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Disease Control and Prevention

Ambulances and other vehicles parked by the San Francisco Public Health Service Hospital. The first marine hospital in San Francisco was completed in 1853 with special funds appropriated by Congress. The tax on seamen was not enough to finance all of the activities of the Marine Hospital Service and supplemental funds had to be appropriated constantly from Congress. The 1870 reorganization act that centralized the control of the Service increased the hospital tax on seamen from 20 cents to 40 cents per month. The tax on seamen was abolished in 1884 and from 1884 to 1906 the cost of maintaining the marine hospitals was paid out of a tonnage tax. After 1906 and until all of the Public Health Service hospitals were closed in 1981 medical care for merchant seamen and other beneficiaries was supported by direct appropriations from Congress.

c. 1920

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