“To counterbalance this we received in the seven months of 1905, $255.15 less for grease. Soap making takes about a third of the time of one man, estimated at $177.25 for seven months. Potash cost $293.91. Steam used in cooking soap estimated at $5 per month, $35. A total saving of $268.07 in seven months.
“We have less trouble with our washers in the laundry because of the larger amount of free alkali in the soap made by our recipe, which is practically the same as that used at the McLean Hospital and the State Hospital. It is as follows:
“Dissolve twenty-two pounds of potash in six nine-quart pails of water, add thirty-four pounds of grease and boil very slowly six hours. Then fill a 100-gallon tank half full of water and let it come to a boil again. When it becomes stringy turn off the steam and fill the tank with water.
“The soap has been tested by the hospital apothecary and is found to correspond to the maximum of free alkali allowed by the 1900 United States Pharmacopia. Various fabrics have been allowed to soak in this soap for several days and have shown no detriment. The practical test of a year’s use shows no injury to clothing.”
Drugs
Dr. W. E. Dreyfus, chemist of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, calls attention to another leak that formerly existed in those establishments and the same kind of leak may be found in the majority of hospitals of the country. In commenting on the hospital deficit question Dr. Dreyfus says: “You know that all chartered charitable institutions are entitled to tax-free alcohol, but very few take advantage of it. The saving for our city institutions on tax-free alcohol during 1903 amounted to about $21,000, the indirect benefit therefrom being about $9,000 more. To give a specific instance: Before the King’s County Hospitals were supplied from this department, they spent the sum of $17,771.12 for drugs, liquors, etc. After they were consolidated with this department we furnished them the same amount at a saving of nearly $4,000 per annum.” These figures are large, because the institutions concerned are large, but when smaller institutions buy and continue to buy alcohol and pay the tax, which amounts to $2.07 a gallon, it is easy to see that a proportionate sum is being wasted in the majority of the hospitals of this country through this one channel. There is no question that hundreds of thousands of dollars in the aggregate every year are taken from the hospital treasuries of the country and poured into local liquor dealers’ pockets and various other pockets that ought to be expended in supplying legitimate needs.
Wasteful Physicians
Just what to do with physicians who are habitually wasteful is a question. It has been a noticeable fact in some hospitals that physicians who owned hospitals of their own were always more economical in the use of surgical supplies than others, whose only hospital experience was gained in institutions supported by the public. They knew the cost of supplies. They were footing the bills and wasted material meant money taken directly out of their pockets. Therefore they had formed habits of economy and were quick to check nurses who showed a tendency to wastefulness. If the spirit of economy, the spirit of personal ownership could take possession of the doctors connected with hospitals it would mean an enormous saving in the course of a year.
Teach Economy
Abuse of Appliances