>4f v4f ^ w^ THE Organization of Charities BEING A REPORT OF THE SIXTH SECTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES, CORRECTIONS, AND PHILANTHROPY, CHICAGO, JUNE, 1893. EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION V.\ DANIEL C. GILMAN, L L . U . President of the Charity Organization Society of Baltimore, Md. HALilMORE THK JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS. LONDON THE SCIE^frIFIC PRESS, LIMIIEI) 428 Strand, W. C. 1894 * # • ••• I.. THE WORLJl'S CONGRESS ADXILIARY OF THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. The International Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy. president : RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. FIRST vice-president : SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT : i . ' FREDERICK H. WINES. ROBERT TREAT PAINK. * f GENERAL SECRETARY : ALEXANDER JOHNSON. COMMITTEE OF ORGANIZATION : FREDERICK H. WINES, JOHN G. SHORTALL, Mrs. J. M. FLOWER. NATHANIEL S. ROSENAU, SECRETARY. SECTION VI. The Organization and Affiliation of Charities in Counties, States, Cities, Towns and Villages, and Pre- ventive Work Among the Poor. COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS : Members Invited. Levi L. Barbour, Detroit, Mich. Charles J. Bonaparte, Baltimore. John G. Brooks, Brockton, Mass. Miss Anna L. Dawes, Washington. Robert VV. De Forest, New York. Daniel C. Oilman, Baltimore. John M. Glenn, Baltimore. Charles C. Harrison, Philadelphia. J. W. Jenks, Ithaca, N. Y. J. Lloyd Jones, Chicago. Mrs. C. R. Lowell, New York. Richmond Mayo-Smith, New York. Mrs. Mary E. Mumford, Philadelphia. Robert Treat Paine, Boston. Francis G. Peabody, Cambridge. Mrs. W. B. Rice, New York. Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler, New York. Amos G. Warner, Washington. Alfred T. White, Brooklyn. Ansley Wilcox, Buffalo. C'iPXrfelii. %>ii4f' '3^' Tha Iofin»s*,Hopliins JJrc«ss% IM ^^3b TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. iDiTORiAL Note v V Panorama of Charitable tV^ork in Many Lands, by D. C. Oilman viii rhe Problem, of Charity, by Rev. Francis G. Peabody xx Proceedings :. First Session: The Demarcation of the Field of Voluntary Charitable Work 3 Second Session: Friendly Visiting 15 Third Session: The Relation of Public to Private Charity 31 Fourth Session: Labor Colonies, Relief in Work , 33 ^APERS ON Charity Organization in the United States: History of Charity Organization in the United States, by Charles U. Kellogg 43 The State Charities Aid Association of the State of New York, by Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler 57 The State Charities Aid Association of New Jersey, by Mrs. Emily E. Williamson 72 Are Labor Colonies Needed in the United States? by Mrs. Charles R. Lowell 77 Labor Tests and Relief in Work in the United States, by Alfred T. White 87 Registration of Charitable Relief, by Miss Francis R. Morse 99 Friendly Visiting, by Mrs. Roger Wolcott 108 The Co-operation of Public with Private Charitable Agencies, by Alex- ander Johnson 1 14 Public Subsidies to Private Charities, by Amos G. Warner 120 Papers from Continental Europe on Public and Private Relief OF the Poor : Charity in France and Belgium, by Herbert Valleroux 135 Charitable Organizations and Charitable Work in Italy, by Egisto Rossi. 168 The International Treatment of Charity Questions, by Baron Von Reitz- enstein 185 The Elberfeld System of Poor Relief, by Dr. Theodore Miinsterberg... . 187 The Elberfeld System of Poor Relief and its Practical Application, by Dr. Thoma 200 The p:iberfeld System of Poor Relief, by L. F. Seyffardt 207 Co-operation between Public and Private Poor Relief, by Dr. Victor Huhmert 210 The People's Club, " Volkswohl ", of Dresden; its Evening Entertain- ments and Homes for the People, by Dr, Victor Buhmert 22S The Organization of Charity in Russia, by Dr. H. Georgievsky 244 4iJ()ri6(» IV INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Papers on Charity Organization in Great Britain : page> Introductory Note, by C. S. Loch 250- The West of London : S. Marylebone, by Rev. B. H. Alford 253 The East of London, by Kev. Dr. E. H. Bradby 258 Shoreditch, hy C N. Nicholson 268 St. Olave's, by C. P. Earner 278 Charity Organization in Islington, by Miss L. Sharpe 283 Co-operation of Charitable Agencies with the Poor Law. with Special Reference to St. George in the East, by T. Mackay 29c Manchester. Poor Law Relief and Charity Organization in an Industrial Town, by Alexander McUougall 304 The Charities of Bristol, by .IVIiss Elizabeth Sturge 312 Rochdale. Industrial and General Characteristics, Poor Law Adminis- tration, and Charities, by R. A. Leach 319 Appendix : Report of the Work Done by the Rochdale Charity Organization Society 1880-1891, by Alderman Heape 338 Helping the Poor in Aberdeen, by George Milne 344 rhe Problem of Poverty in an English Rural Union (Bradtield), by II . G. Willink 350 Charity Organization in Relation to Voluntary Effort, by Rev. Brooke Lambert 365 Friendly Visiting, by Miss F. C. Prideaux , 369 English Poor Law, by Baldwyn Fleming 377 School Savings Banks, by Charles Henry Wyatt 384 Index 391 .^ EDITORIAL NOTE. The Conference on Charity Organization, whose proceedings are Teported in the following pages, was one of the series of international assemblies held in Chicago during the Columbian Exhibition of 1893. It was projected as the sixth section of the International Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, and accordingly the initiative was taken by the officers of that body, Hon. R. B. Hayes, the late ex- President of the United States, Rev. F. H. Wines, of Illinois, upon whom devolved the presidency of the Congress, and Mr. N. S. Rose- nau, who was in charge of the exhibit of Charities and Corrections during the progress of the world's fair. On their visit to Baltimore, in the early winter of 1892-3, while the National Prison Association was in session, this committee enlisted the cooperation of some of the mem- bers of the Charity Organization Society of Baltimore, and with them agreed to entrust the plans of the sixth section to a body of ladies and gentlemen, selected from many different cities. An active correspon- •dence then began, and presently three committee meetings were held in New York, to give unity and directness to the various suggestions which had been made by those who were consulted. Several persons who were invited to become members of the com- mittee of arrangements were prevented, by distance or by other engage- ments, from active cooperation, — among them, Mr. Ansley Wilcox, of Buffalo, Rev. J. Lloyd Jones, of Chicago, Professor Jenks, of Cornell University, Miss Dawes, of Washington, and Rev. J. G. Brooks, of Brockton, Mass. The persons below named attended one or more of the meetings, held in New York, and so constituted the acting COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. Levi L. Barbour, Detroit, Mrs. Mary E. Mumforu, Philadelphia, Charles J. Bonaparte, Baltimore, Robert Treat Paine, Boston, KoBERT W. Deforest, New York, Francis G. Peabody, Cambridge, Daniel C. Oilman, Baltimore, Mrs. W. B. Rice, New York, John M. Glenn, Baltimore, Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler, New York, Charles C. Harrison, Philadelphia, Richmond Mayo-Smith, New York, Mks^CUt- Lowell, New York, Alkred T. White, Brooklyn, Amos G. Warner, Washington. VI INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The officers,- chosen by the committee, were these. President: Daniel C. Gilman, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Secretary: Richmond Mayo-Smith, Columbia College, New York. Treasurer: Charles C. Harrison, Philadelphia. Executive Committee: Messrs. A. T. White, of Brooklyn, R. VV. De Forest, of New York, and F. G. Peabody, of Cambridge, with the Presi- dent and Secretary. Finance Committee: Messrs. R. T. Paine, C. C. Harrison, and C. J- Bonaparte, and Mrs. C. R. Lowell. The executive committee perfected the arrangements for the meeting in Chicago, and (with the exception of one member) were present dur- ing the deliberations. The finance committee collected an amount sufficient for the payment of the incidental expenses, and for the assur- ance of the publication of this volume. This pecuniary support came chiefly from active upholders of the principles of charity organization in Boston, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The special arrangements for the meeting, including a very large part of the foreign and domestic correspondence, devolved upon Pro- fessor Mayo-Smith, of Columbia College, New York. The Congress assembled in Chicago, June 12, 1893. The opening^ address was delivered by the Reverend Professor Peabody, of Harvard University, which, at the request of many persons who heard it and of many who heard of it, is reprinted in this volume. At the same meet- ing, a discourse commemorative of ex-President Hayes, who died in the preceding January, was delivered by Reverend F. H. Wines, since published in the report of the National Prison Congress. Another address of general interest was given by the Hon. Robert Treat Paine,, of Boston, which has since been published in a separate volume. The section on Charity Organization held four sessions, over which Mr. Robert W. De Forest, President of the Charity Organization Society of New York, Mr. Jeffrey R. Brackett, and Mr. John M. Glenn, of Baltimore, presided. The debates which followed the read- ing of the papers are reported, not so perfectly as might be desired, in the following pages. Those who heard the communications and the comments upon them, were unanimous and hearty in their expres- sions of satisfaction and in their desire to impart, to those who could not be present, the impressions of this encouraging and stimulating conference. ^ EDITORIAL NOTE. VU • It is to be regretted that a valuable paper by Mr. Levi L. Barbour on "'T'he Demarcation of the Field of Voluntary Charitable Work" is omitted. It was not forwarded by the reporter and has not since been fcrond. •WtTle delay which has occurred in the publication of this volume is due to the necessity of sending to England the proofs of the very valuable papers contributed through the kind agency of Mr. C. S. Loch, Secre- ■tary of the Charity Organization Society of London. As the authors were widely separated, much time was consumed in receiving the return proof sheets. Special acknowledgments are due not only to Mr. Loch, but also to the Rev. John G. Brooks, who was actively interested in securing communications from continental writers. The care of seeing this volume through the press was assumed by Mr. John M. Glenn, one of the managers of the Charity Organization Society of Baltimore. The Index has been prepared by David I. Green, Ph. D., recently called to the oversight of the Charity Organi- zation Society in Hartford, Conn. Baltimore, /a«?/rt!/-v, 1894. A PANORAMA OF CHARITABLE WORK IN MANY LANDS: BEING A REVIEW OF THE PAPERS SUBMITTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS IN CHICAGO, JUNE, 1893. BY DANIEL C. OILMAN. In the volume to which this essay is an introduction the reader will find an expression of opinions upon the organization and adminis- tration of charities from many thoughtful students and observers in England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and in many states of the American union. Most if not all the writers are persons who have devoted years to the study of human sufferings and delinquencies, and to the agencies b^ which the strong endeavor to bear in part the burdens of the weak. Many of the contributors, if not all, are offi- cially concerned in the administration of public or private charities. Not a few of them are known far beyond the borders of their own country as authorities or experts in the treatment of pauperism and the prevention of misery, vice and crime. Their collective essays afford a sort of panorama of the charitable work of Christendom, at the close of the nineteenth century. The panorama, however, is not complete. Hospitals, dispensaries, and institutions for the relief of the aged, the protection of the young, and the restoration of the feeble do not come within the present survey. Nor are educational, reformatory, or peni- tentiary establishments discussed in this volume. But the methods now employed in Europe and America for the prevention of pauperism, the relief of poverty, and the orderly administration of beneficence, are here succinctly set forth with all the variety of expression that is sug- gested by spontaneous efforts, in different conditions, under various tra- ditions and laws, and described by men and women who are unacquainted with the views of their collaborators. In all this diversity a remarka- ble unity of principles will be soon discovered. Four principles are generally recognized as wise and correct, and in some places are indeed so familiar that they appear elementary. First, the nature and influence of charitable works and the compara- tive values of different modes of procedure, are as worthy of exact A PANORAMA OF CHARITABLE WORK IN MANY LANDS. IX Study, as the facts and laws of political economy. If humanity is still far* 'from having worked out "a science of charity," it has taken the first steps toward the establishment of a systematic and trustworthy system; it has undertaken to collect the facts and to make some gene- raitfations upon the information thus brought together. Organized charity proceeds upon the assumption of the unity of human nature, so that although laws, religions, traditions and usages differ in different ->ands, like causes every where tend to produce the like effects. It examines the methods which have been employed for the relief of necessi- ties in the light of these consequent results. It records and compares the experience acquired in towhs and villages and country places. It notes the rise and fall of individual characters, and the uplifting or the degradation of families and neighborhoods. It observes particularly the effects of good a,nd bad financial laws and ordinances; good and bad sanitary regulations; good and bad religious and moral influences. As it makes these studies, charity organization is not at all alarmed if it is called in a sneering tone "scientific," for history is full of examples of the taunts that have been thrown upon the beginnings of a science. Nor is charity organization dismayed by being opposed as cold and unsympathetic. The medical and surgical arts are constant witnesses to the truth that severe remedies are sometimes the most efficacious, and that to be truly helpful to a sufferer, the adviser must be intelli- gent, calm, firm, and self-controlled. As the analogy between the diseases of the human body and the failures of human society is appa- rent, so too are the analogies of treatment. There must be a science of pathology, which ascertains and describes the characteristic lesions, before empirical methods can be superseded and the true principles of hygienic and sanitary science be established. In social as in bodily ailments the art of healing must be based upon ascertained facts and on accumulated experience. Secondly. It is another principle of charity organization that there shall be no needless expenditure of force, no dissipation of energy. Four agencies, which are at work in almost every community — civil, ecclesiastical, associated and individual beneficence — must be brought into such harmonious relations, that there will be no overlapping or duplication of charitable support. The State has its legitimate prov- ince; so has religious sympathy and good will; so has associated or institutional activity; so has private generosity. The effort of charity organization is to protect each of these humane influences and likewise X INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. to prevent their rivalry and conflict. There are two dangers ever hovering over a charitable community, — that the expenses of adminis- tration will be disproportionate to the good accomplished: and that for the lack of adjustment and co-operation, the recipient of aid will be so amply supplied that he becomes permanently dependent or pauper- ized. It is only by careful comparison of the facts that the benevolent forces of any community can be wisely and economically administered. Co-operation in charity is of prime importance. Thirdly. Charity, to be really and permanently efficacious, must always (except in emergencies, like fire, accident, and sudden illness), be guided by personal acquaintance with the wants that are to be re- lieved. Indiscriminate almsgiving at the door or on the street; the free bestowal of food " no questions being asked;" spasmodic liberality one day and crisp parsimony the next; the avoidance of particular inquiries in respect to the conditions of those who seek assistance, may satisfy the conscience of a tender-hearted person, but his alms will probably aggravate in his beneficiaries the distresses that ought to be healed. No process is more favorable to the encouragement of improvidence, laziness and intemperance, than the heedless generosity which gives to all who ask without discrimination. Nevertheless, busy people, espe- cially in large towns, are often unable to make domiciliary visits. Here come in the associated charities. A central office with its auxiliaries, and especially with its staff of agents and visitors, w^ill investigate for those who cannot make their own enquiries every apparent case of need. Fourthly. The best of all charities is not that which gives something for nothing; but that which gives something in return for industry, labor, economy, self-sacrifice and self-help. Work, for the strong and healthy, is better far than a dole. Useful labor, fairly requited, uplifts the needy man by perpetuating the consciousness that he does not belong to an impoverished class; bounties carelessly bestowed, without any return, tend to place the recipient in the ranks oT the pauper. This principle does not prevent generous treatment of those who are dependent, good pay for their work, and special help in times of sick- ness and distress; nor kindness to those who are rearing and teaching young children, to those who are in sorrow, to those suddenly thrown out of work. The effort is always to be made to keep from sinking lower those who by misconduct or misfortune are on the verge of per- manent shiftlessness and distress. But the main stay of every family, ^ A PANORAMA OF CHARITABLE WORK IN MANY LANDS. X.i as of every individual, must be work, unless age or infirmity intervenes; and those who are charitably disposed do the greatest service to the needy by providing for them tasks of a useful character for which a rootferate payment can be made. .^tt' short, Education, Registration, Co-operation, Visitation, and the Provision of Employment, are the five-fold agencies upon which the leaders in charities are united. From these general considerations let us proceed to notice the papers contained in this volume. First comes an admirable statement of the office of Charity set forth in an address delivered by the Rev. Francis G. Peabody of Harvard. This is followed by a report of the discussions elicited after hearing the essays read to the conference in Chicago. Many of the most intelligent workers in the charity organization societies of this country took part in these debates, and often in the familiar phrases of their off-hand expression, pithy statements and concrete illustrations were brought forth. They illuminated many sombre chapters of accumulated experience. Then come ninety pages on the work of charity organization in the Uiiited States, introduced by a very valuable compact history of the movement, by Mr. C. D. Kellogg, Secretary of the Charity Organization Society in New York. Twenty years ago there were no such associations in America. Now there are ninety-two in this country and Canada. No one is better qualified than Mr. Kellogg to make such a review. The communica- tion unabridged is to appear in the report of the Twentieth National Conference of Charities and Correction. The examples of associated charities are introduced by an historical paper on the State Charities Aid Association of New York by one of the original and chief supporters of that work. Miss Louisa Lee Schuy- ler, It is a remarkable exhibit, in most respects unicjue, of the possi- bility of enlisting friendly, voluntary agencies, in the visitation of pub- lic institutions without awakening the opposition, but rather with the welcome, of the governing authorities. This is only a part of the good work accomplished by the association. The acquaintance thus acquired in respect to the needs of the State enabled the managers to suggest and support many independent agencies of beneficence, — such as the training of nurses for hospital and for private service; the collection of books and papers for public institutions; the opening of temporary homes for needy children; the provision of immediate aid to the injured; Xn INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. the establishment of a municipal lodging house in New York; and the abolition of the poor-house system of caring for the insane. New Jersey is the only state which has endeavored to follow the example thus set by New York, and the story of the Charities Aid Asso- ciation of New Jersey is told by Mrs. Williamson. This society is only seven years old, but its value is demonstrated by the simple state- ment of what has been accomplished in that brief period. Indeed, as one reads the narrative of these two societies, so full of sensible, judicious and practical suggestions in respect to the possible co-operation of official authority and private philanthropy, it appears strange that the example has not been more widely followed. Doubt- less this clear summary of experiences will suggest to the citizens of other states the value of kindred organizations. The considera- tion, the tact, the devotion and the intelligence enlisted gratuitously in the public service are above praise. Mrs. Charles R. Lowell of New York next discusses the question whether labor colonies are needed in the United States, describing the experiment at Plainville, N. J., from 1874 to 1888, contrasting it with kindred European colonies. Her conclusion is that labor colonies are not needed in this country to provide an opportunity to work, but that they are needed for training, and that to be successful they must be under public control. The methods by which unskilled labor has been employed in various American cities are next described by Mr. Alfred T. White, President of the Bureau of Charities in Brooklyn, who presents in a few conclud- ing sentences the results of a great deal of experience and observation. The next paper is a discussion of "Registration," that is to say, of the practice so prevalent in charity organizations of keeping records of the relief furnished by the various co-operating agencies of any city. Those who are unfamiliar with this most important feature of modern charitable work in large towns, will here find the advantages of it ex- plained and the objections answered in a paper prepared by Miss F. R. Morse of Boston. Friendly Visiting is essential to the eftective relief of the poor, and this work is probably better done in Boston than any where else in this country. The requisites of such service are set forth in a paper by Mrs. Roger Wolcott of Boston. She does not favor perfunctory or official visitations, like the Elberfeld system, nor even what is commonly known as the "district " plan, but she shows what good may be accomplished ^ A PANORAMA OF CHARITABLE WORK. IN MANY LANDS. xiii when an intelligent and kind-hearted person becomes the friend of one or-t'wo families and gains their confidence. The next two papers are supplementary to one another and relate to a'ftrhdamental question, which has not yet received its final solution, air'^^st in this country. The doubtful point is the extent to which public contributions, that is allowances from the treasury of a city or a state, may be given to charities that are supported and controlled by ^private individuals. Mr. Alexander Johnson, of Indianapolis, points out the difficulties which may arise in the mind of an overseer of the poor, when he is asked to co-operate with a private charitable organi- zation, shows how these difficulties have been and may be overcome. Professor Warner (lately at the head of the public charities in Wash- ington), opposes, with a vigorous argument, the policy of granting sub- sidies to private charities. "As a transition policy for growing com- munities and for new and developing varieties of benevolent work, it may have its place ", but as a rule " all that can be said against sub- sidies in general can be said against this form of subsidies, and more, because here we have to deal with religious, medical and social secta- rianism." The second section of the volume before us is devoted to the papers which exhibit the practice of Continental States in the relief of the destitute. Mons. Valleroux, an advocate of Paris, presents an histori- cal survey of French charities as administered in three epochs, — before the Revolution, during the Revolution, and since the Revolution. In the first period he says that private beneficence did every thing; in the second, the government assumed full control, even to the extent of pro- hibiting private charities; in the new regime, charity is exercised both by the public authorities and by individuals. At the present time, he notes a growing tendency to put every thing into the hands of the gov- ernment, "and to replace the ancient form of charity, done by the faithful with their money and for the safety of their souls, by a charity done by the administration with the money of taxpayers and for elec- toral purposes." Mons. Valleroux adds a few pages upon Belgium, where the historical antecedents are akin to those of France. The present tendency of legislation is toward an alleviation of the burdens of the communes and the increase of those of the central government. Signor Rossi discusses the charitable organizations of Italy, giving a brief historical preface, and introducing elaborate statistical tables, most of which are based upon the government returns of 1880. One XIV INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. of the most interesting parts of this essay is the analysis ot the Poor Law of i8go. If the benevolence of the middle ages was almsgiving, modern charity is "work and education", and "the new law of Italy is imbued with this spirit." A paper by Baron Von Reitzenstein of Freiburg, Baden, which was pjepared for the first section of the Congress, is here presented in an abstract. This is far from doing justice to an extended and suggestive paper to which the student must be referred. It gives a comparative view of the methods of relief employed in different countries, and it praises the charity organization societies of England and America, while the Elberfeld system of Germany receives the highest place among existing methods, because it reserves to the township the administra- tion of relief, while it also makes the freest use of the unpaid services of responsible private citizens. This is a good introduction to the two papers which come next, on the Elberfeld system of poor relief, prepared by Dr. Theodore Munster- berg of Hamburg, and by Dr. Thoma of Freiburg. "Organization," says Munsterberg, "is the magic word which alone can solve these difficult problems." Good results depend "upon the consideration and treat- ment of each individual case." This principle of "individualization" was brought to life, forty years ago in Elberfeld, and now stands in Germany "as the type of a good and appropriate system of poor relief." After giving some details in respect to the methods of this system, the author states that other large and small cities, Leipsic, Dresden, Konigsberg, Frankfort o. M., Cologne, etc., have adopted the Elberfeld plan, and he shows particularly the results attained in Hamburg, a city of 600,000 inhabitants, where some noteworthy modi- fications of the plan were adopted in 1893, with signs of great promise. Dr. Thoma, reminding the reader that an overseer or visitor of the poor, has at most but four cases to look after, describes the success of the Elberfeld system in Freiburg, Breisgau, where it was introduced in 1879. While he admits that there are here and there weak points which come to light only in practice, he is persuaded of the excellence of his plan and believes that "the splendid results achieved since 1853 indicate that the system will hold its position in the future, not only in Freiburg, but in all Germany." To these two papers a noteworthy addition is made by Herr Seyffardt, who is the presiding officer of the charity administration in Crefeld. ^ A PANORAMA OF CHARITABLE WORK IN MANY LANDS. XV In reply to an inquiry from our colleague, Rev. John Graham Brooks, as to, whether it was often found necessary for the central board to over- rule the decisions of the local overseers or visitors, he admits that some such-*upervision is sometimes requisite, but he deprecates any action whichijvould "weaken the very vital nerve of the Elberfeld system, — the moral responsibility of the overseer for the poor whom he has to take care of." Two important communications came from Dr. Victor Bohmert, chief of the Royal Statistical Bureau in Saxony. In the first, he pre- sents an argument for the organization of public poor relief and for the supervision of private charities, and he quotes as applicable to the large towns of Germany this remonstrance from the Board of Charities in Paris. It is instructive to notice that the evils so apparent in American cities are equally apparent under other forms of government and admin- istration. These are the words quoted from Paris: "The same per- sons are relieved twice and oftener; much money and labor is squan- dered; the capital is overwhelmed with the destitute from the provinces and abroad, who can neither be properly relieved nor sent back to their homes. ' ' Dr. Bohmert briefly indicates the attempts made in Prussia and Austria to secure co-operation among the public and private agencies for the relief of distress; and in greater detail he brings out the experi- ence of Dresden, the capital of Saxony, a city of 276,000 inhabitants. Here in 1880 the Elberfeld system was adopted. Four hundred official overseers were appointed, to each of whom not more than five cases were assigned. A society for the prevention of pauperism and mendi- cancy soon enrolled 4,000 members, and soon established a rent savings bank, workshops for residents and transients out of work, and an employment bureau. Finally the public authorities instituted a cen- tral bureau of information and called upon all the voluntary organiza- tions "to join in the officially prepared plans and enter into closer relations with one another, as well as with the public relief." The par- ticulars of this movement are very suggestive and instructive, but an American reader cannot fail to notice that similar action on the part of our municipalities, in the present unfortunate conditions of city government, would certainly be fruitless. At present we must strive for co-operation by the forces of moral suasion and not of city ordi- nances. Dr. Bohmert firmly believes in the co-operation of public and private agencies, and commends the experience of Elberfeld and Cre- feld, "two model cities in the organization of poor relief." XVI INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The second paper of this able writer, describes the Volkswohi, or People's Club of Dresden, for the promotion of evening entertain- ments, lectures, concerts, refreshment rooms, homes for girls, homes for apprentices, and other agencies for the alleviation of the lot of those who are not impoverished, but are bread winners on small pay and without access to the comforts and recreations that are enjoyed by the more favored classes. This paper is an excellent concrete illustra- tion of the way in which the life of those who are humble and destitute, but not downcast or forlorn, may be enriched and elevated. A brief paper from Dr. Georgievsky of St. Petersburg gives a sum- mary of the charitable works of the Russian capital, and indicates the inception of a scheme for introducing a special bureau of information, like that which has been successful in Dresden. The third section of our volume is devoted to Great Britain. To the efficient co-operation of Mr. C. S. Loch, Secretary of the Charity Organization Society of London, the Chicago Congress is greatly indebted. By his kind mediation, papers have been brought together illustrating the opinions of men and women respecting charity organi- zation in the metropolis. The experience of Marylebone, a west end district, where begging abounded and benefactions overlapped until better methods were employed, may be contrasted with a plain and unembellished tale of Whitechapel. Shoreditch, St. Olave's, and Isling- ton also furnish memoirs. The London chapter concludes with a paper by Mr. T. Mackay on co-operation between the public and private charitable agencies. The aims of the society to secure reforms of the Poor Law are distinctly brought out. This section concludes with a similar series of papers from industrial centres, — Manchester, Roch- dale, Bristol, Aberdeen, — and from Bradfield, a rural union, ''where outdoor relief has almost reached the vanishing point, and where some of the principles of charity organization were formulated as far back as 1834, although there is no charity organization society." The writers of the British papers are these: Mr. C. S. Loch, Rev. B. H. Alford, Rev. Dr. Bradby, Mr. C. N. Nicholson, Mr. C. P. Larner, Miss L. Sharpe, Mr. T. Mackay, Mr. Alexander McDougall, Mis.s Elizabeth Sturge, Mr. R. A. Leach, Mr. George Milne, Mr. H. G. VVil- link, Rev. Brooke Lambert, Miss F. C. Prideaux, Mr. B. Fleming and Mr. C. H. Wyatt. To this review, which is intended to facilitate the perusal of a rather complex collection of papers, some conclusions may be added. .'*' A PANORAMA OF CHARITABLE WORK IN MANY LANDS. XV 11 These essays embody the most recent observations, experience and sugg'estions of some of the ablest promoters of associated and organ- ized charities in Great Britain, on the continent and in this country. Th&yare written for the direct purpose of enlightening and helping th^great hosts of benevolent persons who are so humane as to be devoted to the relief of the distressed and cast down, and who are at the same time so intelligent that they wish to work upon the best plans, 3Yith- the greatest prospects of success. The careful study of these papers, with the critical and suggestive comments, may be commended to the members of charity organization boards throughout this country. The papers are undoubtedly technical, devoted to matters of fact. For this very reason they will well reward the careful reader. But it is hoped that another class of persons will be helped by this volume, the students of social economics and the writers of articles on pauperism and charities, and also the administrators of almshouses, workhouses and the other manifold establishments which deal with the unfortunate and neglected. In the bestowal of charity and in the prevention of misery, the world has reached a new epoch. It is clearly perceived that some measures afford only temporary gratification to the giver and the recipient, while others promote the permanent improvement of character. Kind senti- ments are not dulled by the study of facts. On the contrary, they are not most devoted to the poor who drop a quarter or a nickel in the hand of every beggar, but those who take pains to follow up each applicant, personally or through some vicarious friend, until the real needs of the applicant are discovered, and the measures of permanent re- lief are applied. "Not alms but a friend," "not doles but employ- ment," "not help for an instant, but permanent relief," "not degrad- ing but uplifting aid" are the watchwords of modern charity. Thus the needy are kept from becoming paupers, and those who are striving to do their best are helped upward and onward. Nobody doubts that material relief, food, fuel, clothing, must be given away, and in times of emergency, when hard times prevail, the bounty of the forehanded must be bestowed on those who arc suffering. But one method will aggravate the disability; another method will remove it. Co-operation between all private and church associations, and where possible with the public authorities, leads at once to the careful registration of what is done and what remains to be done. Then comes personal investigation with sympathy and counsel for those who will accept it. Relief can B XVlll INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. always be secured when necessity is apparent. Those whose degrada- tion and wickedness prevents their response to these elevating influences must pay the penalty of their habits and be placed in the almshouse or the infirmary or the prison. Social reforms go very slowly. It is much easier for men to walk in the ways to which they are wonted than to mark out and traverse better routes. But by persistence reforms are accomplished. Science, which is only another word for exact knowledge, always has the worst of it in its first struggle with ignorance and prejudice; but it always wins in the end. Science has only just taken up the problem of relief. It has not yet made a careful survey of the situation. The subtle but perva- sive influences of religion, legislation, administration, finance, custom, prejudice and tradition are factors, the significance of which is not fully understood, and will not be for generations to come. But meanwhile a good deal has been ascertained, and upon these ascertained facts very good working plans may even now be built. Human suffering can be greatly relieved, if it cannot be prevented or exterminated. The human race seems likely to replenish its fallen ranks with a cer- tain number of the incompetent, the inefficient, the weak-witted, the vicious. It will always be a problem how far such persons are to be dealt with by the severe methods of the law, or by the gentler agen- cies of kindness. But the denizens of the lower stratum are not nearly so numerous, nor so difficult to deal with, as those who have been fairly well off, but who now (it may be by their own faults, — it may be by the faults of others, — it may be by circumstances and conditions which human analysis cannot reveal), have entered on the downward road, or are in danger of making that fearful descent. These we can reach. Organization, co-operation, and friendly visitation are the general agencies which in each particular case of need will bring out the abun- dant resources of a charitable community. THE PROBLEM OF CHARITY. xix ^ THE PROBLEM OF CHARITY. BY REV. FRANCIS G. PEABODY, PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS, HAR- .