortunately he was subsequently called to the Tuberculosis Conference at Washington, and he is unable to be here. Dr. W. E. Rowley, of St. John, N. B., will read Dr. Edsall's paper, entitled "The Hygiene of Infectious Diseases in Medical Wards." (See page 355.)

The papers were discussed by Dr. Hurd, Dr. Washburn, Mr. Robertson, Dr. Alice Seabrooke, Dr. Brown, Dr. Fisher, Dr. Wilson, Rev. Dr. Kavanagh, Dr. Ross, Dr. W. H. Smith, Dr. Ancker, Dr. J. H. S. Parke, and the President. (See discussion following papers.)

DR. HURD: Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent to introduce a resolution that it is the sense of this Association that in future programs papers be limited to twenty minutes, and that not more than three papers should be considered at each session, and that the Committee on Program, or the President, should so notify those from whom papers are solicited.

THE PRESIDENT: The Chair very heartily commends Dr. Hurd's suggestion.

DR. ROSS seconded the motion, which was put and carried.

R. H. TOWNLEY: There is a matter in which I am very much interested. It is something like class legislation, however, and I am desirous of having the con

vention if it be thought proper, take some official action. It is with regard to assistance that might be given to the ambulance service in many cities by the police patrol wagon, and if it be proper, and I can get consent, I would like to introduce a short resolution.

PRESIDENT: It is in order to present a resolution.
MR. TOWNLEY: The resolution is as folows:

"Resolved, That it is the sense of this Association that a valuable and desirable aid could be given to the ambulance service in many cities by a more general use of the police patrol wagons, and that we would recommend to the police departments of such cities that such aid should be rendered wherever possible." I ask that this may be adopted so as to be incorporated in the records of our meeting. (Motion seconded.)

PRESIDENT: Is there any discussion?

MISS BANFIELD: I do not know whether this is meant to apply only to the City of New York; if it does I have nothing to say. If it applies to the City of Philadelphia I have.

MR. TOWNLEY: I desire to apply this resolution to the cities that need it.

PRESIDENT: The resolution is very general in its terms, and would apply to any city where such service was required.

MISS BANFIELD: I have found the police service in Philadelphia for a number of years so very good that I do not wish to imply to the city authorities that we are ungrateful for the service we already have.

REV. DR. KAVANAGH: I do not wish to discuss this resolution, but would say that there is a very wide difference as to the methods of serving the public in ambulance work. In New York, for instance, we have ambulances doing practically all the work. In Philadelphia we have the patrols doing most of the work. We have these different extremes, and many modifications of both in different cities. I think that this resolution may help matters in places where it is needed, and will do no injury where there is no desire for any change. Therefore, I most heartily endorse it.