PENSIONS. Number of pensioners who have received pensions during the year 536, against 566 in 1877. The total amount of pensions received during the year, and the disposition made thereof, is shown in the following tabular statement: Pension to credit of beneficiaries January 1, 1878. Interest received on pension-money during the year.. Total to be accounted for..... Paid to the Home: For Abstract A, Subsistence For Abstract B, Construction and repairs. For Abstract C, Stable For Abstract F, Incidental expense For Abstract G, Transportation... For Abstract I, Hospital supplies... For Abstract M, b, Blacksmith-shop.. For Abstract M, n, Shoe-shop For Abstract M, r, Tin-shop For Abstract M, m, Printing-office... $1,242 51 16 14 2,272 68 565 33 $42 20 106 48 26 25 98 68 224 12 43 37 222 83 763 93 536 50 6,467 22 4,005 95 2,689 45 322 84 $9,470 76 50,082 21 111 78 59, 664 75 Forfeitures by order Board of Managers..... Total amount paid to the Home.... Paid to Home store... Carried to contingent fund for fines by order of commandant.. Carried to posthumous fund.... Cash paid to pensioners' families... Remaining to credit of beneficiaries, December 31, 1878. Cash paid to individual pensioners.. Total accounted for....... 12, 394 74 29,935 03 3,849 52 59,664 75 A portion of the sum remaining to the credit of beneficiaries is in the hands of the general treasurer, Maj. Gen. B. F. Butler, and the amount of accrued interest thereon is unknown to the treasurer of this branch. PAY FOR EXTRA DUTY. The total number of beneficiaries employed for pay at this branch during the year or any portion thereof was 488. The amount credited to beneficiaries for extra duty and the disposition thereof, was as follows: LIBRARY AND READING-ROOM. In the Home library there are 3,172 volumes. There have been received 30 daily papers, 103 weekly papers, and 26 magazines and periodicals, embracing publications in the English, French, German, and Scandinavian languages. During the year 7,255 books have been taken from the library for reading. The librarian, George W. Barber, reports that "the library-rooms are generally well filled with interested readers of the books, papers, and magazines, and during the inclement season the seating capacity is not sufficient to accommodate all who desire these advantages. All available case room is now fully occupied, and consequently additions to the library cannot be regularly placed on shelves." POST OFFICE. The postmaster reports the business of the post-office at this branch, for the year 1878, as follows: For reasons given in previous reports no schools are maintained at this. branch, and in this connection the attention of the board is again invited to the following suggestion made in my report for the year 1877: Within the limits of the Home and in its immediate vicinity there are nearly fifty young children of beneficiaries to whom a common education, fitting them for the duties and cares which in a few years they must assume, would be of greater benefit than any gift within the bestowal of the Board of Managers. The expediency of providing a suitable school building and a competent teacher for these children, whose future welfare seems to devolve new responsibilities upon the officers of the Home, is worthy of careful consideration. RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. As in previous years, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church and a priest of the Roman Catholic Church have been regularly employed at this branch as visiting chaplains, with continued and general satisfaction. The Protestant Episcopal clergyman, Rev. E. R. Ward, reports that "during the past year divine service has been held every Sunday, and on week days during Lent," and that he has administered the holy communion every month in public, and when required in private. That he has made weekly-oftentimes biweekly-visits to the hospital. "The attendance at the public services remains about the same as last year. The Sunday-school is growing in numbers and interest, thanks to the zeal and faithful labors of the teachers; while the whole work is full of encouragement. Total number of services, 85. Celebrations of the holy communion, public 12, private 5; total, 17. Marriage, 1; baptisms, 3; burials, 25. The bishop of the diocese made his annual visitation to the Home on Easter Day and confirmed two adults." The Catholic priest, Rev. Father James Walsh, S. J., says: Religious services are held on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning of each week. Total number of regular religious services during the year, 104; funeral services, 17; baptisms, 8; confirmations, 9; visits to hospital, 80; average attendance at regular religious services, 260; average number of holy communions every week, 42; total number of holy communions, 2,184. The above is a brief summary of the religious work of 