-t . ■'" YARD UNIVERSITY. The first and the most interesting thought with ^vhich one faces an assemblage like this, is the thought of the special quality and character of life which it represents. Other Congresses in this great series will gather here many of the world's most conspicuous names and most famous leaders, but the meeting which begins to-day does not depend on reputation or fame to fulfil its rich opportunity. It is not a Con- gress of those who are achieving great names for themselves or famous deeds for their country ; it is the Congress of self-sacrifice, the meeting of those who are content to be unknown if only the world in which they live can be made better through their service. It stands for quiet self-forgetfulness and unassuming devotion. It is a Congress whose special motto might be that strange word of the Christian gospel: "He that would be the greatest among you shall be the servant of all." I see the delegates to such a Congress gathering here from all their dif- ferent works of self-eft'acing benevolence; I see you coming from your asylums and reformatories, from your charity offices with their pathetic clients, and from your beautiful visitations in many a sunless home ; and yet, as you meet, I see in your faces not the weary look of those who have borne with much hard duty, but the unaffected happiness which comes to men and women only through a life of generosity and service. I congratulate you on this great privilege of your chosen work. It is a great joy to feel sure, as you may, that in your vocation you are dealing with the central problems of this modern age. The fundamental law of the naturalist is said to be the survival of the fit ; the much more fundamental law of the charity worker is the revival of the unfit; and this revival of the fitness to survive in the degraded and outcast, the unfortunate and defeated in the competition of life, is the new science for whose transforming power the world is waiting, and whose ministers it is your ha])])y privilege to be. XX INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Many of you, no doubt, are so immersed by the details and routine of your daily life that you hardly realize the nature of this extraordi- nary spiritual movement in which you have your part. If in these days, as of old, the Master of the spiritual life should come to you in your daily work and say : "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was naked, and ye clothed me; sick and in prison, and ye came unto me," you would, I doubt not, answer with the same surprise which others of the old time felt: "Master, when saw we Thee hungry and fed Thee, or sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?" No such great task as this is given to us to do. And yet, I think that He, who knew what was in man, if He could stand in the midst of such an assemblage as this with its devoted workers and generous administrators, would say, as He did of old, and with a deeper sympathy perhaps than He could feel in many a church that bears His name: "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." To an audience thus composed I do not presume to come with any word of practical advice. 1 do not propose to offer counsel about charity to those who know her and serve her best. In all such ques- tions of past history, or present administration, or future programme, we are soon to listen to wise counsellors of many nations and tongues, and I do not anticipate the themes which are to be presented to us in these busy days. And yet, before we separate to these varied delibera- tions, it may be well to pause a moment in the region of more general thoughts, and to give one quiet look together over the Avhole range of the work which you have given your lives to do. Let us for a moment stand off from the details of the task, as the artist now and then stands off ftom the work over which he lovingly and laboriously bends, that he may the better see how each part is related to one harmonious whole. Or rather, let us go up — as officers of an army go up — out of the smoke and conflict of the battle they are fighting, to some remoter hill-top where the plan of the whole campaign lies less obscured beneath their feet; and then, perhaps, we may go down again and take our places in our own special battalion, and fight our own little battle against social wrong, with a renewed and a more patient hope. Standing thus together, then, at this point of general view, I wish to ask with you the most general question which our subject can possibly suggest: What is this phenomenon of charity, I enquire, in which each ' THE PROBLEM OF CHARITY. XXI of US has his special part? What is the nature of this field of service 'which we see stretching away about us on so many sides? How can we define the work with which modern charity undertakes to deal? , "Wiat is the problem of charity? That is the elementary question "^wfiich I ask you to consider. And the first and most general answer to this most general question is this, — that the problem of charity in the modern world is a vastly larger thing than either the name or the *^ history of charity might lead one to expect. For many centuries charity has occupied a very limited and special field. Its sphere has been bounded by the practice of alms-giving for temporary relief. It has needed but two elements; on the one hand, the tender-heartedness of the giver; and, on the other, the mendicancy of the receiver. The prosperous have felt ill at ease while their neighbors suffered, and have mitigated the lot of the unfortunate by doles of money or material sup- port. That has been the work of charity. Let us recognize the beau- tiful impulse which such a work represents. It is an impulse which has its historical beginning with the birth of Christianity. Along with other mighty truths then entering into the world there came a new deal of human nature, a sense of value in each human soul for its own sake, however degraded or forsaken that soul might be. Out of the new faith in the Fatherhood of God flowed this other new faith in the brother- hood of men, and it made one of the great transitions in the evolution of the human race. The poor and rejected, the submerged of man- kind, were regarded in a wholly new light when they were thus accepted as essential parts of the one body in Christ. The solidarity of the race became a practical belief. If one suffered, all suffered with him. The "Caritas" of the Christians gave a quality and color to human rela- tions which classic civilization never knew. Poverty was no longer a bar to brotherhood. It was rather an invitation to the new fraternity. Through the custom and worship of the early Christian Church there ran this golden thread of practical faith, that relief of a brother's want was the first test of a true Christian life. And yet, beautiful as this new sense of value was, it brought with it its own new danger. The new zeal for charity came to demand the poverty on which to spend itself. The new philanthropy created a new mendicancy. Poverty grew by what it fed on. Mendicancy came before long to be a profession, and unproduc- tive idleness to be one mark of a saint. The workers of the world had to support an increasing number of these sacred unemployed. There XXll INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. seemed to be little virtue in making one's honest living, but great vir- tue in giving alms to those who did not make their living. Thus Chris- tian charity threatened to become, for .the rich, little more than the sen- timental atonement for prosperity; and for the poor a grave temptation to indolence, pauperism and fraud. How slowly any change was to come in this conception of charity is to be seen even now in many an Oriental nation, where alms-giving and mendicancy are still all that represent the work of charity, and where the notion of a Congress of scientific students to discuss the principles of charity would seem simply absurd. But in western Europe and the countries populated therefrom, partly through a better understanding of Christianity itself, and partly through the growth of the scientific spirit, a new range of opportunity has by degrees opened before the work of charity. The new forms of industrial life, the vastly greater social complexity, the increasing wealth, the manifold inventions and the democratic spirit of the last fifty years, have made for us a new social environment, with new problems calling for new rules of conduct. Just as our methods of trade have been transformed by steam and telegraph so that the sailing-vessel to the Indies and the merchant's letter of advice are now like ancient history to us, so modern charity has by degrees left behind it the elementary relation of giving and receiving, and has become a part of the great complex unity of modern life. It is not that the earlier ideal has had to be out-grown, but that it has had to be intelligently directed. We inherit from the past of philanthropy this great spiritual force, which has proved itself a natural part of human life just as the force of steam or of electricity is a natural part of the physical world, and we are now called, not to the repression of this impulse to charity, but to the dis- cipline of it for the service of the world. The scientific mind fastens on this dynamic capacity of the love of man, just as it takes possession of the electric current and harnesses it to the machinery of modern life; and then this force of Christian feeling which in its undisciplined use threatened peril to society, for the first time discloses the many direc- tions in which it can be profitably applied, and the larger service it was designed to do. Just as the electric flash is applied to its scientific ser- vice of heat and light and motion, so the instinct of charity, instead of being an occasional sentiment lighting up here and there the selfish world as an electric flash lights up a midnight sky, becomes the foun- dation of a science and is practically utilized in ways of which the 'T THE PROBLEM OF CHARITY. XXIU •earlier world did not dream. The old charity was simply the unre- flecting expression of the sheer emotion of pity; the new charity directs this emotion along definite economic lines. The old charity satisfied &ifF feelings of the giver by alms; the new charity educates the receiver ,J^do without alms. The old charity was temporary relief; the new- charity is continuous education. The old charity had but one way of ■expression; the new charity has a thousand channels. Often the most ^charitable course is that which has the least so-called charity about it. It is better charity to find work than to relieve want, better charity to teach a trade than to encourage the trade of mendicancy, better charity to provide stimulus for thrift than to make thrift unnecessary. The ■old charity met the drunken beggar on the street and gave him the means for his further degradation; the new charity meets a drunken woman on the crowded thoroughfare — as did one fair girl in one of our great cities not long ago — puts an arm round the poor bewildered wretch, passes down the busy street hand locked in hand, puts the woman to bed, and then watches the patient from day to day until at last the demon of drink may be driven out by the expulsive power of a new affection, and the body and soul of a human being may be saved . Such is modern charity in its new summons to its larger work. And now I go on to ask once more for a definition of the conduct thus de- scribed. What is the problem of charity as it thus opens- before us in this new breadth and scope? It is, I answer, a twofold problem — the same problem which meets any man who has at his command a special force with which to work, and a special work .given for that force to do. Here, on the one hand, is this power of a great spiritual idea, and here, on the other hand, is the mighty mechanism of modern life with its awful contrasts, its pitiful competitions, its tragic incidents ; and to apply this ideal to this reality — that is the problem of charity. It is, in short, ethics applied to economics ; the sense of duty introduced as a dynamic into the complex machinery of the modern world. And what does this problem demand of charity? It demands two elements, each perfectly distinct and each absolutely essential. One element is the method of charity: the other is its motive. The method must be the method of business. It must not conflict with economic principles ; it must conform to them and reinforce them. The motive, on the other hand, must be that of ethics — the same sense of l^rotherhood which once XXIV INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. satisfied itself with almsgiving, precisely as active in its influence, but disciplined in its use. And here at once appear the two risks of modern charity — risks which are equally familiar and equally misleading. Char- ity may, on the one hand, be unbusiness-like, so that the motive lacks method; or charity may become wholly a matter of business, so that the method lacks motive. You may introduce the power carelessly, and then your machine will be shattered; or, you may trust to the machine to run itself, and then the machine will stop. Here, then, are the two cardi- nal principles of charity— its economic method and its supra-economic impulse. The one gives to charity its science, the other preserves to charity its sentiment. Science without sentiment is like an engine without steam; beautifully adjusted it may be in all its parts, but practically a lifeless- structure. Sentiment without science is like steam which is unapplied to its proper work or unchecked in its expansion. The moment one con- siders the nature of any modern movement of charity, he sees these two- opposite aspects of the case. Take, for instance, the work — now so- widely and beneficently undertaken — of providing improved lodgings for the poor. The first test of such a scheme is, as you are well aware, the business test. To be wise charity, such an undertaking must, first of all, be good business; and the demonstration that security, privacy and cleanliness can be provided for the poor on strictly commercial terms- and with business success, makes perhaps the most conspicuous triumph of scientific charity. But turn the same case round and the other side of the problem appears. What is it, after all, that makes such dwell- ings financial successes? It is that they express the thoughtfulness, con- siderateness and justice of those who built them. Put them in the hands^ of unscrupulous owners, and the very elements which induce good tenants to seek them — the safety, the privacy, the inducement to thrift — disappear, and with these disappears also the commercial advantage. Thus the motive which distinguishes such lodgings from the surround- ing rookeries is, after all, what gives them their business. Philanthropy rightly directed has economic value. Wise charity is good business. Benevolence has a place in the modern industrial world. Or, observe again this same twofold character in your associated charities system : It has its mechanism, and that mechanism is disciplinary, negative, stern. But this machinery only performs its service that there may work through it the mission of the friendly visitor, bearing a moral motive to the poor. The two sides of this system are essential to each ^ IHE PROBLEM OF CHARITY. XXV olher. Take away the machinery, and the friendly visitor has no^^ecurity from fraud ; take away the friendly visitor, and the system tempts one to look for fraud and little else. The business me.tlM)d runs the risk of hard-headedness, and the kindly friend the risk of^pft^heartedness, and the twofold nature of wise charity is the essen- tial basis and strength of the whole scheme. In the book of the pro- ])het Ezekiel there is a wonderful picture of the world of heaven. It \vas to him a vision of many and bewildering wheels. ':th Section OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES, CORRECTION. AND PHILANTHROPY, CHARITY OROANIZATION. PROCEEDINGS <^ntcx-nattc«Jirtl QTottnx'ess of (•Thartttea, ®ori*ecttc»n atxh ^Tittlrttxthfopa. SIXTH SECTION. FIRST SESSION, June 12, 1893.— 2 P. M. The sixth Section of this Congress assembled at 2 o'clock P. M. The chair was taken at the request of the Committee of Arrangements by Robert Weeks De Fores r, Esq., of New York, President of the Charity Organization Society in that city. The Secretary was Professor R. Mayo-Smith, of Columbia College, New York. The Chairman, in calling the meeting to order, spoke as follows : This is purely a business meeting, and when I say business meeting I mean that we meet here, not simply for the purpose of talking, but in order, if possible, to get at some results. As most of you know, we unfortunately have not the pleasure of the presence of the presiding officer of this particular section, President Oilman of the Johns Hop- kins University. He is unable to be present here by reason of the closing exercises of his university, and it therefore devolves u[)on me to preside. In the first place, I would suggest that the Secretary read a letter which President Oilman, as Chairman of the Committee of Arrange- ments, has addressed to the members of the Congress. This is properly the first act in the proceedings of what I will call for short the Charity Organization Section of this Congress. The Secretary thereupon read a letter from President Oilman, dated Baltimore, Md., June 6, 1893, rehearsing the various steps that had been taken in making the arrangements for this section of the Congress, and in securing appropriate papers. The Chairman. — That is the keynote to the plans of this particular .section of this Congress. We aim, as you see by this letter, not sim- ply to have a number of papers read here, amid all the distractions that must necessarily attend a meeting of this kind, and with all the 4 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Other papers that are being read on so many different topics at the same time in the other sections of this Congress. We aim to print a volume, or vohimes, which shall contain whatever there may be of per- manent,value in the papers presented to us. This Congress, as perhaps it is wise to remind ourselves, is an international one, and the front seat naturally belongs to those of our foreign friends who are present. Now, unfortunately, our foreign friends are very few in this meeting, and that is the reason why the majority of those who speak at our sessions will be Americans. But, on the other hand, it must not be supposed that because our foreign friends are not here in person they have not a deep interest in this Congress, and in this particular sec- tion of it. We have a large number of papers from different foreign countries, from gentlemen of the highest standing and reputation ; and those papers we propose to present in the printed volume. We have for this particular sectional meeting the following foreign papers ; a paper on Charity Organization in Germany, by Professor Victor Bohmert, of Dresden ; on Compulsory Organization of Cliarities in Italy, by Dr. Egisto Rossi, of Rome ; on Scientific Charities in Ger- many, by Baron von Reitzenstein, of Freiburg ; on Relief of the Poor in Russia, by Professor H. Georgievsky, of St. Petersburg ; on Charity Organization in Relation to Voluntary Effort, by Rev. Brooke Lambeth, Vicar of Greenwich, England; and additional papers are promised. We have also a number of important communications from our own countrymen. The first subject of our meeting is " The Demarcation of the Field of Voluntary Charitable Work." It is a pretty broad subject, and is intended to bring out a free discussion as to the proper scope of volun- tary and governmental effort in charities in general, and, it may be, of the proper scope of charity organization societies in particular. The first paper will be from Levi L. Barbour, Esq., of Detroit, Mich. The Chairman then introduced Mr. Barbour, who read his memoir on the subject above named. After the conclusion of this paper a discussion followed, introduced by the presiding officer, Mr. De Forest. The Chairman. — It is interesting to note that this first American paper brings out and lays down what may be called the fundamental principle of American charity, namely, that our charities should be supported by the people by voluntary contributions and not by the gov- ernment with public funds. That is an important and broad doctrine, and I do not suppose it can be discussed as applicable to mankind in general. I suppose it is a question that must be discussed in relation to a particular country. Not long since I had the pleasure of showing a friend around our New York institutions, and I took him to see a hospital. He said : "Is this private?" 'athy, but they are skilled and trained in the work. We have divided the city of New York into districts. I wish Mrs. FuUerton was present here, and she could tell you better about the work. Each one of these women has charge of a great section of the city, at least as far as the cases reported to us. Every morning at nine o'clock they meet in the superintendent's office, and there is no more interesting place in New York to study the methods and modes of charitable work- ing than in our office between nine and ten, when you may hear the reports and see the work which is done. The visitors then give in their reports of the cases which they have seen upon the previous day, the new cases are handed over to them and at ten o'clock they go out upon their rounds, all over that vast city, returning next morning with the reports of the new cases and to receive again the fresh ones. We pro- fess, whenever it is desired, to give within twenty-four hours a written report on any case that is sent to us by any clergyman, by any society, by any subscriber, in fact, by any friend. We also go a step further. We undertake the charge of the family or of the individual, and I do not think that you will find that we let them go until they are set upon their feet or no longer recjuire relief. The Chairman. — Now we have heard from large cities and we have also heard that it is probably easier to develop the work of friendly visiting in smaller cities. 1 know you will all like to hear some words from a smaller city, and I am going to ask Miss Starr, of Burlington, 26 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. to tell US of her work, and of the success in Burlington of the friendly visitors. Miss M. E. Starr, Secretary of the Charity Organization Society, Burlington, Iowa. — Our society is only a year and a half old, and I do not think with its youth and limited field and its inexperience that it will be of any value here. But Mr. Brackett has asked me whether or not we have been able to secure a sufficient number of visitors who would visit their families often enough and earnestly enough. While believing heartily in friendly visiting and hoping that it will one day accomplish what it aims to do, I must answer that thus far we have not been success- ful. I attribute the failure to two reasons. One is that the visitors have too many families to care for. We have had during the last year about 130 families and about 70 visitors, but the number of working visitors is so small that many have had five families to visit and some more. With an average number of demands upon a visitor outside of her friendly visiting I do not think that she can care for more than two families in a way that will tend to raise them above the need of relief. Then another difficulty has been a lack of definite information on the part of many visitors as to what was expected of them; this is partly due to a failure to attend the meetings. How to remedy that I do not know, and I wish some one could tell me. It may be also partly due to a lack of sufficient communication between the visitors them- selves. Mr. George D. Holt, Secretary of Associated Charities, Minneapo- lis. — I think the matter of friendly visiting, considering the limited time in which we have engaged in it, is very far advanced. Our city has a population of 171,000 and we have slums and everything of that kind, with individual cases that are probably just as depressing and as hard to reach as in any city, but of course not so numerous. The thought has occurred to me, as this discussion has gone on as to the great city of New York, why it would not be a good idea to adopt the plan we have in our city in reference to the liquor traffic, called the "Police Limits," where no liquor is allowed to be sold. Why could not this friendly visiting be iiitroduced into some section of New York and made a com- plete success there and then spread out? I think that is the reason why we have succeeded so well. We did not district the city all off and establish a conference in every one of the districts, but we simply started with one and were very careful in selecting the workers to start with, and now it has spread into four conferences covering the entire city and the money to meet all expenses was in sight before we attempted it. I think that if the matter is started in this way it will be successful, and I speak of this for those who are just starting in the city work. Raising money has not been difficult in Minneapolis. The gentleman from New York spoke about the pre-occupied condition of the citizens. I think you will find that eminently true of the citizens of the north- ^ CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 27 west. They are pre-occupied, and that is one of the hardest things to overcome. Dr. J. W. Walk, of Philadelphia. — There have been, during the dis- cussions of the congress, several references to Philadelphia which I wo'CiTd^ like to explain, if possible. Mr. Paine, I think, referred to the fafttrlhat Philadelphia had once had a large number of visitors, but had not kept up the number, and the chairman of the Charity Organization committee of the National Conference in making his report said that Philadelphia did not report its visitors. Well, I want to make a very frank admission. I will tell you exactly what is the matter. When Philadelphia began the charity organization work, as you know, it began with a great many district organizations, which were relieving agencies, and which are yet relief agencies. The visitors at the very start in many of the organizations became almoners of relief. The visitors gave relief and even where they did not give it they made recommendations to the superintendent, which soon came to have the force of commands, so that a visitor in going to a family was recog- nized as some one who could give an order for food or clothing or for the payment of rent or for other things. Now, 1 think every one in this room will agree, and I think the gentleman who is president of the New York Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and Mr. De Forest, President of the Charity Organization Society of New York, will agree with all the others that when relief is to be given at all, it should be given by an expert, specially qualified to judge the conditions which require relief, and to discriminate among the people who are to have it, so that he does not give the treatment for consumption to the man who has rheu- matism. Now then, what is our position in Philadelphia? After the first few years we had hundreds of visitors, who were acting as almoners of relief, either directly or otherwise. That was the condition when Mr. Kel- logg, who at that time held an official position in Philadelphia, went to New York. We found that that condition could not continue and grad- ually our visitors fell off. I have made no report this year, because I want to tell the exact truth, and it was very hard to tell the truth about that condition of things; I mean, hard to express it in a way that would not be misunderstood. We have more than 500 names of visitors on the list, but I did not report them, because I am afraid a great many of them are simply names. I hope that a time will come, when Philadel])hia will have — (because we are not "pre-occupied" there; we have jjlenty of time to eat and sleep in Philadelphia; we get along nearly as well as the people that work 25 hours a 7 .nineteen societies reported to the Conference, and the com- mitted grew to a section, which published a separate report of its own proceedings. Suppression of Out-Door Relief. — Simultaneously with the begin- ning of charity organization, and promoted by the same men, there was a repression, in important cities, of official out-door relief. Returns from four cities for that time, show that the amount saved to tax- payers in 1880, was $396,403. This event attracted wide attention in watchful official circles and was the beginning of a wiser administra- tion of the charitable funds raised by taxation in many communities. Ten Years of Growth. — In 1882, there were twenty-two charity organization societies known to exist in the United States, and ten others which had adopted some of the leading features of this move- ment, and were enrolled as correspondents with the former societies. They embraced cities and towns having a population of 6,331,700, or twelve per cent, of the total of the United States, and among them were the chief centres of influence in the country. Of these societies ten were in or had just completed the first year of their operations, admin- istering in incorporated populations of 2,363,138. From this point it is practicable to make tables and comparisons which exhibit the growth of the charity organization movement in the United States. At the close of the year 1892, there were ninety-two charity orga- nization and affiliated societies, an increase of two hundred and seventy-eight per cent, in ten years ; and they were located in cities and towns comprising a population estimated at 11,080,766. In nearly every instance the motive leading to these organizations is declared to have been discontent with the prodigality and efficiency of public relief, and the chaotic state of private charity. Ttiw Types. — Classified by their relation to almsgiving, twenty-five report that they do not give material relief from their own funds ; twenty that they do relieve ; nine, that they do so only in emergent cases, and of these two say they do so in order to avoid official out- relief. In 188 1, there were but twelve non-relieving and seven reliev- ing societies reporting. Lapsed Societies. — It is known to this committee that thirteen charity organization societies have been formed and dissolved. A few are 46 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. practically in suspension. Various causes may be assigned for the creation of this delinquent and lapsed list. For the most part the nascent society yielded to the opposition of the friends of the old system, or was planted on a community not prepared to compre- hend and maintain it. Probably the lack of trained and capable superintendents, and of suitable friendly visitors prepared to bear the restraints of charity organization, is the chief cause of mis- carriage. On Reports from Societies. — The last ten years of the history of charity organization, the amplified report will exhibit in tabulated statistics appended thereto, merely calling attention to their salient points and results. For its preparation a circular letter was prepared and sent to every society known to your committee. It is to be regretted that many of the returns were very imperfect. From the material furnished the following exhibit is made : Changes of Method. — Relief Adopted: — In a movement so recent there has been small room to judge of the effects of various methods and to devise new plans of work. There are three distinct phases of development to be detected in the growth of their work: (i) the adoption of material relief; (2) the abolition or reduction of such relief; and (3) the expansion of friendly visiting and provident enter- prises. Four societies report a change from organizing and co-opera- tive work by adding thereto the distribution of some form of alms. From statements made to us the inference is that alms relief has been for the most part taken up in a very restricted way, and but few charity organization societies, which did not begin with it, have since adopted it. Relief Withheld. — On the other hand, several of our societies have distinctly receded from the work of material relief, to seek it by co- operation with other benevolent agencies. Notable is the history of Cincinnati and Detroit, where their several independent district asso- ciations were abolished, and a board of trustees were put in complete charge of the administration. From the important city of Philadel- phia, where the society began with its sovereignty lodged in ward asso- ciations, the report comes that the central board has gained in influ- ence and authority over the ward administration and is now enforcing the charity organization theory more vigorously than was possible at first. In Pueblo and San Francisco direct relief has receded, and been replaced with better systems of investigation and co-operation with CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 47 Other charitable agencies. Syracuse has restricted its material relief to the merest tiding over of emergent cases until some judgment can be reached on the better disposition of an applicant for aid, and this soci^ty'enrolls itself as a non-relieving association. fiance. — In extenuation of the enormous percentages of contribut- ing support, it must be remembered that this review embraces only fourteen organizations in 1882, several ofvvhich were in their first year, and compares them with fifty-four societies reporting ten years later. In the last ten years the number of societies trebled; individual con- tributors quadrupled ; contributing churches and societies increased more than three hundred and seven per cent. The income of forty- eight societies increased three-fold in 1892 over that of seventeen in 1882, and reached an aggregate of $263,421. Fourteen societies report the beginning of invested funds, and together hold property and securities valued at $409,038. Real Estate. — Endowments began in Buffalo in 1880, when through the generosity of a single individual the Fitch Creche was established, at a cost of about $40,000. To this gift Mr. Benjamin Fitch added much other property, conveying it by deed of trust to the society for the purpose of encouraging provident schemes. The Fitch Institute, completed in 1883, not only affords offices for the accommodation of the society, but within it are comprised an accident hospital and a training-school for nursery maids and domestic servants. Very noble is the admirable and imposing United Charities Building of New York, erected by Mr. John S. Kennedy, and dedicated March 6th, 1893. It was deeded to four of the principal charity societies of the city, who manage it through a board of trustees chosen by them. Each has an equal share in the use and income of the structure, and one of these is the Charity Organization Society. As it cost over $600,000, the equity of this society is valued at $150,000. The Charities Building in Char- don street, Boston, was already in existence when the Associated Chari- ties of that city were organized, and here that society has always had its head(iuarters free of rent. The Bridgeport society owns a building valued at $11,000; that of Cleveland, one valued at $23,000, and New Haven has a fund of $30,000 dedicated to a like purpose. These edi- fices are centres of conference, co-operation and exchanges of informa- tion, and virtually add an estimated value of about $220,000 to the invested resources of charity organization in the United States, making a total of $630,000. 