Orting’s New Soldiers’ Home Is Running on 47 Cents a Day
Forty-six veterans—including a father who lost three sons at Antietam—are already living at the state’s new home, which needs a federal per-resident allowance and a library.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
George Boardman, of Tacoma, president of the board of trustees of the Soldiers’ Home at Orting, had a conference with Governor Ferry today in reference to an appropriation of $100 per year for each resident of the Soldiers’ Home. All necessary documents have been prepared and will be forwarded to Washington in time for the meeting of the national military board on January 18. The appropriation of seventy-five hundred dollars per annum has been almost exhausted, the Home having been in running order at Orting but about six months, and the institution stands badly in need of the government allowance.
Mr. Boardman states that at present there are forty-six men at the Home, the oldest of whom is William Addison, of Oakesdale, who lost three boys at Antietam. The youngest inmate is 47 years of age. With the present limited appropriation, fifty men is about as many as can be provided for, although there is an abundance of land and buildings. The Home is one mile southwest from the depot at Orting and comprises 183 acres, beautifully situated. For the accommodation of the inmates five buildings, one main building and four cottages, have been erected, and nearly every city of any importance in the state is fitting up a room at the Home.
“Within three years,” continued Mr. Boardman, “we hope to be self-sustaining. We have one of the best farms in the county, and next year will raise enough vegetables for all hands. We are running pretty close as it is, averaging forty-seven cents a day for each man, while the total expense of the institution, salaries included, is about $10,000.”
“Have you a library?”
“No, we have not, and in this connection you might say to the public that anything in the shape of reading matter will be appreciated. Even old newspapers we will be glad to have, for the guests can do nothing and literature is scarce. They want reading matter.”
“Even old newspapers we will be glad to have, for the guests can do nothing and literature is scarce.”
The Washington Soldiers Home at Orting still cares for veterans, but this 1891 appeal shows how new public institutions were built on thin appropriations and donated books. The question of who pays for veterans’ care—and how adequately—has never really left American politics.
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