1878, a work which has been steadily increasing in importance and in good results, especially during the last few months. I have given much time and attention to the inmates of the hospital, and I may be permitted here to acknowledge my indebtedness to the officers of that department for their kind readiness to aid me in every way they could in the discharge of my duties to the sick and to the dying. SOCIETIES. A post of the Grand Army of the Republic has been maintained during the year by beneficiaries of this branch, and a Sunday-school society has been successfully conducted by beneficiaries and their families and friends. AMUSEMENT AND RECREATION. The usual methods of providing amusement and recreation for beneficiaries, fully set forth in previous reports, have been continued during the year. This branch is now in great need of a suitable auditorium of sufficient capacity to seat the increased number of beneficiaries present during the winter seasons. HOME STORE. The Home store, or "canteen," established for the purposes and under the rules of management stated in previous reports, has been continued during the year with satisfactory results. The gross sales amounted to $16,018.12, yielding a net profit of $4,510.18. The increased business of the "canteen" demands more commodious rooms, and hygienic considerations urge its removal from the main structure to a suitable detached building. GREENHOUSE. The greenhouse, built in 1877 and paid for from the fund accruing from fines imposed upon beneficiaries for inebriety and other offenses against the discipline of the Home-thus paraphrasing Samson's riddle, "out of the strong came forth sweetness"-has been in successful operation during the year, adding greatly to the attractions of the grounds, and contributing to the enjoyment of beneficiaries, officers, and visitors. Of course no profit is derived from this source, but all plants required for the flower gardens and borders are propagated in the greenhouse at trifling cost. TOTAL EXPENDITURES AND RECEIPTS. The following tabular statement exhibits the gross expenditures, the receipts from sales, and the net expenditures, on account of each depart ment or abstract, during the year 1878, as shown by the treasurer's The following tabular statement exhibits, by departments or abstracts' the total net expenses of the Home during each quarter of the year 1878, to wit: COST PER CAPITA. The average cost per year of keeping each man actually present in the Home, during the year 1878, excluding the value of clothing issued, was $120, as shown by the following exhibit, to wit: Value of subsistence stores on hand December 31, 1877 $3,5-7 04 957 37 Gross expenditures in all departments of the Home during the year 178... 165, 142 93 Total ..... Deduct credits for sales, &c., shown in the above table.. value of subsistence stores on hand December 31, 1878.. 169, 6-7 34 $43,752 49 4,740 27 1,450 44 34,926 74 permanent improvement on farm.. 870 98 cost of transporting 101 beneficiaries to Home before 706 65 Net current expenditures in running the Home during the year .......... 82,924 77 Divide $82,924.77 by 691, the average daily number of bencficiaries actually present, and the result is $120. The average value of clothing issued to each man during the year was $13.08, making the total average cost of keeping and clothing each man $133.08 per year. The previous year the average cost was $126.15 exclusive of clothing and $137.31 including clothing. The gradual and continuous reduction in the annual cost of keeping each beneficiary, as has been remarked in previous reports, may be attributed to the increase in numbers, to the decrease in cost of stores, and to the greater economy of administration rendered possible by the improvements made in the buildings and fixtures. COST OF DAILY RATION. The average cost of the daily ration-including value of all subsistence stores produced by and received from the Home farm and Home stable, the cost of transportation to the Home, the cost of fuel consumed in bakery, and the pay-roll of all persons employed in the subsistence department during the year 1878, was $17.35 per hundred, as shown by the following exhibit: Cost of subsistence on hand December 31, 1877. $3,587 04 Cost of fuel consumed in the bakery. Value of transportation furnished to subsistence department by the Home stable 531 75 180 00 Amount of pay-rolls of employés in bakery and subsistence department.... 1,184 26 Total cost of subsistence stores on hand December 31, 1877, and re- 53,980 50 Value of subsistence stores sold for cash. $3,981 01 Value of subsistence stores to Home 1,461 72 Value of subsistence stores issued to beneficiaries, including cost of labor, &c. .... 43,777 50 Value of subsistence stores on hand December 31, 1878 4,740 27 Total value of subsistence stores issued and sold during the year, and 53,960 50 |