48 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Internal Organization. — Fifty-two societies report placing in the field of administration and personal service of the necessitous in 1892 an army of 5,476 men and women. This number is below the actual fact, since seventeen of the societies make no return of their administrative officers, and eight, none of their friendly visitors; while Philadelphia fails to enumerate the officers and visitors of its eighteen large district societies, with which several hundred visitors are connected. The total number is doubtless over 6,000. In administrative work 763, men, an increa.se of 157 per cent, in ten years, and 511 women, an increase of 220 per cent., were engaged in 1892; of paid officials the same year there were seventy-seven men (increase 220 per cent.) and 135 women (increase 250 per cent.) in the service; while of friendly visitors 456 men (increase 1,400 per cent.) and 3,534 women (increase 165 per cent.) toiled in the homes or over the ill fortunes of applicants for aid. As 74,704 cases came under the notice of the societies, this would give an average of 17.6 cases to each visitor, a number altogether too large for effective work. Fifteen societies control one hundred subordinate district conferences or associations, and twenty-nine avail themselves of conferences among officers and visitors to consider methods in the dis- position to be made of cases. The conferences range from weekly through monthly and quarterly sessions. A notable example of kin-- dred work lasted through the first eight years of the Philadelphia soci- ety. There once a month an assembly of the whole society was held and numerously attended, at which papers were read and practical dis- cussions maintained on the problems of charity; and the effect of them was incalculable in educating the workers, and even the community, in a sense of responsibility for their poor brothers and sisters. Lines of Work Developed — Repression — Public Out- door Relief. — It would be gratifying, if the statistics were to be had, to show what char- ity organization has done directly in lightening the tax-payer's burden; but this is a matter of minor significance compared with the more humane remedial aims of the movement. Only eight societies have supplied definite figures, and the results are a present annual reduction in municipal out-door relief in Brooklyn, Buffalo, Burlington, la., Hartford, Conn., Indianapolis, New Haven, Conn., Omaha, Philadel- phia, Syracuse and Taunton, Mass., of $409,480. There has been no out-door public relief in New York during the past twenty years. Besides this sum, in Cincinnati and Minneapolis municipal out-door relief has diminished one-half, notwithstanding the increase of popula- ^ CHARITY ORGANIZATION. • 49 tion. Albany and Portland, Ore., note its decrease. In Detroit its distrib,ution has been turned over to a special commission appointed by the Mayor, and presumably removed from partisan political control. In NcM^ark, N. J., it has been restricted to bread and coal tickets during the thrjs^'winter months, but is continued to widows and the aged the year round. Street Begging. — From fifteen important cities information comes that street begging has been perceptibly diminished. In five of these cities it is pronounced suppressed, which means, at least, that mendi- cants no longer flaunt their rags and deformities before the eyes of the citizens, or wail their dolorous cant in the public ear. New York employs two special officers to deal with this class of cases. An ana- lyzed record is kept of the cases, and in 1892, 63.4 per cent, were found to be inmates of cheap lodging houses and police stations; 20.7 to have homes, and 2.9 not to be traced to any abode. Of these, 21 per cent, were maimed, sick or aged, and 79 per cent, able-bodied. To give to these maimed and aged on the streets was unmixed cruelty, as it kept them from the more humane provision of the almshouse. These are the only records within reach that permit a study and classification of the street-beggar genus, and probably the ratios here given will hold good for the whole class throughout the country. In many cities the sup- pression of street begging is hindered by the vicious custom of the civic authorities to issue licenses to thinly disguised beggars to play musical instruments and to peddle small wares in the streets, as, e. g., Boston, Buffalo and New York. Vagrants. — In the repression of vagrancy three resources have been employed — the police, for the incorrigible and dissolute; labor tests, as a means of discriminating those who have abandoned themselves to a predatory career from those who are willing to use the means afforded for reaching self-support; and lodgings, where wayfarers may abide temporarily while in search of employment. Some of the wayfarers' lodges employ labor tests, and the favorite form of such tests is the wood-yard. The oldest and most systematic of these combined lodges and tests is in Boston, where the city took up the work in 1879. It at once relieved the police station-houses of the casuals, and spared the unfortunates, who were desirous of self-maintenance, the humiliation and contamination of police stations. Here, too, the purification of persons and the clothing of the beneficiaries is scrupulously attended to, accompanied by the strong reinforcement of that cleanliness which 4 50 INTEFfNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. restores one's self-respect. This system has also been carried to a wide extent in Philadelphia, where the Charity Organization Society per- forms at its own expense for the city the work of relieving the station houses and streets from the casuals. The work of the society in the rural district of Bryn Mawr is chiefly of this kind. It is reported to us that twenty-seven of our societies, in dealing with this vagabondage, lodged 71 per cent, and subjected 26 per cent, to labor tests. This distinction between lodging and labor tests does not, however, seem trustworthy; since, as a rule, both are practiced in combination. In addition, 117 cases of fraudulent schemes, especially those pre- tending to be organizations for charitable purposes, were detected and exposed, and in many cases broken up, in 1892; by far the greater part of this suppression having occurred in New York. Co-operation. — Co-operation is one of the most difficult attainments. It is a thing of slow growth, but each advance made and held is a distinct and decisive triumph of organization of ideas. Out of forty societies embraced in this branch of our inquiry, thirty-one claim a co-operation, more or less complete, with municipal agencies of relief. The ratio thereof is the high one of 97 per cent. The returns of thirty societies show that together they have established a practical co-operation with one-third of the charitable agencies and institutions in their cities. In thirty-four cities co-operation has been attained with 44 per cent, of the churches located in them. Regisb-ation. — It is a singular mark of the general and deep impres- sion upon the public mind concerning the imposture and worthlessness of applications for relief, that registration and investigation should be regarded as a sort of detective and repressive system. But their detective and repressive effect is only incidental io them under present social conditions. Their true purpose is far greater and grander; and were all imposture and dishonest design to cease, there would still be need of these two processes. The information accumulated by them not only lays bare imposture but maintains the cause of the upright poor, and supi)lies their credentials of sympathy and help. It would not abolish overlapping, but adjust it, so that the alms from one source may complement the alms from another, and so concert them that they may be timely, appropriate and adequate. Above all, it is the key to co- operation. The records of the registration bureau enable the charity organizationist to say to all who toil for the relief of penury, "We have that information which is invaluable to you, if you would do your work •^ CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 51 wisely and efficiently. We cannot compel co-operation, but we can serv©-you, and by service become your auxiliary and friend." There are two sides to registration. Societies and individuals may males' "n^se of our archives for guidance in administering their own relief, andjjn'ey may also enlarge our efforts by reporting the families and per- sons whom they aid. The first form of co-operation is by far the more common; it is much rarer for churches, societies and private almsgivers tojeport to us their own operations. Often this default is simply owing to the need of adopting unwonted methods, and to the labor required in a. systematic exchange of information. Were our bureaus of registra- tion replenished and used as the charity organization theory requires, the active benevolences of society would fall into alignment and move as a disciplined army, animated with a common purpose to the conquest of the problems of penury, misery and degradation. Administrators of public official relief recognize that they are respon- sible to the public for the way in which they perform their work, and hence they are most willing to open their records to our societies. In eleven large cities it is claimed that the bureaus of registration are work- ing in unrestricted harmony and completeness with poor-law officials. Indianapolis and New Haven estimate that their records cover nine- tenths of the municipal relief cases; in Albany, Buffalo and Rochester the ratio ranges from one-quarter to three-quarters; and in three other cities this form of co-operation is returned as partial or considerable. Registration for voluntary societies would appear to be for fifty-nine per cent, of them in twelve cities. Fourteen societies have registered for churches, attaining to the service of from lo to 80 percent, of the whole number in their communities. New York taking the lead. Such service for asylums and similar private institutions is naturally restricted. For eight societies, the registration service has extended from 5 to 75 per cent, of the whole number of such institutions. New Haven leading. In 1877 a plan was proposed in Buffalo of a central registration bureau for all the charity organization societies, which should confine itself to recording travelling and professional mendicants. It was a scheme for the suppression of the tramp nuisance, but proved to be premature. Social State. — Another important plan was devised at the same time for the classification of applicants for relief according to their family relations, ages and nationality. It went into fairly general operation in 1889, when the blank forms were agreed upon and published by action 52 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. of this National Conference. It is based on the joint experience of the American societies and elicited the approval of the First International Conference of Charities, held in Paris. A word may be said here to enforce the value of keeping uniform records. Our societies are the only agencies in the United States through which authentic statistics can be gathered, not only covering a census of relief-seekers, but eliciting the results of various methods of dealing with them. This sort of information, if carefully collected and collated, will soon become a treasury of details to which the soci- ologist will confidently resort, and on which legislators, reformers and workers among the poor have already begun to base their course of conduct. Classified Disposition of Cases. — -From the beginning charity organi- zation societies in the United States have followed a plan of recording the disposition made of applicants whose cases carne under their charge, which conformed in a general way to that of the great parent society in London. There are 44 of them whose reports have been received, and these embrace the treatment given to the huge number of nearly 75,000 cases. With the exception of a few cities, this number embraces only new and not recurrent applicants, and hence represents the fresh exjmn- sion of the work in the year 1892. Owing to the different method of keeping their records, and in making the returns compiled in the reports of the various societies, exact deductions cannot be made, and the same cases must appear in two or more classes. It is probably that a tide of over 100,000 families and individuals flowed through the con- duits of the charity organization societies. If they are grouped in large generalizations it may be affirmed, as approximately true, that three- tenths of this vast array of alms-seekers really need material succor, and an equal number do not need it at all. Of the charge of one-tenth, our societies have been wholly relieved by placing them in other care. For nearly one-fifth co-operation of other societies and of individuals and municipal officers has been obtained; and for one -fifth relief by employ- ment was found adequate. It is probable that these ratios fairly repre- sent the experience thus far of those engaged in charity organization work. Provident Schemes. — Graduation from dependence to self-mainte- nance is an expression familiar to all engaged in this work throughout the United States. It describes the aim of this reform, and the degree of achievement in it is a supreme test of our principles. If there is to CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 5 3 be no elevation of our wards into self-support, then charity organiza- tion 'societies only add to the alms-doling, the consequences of which have been so pernicious to society. In cities where charity organiza- tion 'societies have been planted and acquired their characteristic influ- €nc?T there has been a very conspicuous contemporaneous growth in the number and variety of provident societies. And our societies claim that this is not a mere chance, but the direct result of their teachings, auti generally the result of the personal labors of their own members. Saving Funds. — These are of four sorts — simple provident societies, taking small deposits at the counter; stamp banks, where deposit stamps are sold at stations in different parts of the city; banks to receive small deposits gathered by visitors who call at houses for them, as in Newport, R. I., and Castleton, S. I. — an ingenious system, which ■combines with great effectiveness the work of the friendly visitor with the encouragement of savings; and fuel-funds, by means of which the ■deposits of the summer secure deliveries of wood and coal in the win- ter at cost price. Eighteen such provident fund organizations were known to exist in 1892 under the auspices of our societies, gathering in the savings of 33,826 depositors. Special Lines of Development. — Attitude toward Relief. — iVs each community has its distinctive characteristics, so each charity organiza- tion society inevitably adjusts itself to them, and diversities of practice and development spring up. These variations are desirable as enlarging the number of experiments tried, and as throwing side lights upon special problems. In one particular there is a growing unison of judgment. In the returns of the sixty societies contributing to this report, there is no advocacy or defense of relief-giving from their treasuries. On the contrary those societies which practice it either deprecate it or excuse it. All this testimony is a distinct indication of the advance of our principles, and of an intelligent perception of the function of charity organization. The matter is of prime importance, for upon this rock of almsgiving many a society has been wrecked. Emergencies. — A ])eculiar and severe test of charity organization societies has come in the demands made by special emergencies. The Chicago- Relief and Aid Society reached a position of commanding influence and was led into the adoption of many charity organization principles by acting as the distributor of large funds contributed for the aid of sufferers by the great fire of 187 1. Boston was moved to the steps which resulted in her Associated Charities by the suffering conse-' 54 INTERNA'lIONAI. CONGRESS OK CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. (jiient upon the great fire of 1872, and on the commercial crisis which began in 1873 and brooded over the land for two or three years. The Maiden, Mass., society was formed to alleviate the distress caused by a great fire in 1875. At the time of the terrible Johnstown flood, the District of Columbia committee to gather aid for the sufferers, sent the secretary of the Associated Charities of Washington thither as their agent. In 1889 a disastrous fire swept over an area of twenty-five acres in Lynn, rendering T75 families homeless, and putting seven thousand jjersons out of employment. The information accunaulated by the Associated Charities, covering many families, was instantly available ; the skill of its visitors, agents and managers came into immediate requisition ; a delegation of experienced visitors came from the society in Boston, and during the six days in which a more general relief committee was taking form and acquiring funds and stores, the Associated Charities was giving order and shaping methods which alle- viated immediate distress and facilitated subsequent operations. The tornado of Louisville in May, 1890, by which seventy-six lives were lost and two hundred persons were injured, created great suffering. The Board of Trade Relief Committee expended $156,000 in allevi- ating it, and employed the visitors and agents of the Charity Organiza- tion Society as its investigators and almoners. In the Park Place disaster in New York in May, 1891, when sixty-three persons were killed or injured, those in charge of the Mayor's Relief Fund invoked the aid of the Charity Organization Society, and within a week the particulars of ' each case were collected and recommendations made which were followed in the distribution of the fund contributed for the sufferers. By the same means the $7,000 collected by the New York Herald for the same disaster was disbursed. This capacity to act in emergencies cannot seem strange to those who consider the advan- tages of a pre-existing registration bureau, of a large staff of trained agents and visitors familiar with the aspect of want, and of a co-opera- tive scheme which embraces the whole field of benevolent work among the destitute. Legislation — Not the least of the labors undertaken in this movement are the efforts to amend legislation. In Massachusetts, the separation of the pauper from the criminal class in public institutions has been accomplished; there and in New York strenuous and sometimes suc- cessful efforts have proceeded from our societies to restrict the sale of alcoholic liquors; the poor relief laws have been amended: in the same CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 55 States ,the statutes have defined tenement-houses so as to bring a larger number under official inspection; new requirements have been imposed by sanitary laws, and in Boston an alliance has been made with the Technpiggical Institute to secure reports on the violation of sanitary principles. In New York a law, unfortunately not yet in operation, has been obtained requiring the city to open municipal lodging houses to relieve the station houses of wayfarers and secure their cleanliness; immigration has been made a subject of careful investigation, and recommendations prepared for submission to Congress. In several societies there is a department of legal advice, in which professional service is rendered gratuitously to prevent injustice or secure the poor in their rights. Education. — Seminaries or departments for the investigation of socio- logical questions have been established at Harvard, Yale, Johns Hop- kins, Cornell, Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford, Chicago and many other Universities, at the State Universities of Ohio, Michigan and Nebraska, at Amherst and Bryn Mawr Colleges; and in connection with some of these institutions occasional or serial papers are published from time to time. Representatives of our societies have been called upon to lecture on these themes in several colleges and theological seminaries, especially in the prominent ones in or within easy reach of the leading cities, and also before audiences assembled in churches. Necrology. Some few of the many whose memory and example remain as bene- dictions to their associates, must have a tribute here to meet the demands of our hearts. Hodge. — With happy sagacity the Philadelphia Society called Dr. H. Lenox Hodge to be its first president. Of honored lineage, of high professional eminence, of winning sweetness of disposition, he uttered judgments so wise and conciliatory that the divergent opinions of his associates melted into unison before them. His great influence was a tower of strength to tiie nascent society, and his name entrenched it in public confidence. He embodied that "sweetness and light"' which Matthew Arnold thought to give the soul its noblest excellence. He died in the strength of his manhood, and while president of the society. McCulloch. — In Indianapolis the Rev. Oscar C. McCulloch was a magician of philanthropy. His was a scholar's diligence and enthusiasm 56 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. in the study of the alleviation of human misery. No man was more dexterous in detecting the dictates of true charity and following them through the complexities and discords of social benevolence; for in his heart was the divine instinct which "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things." The Charity Organization Society of Indianapolis, founded under his leadership, is his monument, and to future generations may it long transmit his honored fame. Pi'cston. — Vicar-General Preston was an earnest and useful friend of the society in Mew York, and an efficient intermediary in all negotiations with the authorities and agencies of the Roman Catholic Church. Brooks. — By the death of Phillips Brooks the Associated Charities of Boston lost one of its most loved and inspiring friends. He was on the first committee appointed to report a plan of organization and co-ope- ration, and on the provisional council until the society was organized. That society records that "his eloquence and his great influence have been repeatedly exerted in the society's behalf. His ability and still more his personal character were such that whatever he touched gained from him beauty and dignity. His eloquent words at the various public meetings of the society set forth the sco})e of its work and the spirit that should pervade it, in a way that exalted and ennobled it for all who heard him." Buzelle. — Of George B. Buzelle of Brooklyn it was declared, as his body was laid to rest, "he was one of God's noblemen." He had caught the spirit of his Master's words "Whosoever shall be great among you shall be your minister; whosoever of you shall be chiefest shall be serv'ant of all." He was not an hireling; he was not an oiificial; he was a man and a brother. No one could have known Mr. Buzelle with- out being impressed with his faithfulness. Nothing could stand between him and his duty. The chairman of this committee, as his nearest neighbor in like responsibility, and all who have known him in these conferences, and especially in the painstaking and eminently successful labors of this chairmanship a year ago, will testify that these words cover no exaggerations. It would be a grateful task to linger over these tributes to the memo- ries of departed colleagues who live still in our esteem, but time forbids. These were among many others we would name, by priority of labors or by eminence of influence, of so wide note that they could not be passed by in silence. Others have wrought with no less consecration of heart, CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 57 no less generosity of thought and hand. Gratitude for the inspiration of their example, for the quickening touch of their noble personality, follov^ them beyond the tomb. We love to think of these souls, so radia4f;"here with pure charity, having done their humane work to the least of these His brethren, as having entered into the joy of their Lord. THE STATE CHARITIES AID ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 1872— 1S93. VOLUNTARY, UNOP'FICIAL SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC CHARI- TABLE INSTITUTIONS IN CO-OPERATION WITH OFFICIAL BOARDS, AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE WORK OF THE STATE CHARITIES AID ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. I3Y iMISS LOUISA LEE SCHUYLER, MEMBER (JF THE ASSOCIATION. The State Charities Aid Association of New York was organized in May, 1872, with the object of bringing about reforms in the poor- houses, almshouses and state charitable institutions of the State of New York, through the active interest of an organized body of volunteer visitors, acting in co-operation with, and as an aid to the local admin- istration of these institutions, and the official state boards of super- vision. Upon nomination of the State Charities Aid Association, through its board of managers, justices of the Supreme Court are authorized to grant to the visitors of the association orders to enable them to visit, inspect and examine, in behalf of the association, any of the public charitable institutions owned by the state, and the county, town and city poorhouses and ahnshouses within the State of New York; such visitors to be residents of the counties from which these institutions receive their inmates. The association reports annually, on or before the ist of December, to the State Board of Charities and to the State Commission in Lunacy, upon matters relating to the institutions subject respectively to the inspection and control of these two official bodies. The full text of the law is given as an appendix to this paper. 58 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The association entered upon its work in 1872, not in any spirit of criticism of officials, but with the wish to assist them towards the re- forms they themselves desired, by the creation of a strong local public sentiment in favor of these reforms; knowing also that for much that was at fault the system, and not the men who administered it, was fe- . sponsible. The association was, however, equally determined to ex- pose abuses and corruption wherever found. What measure of co-operation, what degree of public support has attended this concep- tion of the attitude towards others sought to be maintained by the association, the following pages will show. It may, however, be men- tioned here that an experience of twenty-one years has taught us that wherever our visitors have been welcomed by the local authorities, there earnest and honest men have been found in charge, with nothing to conceal and everything to gain from outside interest and support; whereas, where the visitors are not welcomed, it has become almost a sure sign that in these institutions are practices and management which will not bear the search-light of independent, fearless vision. , * That the people have the right to visit and inspect the public insti- , / tutions of charity owned and supported by themselves is a cardinal point I of our faith; and the association in its membership has sought to make the lines so broad that it may fairly claim to represent the people. In its ranks are found men and women, young and old, rich and poor, the farmer, the merchant, the medical and legal professions, all political parties, the Protestant, the Catholic, the Hebrew. And this claim of the association, that it represents the people in its volunteer work, has again and again been recognized by the legislature of the State of New York; first of all by providing for the visitors of the association, as already mentioned, a right of entrance into all the public charitable institutions in the state; and secondly, by the enactment, sooner or later, of every measure of reform, requiring legislative action, which the managers of the association have applied for. It is thoroughly understood that the association, composed entirely of volunteer work- ers, desires no administrative powers for itself, fearing to divide or im- pair the responsibility of the local authorities for the good management of their respective institutions. The association desires only to see, '^and to speak of what it sees. This is power enough, in a country where / the press is free and where public opinion is all-powerful. The frame-work of organization upon which the association rests is very simple. It is governed by a board of managers of fifteen mem- CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 59 bers, men and women, elected annually from those members of the association who reside in the city of New York, known as members of the Cpitral Association, and numbering to-day 220. The officers of the Cgunty Visiting Committees vote also for managers at the annual meeUng. The board of managers, by act of incorporation, has full power to direct and control the affairs and funds of the association, and is_ responsible for its good government. The officers of the association, president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary and librarian, are, except the secretary, elected annually by the incoming board from its own members; and the president and sec- retary of the association are also chairman and secretary of the board. The secretary is the chief executive officer of the association, and is appointed and removed by the board of managers. The librarian, in addition to the duties appertaining usually to this office, collects for the library, by donation, books and pamphlets upon sub- jects connected with the work of the association. These books are available to all members, and are also loaned to other students who may apply for them. There are four standing committees of the Central Association: upon Children; upon Adult Able-bodied Paupers: upon Hospitals; and a Finance Committee. The duties of three of these standing committees are defined in the by-laws of the association, as follows: '■'"Committee on Childieii. — It is the duty of the Committee on Children to keep itself informed of the number, condition and disposition of the pauper children of the state; and to urge the adoption of such measures in the care and training of these children as may tend effectually to destroy hereditary pauperism, and as speedily as possible restore them to the family-life of the community. '■'Committee on Adult Able-bodied Faicpers. — It is the duty of the Committee on Adult Able-bodied Paupers to keep itself informed of the number of able-bodied pauper men and women in the almshouses of the state, and the character and value of the labor jierfornied bv them, and the Committee shall advocate reformatory treatment for all persons of this class. The Committee shall endeavor to have the laivs for the arrest and commitment of vagrants enforced, shall advocate meas- ures obliging all adult able-bodied paupers to work, and promote all efforts which tend to abolish beggary and vagrancy; and it shall endeavor to bring about the abolition or reformation of the system of official out-door relief. "Committee on Hospitals. — It is the duty of the Committee on Hospitals: ist. 'l"o keep itself informed of the number and condition of the sick, insane, epilep- tic, blind, deaf and dumb, idiot and aged paupers in the New York institutions of public charities, and to urge the adoption of such measures as archest adapted to restore their health, alleviate their sufferings, and secure their humane care. 2d. To collect and impart information in regard to the most apjiroved plans for the construction, ventilation and disinfection of hospitals and asylums, and for their administration; and to prepare plans for the organization of their kitchen. 6o INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. linen, laundry, nursing and supply departments. 3d. To keep itself informed of the organization and management of the dispensary and ambulance service, and to suggest and advocate any modification thereof that may seem desirable." The Finance Committee collects, through voluntary contributions, the small amount of money needed annually: for rent of headquarter office in New York city, and for clerical assistance; for printing, postage and ofifice expenses; for the salaries and traveling expenses of the secretary and assistant secretary. Less than $10,000 is needed for these purposes. No money is received from public sources; nor will this be accepted, as we wish to be independent of all outside influences. County Visiting Committees. It is the special duty of the secretary, in person and by correspond- ence, to organize County Visiting Committees throughout the state, who receive their appointment from the board of managers and who work under its direction and control. Composed of both men and women, these committees number to-day forty-eight, comprising 750 members. It is the duty of the visiting committees to visit the poorhouses and almshouses of their respective counties, reporting monthly to the board of managers, through the secretary at the headquarter office in New York city. Such portions of these reports as may have reference to children are referred to the Standing Committee on Children of the Central Association; those which relate to vagrants to the Standing Committee on Adult Able-bodied Paupers; those having reference to the sick, the insane, epileptics, idiots, the blind, deaf and dumb, and the aged to the Standing Committee on Hospitals. The members of these three standing committees are experts and students of the sub- jects referred to them. It is their duty to inform themselves of the best form of care which each class of dependents should receive, to gather this information from every country in the world, from every other state of our Union whose enlightened methods are superior to our own, to originate ways and means to meet the difficulties referred to them, and then to place this information at the disposal of the visitors in such form as to be of practical use to them. Sometimes the questions asked, being the same from many quarters, are answered by the publication of handbooks, for Visitors to the Poorhouse, Visitors to Hospitals, Vis- itors to the Insane, by treatises upon nursing, training-schools for nurses, hospital laundries, upon legal subjects, etc. Sometimes a simple method for ventilating a hospital ward is asked for; and again, plans for altering an old poorhouse or building a new one, or for the erection of a new hospital. Thirty-four such publications (the authors of all but one being members of the association), besides leaflets and ■^ CHAR] lY ORGANIZATION. 6 1 circulars innumerable, have been issued to meet the demands of our visitors'and others for special information. It will thus be seen how the student members and the active visiting membrgrs of the association act and react upon each other. The form^rT^help the latter by their expert knowledge; the latter prevent the former from becoming mere theorist? by applying tt) their theories the test of practical application. -Thelemedies to be applied are most of them local in character, in- tended to improve the condition of those inmates of poorhouses and almshouses who legitimately belong there; and the accomplishment of these reforms depends upon the influence of the visiting committees in their own counties, with their own boards of supervisors, with their own city commissioners of charities, or superintendents of the poor. For other classes of inmates the heroic treatment of removal to other institutions and other surroundings is necessary. This often calls for legislative action; and such action, when determined upon, is always undertaken and controlled by the board of managers. A thorough study is given the subject, extending at times over one or more years, the best legal talent is sought, and the bill, when drafted, is placed in the hands of a special committee to secure its enactment; while members of the association in all parts of the state are called upon to interest their representatives in the legislature in its behalf. The remedies, it will thus be seen, are of a two-fold nature; some of them general, requiring the intervention of the legislature, others local, to be sought at home. Results. What has this system accomplished through these twenty-one years, since the association began its work in 1872 ? Much that will never be known; the many acts of kindness to indi- viduals, the rescue of little children from pauperizing influences, the assistance given convalescents when leaving hospital, the happiness brought into many a maimed and broken life — all this, going on quietly day after day, can never be recorded; nor the sympathy and support given by our visitors to the overworked wives of poorhouse keepers, to the keepers themselves. These are not small things. They lie deep in the very foundations of our work. From the desire to alleviate suf- fering, to help the helpless, to fight for the oppressed, have sprung all the reforms of the State Charities Aid Association, dignified sometimes 6 2 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. by high-sounding names, but all going back to the simple recognition of brotherly love to the individual man, or woman, or child we have known and cared for in the poorhouse. The following are named as direct results of the work of the State Charities Aid Association. And, in stating them, we wish it borne in mind that what has been accomplished is equally due to the co-operation of the local authorities. In addition to this, and where this has not been attainable, the co-operation of the State Board of Charities and the State Commission in Lunacy have been invaluable. At times the association as been obliged to carry its reforms single-handed, but these instances are fortunately rare. 1. A higher standard of care has been introduced into every poor- house and almshouse in the state. This means better nursing, special diet for the sick, improved hospital accommodation, separation of the sexes, suitable food, proper clothing, and many little comforts for the aged and infirm. It is impossible to enumerate the small and the great benefits conferred upon the inmates of the.se institutions through the presence of a few humane and intelligent visitors, commanding the confidence and respect of their own communities and sure of a power- ful backing from headquarters. 2. Training- School for Nurses, 1873. — This school, attached to Bellevue Hospital, one of the largest pauper general hospitals of the city of New York, was established by our New York County Visiting Com- mittee, who raised the necessary ;^20,ooo with which to begin it, opened the training school on the first day of May, 1873, and to whom is due its efficient management and great success. At first governed by a special committee, the school increased so rapidly in importance that it was soon incorporated as a separate society, merely reporting annually to the parent association in recognition of its origin. The whole number of patients nursed by this school, from 1879 to 1893, is 50,059. Its graduates number 424; of these, 45 are now holding positions in hospitals, 19 as superintendents of training schools, 10 as matrons, and 16 as head nurses. In New York city they have been employed in the New York, Mt. Sinai, Charity and Post-Graduate Hospitals, and in the Hospital for Rup- tured and Crippled; at Chicago, in the Cook County Hospital, St. Luke's, and the Presbyterian; in the City Hospital of Boston, the Johns Hopkins at Baltimore, the Brooklyn City Hospital, and the Protestant -^ CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 63 Episcopal Church Hospital at Philadelphia. One graduate is in Louis- ville»-6ne in Indianapolis, one in St. Louis, one in Savannah; one in England, one in Italy, two in Canada, and two in China. The number of pri'Ote cases nursed by the graduates may be inferred from the fact thatjjrere were 1,336 calls for private nurses made during the past year through the registry kept by the Bellevue school. The school has therefore not only accomplished its primary object of obtaining good nursing for the patients of Bellevue hospital, but has opened a new profession to women; has supplied private families with well-trained, competent nurses, and has furnished district nurses for the sick-poor in their homes. The above is one illustration of a local remedy sought for and applied at home by a county visiting committee; but destined, as a pioneer school established on a basis unknown at that time in this country, to become so far-reaching in its effects that almost every state in the Union has been benefited thereby. 3. Hospital Book and Newspaper Society, 1874. — Boxes for the recep- tion of fresh daily newspapers are placed, by this society, at the railway stations, the ferry slips, the exchanges, etc., in New York city, whence the papers are collected every day and taken to the hospitals, to be im- mediately distributed through the wards. In 1892 these daily papers numbered 158,417. Books and pamphlets are received at the office of the society, and are sent every week to hospitals, asylums, poor-houses, prisons, life-saving stations, light -houses, etc., often forming the nucleus of a small library. During the year 1892 the society distributed 7,716 books, 15,944 magazines, and 54,020 illustrated and weekly papers. The Hospital Book and Newspaper Society, at first a committee of the association, is now a branch, with independent membership and treasury. 4. Farming Out the Poor Abolished, 1875. — In one of the counties of the State of New York there yet remained, when the visiting com- mittee of that county was organized, a remnant of the barbarous system of farming out the care of the ])oor to the lowest bidder. The abuses connected with this practice can well be imagined. Through the exer- tions of our visiting committee, this system was speedily and com- pletely abolished. 5. Temporary Homes for Children, 1877-S5. — In 1875 the New York State Board of Charities secured the enactment of a law, known as "the Children's Law," which made obligatory the removal of all children 64 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. over two years of age from the poorhouses and almshouses of the state. In this great reform the board had the full sympathy of the members of the association throughout the state, who have also been active in pro- moting the enforcement of the law. To provide a suitable place (the poorhouse being very properly forbidden) where temporary lodging for children could be had, pending their removal to homes in families, the visiting committees of Ulster, Westchester and Queens counties established three Temporary Homes for Children, in 1877, 1880 and 1885. 6. Tramp Act, 1880. — In several counties it was found to be the direct pecuniary interest of the Overseers of the Poor to encourage vagrancy, as they received from the county treasury fifty cents per capita, often more, for each night's lodging given a tramp. It required three years to obtain the necessary remedial legislation; but since the enactment of this deterrent measure, the State of New York has been less attractive to tramps. (Laws of New York, 1880, Chap. 176.) 7. First Aid to the Injured, 1882. — The serious condition in which accident cases were received at the hospitals in New York city, owing to ignorance of what should be done before a physician could be sum- moned, induced the organization, by the Hospital Committee of the association, of a Society for Instruction in First Aid to the Injured, modeled upon the English societies of like nature. This society, since its formation, (at first as a committee of the association,) has given 264 courses of lectures, of which 62 were to pay-classes and 202 to free- classes, to the police, railroad employees, working girls' clubs, and to members of the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Men's Institute, making a total of 6,595 persons thus instructed, of which number 3,54.5 received diplomas qualifying them to render first aid to the injured. During the eleven years of the existence of the society, it has received over one thousand testimonials from members of the police force and others, attesting the value of the instructions received. 8. Trained JVurses for the Insane, 1885. — Acting in co-operation with the Bellevue Training-School for Nurses and the City Commission- ers of Charities of Kings County, the Association secured for six gradu- ates of that school a special course of training at the Kings County Insane Asylum. Later, one of these nurses was the first principal of a training-school for nurses for the insane, established at the Hudson River State Hospital. