SPAIN
190
SPAIN
the insane asylum of Santa Isabel, at Leganes, with
130 beds for poor patients, 30 beds for paying patients
of the first, and 40 for those of the second, class. The
objeets of these last two establishments are indicated
by their names. The asylums are the Hospitals of
Jesiis Nazareno, the Carmen, the King's Hospital at
Toledo, and that for superannuated workingmen, the
first and second of these being for men and for women
respectively, each with 2.50 beds; the third, mixed, 60
beds for either sex; the last, for men only, to the num-
ber of 80. The schools for the blind are: Santa Cata-
hna (29 pupils); La Union, for 106 orphan girls.
The number of persons benefited in all these estab- lishments was 30,606 during the five years from 1904 to 1908. Moreover, in the single year 1908, the pub- lic consulting-room of the Princesa Hospital pre- scribed for more than 8000 persons; that of the Ophthalmic Institute for more than 4000. The ap- propriation for charitable purposes in the general estimate of the Government amounted to 2,665,775 pesetas ($499,208), not including subventions to cer- tain private establishments. The annual expenditure on the general establishments is 774,818 pesetas.
The charitable institutions, municipal and pro- vincial, may be classified as follows:
Spain. Without counting the important donations
with which it has contributed to more efficient service
in the department of pubUc charities, the alms given
directly for the maintenance of many charitable asso-
ciations, to the needy on the pubUc highways, or pri-
vately to succour those who are ashamed to beg, it
may be said that the capital expended by private
charity in Spain for the relief of the physically and
morally indigent is enormous. Indeed, were it not
for the rapacity of many, the egoism of some, and the
carelessness of all, this alone would suffice to counter-
act in great part the ravages of extreme poverty and
to .solve many of the problems of pauperism. The
number of charitable institutions founded and sus-
tained in Spain by private means is 9107. I^arge as
this number is, it represents less than one-half the
number of those that have existed and those that still
exist without being known. Their capital amounts
to 400,652,370.36 pesetas ($80,130,000), yielding an
income of 10,405,872.18 pesetas ($2,081,000). Of this
capital 152,417,413 pesetas ($30,480,000) are invested
in registered bonds; 80,095,269 ($16,019,000) in cer-
tificates payable to bearer; 28,048,888 ($5,609,000)
in city property; 31,951,114 ($6,390,000) in mort-
gages and country property; 17,753,815 ($3,550,000)
Number.
Cases.
Beds.
Expenses.
Alms
Distributed,
Hospitals ]^?Sl;:::
Asylums
51
339
70
19
7
8
34
53
3,.520,975
4.342,354
3,740.431
1,427,349
10.650
78.485
3,351.662
3,056.709
11,558
18,263
14,322
4,236
104
354
9,944
11.052
5,927,052
7.243,964
3,113.476
1,133,232
24,603 3,508.893 5,031,436
22.355.07
155,370.56
296,360.00
13,045.00
82,710.00
Establishments of various kinds
88,979.00
The figures in the fourth and fifth columns of the above table represent Spanish pesetas. The peseta is approximately equivalent
to 19 cents United States currency.
Besides these charitable institutions, the dis-
pensaries, consulting stations and chnics, noted in
the "Memoranda" above referred to as a single group,
must be taken into consideration. They are 113 in
number and exist in all the provinces except Cdceres,
Cuenca, Gerona, Guadalajara, Huesca, L6rida,
Logroiio, Lugo, Orense, and Toledo. Through these
institutions 1,261,361 persons have received assist-
ance, 420,397 medical prescriptions have been given,
45,893 food rations, and 4762 articles of clothing dis-
tributed, 10,565 allowances provided for nursing
mothers, amounting to 37,829 pesetas ($7,500), and
608,686 quarts of milk distributed. In the statistics
of provincial and municipal charities may also be in-
cluded gratuitous medical attendance and attention
to sanitary precautions. The first is supplied by
7769 physicians who visit 813,815 families, approx-
imately 3,257,260 individuals, that is to say that each
physician has 419 persons under his care; the second
is carried on by means of establishments in 23 of the
provinces. The expenditure of the provinces on
charities amounts to 26,436,273 pesetas (about
$5,270,000), 44.72% of their budget; and of the
municipaUties, 18,206,329 pesetas ($3,600,000), 6.23%
of their budget. The average for each individual is
2.26 pesetas (about 42§ cents). The provincial and
municipal revenues for charitable purposes are re-
spectively 5,961,794 pesetas ($1,190,000), and 2,387,-
347 pesetas ($470,000), a total of 8,349,141 ($1,660,-
000), a rate of 0.44 pesetas (about 8j cents) per
capita. These totals do not include Navarre and
the Basque provinces.
In striking contrast with the insufficiency and scarcity of funds and resources which characterizes the official charities, is the enormous amount expended and the variety of institutions founded by private munificence in the endeavour to meet this need in
in loans; and 27,694,432 ($5,538,000) in shares of the
Bank of Spain. All this capital, however, does not
produce the results intended by the donors. In
Seiior La Cierva's "Memoranda" the number of the
institutions which are inoperative, with their prop-
erties, are summarized under one heading (No. 4).
Fortunately they are not many — 4631 — with a capi-
tal of 6,862,380 pesetas ($1,372,000) and an income
of 378,832 pesetas ($75,700).
It is to be noted, also, that the capital for charitable purposes increases continually and in no insignificant proportion. The reports of the registrars and nota- ries, and the data published by the " Direcci6n General de lo Contencioso ", show that the acquisitions to charitable institutions, official and private, from 1899 to 1908 have netted 161,330,354.38 pesetas ($.32,266,- 000) for the State, from taxes on inheritances and transfers of real estate, which gives a total annual average of 17,925,596.04 pesetas ($3,585,000), an an- nual average of .96 pesetas (nearly 18 cents) for each inliabitant. Chronologically the charitable founda- tions mav be classified as follows:
Centdrt.
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
Religious
For the Poor
For the Sick
Economic and So- cial
Educational
For dowries and pensions
5
4 6
3
4
5 3
1
2
6
5
4
1 3
6
4
5
1 6
3
2
5
4
3 G
1
2
6 4
3 5
1
(The figures in this table are symbolical, representing only the
proportionate numbers of the respective classes.)