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 65 9. Municipal Lodging Houses, 1886. — The association obtained the passage of an act for the establishment, by the New York city authori- ties, of one or more municipal lodging houses, with the object of dimintfeTiing the number of tramps and vagrants at present sheltered withotrt charge by the city in the police station-houses, and of provid- ing decent lodging for respectable persons in temporary distress; labor to be exacted in return for shelter. The act, being permissive and not mandatory, has never been put in operation. An amendment will doubtless be applied for by the Com- mittee on Adult Able-bodied Paupers, to remedy this defect. ID. State Care for the Insane Act of 1890. — State Care Appropria- tion Act of 1891. — For over fifty years it has been the policy of the State of New York to provide hospital treatment and care for its dependent insane. State asylums were first established for acute cases of insanity, to be succeeded later by state asylums for the recep- tion of chronic cases from the poorhouses. Seven large state hospitals have thus been erected and equipped, for the purpose of giving the insane skilled medical treatment and suitable care. It was owing to an infringement, in recent years, of this humane policy, a backward step of the legislature, through which county after county was authorized to retain its milder cases of insanity, until one-third of all the counties of the state had been exempted from the general law, that brought about the necessity, in 1888, of applying for legislation which should restore to the state its old-time policy, and at one stroke completely abolish the poorhouse system of caring for the insane. It is not necessary to speak here of the condition of the insane in the poorhouse asylums. Nearly all the reports, official and unofficial, of the years 1887-91, unite in condemning it. The remedy proposed by the association was the division of the state into insane asylum districts, one for each of the seven state hospitals; the insane from the poorhouses to be sent to the hospitals of their respective districts. To accommodate them comparatively small, inexpensive buildings were to be erected on the grounds of the existing state hospitals, to contain each not more than 150 nor less than 10 paj:ients; the cost of building, including equip- ment, (heating, lighting, ventilation, fixtures and furniture,) not to txct(^d$^^o per capita. It was made obligatory upon the State Com- mission in Lunacy to cause the removal of all patients from the poor- houses as soon as state accommodations for them could be provided, and the poorhouses were forbidden to receive further cases of insanity. New 5 66 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. York, Kings and Monroe counties were to be excluded from the pro- visions of the bill, simply because they had asylum grounds and build- ings of sufficient magnitude to be transferred to the state, and reorgan- ized as state hospitals, whenever these counties might wish to come under the provisions of the proposed measure. In 1888, when the association, single-handed, and in the face of a most formidable opposition, entered upon this great reform, there were over 2,000 insane persons scattered through the poorhouse asylums of the state. That first year, as a matter of course, our bill was lost, public opinion not having yet been sufficiently educated to sustain it; the second year the bill was again lost, but, owing to increased popular support, and the strong advocacy of the president and other members of the State Board of Charities, it was passed by the senate and made great progress in the assembly; the third year the measure received the unani- mous and powerful support of the newly-created State Commission in Lunacy, and became a law, after a prolonged and bitter contest. It is known to-day in the State of New York as the State Care Act of 1890. (Laws of New York, 1890, Chap. 126.) The following year, upon figures furnished by the State Commission in Lunacy, and again acting in concert with the State Commission and the State Board, the association introduced its State Care Appropriation bill, asking for a grant of ^454,850 for buildings and equipment. More than this was not needed, owing to the near completion of the St. Law- rence State Hospital. Again there was opposition, but, by this time, owing to the support given the reform movement by the entire press, the people had become fully aware of the condition of the insane in the poorhouses, and would no longer tolerate delay. Every dollar we needed was granted, by unanimous vote of the senate, by a large ma- jority vote in the assembly. This ended the contest— the long four years' battle had been fought and won! (Laws of New York, 1891, Chapter 91.) Further than this, the State Care Act declared that when accommo- dations had been provided by the state for the insane from all the poor- houses, the state should bear the cost of their entire maintenance. Last winter, the necessary conditions having been fulfilled. Governor Flower recommended, in his annual message, that an appropriation for this purpose of 51,300,000 be made, to be raised by special tax of one-third of a mill. This appropriation was granted by unanimous vote ot the legislature of 1893. • CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 67 To-day the insane from the poorhouses of fifty-two counties are under state care, leaving but three counties whence they await removal. The Monroe County Asylum has become the Rochester State Hospital; and -ffls hoped that New York and Kings counties will before long join in hoimging the entire state under one uniform system. By the first of October next, we are assured by the State Commission in Lunacy, the insane will all have been removed from every poorhouse in the state of New York. - Time does not allow us to dwell upon other important features of the State Care Act. But enough has been said to show how a general reform, pronounced by experienced men impossible of accomplish- ment, owing to the organized opposition of the county officials of one-third of the entire state, was finally carried by the determined efforts of a volunteer association, sustained by the press and the peo- ple, and heartily supported by the State Commission in Lunacy, and commissioners of the State Board of Charities. No better illustration could be given of the value of official and volunteer co-operation. In the twenty minutes allotted to this paper it is not possible further to chronicle the work accomplished by the association, nor to speak of that now under way or yet to be undertaken. In the near future we look to the establishment of a state colony for epileptics, to the finding of family homes for dependent children, and the supervision of the children in those homes. Promotion of the Work of Charity Organization. One large and important department connected with the earlier work •of the association has not been mentioned, and must be briefly spoken of. Before the days of charity organization societies in this country, our visitors were constantly aware of the need of preventive work. They found inmates of poorhouses who might have been saved from becoming paupers, had a helping hand been extended them at some crisis in their lives. It was to meet this need that a standing committee, "on the elevation of the poor in their homes," was added to our original plan of work. To this committee is due the organization of district visiting among the poor in several of the smaller cities of our state; the initia- tion, in 1879, of the tenement house reform movement in New York city; an act restricting the imprisonment of witnesses in 1883; and / the formation, in 1884-85, of the first Working Girls' Clubs in the city •of New York. Perhaps, most important of all, an extension of the 68 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. knowledge of the work of the Charity Organization Society of London, with its principles of self-help and self-support, as also the beautiful work among the poor of Miss Octavia Hill. Miss Hill's papers, scat- tered through many English magazines, were, with the consent of the author, collected and published by the association in 1875, under the title of "Homes of the London Poor," this being their first appearance in book form. For eleven years, from 1875 to 1886, this committee did most im- portant service, and then, in accordance with our principles of not duplicating work, disbanded to pass over to the charity organization societies of the State of New York, whose existence it had done so much to promote, the unfinished business of the committee now properly be- longing to those societies. Touching lightly upon this, we revert to the original purpose of this paper, which, prepared for the International Congress of Charities, Cor- rection and Philanthropy of the World's Congress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition, aims to illustrate the measure of suc- cess which attends all philanthropic work, when official and volunteer bodies join forces and co-operate in behalf of reform. CO-OPERATION BETWEEN VOLUNTARY AND OFFICIAL BODIES. The only effective co-operation between volunteer and official bodies is that of mutual good will, and the more independent each is of the other, in organization and in manner of work, the closer will be the co-operation in behalf of a common object, where the right spirit pre- vails. Many years ago, as far back as 1873, when the science of organiza- tion for philanthropic purposes was less well understood than at present, the association hoped that closer co-operation with our State Board of Charities could be obtained by giving to that board, to whom we already reported annually, the legal right to appoint visitors, it being understood that the visitors appointed should be nominated by the association. The visitors were to make duplicate reports to both bodies. This clumsy contrivance was actually thought well' of by us at the time, and the legislation we asked for to put it into operation was granted. Certainly it required no prophet to see that visitors, working under two masters, both, it is true, desiring the same reforms, but with inherently different methods of work, must sooner or later receive con- flicting instructions. The plan did not work well. The present ar- CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 69 rangeraent by which, since 1881, our visitors have received their ap- pointment from justices of the Supreme Court, has worked satisfactorily in evejy respect. The association reports annually to the State Board of Charities; both support each other's measures of reform, while neither is responsible for the other's action, and a closer co-operation now exists between these two bodies than ever before. As an illustration of the cordial relations which exist to-day between oiir volunteer association and, I may say without exaggeration, the state officers and official boards of the entire state, I will instance a bit of legislation granted the association by the legislature which has just closed its session. Up to the present time, while our visitors had a^^legal right of entrance into the town and county poorhouses and city almshouses, they had no legal right to visit the charitable institutions owned by the state. We had always wished to visit the state institutions, but when the insane were removed from the poorhouses, we especially desired to follow their welfare into the state hospitals; not in any critical spirit, but as their friends, as friends also of the state medical superintendents, with whom we had worked so harmoniously in behalf of state care legislation for the insane. We desired, therefore, an amendment to our right-of- ■entrance law of 1 881, to enable us to visit the state institutions. Let me state briefly the support this proposed amendment received. It had the recommendation to the legislature of the Statutory Revision Commission, in whose revision of the law the amendment was included; the approval of the State Commission in Lunacy; of the president of the State Board of Charities; and last, but certainly not least, one of the oldest and most respected of our state medical superintendents himself wrote to the legislature, warmly advocating a measure which was to give us the right to inspect his own state hospital. No voice was raised in opposition; the bill was passed by the unanimous vote of both houses of the legislature, and received the approval of the Governor on the -6th of May last. One more instance of the degree of co-operation secured by the asso- ciation. In the interest of the welfare of the insane we had been obliged to antagonize the superintendents of the poor of one-third of the counties of the state — four years of weary strife, ended only two years ago. To-day we are invited by these same men to attend their annual convention, and our secretary goes from this Congress to meet 70 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. with them; they are now among the most earnest supporters of state care for the insane; and this spring we joined hands in behalf of legis- lation to establish a state colony for the epileptics now in the poor- houses, working together for this purpose. No law will make co-operation possible: "for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." The association at present commands the respect and confidence of the people, the support of the entire press, and of the leaders of both political parties. Its strength lies in its integrity of purpose, its careful study of all reform movements before entering upon them, its industry,, its freedom from all outside influences and its absolute fearlessness. As I am to be followed by a paper from our sister society, the State Charities Aid Association of New Jersey, organized in 1886, whose successful career in these few years deserves to be recorded at this time and in this place, I will say no more. But I cannot close without a strong plea in behalf of the establishment of State Charities Aid Associ- ations m every state of our Union. No one knows better than your- selves how much they are needed. My object, in this paper, has been to place before the experienced minds and sober judgment of those who hear it, an evidence of the enormous power for good which can be ob- tained through the co-operation of our State Boards of Charities, our State Commissions in Lunacy with volunteer associations like the one described. We need organized bodies of visitors for every one of our public charitable institutions everywhere, "whose visits, inspections and examinations," in the words of our charter, "are hereby declared to be for a public purpose, and to be made with a view to public benefit." APPENDIX. An act in relation to the State Charities Aid Association. Approred by the Gover7ior, May 6, 1893. State of New York, Laws of 1893, Chap. 635. The People of the State of JVe-w Vorh^ represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : Section i. Any justice of the supreme court, on written application of the State Charities Aid Association, through its president or other officer, designated by its board of managers, may grant to such persons, as may be named in said appli- cation, orders to enable such persons, or any of them, as visitors of such associ- ation, to visit, inspect and examine, in behalf of said association, any of the public charitable institutions owned by the state, and the county, town and city poorhouses and almshouses within the state. The persons so appointed to- visit, inspect and e.xamine said institution or institutions shall reside in the county CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 7 I or counties from which said institution or institutions receive their inmates, and such appointment shall be made by the justice of the supreme court of the judicial district in which said visitors reside. Each order shall specify the institution to be visited, inspected and examined, and the name of each person by whom such visitatroiij inspection and examination shall be made, and shall be hi force for one year fn>«i'the date on which it shall have been granted, unless sooner revoked. § 2. All persons in charge of any such institution shall admit each person named in any such order into every part of such institution, and render such person every possible facility to enable him to make in a thorough manner such visit, in- spectiou and examination, which are hereby declared to be for a public purpose, and to be made with a view to public benefit. Obedience to the orders herein authorized shall be enforced in the same manner as obedience is enforced to an order or mandate made by a court of record. § 3. The State Charities Aid Association shall make annual reports of the results of its visits and inspections, made under this act, to the State Board of Charities upon matters relating to the institutions subject to the visitation of said Board; and to the State Commission in Lunacy upon matters relating to the insti- tutions subject to inspection or control by said Commission. Said reports shall be made on or before the first day of December for each preceding fiscal year. § 4. Chapter three hundred and twenty-three of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-one is hereby repealed. § 5. This act shall take effect immediately. 72 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. STATE CHARITIES AID ASSOCIATION OF NEW JERSEY. BY MRS. EMILY E. WILLIAMSON, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY. This association was organized in Morristown in the year 1881, and from that time until the year 1886 work was done in that county alone in a quiet unostentatious manner. The greatest achievement of the county society was the organization of the Morris County Children's Home, a noble charity which has deservedly prospered. To it the children in the almshouse, three years old and over, were at once removed, and to this home the freeholders continue to send all pauper children, paying for each child one dollar and a half per week. It was determined by this county society to enlarge the field of operation to cover the entire state, and to this end a notice of incorporation was issued by the county society signed by the officers, Henry W. Miller, president; George H. Danforth, vice- president; Julia K. Colles, secretary. It was stated in this notice that the general object of the society "is to promote the improvement of the mental, moral and physical condition of the inmates of all charitable and penal institutions in the state of New Jersey, and in particular of all state institutions, county poorhouses and city almshouses, prisons, jails, penitentiaries and reformatories, lunatic asylums, orphan asylums, and of all places where, for charitable, penal or reformatory purposes, any individual is supported at the public charge, and to induce the adoption by the community at large of such measures in the organiza- tion and administration of both public and private charity as may de- velop the self-respect and increase the power of self-support of the poorer classes in society." Thereafter the following bill was introduced into the senate by Hon- James C Youngblood, March 22d, 1886, and was signed by Governor Abbett, April i6th: An act to confer upon the State Charities Aid Association of New Jersey, an association incorporated under the provisions of the act enti- tled "An act to incorporate benevolent and charitable associations, approved April ninth, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five," the power to visit, inspect and examine the county and town poorhouses, • CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 73 jails, asylums and other public reformatory and penal institutions of this state.-''' 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of Now Jersey, That any justice of the supreme court of this state is hereby- authorized to grant, on a written application to him of a majority of the board of managers of the State Charities Aid Associa- tion of New Jersey =*" * * to such person or persons as may be named in such application, an order enabling such person or persons to-'visit, inspect and examine, in behalf of such association, any of the county, town, township, or city poorhouses, prisons, jails, penitentiaries, reformatories, and lunatic or orphan asylums, located within any of the counties in which said justice may be appointed to hold the circuit court thereof; and every such order shall specify the institutions to be visited, inspected and examined, and the names of the person or persons by whom the visitation, inspection and examination are to be made, and shall be in force for one year from the date on which it shall have been granted, unless sooner revoked. 2. And be it enacted. That it shall be the duty of any and all per- sons in charge of each and every poorhouse, prison, jail or other insti- tution embraced in the order specified in the first section of this act, to admit any or all of the persons named in the said order of the justice of the supreme court into every part of such institution, and to render the said person or persons so named in said order every facility within their power to enable them to make, in a thorough manner, their visit, inspec- tion and examination, which are hereby declared to be for a public pur- pose, and to be made with a view to public benefit; obedience to the order herein authorized shall be enforced in the same manner and with like effect as obedience is enforced to any other order or mandate made by such justice. 3. And be it enacted. That it shall be the duty of the said associa- tion to make an annual report to the legislature of this state. 4. And be it enacted, That this act shall be deemed a public act and shall take effect immediately. Approved April i6th, 1886. After the passage of the bill creating the state association the work went vigorously on, and to-day ten of the most important counties of the state are included in the organization. As will be gathered from the reading of the bill, the association has under its jurisdiction the penal institutions of the state, making its duties far more complex than those of the New York organization. The association from the first has numbered among its members prominent men and women, who have given their influence to all proposed reforms, working not only in 74 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. the interest of the pauper and criminal classes, but also with a desire to protect the taxpayers. Public opinion has been aroused on many important questions, and it is found that the association is recognized everywhere as a power for good. The state prison has from the first been opened to the associa- tion. A great deal has been done for the prisoners, principally from an educational standpoint, religious and secular. The parole bill now in operation in our state was drawn at the suggestion of this association. The board have in many ways, by petitions, &c., urged the building of an intermediary prison on the plan suggested by the commission appointed by the Governor two years ago, of which Charlton T. Lewis, LL. D., was chairman. Governor Wertz, in his first annual message, January, 1893, urges the legislature to appropriate money for the intermediary prison; an appropriation will undoubtedly be made by the next legislature for this purpose. At the meeting of the association held in Trenton, May 14th, of the present year, the following extract was read from a letter written by warden Patterson to the secretary: "To the subject of providing for discharged convicts, I have given a great deal of thought, and it seems to me that no more laudable thing could be done in our state than that of providing some way to amelio- rate the condition of those who have been unfortunate enough to be placed under our control. Other states are making suitable provisions for this class, and all of the states are considering the subject." A committee was immediately appointed to consider and report upon the best plan for taking care of discharged and paroled prisoners. This committee will complete its work and report to the Governor in Decem- ber next. An act was drawn by the law committee of the association, which became a law in 1888, providing for the separate confinement of youths under sixteen years of age from older criminals, in the jails, workhouses and penitentiaries. Clause 3 of the same act provides for the separate detention of youths in the station-houses and lockups. It has been found difficult to make the various boards of freeholders conform to the provisions of this act, owing to the fact that alterations in the jails, costing money, were required. But by degrees, under strong pressure, the requirements of the law will be fulfilled. The distribution of magazines and proper books in the jails seems in itself a little matter. But in every case, and they are many, where it has CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 75 been faithfully carried out, the result has been good. Wardens who have been at first opposed to the plan, acknowledge the good results. The establishment of religious services in many of the jails has been of greaLbenefit to the prisoners. The station-houses in our large cities have been greatly improved through the influence of the association. The county asylums have been carefully inspected and many sugges- tions made by the association carried out. In the few almshouses of our state where insane persons are kept, they are well cared for, except in the matter of special medical attend- ance, which is, of course, of great and vital importance. In the city hospitals, many good results have come from suggestions made, such as the adding of new wings for alcoholic patients and better sanitary arrangements. In our state are forty-one almshouses of a public character. Twelve are county almshouses supported by a county tax. In twenty-nine townships are township poorhouses, a few of which are private. Great abuses have existed in many of them. The work of this association has nowhere shown better results. When the committee began their investigations, as a rule the alms- houses were found to be dirty, with no sanitary regulations or conveni- ences, and no such thing as separation of sexes. The list of those included in the above description is growing less each year, owing to the work of the association. The four almshouses that were from the first found to be in first class condition, with separation of the sexes, were the Newark and Paterson city almshouses and those of Cumber- land and Hudson counties. An act for the better regulation of the almshouses of this state was passed May 6th, 1889, and amended March 12th, 1890, at the special request of the association, calling for the complete separation of the sexes in all parts of the buildings and yards, an exception being made in favor of old married people living together as man and wife. It is found almost a herculean task to enforce the requirements of this law. It is being aecomplished slowly, but it requires the greatest watchfulness on the part of the state and local committees and the general secre- tary. In the small almshouses it will be evaded, if possible. The treat- ment of women in our factories, shops and stores is another ])oint that a special committee from the board is considering. The condition of the tenement houses and districts has also received special attention. 76 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The secretary is in receipt of letters from all parts of the state, call- ing attention to abuses and violations of the laws. This last is one of the most important questions now receiving the attention of our members. The laws as they stand are, many of them, all that is needed, but never having been enforced, they have become obsolete. The secretary is preparing for the use of the members of the association, a complete list of all laws regulating the care of paupers, the insane and criminals. Such a list will greatly aid the reformatory work already begun. It is best to begin by enforcing the laws, rather than to ask for further legis- lation. The great success of the association is largely due to the fact that it has from the first been wisely guided; sentimental criticism has at no time been allowed; facts with practical results have governed the board of managers, upon which are representatives from each county and town. CITAi 'TV ORGANIZATION. 77 ARE'C^BOR COLONIES NEEDED IN THE UNITED STATES? BY MRS. CHARLES R. LOWELL, OF NEW YORK. TJie term labor colony, as used in the following paper, means a farm managed by a charitable corporation or a municipality, and having for its object the training of the laborers who work upon it, with a view to their being fitted eventually to earn a living elsewhere.* The Cedar Hill farm, of 200 acres, at Plainville, New Jersey, was established in 1874 by Mr. Joseph W. Drexel, of New York city, for the purpose of helping men from New York, and was maintained until 1888. Rev. John Dooly, who was connected with the management, writes in regard to it: "We had no trouble to get men to go. They worked willingly ten hours each day, were obedient and gave good satisfaction to us and to those who took them. The average cost per day for the time the farm was running was about 20 cents per man. If we had kept an average of twenty men on the farm, the cost would not have been over 10 cents a day. * * The men received no pay and were taught the rudi- ments of farming, which accounts for the large number who went to farm work. "The farm could accommodate 20 men at one time, but the numbers were kept down to save expense, which was very unwise. "The expense of administration was for superintendent $480 per year; for hired woman for work $180; for postage and other incidentals, in all about $100; total about $760, and the subsistence of three persons, superintendent, wife and girl, or woman, §219; total ^979. The cost of above was taken into account in estimating the expense per day. "Mr. Joseph W. Drexel bought and owned the farm and met a// the expense of the same. The men signed an agreement when they went there, to work for their board and such instruction as they should receive in farming. This was to guard against any claim for wages. Working clothes were provided for all, their own clothes were cleaned and mended and laid aside till they left the farm. A Sunday suit was also provided for them, *1 know of but one experiment of the kind having been made in the United States. 78 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. and all who wished went to church and sat with the superintendent's family in the family pews provided by Mr. Drexel. "An opportunity was presented and an offer made to Mr. Drexel for the purchase of the farm in 1886, by which he would have received all he had spent and at least 7 per cent, interest." The following statistics for five years are all that can now be fur- nished: Cedar Hill Farm, Plainville, Somerset Co., N. J. STATISTICS REGARDING MEN. 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 Number of different men 38 36 ;^^ 32 44 Total number of days i534 1778 2036 1340 1614 Average number of days per man 40}^ 49H ^^ 4^\^ 3^^} Men sent to situations on farms 18 20 13 12 22 Returned to trade or friends 541 i Returned to New York 9 7 13 16 16 Men on farm December 31st 66545 Total number of men per day 4I 4j^ 52/3 4 433. Died ... I It must remain a question whether a constant population of twenty suitable men could have been found for the farm. All successful experiments even approaching the labor colony in character, hitherto attempted in this country, have contemplated the permanent settlement of the persons to be benefited upon the land they have helped to develop, and however philanthropic such enterprises have been in intention, they have, I believe, invariably been managed upon business and not upon charitable principles, depending upon the character and enterprise of the settlers for success, building thus upon a sure foundation. The description or consideration of such enterprises does not come within the scope of the present paper, nor within that of the sixth sec- tion of the International Congress. The German labor colonies, of which twenty-two have been estab- lished during the past ten years, and the Hadleigh colony of the Salva- tion Army in England, belong to the type of enterprises! have in mind. These were established to benefit two classes of men : I. Those able and willing to work, but for whom there is no work; or in other words, those who, through bad social conditions, are unable ^ CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 79 to find any means of earning a living, the farms being intended to give to sucifmen an opportunity not to be found elsewhere. 2. Those who, by their own faults and weaknesses, have been driven from-'flie natural channels of occupation, the farms being intended as placft?'T)f refuge for such, where they will be trained and developed, so that they may become, eventually, self-supporting members of society, either in their own or some other country. -The"plan is a most alluring one. It seems to solve the problem which most distresses the modern conscience, "What can be done for the man who wants to work, but for whom there is no work?" For in approach- ing this problem it is always assumed that the majority of those to be provided for are of this class. The existence of the second class, of the men with faults and weaknesses which make them unable and unwilling to work, is practically ignored. There is an extreme haziness of mind in dealing with the whole subject of help to the "unemployed." It is so much easier to mould circumstances than character that the tempta- tion always presents itself to do the easy thing and trust that the diffi- cult thing will do itself. In this case the assumption is, that, when the opportunity is given to work and to learn, a large proportion of the men to be helped will be ready to profit by it. This I do not believe to be the fact, at least in the United States. I do not believe that labor colonies are needed in this country to provide an opportunity to work, and although I do believe that they are needed for purposes of training, I think that they must be under public control or they will fail in every sense of the word. My object in this paper is to sustain the above position by facts and by argument. However true it may be that in European countries, and even in England, there is a large class of able-bodied men who want to work, and know how to work, and yet cannot find any work to do, I do not believe that there is any such class of men in this country. That in New York or in any large city there are always certain individuals so situated, must, of course, be true; but the natural agencies are sufficient to dispose of them, and gradually each man finds the place that needs him and there is no necessity for the intrusion of any unnatural means of providing work for such men. There can be no question that in New York, if anywhere in this country, must be found the greatest number of men out of work; and yet in New York it is not able-bodied, intelligent, competent men who 8o INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. seek the aid of charitable societies to provide them with the means of earning a living. So far as I have been able to learn, it is the experience of such societies that the men who seek vainly for work are usually either unable or un- willing to earn a living by regular labor. To the question "To what do you ascribe the inability to find work of the men who apply to your society for help?" the following answers were given: From the superintendent of the United Hebrew Charities: "Unwill- ingness to accept positions offered and their love of large cities. We could place most all our proteges, especially unskilled, if they would leave the city." From the superintendent of the Christian Aid to Employment: "In- temperance and incompetence." From an ex-superint*endent of the Bowery Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association: "Many are intemperate or inefficient, or do not have a trade perfectly, or are clerks. The majority of the unemployed have worked at light work." From the general agent of the Association for Improving the Condi- tion of the Poor: "Old age and sickness, laziness, incompetency, intem- perance." From the German Society of the City of New York: "Suspension of work on buildings and all kinds of out-door labor. Strikes and closing of factories." From the superintendent of the Bowery Branch Young Men's Chris- tian Association: "Dissipation." From the officers and agents of the Charity Organization Society: 1. "I think that, in general, the inability of men who apply to the C. O. S. to find work may be ascribed to general shiftlessness and in- disposition to work, and to lack of any training which would enable them to do anything well." 2. "An indisposition to work regularly and to keep at it.'* 3. "Physical ailments, intemperance and shiftlessness." 4. "Intemperance, incapacity and shiftlessness." 5. "They are generally lacking in energy and are not skilled in any branch of work. If Jews, 75 per cent, are suffering from some physical weakness; other nationalities usually are brought to the condi- tion in which we find them through drink. I believe that prenatal in- fluences have a great deal to do with their condition." 6. "Lack of skill, incompetency (lack of ability to acquire skill), unreliability. During certain seasons the cessation of such work as the applicants are able to perform — mostly laboring work — and dullness of CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 8 1 trade. The latter class usually have steady work during nine months of the 'year." 7. < 'Intemperance and inefficiency." 8. •"'intemperance, shiftlessness and roving disposition." In xpgard to the average time during which an able-bodied, intelli- gent man, speaking English, would be out of work in New York City, I have received the following statement of opinion: From the superintendent of the United Hebrew Charities: "He should not be out of work over one week." From the superintendent of the Christian Aid to Employment: "If directed promptly to the proper channels, about forty-eight hours, unless he is hopelessly incompetent." From an ex-superintendent;, of the Bowery Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association: "Depends on his business. A laborer soon finds work. The trades are difficult to get work in. Unions and strikes limit the opportunities." From the general agent of the Association for Improving the Condi- tion of the Poor: "One month; but, if skilled, he would often have to resort to unskilled labor first." From the German Society of the city of New York: "Men who are able and willing to do all kinds of work, only a few weeks, except in the winter months." From the officers and agents of the Charity Organization Society: 1. "I should think that the average time that such men would be out of work in this city would be, if skilled, ten to fourteen days; if unskilled, twenty to twenty-five days." 2. "Perhaps a week or two. It depends largely upon the man fiimself, of course. Many such men would get work again immedi- ately; others might not get it in six months or a year." 3. "Several weeks." 4. "If the labor conditions are normal, one or two weeks." 5. "Less than three months." 6. "We can always find employment for such exceptions at once." Before proceeding, I wish to guard against the error of assuming that the above testimony from the charitable societies of New York proves more than it does. Fortunately, the able-bodied, honest and indus- trious man has a deep-rooted distrust and dislike for all means of help which savors of what is technically called "charity," and therefore the fact that the societies I have quoted receive requests for aid from such men very rarely, does not prove conclusively that there are none needing help, or who ought to be helped in their efforts to find employ- ment; but it does prove that such men cannot be reached by any enter- prise founded and mamtained as a "charity," and consecjuently that no 6 /. 82 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. labor colony of the kind considered in this paper could be of use to them. Labor bureaus, or exchanges, maintained by employers and workmen as a means of mutual convenience, or by labor unions, (in either case purely as a business matter) have been suggested as one means of dealing with the difficulties which undoubtedly do exist even for the able-bodied, intelligent and industrious man, who is temporarily . out of work; but here I am trenching on matters foreign to the theme I have undertaken to discuss. It seems to me, however, that it is safe to assume that the above testi- mony proves that in New York there is no class of able-bodied, intelli- gent and industrious men seeking work who cannot find it, and that in- dividual men of the character and in the situation described, could not be helped by any "charitable" enterprise, and also that what is true of New York city is true of the rest of the United States. In__Qlher_words, that, however bad the social conditions in the United States may be, they are not yet so bad that men, able and willing to work, cannot generally find employment through the usual channels; and conse- quently it must be acknowledged that there is, as yet, no necessity and no field for any artificial means of providing work for such men. This conclusion makes it unnecessary for me to consider Labor Colo- nies so far as they are intended to funiish an opportunity to work to men able and willing to earn their own living. Such men in the United States have the opportunity and use it, with how much unnecessary attendant hardship it is not our province to stop and consider. That a wiser system of taxation, that a more highly developed sense of justice among men who now control the opportunities to work, and among work- ing men themselves, would undoubtedly result in a very much better and happier condition for the industrious and able-bodied man, both while he seeks employment and after he has found it, can not be doubted; but those are questions of greater importance than any pre- sented to us to-day and are to be considered by students of social and political economy and not by students of charity and correction. Since, then, it appears that the bulk of the men in the United States who cannot find permanent employment, are in that position because of some fault in themselves, or in other words, because they cannot offer to the community any work which is worth paying living wages for, the problem to be solved by us is not that which so troubles the European and English philanthropist, but one much narrower and more simple. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 83 That there are many men out of work in the United States is true. That they should have work is equally true. The-'^roblem before us is, how shall this be brought about, and in ordet^^o' reach the answer, it is necessary to take up the question of the reason why these men are out of work more in detail. The answers given above may be classed under four heads, the defi- ciencies' named being physical, mental, moral or industrial. It appears that a man may be too weak, too foolish and ignorant, too lazy and . vicious, or too' incompetent, to secure permanent work. What then shall be done to meet the evils of his remaining out of work, which is a condition disastrous to himself and others? The^^:iiLysicallyjvteak must be relegated to the care of the hospital, the •convalescent home or the poorhouse. We cannot consider his needs until he is cured, and then he will naturally fall into one of the other •classes, unless he finds his own work normally, as a man should and as most men do. For the other men incapable of earning a living, for the ignorant, the lazy, the incompetent, it appears that there is but one remedy, educa- tion^^training, development — they must be taught to work and be taught . to want to work — their minds, their hands, their wills must be trained. But how? The natural answer would seem to be "In a labor colony." But should the proposed labor colony be under the management of a private charitable corporation, the two horns of the dilemma pre- sented would be the following: On the one hand the colonies might be managed upon principles which would make them agreeable places of residence to those for whose benefit they were established, in which case they would certainly flock to them. The object of the colony, however, would be the training of the inmate for future independent life and his final passing out of the colony into such a life, and he -could gain no such training in any place where strenuous exertion was not required and strict self-control inculcated — that is in any place where his comfort or pleasure were considered before his real good. But, on the other hand, were the colony managed so that his real good was sought, he, being unused to exertion, to order, to self-control, would find the process intended for his benefit so extremely unpleasant that he would leave, if at liberty to do so, and the labor colony would soon find itself without laborers. Either result would be a complete failure. 84 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Can this dilemma he avoided? Can labor colonies of such a char- acter as will benefit the lazy, the vicious and the incompetent, and in which they will nevertheless stay, be maintained m the United States? Only by employing compulsion to retain the inmates, and this can be done only by putting the labor colonies under public control. In every state of this Union there already exists some system by which the local government deals with the lazy, the vicious and the in- competent, when, for whatever cause, it is thought worth while to deal with them at all, instead of leaving them to go to destruction without an added impetus from official cruelty and folly. The jails and the poorhouses all over the United States (with some exceptions in New England) seem to be carefully prepared to do as much harm as human ingenuity could devise to the unhappy beings who are condemned to enter them. They have not even a deterrent influence upon the bulk of their inmates — they present all the features which attract and degrade them, and none which would repel and might elevate them. As a rule, the persons sentenced to jail or poorhouse as a punish- ment are weak in body, mind and character. What they desire is food, warmth, shelter and companionship, provided all these can be . gained without exertion on their own part. Their muscles are flabby and unused to exercise, their minds are low and empty, their charac- ters wanting, so far as appears, in all moral attributes. What they need is training, careful and prolonged; years would scarcely suffice to develop them physically, mentally and morally into human beings capable of self-respect, self-support and self-development. What is the practice in almost every state in the Union? Such beings as I have described are shut up in jail or poorhouse for a term of from ten days to six months, in complete idleness, in bad air, in dirt, and among companions of the same nature as themselves, and this is repeated some- times several times in one year. The wonder is that the ensuing deg- radation is not more rapid and more marked even than it is. What system should be adopted in place of this hideous travesty of justice and common sense ? In every township or county a large farm should be bought, on which all men, who by begging or vagrancy confess themselves to be unable to provide a fitting livelihood for themselves, should be trained with care, for months or even for years, should it appear necessary. The object of the institution should be the education of the inmates in CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 85 every direction. The advantages of farm labor over other kinds of work are many. It is healthier, it does not interfere with the work of men-'^tside, men trained in farm work can get employment away fronvnCiVies, a farm supports in part, at least, those engaged upon it. In a large part of the United States indoor occupation must also be pro- vided for the inmates during a portion of the year when outside work is -iK)t possible, and this should be provided with the object of the fur- ther development of the faculties of the inmates, one of the most important being the faculty of persistent application. Mr. R. L. Dug- dale in_his, "Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease and Heredity" called "The Jukes," says (p. 59) "After disease, the most uniformly notice- able trait of the true criminal is that he lacks the element of continuity of effort. Steady, plodding work, which is the characteristic not only of honest and successful individuals, but also of all nations that have made a mark in history, is deficient in him, and needs to be organized as a constituent of his character." This applies equally or more strongly to the pauper or vagrant. Many men who will work for a day or two, or even a week or two, will not continue at any regular occupation. Their bodies and their wills are equally deficient and equally in need of training. That labor colonies are needed in the United States for the training of men unable and unwilling to work, and that in order to accomplish their object they must be under public control, I think I have proved. And I claim still further, that it is the duty of the community to substi- tute such colonies for the present cruel and wasteful jail and poorhouse method of dealing with the criminal and pauper vagrant. The fact that the common county jails of the United States are in but few respects any better than the jails found and reported upon by Howard in 1776 in England and elsewhere, and that they bear a strong resemblance to the prisons now existing in Russia, ought to inspire the people of the various states to renewed exertion to wipe out such a stain and disgrace. There is another kind of labor colony which is greatly needed in all communities. It is that described by General Booth of the Salvation Army as an "Asylum for Moral Lunatics" and no words can better paint the need or scope of such an institution than the following ex- tract from "Darkest England" with which I will close my paper: | "It is a crime against the race to allow those who are so inveterately ■depraved the freedom to wander abroad, infect their fellows, prey upon 86 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. society, and to multiply their kind. Whatever else society may do,, and suffer to be done, this thing it ought not to allow, any more than it should allow the free perambulation of a mad dog. But before we come to this I would have every possible means tried to effect their reclamation. Let Justice punish them, and Mercy put her arms around them; let them be appealed to by penalty and by reason, and by every influence, human and divine, that can possibly be brought to bear upon them. Then, if all alike failed, their ability to further curse their fellows and themselves should be stayed. "They will still remain objects worthy of infinite compassion. They should lead as human a life as is possible to those who have fallen under so terrible a judgment. They should have their own little cot- tages in their own little gardens, under the blue sky, and, if possible, amid the green fields. 1 would deny them none of the advantages, moral, mental and religious, which might minister to their diseased minds, and tend to restore them to a better state. Not until the breath- leaves their bodies should we cease to labour and wrestle for their sal- vation. But when they have reached a certain point access to their fellow men should be forbidden. Between them and the wide world there should be reared an impassable barrier, which once passed should be recrossed no more forever. Such a course must be wiser than allow- ing them to go in and out among their fellows, carrying with them the contagion of moral leprosy, and multiplying a progeny doomed before its birth to inherit the vices and diseased cravings of their unhappy parents." CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 87 LABOR TESTS AND RELIEF IN WORK IN THE UNITED STATES. ALFRED T. WHITE, PRESIDENT OF BUREAU OF CHARITIES, BROOKLYN, N. Y. The scope of this paper js limited to a consideration of the organized efforts, now presented in the larger cities of this country, for the tempo- rary employment of men and women out of work, where such employ- ment is at once relief and labor test. The sketch necessarily omits consideration of the individual work which is being done daily by the visitors of the charity organization societies and by others in finding employment for the poor in their care, although every such offer of work is a labor test in the mind of any observant helper. The field must be further narrowed by omitting con- sideration of the various institutions for special classes which give em- ployment to their inmates by various industries, because these homes are not open to the poor at large. Nor can employment at sewing, as afforded by many churches and by some societies in our large cities, be considered as other than thinly disguised relief with little or none of the labor test idea in it. The organized undertakings which remain within the province of this paper, seek (i) to provide immediate relief by employment for those able and willing to work, and (2) to prevent those who are able to work, but unwilling, from securing a livelihood by misrepresentations and beggary. In addition to these objects, many aim (3) to train those who lack work through incompetency into a fair ability to support them- selves. The provision of labor tests to relieve the country of able-bodied vagrants engaged the attention of our English ancestors three centuries ago, when the Elizabethan statute provided that every parish " should raise by a parochial tax. a convenient stock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron and other ware or stuff to set the poor to work." It is not a mat- ter of record, I believe, that any parish performed the duty thus laid upon it, but the spirit of the statute that such of the poor as could work, must work, brought forth in time the English work-house system. 88 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. I have not searched to find the earliest application of the work test in this country; paupers were sometimes let out by the towns for service in early colonial days and in the annual election sermon before the legislature of Connecticut, in 1774, the preacher called the attention of the law-makers to ''the multiplying of vagrant beggars and idle per- sons, well able to support themselves and to benefit the public, if put to labor, which it appears they have no disposition for, if they can find a support without it," and inquired "might not the civil fathers act to good purpose by ordering such vagrants to be taken up and put to service for their maintenance." Passing immediately to the situation of to-day in this country, we find that consideration is being given everywhere in our larger cities, to the provision of temporary employment as relief, education and labor test combined. These schemes ordinarily take the form of wood- yards for men and of laundries for women; variations in the kind of employment offered for women are more common than in that given to men, and the work afforded women generally has the nature of a training-school, an advantage which the wood-yard for men does not possess. I give herewith a summary of the methods in use in the various cities of the United States which seem to me to fall within the limits of this paper. The cities are arranged in the order of population by the census of 1890. Those that do not appear in the list have either reported that no form of temporary employment exists or have failed to respond at all. The inquiry has been addressed in each instance to the secretary of the charity organization society of the place and but few have failed to respond. To some of the secretaries I am under special obligations. New York. The Charity Organization Society maintains a wood-yard, at which 3,959 days' work was given during the last year reported. This labor utilized 521 cords of wood. The wood-yard pays its expenses and a little more. Additional lots have been secured by the society, on which they propose to erect a building to accommodate 200 men on the lines of the Wayfarers' Lodge in Boston. The state authorities some years since authorized the establishm.ent of a municipal lodging house; but the city authorities have opposed its erection. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 89 The -Charity Organization Society also maintains a laundry "fully equipped and competent to do first class work; Its object to teach women^ll kinds of laundry work." New^york city possesses, on Blackwell's Island, the only work- house in the state under the care of public officials. I mention it here briefly, although outside of the scheme of the paper, because of its value as an index to the size of the work which needs doing. From the report of the superintendent for the year 1890, the last printed, the following extracts are made: "There has been a steady falling off in the census, being in 1890 a decrease of 23 per cent, from 1887, 16 percent, from 1888 and it per cent, from 1889." The commitments during 1890 aggregated 22,340, of which 12,844 were men and 9,496 women. These commitments, however, represented only about 5,000 different men and about 1,500 different women, the men being committed not quite three times each in the average, and the women more than six times each. During the months from June to Novem- ber inclusive the commitments are about one-third less than during the other half of the year. The men employed are as laborers, firemen, bakers, stone-breakers, etc., and the women at washing, ironing and scrubbing, but the work required does not suffice to deter applications for recommitment. The herding together of so many vagrants, &c., seems very objectionable. Chicago. The Chicago Relief and Aid Society maintains a wood-yard "to help able-bodied men through employment and to furnish a labor test. This is done by giving to any man who applies for it a meal or lodging after he has earned it by honest work, sawing wood. In exceptional cases, men with families are given, work for cash." During 1892, work was given to 1,011 different men, who sawed and split wood to a value of $12,317, as appears from the sales reported. There is also in Chicago, a laundry in connection with the "Home for Self-Supporting Women," where an average of 18 persons a day find employment, a large part of whom have become proficient enough to take ])ermanent positions in families. Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, maintains two wood-yards in connection with wayfarers' lodges which "as a labor test have ]jroved invaluable, and in which the inmates earn from two- 90 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. thirds to three-fourths of the cost of their maintenance, in spite of the fact that among their population are many disabled men and many women and children." During the 15 months covered by the last report, 865 cords of wood were sawed and split, realizing when sold $9,984. The Pennsylvania state treasury makes an annual appropriation to the Society to assist in maintaining the lodges. 14,336 men, 924 women and 216 children received in the lodges 60,062 meals and 31-956 lodg- ings, an average to each inmate of two lodgings and four meals. "Truly they are wayfarers." Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bureau of Charities maintains two wood-yards, two laundries and training-schools, and two work-rooms for unskilled women without recommendations, a more extensive equipment than appears to be furnished anywhere else. The two wood-yards pay their labor in cash, instead of in tickets for meals or lodgings, and their doors are open to any man whether coming through the Society or applying on his own impulse. In the two yards 827 different men were employed in the last year reported, to whom 11,265 days' work was furnished. For the weaker men the superintendents endeavor to provide lighter work, such as splitting and bundling in place of sawing. One of the yards is kept open until ten o'clock at night, so that men applying any- where in the city for alms for a night's lodging, may be sent there to earn the cost. The aggregate sales were $12,920, of which just one-third was paid in wages to the men, and the balance for the material, rent, super- intendence and delivery. Although the average pay earned by the men, does not quite reach forty cents, which is earned usually in five hours, some earn much more. At this rate of pay the yard regulates itself automatically. It will happen for a few weeks every year, per- haps, that the men who apply can be given work only every second day; but a newcomer always has a place made for him. It will also happen a few weeks in every year that the sales exceed to a considerable extent the amount which men can be found ready to saw and split, and this has to be covered by carrying some stock of prepared wood. Both wood-yards are self-sustaining. The same society manages two laundry training-schools, with an excellent equipment of porcelain tubs, etc. One of these has been run- ning since 1885, the other is comparatively new. In the older laundry, 8,266 days' work of nine hours each was performed by 191 different CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 9 1 women, an average of 43 days to each. The number of women given work, varied from five up to forty-three daily. The cash received for ladTidry work was $8,152, of which $5,452 was paid to the women, and..^ttt'e balance for superintendence, materials, expenses of delivery, etc. This laundry is now nearly self-sustaining, and would be entirely so were it not also a training-school. The newer laundry accomplished about one-half the work of the older laundry in the year last reported. The first work-room '863 ^431^745 i860 813,669 746,549 128,850 875.399 1870 942,292 i.355>6i5 334,828 1,690,443 1880 1,206,577 1,348,383 1,414,257 2,761,640 1890 1,600,000 1,949,100 ■ 1,845,872 3>794,972 The appropriations for 1890 to private institutions fall under three heads: For defective, sick and vicious, ^133,565 For children admitted by managers, 1,081,746 For board of children committed by magistrates, 630,561 Total, $1,845,872 After showing how ruthlessly the estimates for the public charities were cut by the Board of Estimate and Control, she says: CHARITY ORGANIZATION. I 23 "The point to which I wish to call attention is that the city continues, at the bidding of the legislature, to pay, without protest, year by year increasing sums for the support of public dependents under care of private persons in private institutions, many of whom, but for this pro- vision, would probably not be dependent at all, while, at the same time, the public dependents under the care of public officers in public institutions are housed in buildings which are in danger of falling down and are a discredit to the city." In 1889 the legislature of Pennsylvania appointed a special commit- tee, which investigated very fully the management of the charitable and correctional institutions of the state, and especially the methods employed by such institutions in securing public appropriations. The constitution of Pennsylvania forbids the granting of public funds to "sectarian" institutions, but the word "sectarian" is not defined, and the report of the committee shows a strong tendency to increase the number and amount of the state subsidies granted to private charities. This tendency is characterized as an "insidious danger." The com- mittee tabulated the expenditures during a series of years for charitable and correctional purposes, amounting to about $37,000,000, and found that nearly a third of it went to private institutions. The report says: "The remarkable increase during the last few years in the number of institutions receiving aid from the state is confined, in great part, to the so-called private charities, or private hospitals, homes for the desti- tute and to miscellaneous charities. A proportionate increase will soon render the commonwealth a contributor to the funds of every charitable institution in the state." The fact mentioned above, that there is no generally recognized definition of the word "sectarian," is noteworthy. There are few insti- tutions that will admit its applicability to themselves, and there are few to which it is not applied by some one. I have been gravely assured that an institution administered entirely by the oath-bound members of a religious order, was not sectarian for two reasons ; first, because it admitted beneficiaries without regard to religious faith, and second, because there was a Presbyterian minister on its board of trustees, — a purely ornamental body. On the other hand, an institution having among its managers representatives of all the religious denominations except one, is apt to be regarded as "sectarian" by that one. Many institutions having no trace of sectarianism in charter, constitution or by-laws, are yet administered in the interest of a sect. A willingness to admit beneficiaries of all denominations is frequently less an evidence 124 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. of noil -sectarian ism, than of a tendency to make proselytes. Much might be said in favor of the idea that all private institutions are sec- tarian, when not in a religious, then in a medical or a social sense. Public aid to a hospital may help to build up a medical school or a school of medicine just as surely as aid to an infant asylum may be used to build up a church. Social rivalries may stimulate people in pushing charities just as much as inter-denominational competition. In states where a constitutional limitation forbids the voting of public money to "sectarian'"' institutions, members of the Protestant denom- inations seek to have this clause so interpreted as to exclude the institutions officered by the Roman Catholic orders, while charitable enterprises in Avhich they are themselves interested are nominally unsec- tarian. The Catholics try to evade the constitutional limitations by disingenuous and unfair subterfuges, usually successful, and the Protest- ants with characteristic short-sightedness, encourage such a course by their own eagerness to secure public money for the private institutions in which they are themselves interested. There is a logical and manifest distinction between public and private institutions. With the former, the Government owns the property and can modify or abolish the institution at will. In the case of the latter, the property is owned by a private corporation, usually self-perpetuating, its charter is a contract with the state that grants it, and the fact that it is a "private" institu- tion protects it in a great measure from criticism. In Pennsylvania it is found that such institutions tend more and more to be managed by a few persons who really choose their successors, and the state which grants them millions has not even the membership vote of a private individual, who pays one, two, or three dollars annually as dues. Just before the advent of a Superintendent of Charities in the District of Columbia a congressional committeeman thus described the attitude of the subsidized institutions towards the Government: "There is a universal feeling that while Congress must furnish the money, each society must have absolute control of the expenditures and none of them are willing to submit to any visitation or control of such expenditures, or even any auditing of the accounts. The beginning and end of their connection with Congress in their eyes, seems to be o .2 Oh > 565 55 211 5 224 I 37 9 1,107 73 2 J II I 23 43 3 2 2 46 2 33 243 1.350 OBJECT OF EACH, AT THE END OF THE YEAR 1880. 173 1 rt -i-t a. 1 rt n! c . D — c rt .2 6 PS 2 g >^ « -0 ^— ja p V ?H -0 M E c« in 3 S s rt J= <-> c« .5 a S H ^ '•J s. X v^ 538 133 94 53 i 69 289 804 202 50 5,821 102 74 86 26 ! 37 20 49 54 9 813 249 160 138 II I 280 162 184 634 47 3,028 II 4 3 ; ...... 9 47 27 3 I 2 8 I 19 192 54 54 2 42 59 139 404 I 34 8 i 2,181 84 I I I 15 I ! I 25 4 I I 2 I I I 3 71 47 88 45 45 1,432 1,269 465 4 3-770 9 8 4 5 6 600 733 970 I 2,363 1,179 482 472 282 499 2,642 3,461 2,376 121 18,187 92 117 67 47 109 62 135 122 S 1,209 I I I I 13 I I -» 7 7 13 13 6 I 3 2 I 85 9 46 37 17 17 18 50 94 11 II 787 95 61 I 27 42 50 I 136 I 76 171 5 894 14 12 8 34 36 '3 8 7 8 30 19 4 301 I 2 I I I 14 4 1 I '7 I I 2 I 10 7 3 14 I 3 >5 27 7 200 289 269 156 121 194 274 1 366 1 335 29 3.582 1,468 751 628 403 693 2,916 3.827 2,711 150 21,769 174 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The entire patrimony possessed by all these charitable organizations amounted in the year 1880, to 1,890,617,124 francs ; with an income from the same and from other sources, often including appropriations in u CO Z bq a< m M u a! 00 00 >-« ■ji ^ ai « X ■) -H H cn % H < ai H u^ CD « W ?! B H : J z ^-H J— ( :n W Z ^H OS P rK ft! v^* Q Z <; < :n »^ H bJ S U <; C/3 P3 w X M z^ ►J Da "S, »5 p< Ui <; K U fi 7, <-H rn Q (/5 Ul PS as OS D u z < in <; U CO en O OS O s o a o z 5 X) HI J2 OS XJ o -+0 ■H o a\ rl 1 invo 1 04 n 00 t>. r^ 1J^ vo 00 .- o — O £ c u "- roo ^ rf CO CO O >0 — CO r^MvOO ChOMO O"^ ro OnO CO O O on Cj\ ^^ CO c-i r^ u^vO O ^ ro N — q -^00 -* »- 04 O fO — 04 00 04 04 iri 04 >- rf On\0 q oo_ 01 ^ O ^ rt ni ■*-» •r^ D- c« rt -<• U fa vO r^ 01 r^ .- oi o\ tovo 04 " 00 Gn ON ON^ V3 vO 1^00 — r-^ O " "-'O Cn 01 Ti- ^ oo m ON^ Lo Tf oo on 04 vO ^-*CO "^^<-)r^r<^T^-io r^ ooo 0\- "1 O T)-r^'>3-<^ tC d - - - - -' \0 r^o r^ 04 O on O vO 01 so .. 1 On On I on OO 00 o <> 04 OS "-1 r^ 1 o 04 •s3i}iJEq3 JO laqtun^ c/: Id Si < c z — oocO t-^ r^ On "- -q- i^ -^ 04 — 04 ^04 ^OOCO 04 00 00 q i- Lo oo 04' 04 on O rn 00 04 z z < OS < o o s < o a a. 3 .a rt rt ^ ? bc; 'o .S -z; .o O 1) g o o t« .XI S u O ^-s O ;« o .t; 0) -a o a. 3 3-"!5 i£ M ■=£., "1^ .-, "o 1« *^ 1— ^ ^ ^2 o o o j:; fa fa fa •£ o o o fa fa a 3 o o fafa o o fafal rt yj 2 1) -^ lU o fa y. o " bC tn A^ .^ -' > Ji =« ^ *. g u o bo fa fa M 01 00 T "^O r^cO On O " 04 sa as q o o 00 o p M — 3 -» ^4-1 O o H CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 175 by the towns or provinces, of 135,133,850 francs; as indicated in the following table : CO ZC C\ r^ r* >o C7\ -T r^. or. ^i "^O ^ iv-l t>. r^co 00 mo t^ T 00 rl-VO vC « r-i — coo CN LO 00 CN t^ r-. r^ u-iCC l^ 'T -1-vC _ .. LO r-» M ■a- r^ .. rr 1- ro Cl -i- ri 00 r^ ro M ON ON 00 - Cn r7\ ro G ^ I^ — r^ -T r» OS — — 00 00 0\ M r^ r^ TTO T M rO r^OO LTjvO LOCC — — ro Lo — r^ ►- — w <^ ^ ^ ro no fTN n — M ^j rj CnO ro t^ t- ci <•( -r ro Cl 1/-1 - r^ t^ N r^ ro t^ — -^ rnzc ro 'O u-i r-^ CD 0\ K*^ M r^ ^ ^ r-~ f) r-^ 00 r^ O "^ O Cn — M f) t-^ 00 I-^ O -^ ro — On t^ N O rr: iri ro O — O O O -f LTi « O r^cc 0\ N 0\ O O - CsoO "^ O i^ Q\ Lo 10 r^ CI — ro 00 P» M N — O 00 M O r^O t^ P* CO o c o -a- "^ — M — 0\ ro Cnco ro "^ ro — r^ 00. u-i r^ •^ 00 N rr -^ 00 r^ CO „ l^ -r 00 c) CO ro ro 00 ■■« tri n •"* •^ CO ^ — o o ON T q o' O 0\0 ON -^ -i- •^O CO On "S- O O M C) CO O — r^ t^O O t^ <-l t^ — CO Tj- CN T — O t-^ CO to VO N t- On On 10 10 uo --^-o LOoO — 10 10 r^ c^ O — CO r^ O r^ — M ON O lO O - CO t^ O -r O O M - On - CO r^ — -^ 10 O CO — ONOC CO — 10 CO CO - CO Tj- U-) cn O CO — ONOO "T On(C CO CO ON 10 d o ON o ON 00 u 00 ON p) 00 ^ •^ M ON 00 NO LO r^ z c c c z <; < On CO ci O - ~ 10 ON CO r^ -^ rr c< 00 CO ON - - t^OO - -^ t^ o o - - - CO o o lU u o — - o 3 X >^ O m <* *" 1- O -r "^O r^ CO o\ o ►- ^ a 1J 3 « rt rt s 1- -" O u '/, lu •— ~ rt r =2 So CO -t* too 1) to 3 in o Si O o as z 176 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The patrimony of all benevolent institutions has considerably in- creased throughout the country from 1861 to 1880, as will be seen from the following table, which gives the precise amount of this patrimony in each region of the kingdom, at those dates. o 00 00 Q < 00 U3 <; > a H b o Q z H H < % O u in m O a! O Q Z > Z O % a; < c« o a; o 6 1 1 . °o t^CO fl-rr-OrO:ONO"^i^ 1 CO to H 4i ►:: • *?* "^ ^ - -^^^ a\'-o -00 t^ q^^c vO J3 1> •" tn S S u i-O iri ' — — ■ HH ro ►.' ; _■ pi' Tj- «. ON ■O CO "^ >-0 r-^^O CO vo ; ^CO "^ ^ LO •" 2 ^ N rovD \0"^N?. O '" -i, X) N Lo n too c> N '. ■* — f^ 1 M 1 W [i< -C rt • ri ^ -OOrOri-LOTrro:coav-0 1 O I Per( EASE COVO"^C^C^-"0"^ .riiriuri<\ 1 ^ U ! vO vO O -c ro a\ "^CO O O O N C o , *•* ^ ^ >-. r^rOf^ONr^co Tfo t 1- ^0 -d-r^i^iri t^^c — 1 ^ h^ 0\O vO D iri o -^ fl CO rO>0 CO m « C4 _ ... _ >. ro i U ^ i s?: LOSS "^ t^cO vOrorO"-^ -Tj-O-*" -) O • M -Tvo CO roco CO M : r-) r^>0 iJ T r^ ^ r^C^O^O•— Ow"^ •pji^On'^ t "t 1 K u i \o M ro f) Tj- c^co - O ^ CO ONOO iJ T LT) 00 c^ 0^rO— CNfi— CO"- •0^"^ "^OC r^ 1 \0 'TCO C>CO "1 — u^ . vc I'lvO r — £ 1 — CO t^ r^CO VO P) — • o ro ''I ON i " * t^ < M CO "^CO " -* O ON C\ <^CO I~~ c 1 i^ 0\ r>~\0 COVD rOONi^OoO "^r< -t N ^ • "~»roO O CNrOLTirt— roro-^r* T "V 1 Cu CJ O — \0 •- ri' r^ rn J" ri' Tfo" ro C t^ i < 00 -^Q\»-OLOr^— rO'»d"-t"0 P^ C\" T — '-J CO c3 n — C\ O CNCO r^i c-j \0 CN^O ^ " T NO_ • ^ £ M o' tT -"too \o' LTi rf t^ o' tCvo" CO o" 1 oi r^cO f< roo N "-iron Osoo ro ON M ■'r—ci— — p- — co_^ > "■ [MON i M r^ »- 0\ ■* -*0 ON • - >0 r^vC PI Bi - fi O N CTNOO l^vo : - t^ O C ON , ^CO) O fO roco M Cn • r^ r^.cO t f ro < _ 0■'^rOI^. v:o'^0 .-^OO^C fO 0. VD mrOrfvD CNco "^ ^ • O Lo r~-cc On CO « :^ n rs,vo O O On ro : Cn O C^OC ""V ' tn ^" ^ O — NO On ON OnvO n • r^ lo on r' T m" m .±4 -r Lo t-^\c> o o fi ri m mco O - " * - " ! 1 • • w ; : . : V ■ . " 1 • : > 1 ■ . P uj " : z u > O ■? -.2. o . — s o 3i •T3 bJO 4-> >1 •a rt "i _n S -o = plir::<-'^-^f:c<" — -a ._i; .H^ o S S 3 .^ S o S £ :y S J — > w H2 P ai UO XI X 1 4> O > o r-^ j: NO rt CO j; O o -/■ -.-' 1> 4) ^ *-M •*-! «) '» o t/1 •u 4) u > to r> 3 o tj ^"- >; ■"* i; jj •o 05 o 4J of J3 3 V O > rt f ) lU ^ t« -.-» o O *4H .a ^ H :— 1 » -^ CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 177 This patrimony in 1880 was composed of real estate and buildings to the value of 888,794,891 francs; and of government bonds and notes of credit, amounting to 1,001,825,233 francs. The real estate and buildings in 1880 represented an average through- out the kingdom of 50.32 per cent, of the whole patrimony ; ranging from a maximum of 71.86 per cent, in the Marches to a minimum of 15.60 per cent, in Tuscany. In 1 86 1 the proportion of real estate was 50.91 per cent, of the whole, as shown by the following table : z HI — ' ^ < 30 _5 » D — ^ Cl, fc. J « ^ < !:: ^ i 2 CO a « CO P- "3 H H U w i3 z :; ^ U or. CO a as ^ z &hO ^ < in in y Z -J < a — Zi ^ , PQ o '^ a z 3 < ^ < > z o a O roi^r^— 0^0^0 fi r^vO ■- <-i M rovO — roco M O -^ iJ-iO C^ O O fi O -^ coco C^ fi roO cc r^ f 1 i-~- o^cO — CO O m t^ O CNCC M c/5 ro n M N rT T? c) N O T;fLO« OvO"- •^O'-o rovO "^ rooo ro — \0 N N\0 -^00 ro^D rf ro •-0 Tt->0 " t^vO iri i/^ Tt — ro w-ico — O c/0 ^ r^ G\ t^co M CO ON f") 00 N 00 O r~. r^ O 00 CO vO t-^Tj-rOM Tl-oO O — "i-uOM Oni^ — CO rOCN"^00 0^0 r^" O O r^ t^ "- "ICO O tJ-oo Cl Q\ on "^co ^Oco r^"^0 — "- ^MO t-^n 1-0 — CO r^roro— n i- roc\ ir-, _ — 00 — C\ C\ — rOO — O f 1 00 O O "-ovO c/0 O - LO ri o* CO tJ- Tf Cl On :/3 Cl o •- - C/3 - o 10 Cl 00 C) r-c un Tj- CTN 10 COO "^ Cl CO « M O "-1 rJ-cO o (^ ci vO Cl ^ — O CO r^ — ON O ON On O t^ - On CO Cl Tfr? J" CO Cl CO u o > o O rt T3 C rt ■x: rt c« 1) rt rt J5 << .H .2." s s 3 rt s 5 ■£ ;5 i< CO Cl CN LO -3- o 6 >-o On CO CO C/O CO Cl NO NO o u 1 U NO > OC Ph g *^ rt — p lA 1 -^ M 3 ' rt u X ll> X) tn 1> 0) 4) ■*j U rt '^ .... 3 > > c< 2- &H u 4-. V Wj -.-« 3 0*
  • 984 For the maintenance of foundlings 4,834,178 For contributions to hospitals 4,758,164 To homes for the poor and infirm 2,768,127 Subsidies to the poor in general 3,071,471 Appropriations by the Provinces in 1889. Francs. For the maintenance of insane poor 10,730,766 For the maintenance of foundlings 6,592,093 For contributions to the poorhouses, to colleges, hospi- tals, deaf and dumb asylums, and other benevolent institutions 2,076,435 These appropriations are for the greater part* included in the gross income of all the charitable institutions, as already given, and do not constitute an addition to the amount of that income, as above referred to. Of late years the number of legacies and of new institutions for charitable purposes has considerably increased, as will be seen by the following statistics, published by the Bureau of Statistics in Rome. From 1 88 1 to 1891, inclusive, the new foundations and legacies amounted to 11,715 with a total patrimony or capital of 186,751,696 francs, of which 84,543,103 is represented by real estate and buildings, and 102,206,593 by other property. The average increase in the eleven years, 1881-1891, of the patri- mony has been about 17 millions per year. The new institutions founded during this period were 940, represent- ing altogether a capital of 75,184,934 francs, the remaining amount being represented by legacies or donations to institutions already exist- ing. The largest sums were given in Lombardy (42 millions), Piedmont {42 millions) and Liguria (36 millions). Next come the Emilian provinces with about 12 millions, the Venetian provinces with 10 millions, and Campania with about 9 millions, etc., etc. *The salaries of district phj'siciaiis would not, for example, be included. l82 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. With regard to the kinds of institutions, the hospitals received the largest amount of donations (62,030,545 francs) and next came the poorhouses with new donations amounting to 21,078,972 francs; day nurseries and kindergartens with 19,709,167 francs; orphanages and colleges with 18,233,507, institutions for distributing alms with 27,782,194 francs. Having examined the various institutions of the kingdom somewhat in detail, with their respective patrimonies, let us now consider the new law of 1890 in its relation to them. The institutions of charity coming under this new law, are best defined by quoting from the law itself. Art. I. All institutions which render assistance to the poor, both in the state of health and sickness. II. Those which provide for their education, or instruction in some profession, art or trade, or which tend to better their moral or economi- cal condition. III. Savings banks and co-operative institutions. One of the most important changes introduced by the new law was with reference to the so-called '■'■ Congregations of Charity ' {^Congrega- zione di Carita. ) These existed under the old law and were to be found in every city or town, being a sort of associated charities under which were included all small local charities derived from bequests, which had been left to the care of the town instead of to separate executors or trustees. Besides these, there was still a large number of charitable organizations, which were managed independently, resulting in much unnecessary expense, a large part of their incomes being consumed in their administration. On the contrary, under the new law, all such institutions, whose income did not exceed 5,000 francs each per annum, became included in the Congregation of Charity. By thus simplifying the administration, the expenses are greatly reduced, leaving a much larger available income for the purpose for which it was destined. Not only these, but other institutions of charity were included, the terms of whose bequests could no longer be fulfilled owing to the changed con- ditions of society ; for instance, those for the liberation of captives taken by pirates in the middle ages ; those established for shelter of pilgrims coming to Rome, rendered now quite unnecessary by hotels and other places of accommodation. Funds left for the outfit of poor nuns on entering a convent also found a place here, /. e. before 1870, after which date convents and other religious organizations underwent a complete CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 1 83 change ; also money left to minister to those condemned to death, capital punishment being now abolished. The administrators of these associated charities* are appointed by the city council, one-fourth of them being changed every year, and are responsible to it ; thus many of the abuses which existed under the old regivie, when they were controlled largely by priests, especially in the small towns, are avoided. Under the new law, all institutions of chartiy, whether included in the Congregazione di Carita, or not, are obliged to keep an exact account or inventory of everything pertaining to them, and render a financial report each year to the proper governmental authorities. The trustees or administrators who neglect to fulfil this duty cannot be re- elected for a second term, and no one can be appointed as director or superintendent of an institution of benevolence, whose position or office is incompatible with its best interests. Under the new law an opportunity is also given for observation and criticism by the general public, the government authorities offering to try any case at their own expense on the deposit of security by the plaintiff. Upon the Minister of the Interior devolves the general oversight of the work as to the general condition of each institution, and as to whether it is conducted in accordance with its own statutes and regula- tions, and in accordance with the law. For one to receive the benefits of charitable work, he must have lived more than five years in the town where he is asking help, or have been born in the town, without regard to legitimacy of birth. The above are the main points of interest in the new law regulating charities, which was heartily welcomed by all serious minded people, as abuses had become very great under the former system. Thou- sands of institutions of very small income allowed themselves a very large number of managers, with high salaries and a right to pension their widows and children; while many hospitals, worth millions, em- ployed the larger part of their income in the same extravagant and expensive administration, instead of for the needy sick or poor. We can easily see how, by all this mismanagement, begging and indiscriminate almsgiving were increased and encouraged, especially as no effort was made to educate the poor to a sense of self-dependence. * Women too mav be elected to this office. 184 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. If the ancient benevolence of the middle ages was the giving of alms, modern charity is work and education. The latter, however, is no less prompted by the heart, but rather the heart is guided by a greater intelligence and deeper appreciation of the needs of the poor man, who should not be encouraged in idleness and improvidence, thus rendering him an object of envy to the man who works; but true charity should be preventive and should help him to help himself. The new law of public charities is imbued with this spirit and we may sanguinely expect great and lasting results from its execution, results which will be felt more and more as the years go by, and will help to raise the poor and degraded classes into a state of greater self-de- pendence and usefulness. Vide: "Atti della Commissione d'Inchiesta delle Opere Pie." Ronia^ 1889-90. Tipografia Nazionale. (g Volumes.) "Statistica delle Opere Pie of 31 Dicembre, 1880, e dei lasciti di bene- ficeiiza fatti iiegli Anni 1881-91." Roma. Tipografia Nazionale (10 Volumes.) "La Beiieficenza Romana dagli aiitichi tempi fino ad oggi." Studio storico critico dell'Avvocato Quirino Querini. Roma, 1892. Tipogra- fia Tiberina. (i Volume.) Rivista di Beneficenza, edita in Roma e diretta dal Comre. G. Scotti. "La Riforma della Beneficenza," an article by P. Villari, published in the Ahiova Antologia of May, 1890. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 1 85 THE INTERNATIONAL TREATMENT OF CHARITY QUESTIONS. BY BARON VON REITZENSTEIN, FREIBURG, GERMANY. [AN ABSTRACT OF THE PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE FIRST SECTION OF THE CONGRESS.] The growth of internationalism as a theory and an ideal force in the treatment of charity problems is first contrasted with the limitations of nationalism, as shown in legislation having in view the circumstances of a single country, in the narrowing sphere of questions to be discussed, in the larger number of men of practice chosen into the commissions as opposed to men of theory, and finally in the waiting attitude assumed by the Paris Congress of 1889 towards the question of the systematic organization of charities on an international basis. The International Congress of Charities now to assemble in Chicago will find this open question awaiting its consideration. A solution can be reached only through a study of the systems prevailing in single countries together with their conditions and limitations. The further question, whether such existing systems may be transplanted to other countries, or univer- sally applied, forms a second stage of the general inquiry. The French, Italian, English, American and German systems are then compared. The test to each system is applied in the question : What has been done to counteract and overcome the defects and limi- tations of national and local administration of public charities? Very high praise is awarded to the English-American charity organization societies as a corrective from the point of view of charities privately organized, but the German (Elberfeld) system is given the highest place among existing methods, as a successful development along the line of public (State) charities, but also as placing the administration of charity where it properly belongs, in the hands of the township, while making the freest use of the unpaid services of responsible private citizens. The charity organization societies represent a healthy reaction among private circles, and have shown that they are able to organize and centralize already existing private efforts, and to extend and individ- ualize the benefits of charity; but they by no means supply the place of the Elberfeld system, nor does their existence preclude the possibility 1 86 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. that the Eli)erfeld system may be found available for other countries than Germany, Austria and German Switzerland. In the first place, a public administration of charities (/. e. one controlled by State and local authority) offers a better guarantee of stability than the fluctuating views of private associations; but it is particularly in the open country, away from the large cities, that the greater organic usefulness of the Elberfeld system is seen, fixed as it is upon the basis of local adminis- tration and with responsible citizens called in as aids. America is peculiarly fortunate in possessing the township system, and were it not for the fear of political corruption a system similar to the German could be applied. The author recommends the point of view of Professor Peabody, in approaching this part of the question. The educating influence of the charity organization societies upon the circles of society engaged in the work is rated very high. Here the powers are to be schooled which may afterwards be used in the administration of public charities, and the charity organization socie- ties may from this point of view be regarded as a movement of transition towards a system similar to the German. The author, in closing, admits Germany's urgent need of a systematic organization of private charities, as supplementing the system of state charities, and recommends to his countrymen the study of the charity organization movement in England and America. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 187 THE ELBERFELD SYSTEM OF POOR RELIEF. BY DR. THEODORE MUNSTEREERG, OF HAMBURG. [TRANSLATION.] L In Germany, except in Alsace and Lorraine, the care of the poor is recognized as a duty devolving upon the public authorities. This was felt to be a public duty in the various German states even before the foundation of the Empire. At that time, however, each state was entirely independent of the others in the matter of charities; so that the same kind of poor relief was not given to persons coming from another state as to the inhabitants of the state itself. When the Ger- man Empire was founded, the principle was laid down that the inhabi- tants of all the states which belonged to the Empire, were citizens of the Empire and were entitled to the same privileges in all the different states. The origin of this relation was the recognition at that time of the general right of free domicile for all citizens of the German Empire, and it is of the greatest economic importance. Its effect upon the poor laws was also considerable, inasmuch as it not only permitted a man to change his residence and practise his trade in his new home, but it com- pelled the state in which he had settled to undertake his support should he in any way become a pauper. This duty of taking care of the poor [Annenpflege') was not, however, imposed directly upon the states or the state officials. It was committed in the course of its historical development entirely to the civil com- munes (^Gemeindeti). The old principle, that each commune must take care of its own poor, was extended, so that help must be given to any German who has lived for two consecutive years within the limits of a commune. But in order that communes, with which indigent persons have not established close relations by a residence of over two years, may not be unjustly burdened, the State, or a large district determined by it, assumes the care of those who have not been residents of any commune for a period of at least two years. A pauper has no legal claim corresponding to the duty of relief, a duty which, indeed, is imposed by the arbitrary action of the individual citizen himself in his voluntary choice of residence. Only state officials, 1 88 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. appointed to supervise the affairs of the communes, are authorized to use forcible measures to hold a commune to the performance of this duty. A cardinal principle of the German poor laws is that no citizen of the German Empire, who is in distress, no matter to what state or commune he may belong, shall remain without such help as may be necessary to maintain him. For this reason it is provided that the commune in which a pauper is residing must in case of need at once furnish temporary relief, without regard to the question whether the responsibility rests on it alone. The principle of law in regard to the duty of the commune with reference to the care of the poor, which rests on the fact of residence, is purely a financial one. Its object is to equalize and distribute accruing expenses as much as possible among the different communes. The extent and nature of the relief is, however, entirely independent of any financial question, and must be bestowed impartially upon every person in every part of every commune. Nevertheless this principle is rather an ideal general principle of law, than one which can be universally put into practice. For the law rests on an assumption which is not in fact true, namely, that the communes of the German Empire are in all respects alike. But in reality they are alike only in their political position and by no means so in their extent and resources. The realization of the principle of giving the same sort of relief to the poor everywhere is essentially dependent upon the extent and resources of the communes. It is quite evident that a little village with two or three hundred inhabi- tants must have a system of poor relief entirely different from those of great cities like Berlin and Hamburg. So poor relief must be very different in purely agricultural regions from what it is in municipal communes, and a poor commune must maintain a different system from that of a rich one. It is important to make these brief remarks in the beginning, because only with them in mind is it possible to understand how efforts in the sphere of poor relief, not only in Germany, but throughout the world, have been guided not so much by prescribed laws as by the force of circumstances. So that, without regard to the law, there is a much greater resemblance between the efforts in New York and Berlin for the solution of the pauper question than between those of a small German village and those of Berlin. For, with or without law, no great city can suffer a part of its CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 189 population to remain in a state of pauperism; and. with or without law, it will look for the same kinds of remedies to meet the existing distress. Of course national customs and political events alter the situation; yet the tendency remains essentially the same. The chief characteristic of this tendency is the effort which is made to relieve the helpless person in such a manner that his bodily need — lack of food, clothing, shelter, etc. — may be supplied. In order to insure such relief, it is necessary first of all to have societies which will consider the necessities of different cases as they arise, and will select the most appropriate methods for relieving distress. The larger the community, the greater is the need for such societies; the greater the number of societies, the greater is the difficulty ex- perienced in the methodical and practical direction of their efforts. This is illustrated by the contrast between a large city and a rural community. In the latter every one knows every one else, and knows exactly to what extent they need relief. But it frequently happens in small communities that the means are lacking for the relief of distress. There may be, for example, a lack of proper hospitals, prac- tised surgeons, etc. In a large city, on the other hand, one citizen knows practically nothing in regard to the affairs of others, while the means for alleviating suffering are numerous. A bad system of chari- ties often exists in a small community, therefore, because of the lack of suitable appliances; in a large city, because of a lack of organization which prevents a proper use of existing resources. So it is compara- tively easy to help a small community, because it is only a matter of money. But in a great city, one dare not be too hopeful, because there the chief c|uestion is "Organization." II. Organization ! This is the magic word which alone can solve the difficult problems of poor relief. Without proper organization every charitable movement must remain incomplete and unsatisfactory, and will be often hurtful rather than helpful. P'or the financial, moral and' economic results of poor relief do not depend solely upon the laying down of certain universal principles, but c^uite as much upon the consider- ation and treatment of each individual case which may come to light. Not only is it a question of finding out the extent and nature of the needs of individual cases, but it is much more important that the manifold causes which bring about their unhealthy condition be studied and determined. igo INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The variety of unfortunate and painful mental and bodily conditions through which a man must pass to reach the level of a pauper is simply without limit. And as every individual differs from every other in his manner of life, and in his capacity for making a living according to his moral, mental and physical endowments, so a man requires such treat- ment as will correspond exactly to his wants, and to the particular circumstances which give rise to his need. It is not sufficient to recog- nize this as applicable to any one particular case or occasion, or to bestow a single gift only. There must be a continuing acquaintance with and study of the cases, and a continuous prosecution of the work among the poor. For relief must neither stop arbitrarily nor be kept up through caprice or carelessness longer than is really necessary. But to keep up study and oversight of this kind in a really effective way is possible only by securing a large body of persons who are willing and capable of doing this kind of work. In other words, there must always be two classes, those who receive and those who give ; and the latter must be perfectly familiar with their work and with the conditions which surround the poorer classes, so that they may know how to direct their gifts in such a manner that they may do most good. Such are the true functions of systematic poor relief. To regulate its activity, to establish co-operation of the right sort on correct princi- ples, this is the task of organization. The numerous systems which underlie charity organization in no way recognize this universal and fundamental requirement. For a demand for individualization is everywhere heard. It is found in the charities of the old Christian societies and in those of the medieval church, no less than in the schemes of the end of the last century, which were due to the rise of the spirit of enlightenment. Still we are met with the complaint now, as formerly, that poor relief is both inade- quate and expensive that the claims of the poor are on the increase, and that in many cases deserving persons are not properly cared for. And when these complaints become too loud and the traces of misman- agement too evident, an attempt is always made to improve the con- dition of things. It is not possible to consider the history of such attempts at this point. Only let it be borne in mind that everywhere this striking fact appears, that in small communities there is usually a lack of means, and occasionally also a lack of inclination to employ them ; while in the larger communities, as a rule, the lack of system is what is CHARITY ORGANIZATION. IQl chiefly to be deplored. I'hus every attempt at improvement leads immediately back to the question of proper organization, of an organi- zation which will correspond to the cardinal principle of good, healthy poor relief, namely, the principle of individualization. To the German city of Elberfeld belongs the honor of bringing this principle again to life, and of having carried it out in a model manner. The Elberfeld system, which was established by an ordinance passed on the ninth of July, 1852, and has therefore been in use for forty years, has met with universal approval, and now stands as the type of a good and appropriate system of poor relief. The following are its most essential principles : {a) The whole city is so divided into precincts {^Quartiere) that usu- •ally there are not more than four paupers within the limits of any pre- cinct. When one precinct is overburdened, relief is obtained by dis- tributing a number of paupers among those less heavily burdened. An overseer of the poor is appointed for each district. The overseer is the most important agent in the relief of the poor. He has to visit the poor in his district at least once in fourteen days, to acquaint himself with their circumstances, especially as to the existence of prop- erty or income from other sources, from labor, etc., to record the results of his investigations, and to act as an educator to the needy and the members of their families. He must be the friend and adviser of the poor, but must strictly require good behavior and order ; and it is especially his duty to bring vicious and idle persons before the police courts. {b) The precincts are united into districts {Bezirke), and each dis- trict is put under the direction of a district chairman (^Bezirksvorsteher). The executive body of a district is the district board {Bezirksversamm- lung), which consists of the district chairman and all the active over- seers of the district. One of the essential points of the system is, that all the overseers participate in the deliberations concerning what aid shall be given, and only such aid is given as is decided upon in joint consultation. This is an important step in advance of the older systems. Formerly wherever the plan was adopted of having districts and overseers, the latter were merely reporters, while the final decision remained entirely with an executive board to which they reported. In the Elberfeld system they constitute the executive body ; thus their interest in the cases which present themselves in the districts is considerably strength- 192 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. ened, and the feeling of personal responsibility heightened. They learn to appreciate more fully the varied nature of the work, because they are not limited to an acquaintance with their own cases, but also learn from every case in the district which is brought up for discus- sion. The meetings foster a spirit of neighborly harmony and give rise to varied personal relations among the members, who otherwise might remain unknown to one another. And the meetings are of direct ben- efit to the work itself, for frequently more than one of the overseers know the circumstances and reputation of a pensioner ; and, at any rate, the general discussion of the various domestic and social relations which come up for consideration is more thorough than it otherwise would be. Evidently these regular gatherings enlarge and increase the sum total of knowledge on the subject of poor relief, which is obtained- step by step from many different kinds of cases. The district chairman presides over the meetings of the district boards, while the overseers bring before the meeting the different cases to be acted upon, about which they have collected information. Even when one of the overseers is compelled, in a case of extreme necessity, to grant temporary assistance without having obtained the consent of the district board, he is expected afterwards to bring the matter up for approval at a later meeting. {c) The keystone of the system is the central administrative board (^Hauptverwaltung). Its more important offices are filled by representa- tives of the municipal government. This body exercises a general oversight of the districts, and considers complaints and such cases as naturally come before such a body. It must study the conditions of the poorer classes and determine the most appropriate means for relieving them. It must see that the funds contributed for the relief of the poor are expended in the most advantageous manner, and, in short, it must do everything of a general or more important character that may be of service in the advancement of this branch of government. The connecting link between this board and the overseers is the dis- trict chairman. He is responsible for the carrying out of the poor ordinances, and must see that all cases are treated on uniform princi- ples. He also receives tlie communications, decisions and directions of the central board, and is expected to make them known to his over- seers and his district board. On the other hand, he receives reports from the overseers and transmits them, as well as the decisions of the district board, to the central board. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. I 93 It is evident that under the Elberfeld system the heavy burden is borne in the best way by many shoulders, and that a livelier and more active interest and co-operation are secured from a large number of citizens in the economic, as well as in the financial workings of poor relief. Besides, it is possible for the directors, because of the small size of the board, to survey the whole field and thereby insure uniformity in the administration of poor relief. {_ii) The offices of overseer, district chairman and members of the central board are to be distinguished from the honorary offices (^Ehren- amter) of the business department, which will be mentioned below under (^). The persons holding these latter positions are selected from the citizens and receive no remuneration for their services. This is not peculiar to the system, for the principle of honorary office exists in all forms of municipal administration, and in all other branches of government. Only the highest positions, in which undivided atten- tion to the duties of the office is required, and which are to be held for a considerable length of time, are filled by paid officials. The law makes the acceptance of these honorary positions obligatory. As a rule however, no compulsion is necessary. Still, these honorary positions are of peculiar importance in poor relief, because no other branch of government shows such bad results when left to paid officials only. For in the care of the poor there is one thing which cannot be secured by even the truest devotion to one's office, and which can never be obtained under a bureaucracy, namely, the fostering of neighborly relations between man and man, the practi- cal exercise of what we express by the charming word " Charity." For poor relief relates not to one side only of civil and business life, but to human life as a whole, which only true charity can succeed in reaching. It has, therefore, been laid down as a settled principle that, in the administration of poor relief, the paid official should be kept in the background, and the chief responsibility should rest on the honorary officers. {e) One of the cardinal principles of the Elberfeld system is that no grants can be made for an unlimited space of time. It is prescribed that relief may be given for only fourteen days at a time, and permis- sion for its continuance can be obtained only from the district boards. So it is possible for a needy person, by means of successive renewals of grants, to remain a pensioner for a long time, possibly for life. Continu- ance of the relief is, however, never assured. Hence arises the necessity 13 194 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. of continually making new examinations into the circumstances of the pensioners, in order to look after them properly, and to prevent their thinking that their support is guaranteed. From a practical and finan- cial point of view this is very important, since by a change in a person's circumstances, as, for example, the death of a member of the family, the inheritance of money, the remarriage of a widow, the finding work, etc., the need of help may entirely cease or at least be lessened. On the other hand, the allowance may for similar reasons — such as an increase or sickness in the family, loss of work, etc. — be for a while increased and a greater though temporary want may be taken into con- sideration. (/) There is a difference between the management of indoor and out- door relief. Of course in both cases it is the duty of the overseer to make the first investigation of the case. But it is only in the case of outdoor relief that the district board decides as to the nature and extent of the relief to be given, while in cases of indoor relief, it can only express an opinion as to whether relief should be given. The central board decides, upon the recommendation of the district board, whether indoor relief shall be given and what its nature shall be, as, for instance, permanent assignment to asylums for the infirm, the blind or the deaf and dumb, orphans' homes and similar institutions. Another exception is made in the case of indoor relief with reference to the time for which relief may be given, namely, that persons may at once be placed in an institution for a long period of time or even for life. (^) In addition to the methods of administration already mentioned, there is a well managed business department. This department is not independent like the tax and police department. It keeps, so to speak, the ledger of charitable work, and furnishes to agents proper forms for making uniform reports of their observations. It performs the clerical work of the central board, places before it the resolutions of the district boards and records its decisions. It collects complete information regarding the various persons relieved and makes abstracts of the facts, so that they may be easily accessible to the overseers when necessary. Finally, it manages the finances of the organization. It pays out all money as directed by the district boards, and delivers all orders neces- sary to enable the overseers to give relief in money or to buy supplies, such as clothing, shoes, beds, etc., for the persons to be relieved. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 1 95 It is not possible to go into all the details of the work of this depart- ment, yet it is necessary to emphasize the fact, that the importance of the functions of the business management must not be underestimated. The wider the scope of the department, the more important it is that its system of bookkeeping and of collecting information should be clear and intelligible. Should a larger community desire to remodel its system of charities -after that of Elberfeld, it would be well for it to thoroughly acquaint itself with the work of the business department of a city of its own size, where the Elberfeld system has been introduced. It may be mentioned that Cologne and Frankfort, cities of 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants, have each in operation a model and satisfactory business department, patterned after that of the Elberfeld system. Hamburg reformed its system of charities on April ist of the present year, and at the same time recognized the necessity of making a complete change in its busi- ness department. III. Application of the Elberfeld system to conditions prevailing in larger cities. The Elberfeld system has run a victorious course through Germany, and we are told that it has also attracted attention in England and France. The Rhenish cities of Germany, such as Cologne, Duisburg, Crefeld, Mulheim, etc., for reasons similar to those which existed in Elberfeld, recognized the need of reform in their systems of charities, and their attention was directed towards the success of the system adopted in Elberfeld. Among other large cities adopting the system, may be mentioned Leipzig, Dresden, Magdeburg, Konigsberg and Frankfort-on-the-Main. It is remakable that nearly all of these cities were induced to reorganize their systems by the same causes, and that they have had almost the same experiences as Elberfeld in adopting its system. Almost everywhere complaints had been made regarding the increase of begging, the disorderly conduct of the indigent, lack of method and insufficient relief. Wherever greater attention was given, a better administration adopted, and, above all, where the number of overseers was increased and they were permitted to take part and vote in the meetings, there was a very marked improvement in the condition of the poor, while at the same time the expenditures for poor relief decreased. No doubt, in the beginning there was a noticeable increase in expenditure, because, by increased attention to relief work, many 196 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. indigent persons were brought to light, who until then had been lan- guishing in misery. It would, however, be unwise to adopt the Elberfeld system in all its details without careful revision, or to introduce exactly the same system of administration everywhere. In the first place, there exists a consid- erable difference in the character of the population of various cities. While Elberfeld has a rather settled population, composed mostly of skilled workmen, the towns in the German coal region, the large sea- ports, and especially the metropolis, have a very unsettled population coming from all parts of the Empire and composed to a large extent of unskilled laborers. Under such circumstances it is more difficult to understand the general social situation or to become thoroughly ac- quainted with the special needs of the poorer classes. Besides, one does not find such neighborly relations among the inhabitants of larger cities, and therefore many of the propositions upon which the Elberfeld system is based do not apply there. It must also be remembered, that in the cities there are certain districts in which the poorer classes predominate while there are others which are occupied almost entirely by the wealth- ier classes. It is, therefore, almost impossible to divide the whole city into definite precincts, and assign each one to an overseer, because in some districts the overseers would be overburdened with work, while in others there would be nothing to do. Sometimes a single house con- tains more paupers than the overseer of the precinct in which it is situ- ated can attend to. Thus the principle of granting relief only for short periods, which is a most important provision, cannot always be carried out under such conditions, because an examination of all the cases every two weeks would require more time and energy than the board could give to it. Finally, we must consider that in larger cities close relations between the district and central boards cannot be main- tained, on account of the great number of the former, and that the intervention of a decentralizing body is necessary. It is probable that Berlin will not be able to continue its system of poor relief much longer — especially when its numerous suburbs are incorporated and the popula- tion is thereby increased by two millions — unless it inaugurates a strong decentralization by administrative circuits presided over by paid offi- cials. In accordance with the views above expressed, the city of Hamburg, having a population in round numbers of 600,000, has recently effected a change in its system of poor relief. Hamburg also regards the over- 1 CHARITY ORGANIZATION. I97 seer as an essential agent in relief work. Each overseer is not, how- ever, assigned to a fixed territory, bounded by certain streets and house numbers. Instead of each district being divided into definite precincts, the number of districts is increased — to ninety for the present — and each district placed in charge of a chairman. The latter has a corps of fifteen or twenty overseers at his command, to each of whom he assigns such cases as he thinks best. It is evident that there cannot be as close a relation between the overseer and the paupers as in Elberfeld, because the former is not limited to a small fixed territory, but is assigned to individual cases which may be scattered over a moderately large area. Of course, for practical reasons, the field of work of each visitor is generally near his own home. As a consequence of this arrangement, there are greater demands made upon the chairman of a district, because it is only through him that the overseer comes in con- tact with the person requiring relief. In Hamburg, as a rule, an over- seer must take charge of a larger number of cases than in Elberfeld. About six to eight cases are assigned to each overseer in Hamburg. In order that overseers may not be too severely taxed, a plan has been adopted which is not very desirable, namely, that in certain cases relief may be given for a longer period of time than two weeks — even as long as six months — without a re-investigation. This is permitted in all cases where the persons relieved are old or maimed, or when- ever it is safe to assume that they are likely to be in need of relief for a considerable time. In other respects there has been a strict enforce- ment of the rules requiring a careful investigation of each case, visits to the homes, and examination into the circumstances of the families and their capacity for earning money. The district board is likewise the body by which the individual allowances are made. All the overseers take part in its deliberations. All suggestions for the granting of relief must be brought before this body. Only such allowances as are approved by it are regarded as legal. The large number of districts has made it necessary that a new body should be created to hold an intermediate position between the central board and the districts. Such are the circuits (A>m^), each of which com- prises a certain number of districts. Like the districts, they meet every month. The members of each circuit are the chairmen of the districts composing it. The presiding officer of each circuit is a member of the central board, specially appointed for this purpose. The circuit boards 198 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. at their meetings discuss matters in which the districts have a common interest, and act upon the recommendations of the districts in regard to the granting of indoor relief. This must be . regarded as a happy arrangement. As the districts are represented in the circuit by their chairmen and the circuits in the central board by their presiding ofifi- cers, the highest body is brought directly in touch with the lowest, the work can be distributed according to the peculiar characteristics of each body, and the central board is relieved from the necessity of acting^ upon individual cases. The central board has charge of the general administration of poor relief, the supervision over the circuits and dis- tricts, the administration of the various asylums coming under its juris- diction, and above all it keeps a careful watch over the economic and social developments of the system of poor relief, so that further im- provements may be made as occasion demands. For the same reasons the business department has been correspond- ingly extended. It keeps all the accounts and is the connecting link between the individual overseers, the chairmen and the central board. It keeps a systematic record of all relief given and examines all reports of workers regarding the persons relieved. The object of this exami- nation is not so much for the purpose of seeing whether the relief in each case has been given judiciously, as to make sure that the matter in hand has been treated strictly in accordance with the business regula- tions, and to call attention to any errors that may have been made. For instance, whenever relief has been given in any district in viola- tion of the regulations, and of such a nature that only the circuit board should pass upon it, the error is reproved and brought to the attention of the latter body. The more extensive the system of poor relief, the more important it is to remember what has been said above in regard to the value of a business department, with paid officials in charge, wha can follow up the work done by the overseers and the district boards. It is indispensable for preventing partiality and arbitrary action. The systematic collection of reports about all persons relieved makes it possible to trace any individual case of want. This is especially useful in the case of a pauper moving from one section of the city to another, where his circumstances are entirely unknown. Another useful feature of the business department is that it can examme into the family rela- tions of a pauper with a view to discovering relatives who may be in a position to maintain him, or at least to contribute towards his support. Finally, it has charge of negotiations with the systems of other places,. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 199 and looks after the settlement of claims arising under the laws as to the right of domicile of paupers. In this form the re-organized system of poor relief entered upon its course April i, 1893. On its active force of workers it has nine circuit chairmen, ninety district chairmen, and about fifteen hundred over- seers. The central board of charities has twenty members, and in the business department there are about sixty officials and twenty other employees. From all appearances this organization is likely to be main- tained. Its success is partly assured by the fact that Hamburg has been longer accustomed to self-government than any other place in Germany. Its strength lies in the zeal with which the citizens of Hamburg enter upon the duties of public office, and in their great practical aptitude for self-government, due to an experience of centuries of independence. Besides, Hamburg has always been a fruitful field for charitable and philanthropic efi'ort. In this place and connection we have had to deal only with the organ- ization of relief as an institution which aims to secure the most com- plete and practical method of providing for those in want. This, in itself, is a worthy task so long as we realize the fact that destitute and helpless persons will continue to exist in spite of all efforts. But we cannot dismiss the subject without remarking that all poor relief is only a makeshift. To prevent poverty, to remove its causes and thereby make relief superfluous, is the higher and more important problem, which can be only partially solved by relief. 200 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. THE ELBERFELD SYSTEM OF POOR RELIEF, AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION. BY DR. THOMA, BURGOMASTER OF FREIBURG IN BREISGAU, BADEN. [TRANSLATION.] I. The sixth section of the International Congress of Charities, etc., in Chicago, in choosing for the subject of its second session, "the visiting of the poor in their homes by volunteer helpers," and in wishing to discuss the question of the utility of such visits to the poor under the direc- tion of organized charity, as well as the question of selecting efficient friendly visitors [Armenbesucher), whether for single cases of poverty or locally for defined districts, has proposed as a theme for deliberation precisely the system well known throughout Germany as the "Elberfeld System," so called after its home, the city of Elberfeld in the Prussian Rhine-province. With a few exceptions, which are without interest here because of their purely local nature, there are at present only two systems of public poor relief in Germany: the old system of Centralization, also called the bureaucratic system, and the new system oi Decentralization, which is the Elberfeld system. The former, as indicated by its name, is characterized by the fact that the whole system of poor relief of a city or community is governed from one centre, where the need of help is looked into, and relief is allowed and given. The duty of investiga- tion is assigned to a few salaried commissioners. At the first glance it becomes apparent that this method is applicable only to villages and smaller towns, where it has great advantages. It is found now in hardly more than three or four of the larger cities of Germany. Under the Elberfeld system, the system of decentralization and volunteer members, a town or community is divided into several admin- istrative circles or districts, {Bezirke') and for each district an indepen- dent administrative centre of poor relief is established. The general connection between the several districts is maintained by a supervising board. Under its direction the district boards {B ezirksvorstande), which meet periodically, preserve a certain uniformity in the general administration of poor relief. In the year 1853 the city of Elberfeld CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 20I inaugurated this system of individualization of poor relief. Since then the system has spread victoriously over all Germany, so that now its title has gained a thoroughly typical significance. Under the principle of decentralization every district manages its poor relief as independently as possible. Under the district chairmen (Bezirksvorsteher) are a number of overseers, {Arvienpfleger') (friendly visitors, helpers). It is a rule following the principle of individualiza- tion, that one overseer ought to give his attention permanently to not more 'than four poor individuals or families. To that end the different districts are subdivided into precincts { [/nterbezirke) or subdistricts, each of which is administered by one overseer. To accept the office of overseer of the poor is in Germany a civic duty, as it is to accept any other office in the community. As soon as a poor person needs relief he must first of all bring his case before the overseer of his precinct, who inquires into his personal affairs, his family circumstances, occupa- tion, cause of need, etc., and enters the results of his investigation on an examination or information blank. If convinced that relief is unnecessary, he simply rejects the application, but has to report the case and the cause of the rejection at the next meeting of the dis- trict board [Bezirksversammlung). The poor person, on his part, may address a complaint to the district chairman. But if the overseer is convinced that relief is proper, he has the power, in conjunction with the district chairman, to grant the necessary relief at once in urgent cases ; in other cases he must make his report to the meeting of over- seers (district board), which meets every fortnight under the presi- dency of the district chairman, when the matter is decided by a majority vote. Above these district boards is the central board ( Centralverwaltung), the council, commission or directory of poor relief (Armenraf/t, Ar?nen- commission, Armendirection), which has the right of annulling or modi- fying the decisions or orders of the lower boards, provided relief has not been already given. Here appears a difference, inasmuch as some cities nominate to this supreme body only men who have nothing to do with poor relief proper, and, therefore, have neither seat nor voice in the district boards. Other cities try to establish a connection between the central and the district boards by making the chairmen of district boards members of the central board, which is then called poor council or commission of poor relief. The latter method is decid- edly to be preferred; for under it the members of the central board. 202 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. who are occupied in their own professions and not acquainted .with the condition of the poor by personal contact, get more graphic and cer- tain information; while, on the other hand, the volunteer chairmen of the district boards become familiar with the views of the central board by their participation in the revision of grants, the formulation of prin- ciples, tariffs, etc., and in the discussion of legal questions which arise, and put these views into practice in the district boards. By this means the uniformity of the general administration is essentially promoted. Another notable contrast exists in connection with the powers of the district boards or district committees (^B ezirkskommissione), as they are termed more frequently. Under the Elberfeld system proper, the dis- trict boards pay out directly, /. { tramps ; they sing sometimes popular ditties, sometimes popular CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 255 hymns, and always badly; but their voices seem to affect the emotional, and I occasionally listen to a rain of half-pence pattering in the street from the front windows. The Society offers an alternative to this practice so discouraging both ' ' to him that gives and him that takes. ' ' It accepts the task, difficult and generally thankless, of investigating the alleged want, of supplying honorable forms of help, of endeavoring to obtain work for those who plead that they have no employment. The result frequently is to discover that the last thing desired is employment, and that the life of the pavement is the present equivalent of the life of Sherwood forest among a certain set of "merry men," whom it is scarcely wise to encourage in their outlawry from order and work. Those, again, whose profession is more sedentary and whose pen is their organ of appeal, are taken to task by the Society; if they cannot be won from their mistaken industry, and especially if this industry borders ^as it frequently does) upon fraud, their names are printed on a •' cautionary card," which invites anyone around to communicate with the office before rendering help. 4. It is desirable to co-operate witli the Guardians of the Parish, so that charity and State relief, may each find its proper object — neither interfering with the other. If the Society were able wholly to realize its intention, and brought into a focus all the voluntary forces of the neighborhood, it would then be able to address the State with entire confidence, and arrange a full concordat. As it is, it is entitled to speak with a certain force of authority as an accredited mouth-piece of several agencies, and the only one so accredited. At present there is a change passing over the administration of the Poor Law in London. The process began in the East; it is gradually spreading to the West. Instead of money being promiscuously bestowed on a pauper family in the home, there are distinctions made. In the case of sickness, admis- sion is offered to the infirmary ; in the ca.se of a destitute widow, main- tenance for some of her children in the parish schools ; in the case of ordinary want, admission to the workhouse. But this sifting discloses necessitous cases which are either partial, or exceptional, or temporary. Under the first category come those who still retain a certain power to earn, but whose earnings are by reason of age or ailment inade- quate to their support; or those who have relatives able to supply some, but not able to supply all their maintenance. Here the Guardians — and I write as chairman of the Relief Committee of the Marylebone Board — do not desire to throw aside the amount coming in to the apj)licant, 256 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. and yet do not wish to initiate fresh out-relief. Again a not unfrequent occurrence is the case of a respectable man or woman or couple en- tirely devoid of means; they have worked themselves out, or they have failed without fault, or some sickness has overtaken them, with which their club is unable to cope. Here, were the workhouse to be pressed, we should insist on a remedy incommensurable with the disease, we should needlessly wrong " that feeling of decent pride," (I quote from the last Report of the Marylebone Charity Organization Committee) "which is worth preserv- ing, if only as a shadow and ghost of the true independence of char- acter which the working classes have now such multiplied temptations to lose utterly out of sight." In this dilemma the Society aids the Guardians; it accepts the special case for special investigation; it traces out its past history; it examines its present surroundings; it weighs the evidence for thrift and upright- ness and, if the case endure the ordeal successfully, the Society organizes a pension, working in such earnings as are possible, and such help from relatives as is forthcoming. And of all pieces of work this is to my judgment the most satisfactory. Character finds its reward in exemp- tion from the stigma which must fall — and righteously fall — upon State aid; while the public sees that the recent rule of refusing outdoor aid, though strictly applied by the trustees of the State, has yet its way of escape through careful voluntary aid, and they are not thereby encour- aged to rush into almsgiving of their own through false compassion. The Marylebone Committee of the C. O. S. was one of the first, if not the very first among the committees, to arrange a special Pension Fund: it thus expends upwards of ^^700 yearly in allowances to old men and women, while the parish authorities are able to reduce their out-relief correspondingly to a minimum,* feeling that no hardship is likely to result while this concerted action lasts. I note two illustrations from the Committee's Report of last year's work in this direction. "14,146, A. R., a thrifty, industrious woman, formerly a domestic servant. She had saved ^^150, which she lost through a bad invest- ment, but she struggled bravely on, supporting herself until she was sev- enty-six, notwithstanding bad health and extreme deafness. It would have been a terrible hardship for this woman to go into the workhouse, *There are now only 323 recipients in a population of 142,381, whereas in Dec. 1886, there were 1043. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 257 and ultimately a pension was successfully organized." "13,916. A. B., a respectable housemaid most highly spoken of by her mistress as a good serv^ant and a devoted daughter. She left her place to nurse her old father, who was very ill, but refused to go into the infirmary. She was able to earn so little while attending on him, that they were half starved and were rapidly sinking into pauperism. Some help was given and influence brought to bear upon the father to induce him to enter the workhouse. This he finally did, and a loan w^s then made to the daughter to enable her to re-enter service respectably. She repaid the money as soon as possible, expressing much gratitude for all that had been done for her, and she is now doing well." It is evident to those who watch the social signs that some radical alteration in the rules of the Poor Law is approaching: such alteration will doubtless take the form of exempting certain classes of the desti- tute from its stricter requirements, and providing them with exceptional aid in old age. The Local Government Board would be well advised to make use of the machinery existent in the Charity Organization So- ciety — if only it could be duly extended to the provinces — in order to bring every source of relief to a focus for the provision of pensions. If relatives are overlooked, if the kindness of old employers and present friends is not invoked, if the Christian pity of church or chapel is ex- cluded from its share in the national object, and only compulsory rates and taxes are drawn upon — then we shall have a purely mechanical scheme, unrelieved by any human element. It would be within the desire and the power of the C. O. S. to supply this leaven of humanity and redeem officialism from waste and disrepute. Every year by calm persistent work the Society is more and more mastering details, extend- ing knowledge, fixing principles. Its collection of facts as to the needy of the metropolis written in thousands of volumes of papers and hun- dreds of volumes of indices, is an invaluable gift to enquirers; its dis- cussions of method have dealt with fallacies which fettered thought and encumbered action twenty years ago, but now are discountenanced things of the past. The ground is open for a forward movement, and while to prophesy its details would be presumptuous, to affirm its near -occurrence is permitted to the sanguine. 17 258 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. THE EAST OF LONDON. BY REV. DR. E. H. RRADBY, MEMBER OF THE WHITECHAPEL COMMITTEE OF THE C. O. S. SYNOPSIS. I. Brief desci'iptive sketch of the w/iole area covered. Characteristics of the several districts in tvhich the Society has Committees. These are conterminous with the Poor Law Unions. Whitechapel. St. George' s in the East. Stepney. Mile End Old Toiun. Poplar and S. Bromley. Bow and N. Bromley. Unoccupied territory beyond. IT. Enumeration of the chief difficulties in the ivay of Charity Organi- zation in East London, i. The absence of a leisured class and the consequences of that absence throughout the vast area that has to be dealt with. Enumeration of really available resources. 2. The multitude of competing agencies which have to be organized and refuse organization, 3. 7 he shifting character of the population. 4. '■'The unemployed.^' Distinction between those luho do and those wJio do not really belong to this class. 5 . The large foreign element in certain districts. Concluding observations on the work and position of the Society. I. The stranger who for the first time ^■isits the East End, — the workshop of London as it has been styled — -will probably be agreeably disappointed. He will encounter few outward signs of the want and squalor with which he has probably been taught to associate the name. Broad airy thoroughfares, traversed by tramcars, omnibuses, and every description of vehicle except the gentleman's carriage, stretch far away into the suburban regions of "London over the border." The princi- pal streets are alive all day with a motley crowd of more or less shabby passengers. The houses which flank the thoroughfares are chiefly shops, commonplace buildings enough, when looked at individually, but at least having the merit of being low, so that the air can circulate freely, and presenting a vast variety of outline. A glance down the side streets will show that the characteristic of most of them is a dull respectability. House succeeds house, and street succeeds street, built after the same pattern, and only distinguished CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 259 from one another by their numbers or their names. And if one pene- trates behind these streets to the courts and alleys which, not unfrequently, lie between and behind them, though the spaces will be narrower the general features of the scene will not be changed. Only here and there will a really dark" spot be found, and their number is being yearly reduced. It is only when he penetrates inside the fairly prosperous looking houses that the stranger will discover that very many of them are not the homes of a single family, but of several families, and that where this is not the case lodgers are common. Thus the population is often much more closely packed than would appear to the outside observer. What will strike a visitor more than the signs of anything like squalor is the general plainness and monotony, not to say ugliness of the region: the absence of striking and important buildings, the lack of all those suggestions of stateliness and antiquity and refinement, which we are apt to associate with the idea of city life. To complete the gen- eral picture, it should be stated that the East is bounded by somewhat similar districts on the North; that to the eastward it melts indefinitely or by slow degrees into the country, embracing whole districts to which the society has not yet extended its operations, though it is now con- templating an advance; whilst on the southern side the Thames, with its long stretch of wharves and docks, and all the concomitants of a vast mercantile port visited by ships from every quarter of the globe, affords a welcome variety to the general sameness of this portion of the far- spreading metropolis of London. But in order to understand its character, and the kind of problems which it presents to the organizers of charity, it is necessary to break up the wide area just described into smaller portions. Each of these will be found to possess its own distinctive marks. Our task will be rendered easy by following the grouping of the C. O. committees, which are, as a rule, conterminous with the Poor Law Unions. The first of these as one passes eastward from the city proper is Whitechapel, (Population 71,363.)* On the broad pavement of its High Street people of all nations jostle against one another, but they are the poor, the shabby and the toiling of all nations, not the rich and well-to-do. Half of the inhabitants are foreigners, mostly Jews. These congregate chiefly in this Union, and there are whole streets and districts in which they have gradually supplanted the native, and whole Board Schools, in additiAn *The numbers given here and below are those of the census of 1881. 26o INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. to the excellent Jewish Free School, where their children occupy all the benches. Their ways are foreign, and they mix but little with the English. As a rule, they are a peaceable and industrious ]>opulation, and in such virtues as thrift and sobriety they excel their neighbors; but they crowd unwholesomely together, and their standard of comfort being low, they tend to lower the wages of the trades in which they compete. From their practical isolation it is very difficult for any of our native agencies to come into real contact with them. Happily the Jewish poor are looked after with increasing judiciousness by the Jewish Board of Guardians, a splendid voluntary charity; while the Friends of Foreigners in Distress vindicates its name by an assistance which would be more effective if it were less frequently dissipated in doles. Of these two societies, the former is in active co-operation with our committees, while the latter frequently refers cases to them for investigation and advice. Another feature of Whitechapel is to be found in the large number of shelters and common lodging houses which are crowded into this district. The shelters especially form a serious and increasing evil, by attracting into this centre the tramps and ne'er-do-wells from all parts of the country. More particularly during the winter months, when relief of some kind is to be had for the asking, is this attraction potent and mischievous. The result is that while a wise policy of dispersion is being actively followed, on the one hand, by sanitary and moral reformers, their work is being as actively counteracted, on the other, by the efforts of a misguided philanthropy. When we add that Whitechapel has the misfortune to contain two or three streets which are notorious for the bad character of their inhabitants, it will be seen that there are many obstacles to contend with in this district. Besides this foreign and this floating population, there remains that of the regular residents. Many of them are Irish by birth or descent. They get their living by labor of all kinds, much of it casual, or by working at small trades. It is among these that the Charity Organization Committee finds its chief field of work. The two most satisfactory branches of that work are aid in sickness and convalescence, and pensions for the aged and deserving poor. In both branches co-operation and organization are needed and are obtained. Beyond this, in spite of much active co-operation on the part of many of the clergy, who in no place are more friendly than here, the committee is more successful in preaching the true principles CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 26 1 of charity than in securing their practical acceptance by the host of independent agencies that are at work around them. We pass on to St. George's in the East ; 46, 747). As this is more fully described elsewhere, it may here be briefly dismissed. It has a less mixed multitude than Whitechapel, and it is plagued with fewer shelters. It is the home of the docker, the riverside laborer, and the very poor. As their work fluctuates with the seasons and with trade, so fluctuates the prosperity of the district. There are times of much want and depression, especially in a hard winter. The bulk of the upper part of the population is made up of artisans and small store- keepers. The district, poor as it is, seems to be gradually becoming poorer, from the removal of some large undertakings. Meanwhile the foreign element in the population is increasing. Beyond St. George's on the East lies Stepney (58,500). Stepney was once a favorite suburban residence — Mr. Pepys sent his goods there for safe custody to a friend's country house during the great fire of London in 1666 — but the strong tide of population setting eastward has long covered and flowed far beyond it. With its arrival the more wealthy residents have disappeared. Those who make their fortunes in the district live apart from it. Clerks and small business men, whose work lies chiefly in the city, occupy the better neighborhoods. There is also a large number of artisans scattered throughout the district, but the bulk of the population find their living on the waterside in one way or another, and suffer with the ups and downs of trade. There are few large manufactories to furnish centres of life and industry. The foreign element is absent. Stepney has not the busy varied life of Whitechapel, nor the poverty of St. George's. It is poor but respecta- ble, orderly but dull. Mile End Old Town (105,573), which lies north of both the two districts last described, covers an area almost equal to them both. There are in this district two or three big manufactories; there are also a brewery, a distillery and large confectionery works; whilst one of the great London Gas Companies has it headquarters here. These, of course, give employment, much of it regular employment, to many. Hence there are large spaces in this wide-spreading district from which few, if any, applications come to the office of the society. By the side of these more fortunate persons lives a multitude of dockers, carmen, hawkers, and unskilled laborers. Add to this that the Jews have flowed over from Whitechapel, and occupy one quarter to the extreme west of 262 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. the district. There is no rich resident class to take the lead in charit- able work, or in organizing public life. Here, as elsewhere in the East End, those who thrive by the district live away from the district, and the region is given over to trade and labor. Very different from the Unions already described is that of Poplar (156,525) to which we now pass. The area of this huge Union is divided by the Society between two committees, one for the north, the other for the south. The district cared for by the southern committee, called that of Poplar and S. Bromley, lies still further east down by the river side, and contains within it the Isle of Dogs. The Thames here makes a large semi-circular sweep or loop, washing the island on three sides, whilst its fourth side is formed by the great East and West India Docks. North of this lies the more thickly peopled quarter of S. Bromley where the bulk of the workers live. Poplar is the seat of a great iron industry. The banks of the Thames are studded with iron works, girder works, wire rope Avorks, iron bridge works and lead works. The shipbuilding trade, which was once flourishing here, has fallen into almost complete decay. There is more independence, more hope, stir and resource among the men of Poplar than are to be found nearer the city. It is the headquarters of trades unionism and clubs; whilst the large seafaring population contributes its energy and its knowledge of the world. Of course, times of depression come, but they are encountered with more vigor and pluck. Owing to the nature of the industries followed, there is a considerkble connection with the^North of England, and, as a body, the workmen of the North are ahead of those of the South in intelligence and organization. To give an idea of the distance of Poplar from the centre of things, it takes about an hour to get from the Committee's office to Charing Cross, the headquarters of the Society, by tramcar and railway. Immediately north of this region lies the twin district of Bow and North Bromley, which is the last that we have to describe. There are some works here for the making of jam, chemicals, paper, and colors, and there is also a large brewery, but Bow is not a manufacturing cen- tre in the sense in which Poplar is. The factories lie mostly in the north corner of the district, round about Old Ford. They employ with fair regularity a large number of people; in one quarter reside a good many clerks, whose business lies elsewhere. The rest of the inhabitants are artisans, such as carpenters, painters and plumbers, and below them are laborers of various kinds. There is just a sprinkling CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 263 of dockers. Few Jews are to be found in Bow : The foreign element, which is not conspicuous, is formed chiefly of Germans, many of them old residents. There are plenty of poor, some very poor, in the dis- trict, and in one locality is gathered a criminal or semi-criminal popu- lation — one of those black spots scattered over Mr. Charles Booth's famous Map of East London — which the operations of the Society do not touch. In Bow there are no wealthy residents, but a certain amount of local help in money and service is forthcoming. Much as it is to be welcomed, it is but a trifle when compared with the wants of the dis trict and the opportunities for service which it offers. Though we have reached the end of our committees, we have not reached the end of East London. There are large densely peopled regions beyond, notably at Canning Town, and around the works of the Great Eastern Railway at Stratford. Into some of these the society is already meditating an advance, but its progress is slow and its resources few, and the day is yet distant when it will be in the happy position of being able to sigh for still more worlds to conquer. II. What are the chief difficulties which confront the Charity Organ- ization Society in the vast thickly peopled area which has now been briefly described? To name these is to state the problems which it has to consider, and, if possible, to solve. First and foremost must be placed the general absence of a leisured and cultivated class — men who have time and intelligence to devote to local matters. Consider the wide areas, the swarming numbers that have to be dealt with, and what are half a dozen centres for such a work? And yet even these poor half dozen are manned chiefly by workers who come from distant fjarts of London, and have a long journey by train and cars to encoun- ter, coming and going. The richer tradesmen used to live over their shops; now they leave them after business hours for a suburban home, which is the real centre of their affections and interests. They cannot, at any rate they do not help us. Of the clergy we shall speak pre- sently. There remains the great class of well-to-do artisans. They are always on the spot. Their aid would be invaluable, for they form the upper class of the really resident population, but hitherto we have failed to enlist their support. And there are great obstacles in the way. Not the least of these is the fact that their leisure time is in the evening, while much of the work of our committees must be done in the daytime. But there is more than this. Partly they do not under- .stand, partly they do not sympathize with our methods. With our 264 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. aims they would in theory agree, but they do not see the close connec- tion that exists between our aims and our methods, for, much as they study social questions, they do not study them from the side of charity. Hence there is much ill-founded prejudice against us, and those who would agree with us in private will not speak up for us in public. Intercourse alone can break down prejudice, and intercourse is hard to achieve. One of the chief problems set us is how to make the Society more popular without sacrificing principle. One important source of aid has yet to be mentioned. The parochial clergy are dis- tributed throughout the region, and their organization for charitable purposes is the most complete and the most universal. Could we cap- ture them, we should have made a great stride forward, for they are the only cultivated residents whom you are sure to find on the spot in every district. The only way to capture them is to convince them, and this is a long and difficult process. Perhaps our best hope in the near future lies in the acceleration of that process. At present the amount of their co-operation varies much in different centres. In Whitechapel it is hearty and pretty general; in most districts a few work with us genuinely, more are half convinced, and many stand aloof; the actively hostile are becoming fewer, and it is very possible that the next few years may see a great change for the better. 2. Next comes the multitude of competing agencies that have to be organized. A few great societies, notably the Society for Relief of Distress and the Metropolitan District Visiting Association, work in hearty co-operation with us, but the smaller and more or less local societies form the crux. Their name is legion. As a rule, they fight each for his own hand, and they despise or mistrust, at any rate they neglect, scientific charity. They are all heart and no head. The con sequence of no concert is much overlapping; the consequence of much overlapping is the degradation of the poor. The poor are being dili- gently trained by them to dependence and a hand to mouth existence, instead of to manliness and self-reliance. This is the great national curse of charity as now administered by too many. Not those who need most get the most help, but those who know best how to exploit existing institutions. The wily applicant has many strings to his bow. No doubt this thoughtless but well meaning charity often mitigates much present distress, but it does it at the cost of character, and it helps to perpetuate it. Were all the money and personal service thus lavished given on wise principles and in concert with others, it would CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 265 go much further, and would do more good and much less mischief. Problem, to convince the charitable public of this. 3. The shifting character of the population. The East Londoner is not much given to taking root in one spot. Why should he be? One street is very like another, one house is very like another. There are few of those charms of locality and association which make a man cling to his home at any cost. Hence he shifts his quarters very readily to suit his work, or his convenience. Now the essence of charity organization is friendliness and personal contact, and the unit on which it works is the family. But how can you get to know families who are here to-day and may be off to-morrow? How can you get a hold on them, and be helpful in the long laborious process of aiding to build up self-help, self-respect, frugality? Of course, there remain many fixed residents; but so far as the population fluctuates hither and thither, so far the work of charity must be imperfect. The only soluble problem here is how to make the best of a bad bargain. 4. The difficulty of the unemployed, of which so much has been heard of late. Now here there is need of much discrimination. Who are the unemployed ? It is a term somewhat vague, as generally used. No trade gives unbroken employment to all who follow it; most trades have their busy and their slack time; some can only be pursued at all at certain seasons. It would be unreasonable to constitute the hands which from these various causes, from time to time, are short of work into a class, and call them "the unemployed." And yet this is fre- quently done. The lack of employment of these persons is not chronic, but temporary, and for the most part can be foreseen and provided against. In the long run it is taken into account in the wages paid them. The genuine "unemployed" consist of two classes. It some- times happens that a trade leaves a district altogether, or almost entirely. This happened a few years ago with the sugar-bakers in Whitechapel and St. George's; it is happening now with the ship- builders in Poplar. In that case a large body of steady workmen may be thrown out of work altogether, and may have great difficulty in migrating or getting absorbed in other trades. This is the first class, and theirs is a case very hard for charity to deal with effectually; for charity cannot invent work, which is what they want. But besides these there are in East London a vast number of men who know no trade, and are too poor, too ignorant, and too shiftless to learn one. They live solely by manual labor. They seldom have regular employ- 266 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. inent. When trade is in the flood-tide of prosperity, they pick up a living; when it ebbs, their fortune ebbs with it. Then the half em- ployed become the unemployed, and suffer much privation. Especially is this the case with the "casual" dockers and other riverside laborers, who are not enrolled on any organized staff. In dealing with these two classes, charity organization may possibly meet the special crisis of the one by a special effort, but the condition of the other is chronic, and all temporary expedients are at best but palliatives, and can never effect a cure. Many of the plans at present advocated, tend only to perpetuate and aggravate the disease. Time, patience, the spread of education, the spread of organization, the elevation of the standard of comfort, and, above all, a recognition of the truth that underlies the much abused and much misunderstood law of Malthus, appear to the present writer to be the chief remedies. 5. It will have been observed that a large foreign population is quartered in Whitechapel and the parts contiguous to it. They are principally Jews. Their numbers have been a good deal increased during the past few years, but not to the extent which alarmists have reported, by refugees from .Russia. These people live by trade and traffic of one kind or another, not by manual labor. They present a special diffi- culty to charity organization: they live in the midst of the native population without mixing with it, they speak and understand our language imperfectly. The result of these facts is that it is very hard to get to know much about their real condition and their real wants. Our best hope of success seems to lie in a closer co-operation with the two great societies already mentioned, which make them their special care and have better means of knowing and dealing with them. It is time to draw this brief sketch to a close. It will be evident to those who have followed it that the Charity Organization Society has much as yet to do, and few men to do it with, in the vast field of East London. It cannot be said, at present, to have effectively occupied that field, but in every Union it has, at any rate, one active centre, from which its influence may radiate. Nor is that influence to be fairly judged by the number of cases in which co-operation has been estab- lished, or distress relieved, through its direct intervention. Its widest influence is that which is exercised on the minds and opinions of men, and there are not wanting signs that that influence is beginning to tell. A juster estimate is abroad of the problems and the responsibilities of charity. Bad ways of relief are more readily discredited than they CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 267 were. The absolute need of inquiry before relief is becoming more widely recognized. Overlapping is admitted to be mischievous. The methods of the society are some'times partially adopted even by those who profess no sympathy with it. The society is essentially a mis- sionary and propagandist society, and in proportion as the prin- ciples which it preaches come to be accepted and acted on by others, whether they join its ranks or stand aloof, it may claim to be achieving success. 268 1NTERNATI0NAT> CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. SHOREDITCH. BY MR. C. N. NICHOLSON, POOR LAW GUARDIAN AND CHAIRMAN OF THE SHOREDITCH COMMITTEE, C. O. S. The Union of which I am asked to write is that of Shoreditch, situated about twenty minutes walk north of the Bank of England. Its population is rather over 120,000 and almost the whole of them belong to the working classes, the remainder being small shopkeepers and a few factory owners, who of course reside outside the district. The principal trade carried on is the cabinet-maker's. In Curtain Road, Great Eastern Street and that part of Old Street that runs through the Union more than half the shops are furniture shops, wholesale and retail, the goods being made in the houses in the streets adjoining where the workmen live. A considerable part if not half of this furniture is thus made in the workmen's own home and not in the factory. The work is also very much split up, a chair, for instance, having to go through a large number of hands before it is turned out. There is also a considerable number of timber merchants in the district and many people are employed at the sawmills which supply the small workmen who make for the furniture dealers. The boot trade also employs a certain number, but very small in comparison with the furniture trade. There is also a zinc works and a white lead factory, and the inevitable box-making business which exists over a great part of London. The district is very fairly open and airy, the streets as a rule being wide and the number of courts and alleys small. The houses also are all low and the streets are consequently lighter than in many parts of London. At the time at which I am writing, the cabinet trade and the boot trade are very much depressed, the warehouses being full of goods for which there are no purchasers, and consequently employment is slack to such an extent that the small workmen can frequently be seen in the streets trying to sell the goods which ought properly to go to the ware- houses. One would naturally think that this would increase the number of people who have to be supported by poor law relief, but somehow the CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 269 numbers in the house are very little above the average while the out- relief has been coming down steadily through the year. It will be perhaps right to explain at this point the rules for the giving of State relief in accordance with which the guardians of the poor of each Union are bound to act. In the first place no person is entitled to receive relief unless he can plead destitution. Now this particular term has never been defined and is probably incapable of definition. In practice its meaning is fairly well shown by a remark which I have heard a relieving officer make to his board of guardians, when asked by the chairman why he had given relief to a particular individual. He said, ') those who accept in some shape or another the workhouse test. (2) Those who are selected arbitrarily by Guardians for outdoor relief, and who in many cases (it is impossible to say how many) have been brought to their present condition by the attraction of a mainte- nance to be obtained without effort. With regard to the first class of paupers — those determined by an automatic test — there is a very large field for the work of charitable volunteers. As recommended, charitable bodies may establish and manage institutions to which paupers may be sent. Volunteers may with great advantage visit the poor law institutions, schools, infir- maries, workhouses; may organize employment for the old and infirm on the lines of the Brabazon experiment; may take steps to help inmates of the workhouse to make a new start in life; may by judicious interpo- sition save young people from lives of pauperism; and do a variety of kindly actions which it is impossible to enumerate. Here the Poor Law and charitable agencies combine to assist the same person, and for the sake of clearness, I will term this form of action co-operation proper. A totally different account, and a totally different recommendation, is to be given in regard to the second class of paupers. Those who have paid most attention to the question condemn the state of the law which permits a man to receive from the rates an addi- tion to his income to be used in exactly the same way as a similar sum derived from wages or savings, on the sole condition that he can suc- ceed in persuading Guardians that he is destitute. It has been shown over and over again that relief given under these conditions is rarely adequate and is always demoralizing. Those, therefore, who wish well to the poor are anxious to reduce the evil results of the present law to the smallest dimensions. Their recom- mendation is simple. They say to Guardians, cease to give this demora- lizing form of relief, and allow such relief as maybe required by people at their own homes to be administered by voluntary agencies. By this division of labor there will result, they argue, a great diminu- tion in the burden borne by the Poor Law, and a great diminution also in the burden borne by charitable institutions, for a third agency will be called into existence, viz: the successful effort of the poor themselves. 294 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. If these expectations are realized, if by this policy sickness, old age, premature death, and the ordinary risks of life are more and more pro- vided against by the provident associations of the poor, it is obvious that the demand both on compulsory and voluntary funds will be a dimin- ishing tpantity. For this reason there is a disposition to argue by those who hold this view that we should not commit ourselves irrevocably to the proposition that the feeble-minded and the imbecile should be relegated to the care of the law and made a burden on ratepayers; for it is maintained that in the future — in the not very distant future, let us hope — the ordinary risks of life will be so fully provided for by the thrift associations of the poor that the contributions of the charitable will be set free for extra- ordinary occasions of distress such as arise from epilepsy and deficient intellect. This condition of affairs has not arrived. It is my task to show that this prospect of reformation is not Utopian. I will endeavor to do this by a brief reference to the past and present history of the subject. And at the outset let me insist on one point which I believe to be the governing truth in all this controversy. Reformation will not come from any gerrymandering of the Poor Law or charitable funds, but from the development of the poor man's capacity for a life of independence. All our administration of legal and voluntary relief should be made sub- servient to this idea, provided always that adequate relief is not thereby withheld. The most serious crisis of poor law administration which this coun- try has ever experienced was that previous to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. The idea that an able-bodied working man could sup- port himself and his family was regarded as chimerical. Every man received an allowance from the rates in proportion to the number of his children, and the employer obtained his services at a nominal wage. The single man or the man without a family was not employed, because the farmer or manufacturer had to pay his wages in full. The poorer classes of the country lived in a state of discontent and open rebellion; land went out of cultivation because its produce was not sufficient to pay the rate. The country was brought to the verge of ruin. The Poor Law Commissioners inquired and reported on this state of affairs. Now what was their recommendation ? It was simple enough. Stop, they said, all outdoor relief to the able-bodied. Throw the poor man absolutely on his own resources, and do not fear for the result. Their CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 295 advice was carried into legislation, and, as all now admit, with the happiest results. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that we have got rid of the able-bodied pauper — or to be more correct, and the distinc- tion is important, we have got rid of those economic conditions which condemned the able-bodied man of that day to pauperism and de- pendence. Poor law reform does not war against the person of the pauper, but against the economic conditions which arise when the poor are encouraged to look to rates rather than to wages and sav- ings for their maintenance, and against the formation of the parasitic habits of dependence, the necessary correlatives to this economic con- dition. But to return. We have got rid of able-bodied pauperism, but we are still struggling with a pauperism that is not able-bodied. Let us review the situation briefly. Throughout a great part of the country, more especially in the rural districts, there is still a perfectly unbroken tradition of pauperism handed on from generation to genera- tion. It is assumed that the laborer must become a pauper in his old age, in his time of temporary sickness; that his widow and children must at his death become pensioners on the rates. Is it possible for us, without inflicting undue hardship, to break this tradition? And if so, how is it to be done? Time does not permit me to elaborate all the detail of the argument. I will state, how- ever, in baldest outline the policy which I think has now become an integral part of the theory of those who support the Charity Organiza- tion Society. In the first place, we rely with absolute confidence on the precedent of the abolition of able-bodied pauperism. The only way in which the legis- lator or the administrator can promote the reduction of pauperism is by abolishing or restricting the legal endowments provided for pauperism. The country can have, there is no doubt of it, exactly as many paupers as it chooses to pay for. Abolish or restrict that endowment, or the more acceptable form of that endowment — I mean, of course, outdoor relief — and new agencies are called into activity, man's natural capacity for independence, the natural ties of relationship and friendship; and under this head I would include private as distinguished from public charity, for private charity in any real sense of the word is not a virtue practised toward a stranger, but arises out of the natural affection of neighbors, and proceeds on the Gospel rule of seventy times seven rather than on any pedantic weighing of merit and demerit. By the action of these forces pauperism, so to speak, evaporates. 296 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. I insist on this aspect of the question, for I think it is apt to be over- looked. The abolition or limitation of outdoor relief is urged not merely because outdoor relief can be best administered by voluntary agencies, but because its abolition restores men to their independence. There are many subsidiary reasons why it is desirable that the Poor Law should confine itself to giving relief within the walls of some one of its institutions, and leave the relief to be given at people's homes to voluntary agencies; but I venture to think that the reason I have given is the paramount reason, viz., that this policy more than any other calls out the successful effort of the poor themselves. Every other considera- tion, though some of them are of great force, is relatively trivial. Now let me meet the objection which is at once raised to this. It is often said, but I think only by persons who have no practical experience of such matters, that there is no difference brought about by transferring the duty of giving outdoor relief from a legal to a voluntary agency. Others ask what is the necessity for this. If we could secure really good Boards of Guardians, Mr. Marshall has argued, they would admin- ister out-relief with quite as much discrimination as any charity organi- zation society. This argument evades the whole point of our conten- tion. We do not rely on the greater discrimination used by a volun- tary agency. We rely on a much more efficacious protection, viz., the greater moderation of the poor in making claim on a charitable fund. Legal relief seems to be, indeed is, the right of all the poor equally. All are "poor," that is, have an insufficient income; application for relief, therefore, is made by all, or at all events by many more than will apply to a charitable fund. The success which has attended the administration of the Poor Law in Bradfield and Whitechapel is often, and no doubt with justice, ascribed to administration, but it can never sufficiently be insisted on that the action of the Poor Law is purely negative — it is restriction, abolition; the positive element in the reform is the quickened develop- ment of the spirit of independence among the poor themselves. This quickened development again rests on the fact (too often ignored by the mere theorist) that the moderation of the poor is such that they will not apply for indoor relief, or for relief from the funds of a charitable society, if those funds are protected by a very slight exercise of discrim- ination and inquiry. I am not merely theorizing as to the existence of this moderation of the poor in jjressing demands on charitable funds, as the following facts I CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 297 will show. In St. George's East the outdoor relief in 187 1 was ^8,916; in 1874, ^£4,391- It is now a merely nominal sum, and the local Charity Organization Society is giving relief at the rate of about ^600 per annum. The clergy of the union are firm supporters of the Society, and the indiscriminate almsgiving is probably less now than in the old out-relief days. As a matter of fact, moreover, the committee does not refuse many cases. The trade of the union is, on the whole, less prosperous than in old days, owing to the decline of the shipbuilding and sugar industries. To what, then, are we to attribute the fact that the Society (which I may add, has never refused a case for lack of funds) has had to meet a demand so comparatively slight? They have never been so absurd as to pretend that the diminution is due solely to their greater industry in investigation and discrimination. Far from it. It is due much more to what I have termed the moderation of the poof. It has frequently been pointed out that it is necessary to restrain the acceptance of poor law relief by deterrent conditions. There is something repugnant to our feelings in this. I would have you observe, therefore, that by relegating the duty of g'iving relief to people at their homes to voluntary agencies, the condition of deterrence is replaced effectually by a much more honorable and salutary safeguard. I mean the moderation of the poor themselves. The offer of institutional relief, to which legal relief is by our pro- posal confined, will be said by some to be inhumanly deterrent. Such an opinion requires some qualification. It is urged by the Poor Law Commissioners, and ratified by common sense, that the condition of the pauper ought to be inferior to that of the poorest independent laborer. Now, the condition of the poorest independent laborer is poor indeed, and attempts to maintain the pauper at his own home in a still inferior condition result inevitably in inadequacy of relief. Juries occasionally find verdicts of starvation at inquests on the death of persons in receipt of outdoor relief. Such a state of things cannot be thought satisfactory, and it is aggravated by the feeling of injustice which arises because all are not treated alike. There is no union where everyone gets outdoor relief. Some are everywhere refused. The inferiority of the pauper's condition ought not, on grounds of humanity, to be brought about by inadequacy of relief. What is the alternative? Nothing more than this, that the same measure should be given to all, namely, carefully managed and adequate relief within the walls of some poor law establishment. \Vhen the Irish Poor Law was created 298 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. it was feared that the scale of maintenance in the workhouse, which, relatively to the standard of living of the Irish peasant, was ample, even luxurious, would attract too many applicants. Those who under- stood the question insisted that there was no fear of that. The result proved that they were right. The dilemma is a simple enough one. It is desirable that the condition of the pauper shall be inferior to that of the poorest independent laborer. Will you effect this by giving inadequate relief and half starving the pauper at his own home? Or will you not rather import the necessary element of inferiority into the lot of the pauper by attaching conditions of restraint and discipline to an adequate and, on the whole, comfortable maintenance? On grounds of humanity, quite apart from the fatal influence of outdoor relief on the thrifty habits of the people, can we have any doubt as to the best choice in this dilemma ? There is no wish to pursue the pauper with penalties. His destitution arises from the fact that from one reason or another he has failed to fit himself into the framework of free economic society. If there are causes which have brought him to this pass, removable without injustice to others by legislation, by all means let them be removed. In the meantime his condition is a misfortune; no legislation can reverse this verdict and convert failure into success. Remedies are only a choice of evils. Civilized society will not permit the unfit to perish, nor will it ruin itself by permanently fostering failure by giving it all the re- wards of success. In a sound administration of the Poor Law it takes a third course. It gives a maintenance to failure more adequate than that which can be won by those who live on the border line between success and failure; but in order that this shall not be a premium on failure, it imposes conditions of discipline and restraint. To return, however, to our proposed division of labor. Although it is true that the moderation of the poor and their latent capacity for inde- pendence will contribute largely to the success of this policy, still it is necessary that schemes of public charity should be conducted with care and discrimination. I can best explain my meaning by an illustration. The heaviest year our Society ever had in St. George's was 1886, the year of the Mansion House Fund. This fund was raised amid great excitement and boundless advertisement. The idea of relief was in the air, and though some ^2,000 was expended in the district by the Mansion House Relief Committee the only result was that a larger demand was made on other agencies. The moderation of the poor was CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 299 in this instance, and by the means above mentioned, broken down. The fund was happily only temporary, but its influence while it lasted was very similar to the state of things brought about by a permanent system of lavish out-relief. The poor were kept in a state of speculative ferment, and during the sittings of the Mansion House Relief Com- mittee application for relief was made to it on behalf of about one- third of the whole population. Public charities of a permanent character managed in this manner would, without doubt, be very nearly as mischievous as outdoor relief. Public charity, therefore, should be administered without ostentation, and under the safeguard of full and deliberate investigation. In this way, and in this way only, can the whole benefit of the policy now advocated be secured. I use the term public charity advisedly, for the action of private charity, as already indicated, is not a matter to be controlled by organization societies, whose work lies mainly with funds arising from endowments and subscriptions, and from the donations of the rich for persons unknown to them. Private charity, in the strict sense in which I use the term, is liable to error. A father may be over- indulgent to a son, and a friend, by misplaced liberality, may confirm a friend in unprofitable habits; but this is a form of error not to be dealt with ex cathedra by any organ of public criticism. The co-operation of the Poor Law with charitable agencies, as carried out in three of the poorest unions of London — Stepney, Whitechapel, and St. George's — was commended in the report of the Select Commit- tee of the House of Lords, and the experiment is often quoted in poor law discussions. There is, however, one misapprehension on the sub- ject which I should like to correct. The reform of the Poor Law in these three unions was begun and carried out before our system of organized charity had taken root in the soil. The poor law reform in White- chapel and Stepney began in 1870-71. The first report of the Tower Hamlets Pension Committee is dated 1878. When I first became a mem- ber of the Charity Organization Society in 1879 the Whitechapel and St. George's committees had a common office, and at an earlier date there was only one committee for the whole of the Tower Hamlets, which used to meet in a little room in Philpot Street*. We have been enabled ♦The following note has been supplied to me by Mr. Loch with reference to the early history of the society in the East End: — The East End Inquiry ( ommittee was opened in February, 1871, and continued to be the only office for live of the East London poor law divisions (viz., White- 300 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. to extend and consolidate our operations because the Poor Law Guar- dians have taken the first step and confined themselves to giving indoor relief only. It is impossible to make any subdivision of labor till the more power- ful party to the agreement has become satisfied of its necessity. I argue, therefore, that Poor Law Guardians must take the first step, under a profound conviction that whether there be an organization of charitable agencies, or whether there be none, they have no right to with- hold from their union the benefit of sound administration. As matter of fact there can be no doubt that, if Guardians have the courage and disinterestedness to face this reform, there will also be found among them men of sufficient position and energy to organize the charitable agencies; but I confess there seems to me to be very little to be done till the policy of Guardians is animated by a profound conviction of the necessity for reform. At the same time, though I must insist that the initiative lies with the poor law authorities, I think that our organization of charity has been of service in strengthening the party of reform on the various boards. Guardians are able to say that provision has been made to deal with exceptional cases, and they have not been deterred from con- tinuing to the union the enormous benefit of a sound administration. They have never (and this is the danger to which I desire to draw atten- tion) asserted a right to choose our applicants for us, or to override our decisions. The two bodies are entirely distinct, and there is no publicly ratified compact between us. The only bond between us is that we both believe that by the tactics pursued the poor are learning to do without the help of either of us. The proposal of Professor Marshall, that we should be recognized as a part of the legal machinery of the Poor Law, would, therefore, be fatal to our usefulness. The co-operation which we advocate is, there- fore, more a division of labor than co-operation pure and simple. It consists in this, that the Poor Law should confine itself to institutional relief; as a result the greater part of the outdoor legal relief now given chapel, St.George-in-the-East, Poplar, Stepney, Mile End Old Town), till Feb- ruary, 1873, when the joint Whitechapel and St.George-in-the-East Committee and the Poplar Committee were formed. The Fast End Inquiry Committee became in April, 1873, the Stepney and Mile End Old ToAvn Inquiry Committee. In March, 1875, separate committees were formed at Whitechapel and St.George- in-the-East, and they continued to make use of only one office. In April, 1875, separate committees were formed in Stepney and Mile End Old Town. The East End Finance Committee was formed early in 1874. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 3OI will be rendered unnecessary by reason of the increased independence of the poor, and the remainder is so small in amount that it can be dealt with by voluntary charity. The administration of the Poor Law and of voluntary relief should go hand in hand, animated by the common purpose not only to relieve adequately, but, as it has been well put, to make the influence of our relief system centrifugal, and not centripetal. When this purpose is not present in the minds of administrators, the most senseless and disastrous competition between the Poor Law and charity is set up. The City of London is a contiguous .union to VVhitechapel. At the time of the Lords Select Committee the pauperism of Whitechapel was 16 per 1,000. In the City it was 62 per 1,000. Some years ago I made some remarks on this contrast, and I was taken to task by an influential city paper. This gentlemen, it was said, is very badly informed about the City Union. "Many poor persons have come into the city for the small charities which have hitherto been obtainable in different parishes, and it is hardly fair to compare the City" with other places. How far this is an exculpation of the City Guardians I do not stop to inquire, but it does confirm my view that where no definite division of labor exists, the larger and more numerous the charitable institutions, the greater the burden on the Poor Law. In the chaos here delineated both legal and voluntary relief act with an overpowering centripetal force, so much so that their warmest defenders can only excuse the authorities by saying, "What can they do? The place is a nursery for paupers." Let me say a few words on the experience of those country unions which have reformed their Poor Law administration. In none of them, as far as I know, has there been established any charity organization society. The contrary is often asserted, but without foundation. A charity organization is very desirable, nay, even necessary, where there are a number of public charities and a large mass of population, but there is much less necessity for it in a sparsely populated rural district. The squire and the parson and the ladies bountiful of the neighborhood ought to exercise their common sense, and if there be many of them, there is no reason why, if they choose, they should not meet in a com- mittee, but neither at Bradfield nor at Brixworth has this been found practicable or desirable. The late Mr. Bland-Garland told a friend of mine, who has repeated it to me, that when he became responsible for the administration at Bradfield he put aside a certain annual sum — ^100 I think — which he was prepared to give away, in order to make 302 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. the transition to a stricter system more easy. He added that in the first year the demand on his purse did not reach half that sum, and that in subsequent years it became gradually less. Very similar is the information given to me by Mr. Bury, Chairman of the Brixworth Board. He has from his own resources, and from moneys entrusted to him, a small fund which he has used much in the way described by Mr. Bland-Garland. He is definitely of opinion that he would much rather not have any organization society. It is not — there, at all events — necessary. I do not think I misinterpret Mr. Bury's opinion if I say that he does not regard the reform of administration at Brixworth as a mere transition from dependence on poor law relief to a dependence on charitable funds, but rather that under the administration for which he is responsible the poor are suc- cessfully learning to achieve an absolute independence for themselves. This desirable result would be endangered if a charitable committee were established permanently and prominently before the eyes of the people. I mention Mr. Bury's opinion and experience — even though it may seem to show that co-operation with charity is not necessary — because it emphasizes what I have already stated, viz., that the positive element of reform in all this matter is neither charity nor the Poor Law, but the spirit of independence in the people themselves. In the foregoing remarks I have advisedly avoided going into detail. The first step in reform is to convince the majority of a board of guar- dians of the necessity of reform. The details of the methods taken to give effect to the principle must differ widely in each district and with each board. It would be very desirable, I think, that the Society should publish one or two statements similar to the late Mr. Bland- Garland's paper, 'S° i^"* doles of money, which range in amount from ^10 to a few shillings. Beside the founders of the parochial charities, Bristol has been rich in benefactors whose generosity has extended over a wider area. Thus Alderman Whitson, about 1629, left large bequests to be distributed in the form of doles to the needy in any part of the then existing town; and Edward Colston, about 1690, founded numerous schools and alms- houses on so liberal a scale, that his name has ever since been represen- , CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 313 tative for Bristol citizens of large-hearted charity. Three societies, established during the last century and called after him the Colston Societies, are still in active operation, subscriptions to the amount of ^3,000 being raised annually by them and dispensed as annuities and doles. The non-parochial endowed charities are in the hands of trustees, of which the most important board is responsible for the administration of those formerly in the gift of the corporation. These consist, besides schools on which an income of ^12,000 is expended, of annuities,, almshouses, gifts of money &c., and amount to a yearly value of ^8,000. In addition a large number of almshouses and annuities are in the bestowal of more private bodies. x\lmshouses provide for a total of 526 persons; annuities, which range in amount from ^35 to ^5 ^s. for 439; while about ^2,144 is expended annually by parochial and other charities in doles. This large provision for the poor would be a subject for local con- gratulation if good intentions could ensure good results; but unfortu- nately this is not so; and it is not too much to assert that while tem- porary comfort and satisfaction have doubtless been given in many indi- vidual instances, the effect of the action of the charities on the well- being of the poorer citizens has been on the whole for evil, because of the weakening effect on character resulting from encouragement to rely for the future on the help of others. The law guards jealously, and no doubt wisely, the sacredness of testators' rights. Property of more than a small yearly value which has been left for a particular purpose cannot be diverted to any other, except under special legal powers, even when it is obvious that its pre- sent use is doing harm. In Bristol, as elsewhere, the lapse of centuries has wrought great changes. Parishes which were formerly populous have become com- paratively deserted. The inhabitants of the ancient city, who alone share in the benefits of many of the charities, form now but a small proportion of the total population, and since the passing of the first Reform Act the freemen of the city, for whom and whose families many benefactions are reserved, have much diminished in numbers, so that the charities limited to this class have become far less generally applicable than was the intention of their founders. The operation of the system of doles must be regarded as productive of harm rather than good to the classes affected by them. In general 314 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARllIES AND CORRECITON. the church wardens and vestries are not guided in their choice of recipients by considerations as to thrift and permanent benefit; and even if they were, they would be unable under the rigid terms of their foundations to vary either the amount or the time of bestowing their gifts. These are not as a rule therefore available for cases of temporary difficulty, while at the same time they, are too small and too irregular to be of permanent benefit as pensions. The methods pursued by the municipal trustees for apportioning the charities in their gift cannot be regarded as adequate. There is a very large number of applicants for every vacancy, and there is no other means of judging between them than such as is afforded by the enquiries which the time and opportunity of individual trustees — generally men honor- ably occupied in other important duties — may allow of their making. As no candidate can obtain a hearing who has not such personal sup- port, it inevitably results that the provision thus existing is unavailable except for the few who are known to or have access to one of the trustees. There is no reason to believe that the case stands differently in regard to the almshouses and annuities controlled by other trustees; but as to the methods of these more private bodies it is less easy to obtain infor- mation. As regards the action of the Colston Societies, the main object of two of these is political, and their annual dinners are made the occa- sions of speeches by members of the Government and others, so that they are involved with matters unconnected with the relief of the poor. The distribution of their annuities and doles is managed as in the case of other voting charities. One or more known citizens having granted their names as recommending a case, details are generally neither asked nor given, and the voting is determined in the usual way by canvassing and personal pressure. By the action of the three societies about ^1,872 is annually distributed in annuities of the value of ^£13, and ^1,200 in doles. In addition to the gifts thus bestowed, Bristol is not behind other places in supporting liberally the many societies and charitable institu- tions which modern benevolence has called into existence. According to the report of the commission of enquiry of 1885, about ^38,000 is annually raised for these purposes. A very large sum is also given away privately; much of it in the form of that true charity which CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 315 silently provides for the needs of neighbors and dependents, but much also of that unwise charity which gives without enquiry, and enables the importunate and idle to live on the credulity of the careless rich. Side by side with the great charities we have of course the Poor Law. For poor law purposes Bristol is divided into three unions of which the parishes comprising the ancient city form the central one, wholly urban in its character, and containing now 55,500 inhabitants; while Barton Regis (193,000) and Bedminster (77,500) include different parts of newer districts and suburbs, as well as portions of the outly- ing country districts, and involve the difficulties of administration inci- dent to a mixed urban and rural population. In Bristol as a whole, but more especially in the ancient city, there has long been an exceptionally high rate of pauperism as compared with other large towns; and this undesirable distinction still continues, although the last twenty years show a steady decline in all three unions, corresponding with the decrease throughout the country. Causes connected with the industrial condition of the city may have had something to do with this state of things. A century ago the port of Bristol was one of the most important in the kingdom. It has entirely lost that position now, and ranks far behind many newer towns; partly in consequence of the ruin of its sugar industry brought about by the results of emancipation in the West Indies, followed by the French bounty system; partly owing to the difficulty and danger attend- ing the navigation of its narrow tidal river by large modern steamers; partly, too, owing to the short-sighted policy of the authorities, who in the early part of the century exacted exorbitant dues, and long neglected to supply dock accommodation at the mouth of the river. Trade thus left the port, and Liverpool and other towns prospered at its expense. Another cause of pauperism must be noted in the low rate of wages, which have not risen in Bristol to an extent commensurate with the general rise throughout the country. It may be open to question, how- ever, whether this may not be an effect as well as a cause of the large amount of out-relief which has always been given; for, making allowance for the drawbacks to prosperity alluded to, we should, we believe, ignore a commonplace of experience if we did not recognize the vital connection between a free administration of out-relief and the 31 6 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. existence of large charities on the one hand, and low wages and a high rate of pauperism on the other. It will be seen that there is thus no lack of aid to the poor from many sources. The real difficulty has been the want of method and intelligence shown in bestowing it. No attempt has been made by any centre of relief to work with reference to any other. Overlapping has gone on unchecked. Guardians and dispensers of charity of all kinds have relieved the same people, none of them having any know- ledge of what others were doing. The idle and improvident have thus flourished at the expense of the industrious and thrifty; for under such conditions it is those who ask most who receive most. No serious effort was made to improve this state of things until about 1870, when the interest aroused in the subject of wise methods of charity, which had led to the issue of Mr. Goschen's Poor Law Minute of 1869 and the subsequent establishment of the London Charity Organization Society, extended itself to Bristol, and a Charity Organiza- tion Society for that city was formed. Before that time a Mendicity Society did useful work for nearly a quarter of a century; but it seems to have limited its operations to efforts for the prevention of begging, and not to have attempted to deal with the larger and more complex aspects of the subject. The difficulties in the way of the pioneers in this work in such a city as Bristol cannot be exaggerated. The complexity of the questions involved; the difficulty of learning the truth: the vested interests to be disturbed; and, not least, the impossibility of arousing public sympathy; all this made the work seem for many years well nigh hopeless. Warm friends of the cause, disappointed and disheartened, withdrew one after another to more hopeful fields of labor. Nevertheless the Society con- tinued to do useful work. Its main office through all changes remained open, although branches which were tried from time to time had to be closed. At present it is not claiming too much for it to say, that at its table case-work, as careful and sound as that of any of the London com- mittees, is done weekly. Still the amount accomplished remained small when compared with the needs of so large a town, and the committee failed to bring about any system of co-operation between the poor law authorities and the dispensers of the endowed and other charities. Most of the influential inhabitants of Bristol and Clifton have held aloof from giving the Society the advantage of their personal support' and guidance, and perhaps the unpopularity attaching to such work has CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 317 not invariably been lessened by tact in its dealings. It was impossible, too, that one office should really do the work involved, and that dispatch and thoroughness should not suffer while such long distances had to be covered by a limited staff. The appearance in 1885 of the valuable report of the "committee of enquiry into the condition of the Bristol poor' ' threw a flood of light upon these subjects, and suggestions as to wise methods of improvement were made. It did not succeed in arresting public attention, however, and the efforts which followed to bring about co-operation consequently failed. But during the past three or four years prospects have brightened. Bristol has shared in the revival of interest in questions affecting the welfare of the poor which has everywhere shown itself. In 1889 at the annual meeting of the Society many valuable speeches were made by representative local men, who from different points of view had come to see the need for action on its lines. These were published in permanent form, and the pamphlet was widely circulated in the city with an appeal for co-operation. As a result consultations took place between mem- bers of the Society and some of the Guardians of the ancient city. An influential council has been formed in order to establish a committee to work within that union, which shall act as a medium between the chari- table agencies and the Guardians, and much local interest has been aroused among the clergy and others who are in contact with the poor. It is hoped that this committee, acting in co-operation with the Charity Organization Society, will begin work before long. What is needed is that the Guardians and different charitable agen- cies should arrive at an understanding as to the class of cases coming within the sphere of labor of each; so that cases of temporary distress, which may be saved from a condition of permanent dependence, may be helped adequately and at the right time by the action of charity. As regards permanent cases, the pensions and almshouses should be reserved for the most thrifty and deserving, apart from accidents of acquaintance and personal favor; the bodies which dispense these gifts bearing in mind that they are intended for the good of the citizens as a whole, and not of any special individuals accidentally more fortunate than the rest in their opportunities for pressing their case. The system of election to the Colston charities by voting should be abolished, and the choice of applicants should rest with a wise committee. In addition to considera- tion as to general good character, thrift and forethought on the part of 3lS INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. all candidates for almshouses or annuities should count as important factors. In such a large city and among many hundreds of applicants the task of decision must involve the expenditure of much time and trouble. The trustees and others, therefore, should obtain assistance in the necessary labor of enquiry. Could such changes as these be brought about, Bristol might well be proud of her noble institutions for the aged poor. In order to facilitate co-operation between the various charities and the Poor Law, it has been proposed to form a central council, on which Guardians, trustees and all relieving agencies should be represented, and which by subdivision of work should furnish the needful means for enquiry and render each agency more effective within its sphere of action. Of such a general cou-ncil, that which has been established for the central union may be regarded as a foreshadowing. Its work must necessarily be extremely difficult, but when it is realized how important is such common action, surely the Guardians and others will not shrink from the trouble involved. The enterprise of Bristol citizens is not yet extinct. At immense cost they are about to build large additional docks at the mouth of the Avon, and the city will once more be abreast with other great ports in its provision for the shipping requirements of the day. Should this undertaking succeed, the future may see a large extension in the trade and prosperity of the city. The labor agitations, though they have been accompanied by much that is deplorable, may have the ultimate eftect of somewhat raising the rate of wages, and it is earnestly to be desired that, should an opportu- nity thus be afforded to the working classes of Bristol of sharing in an increased general prosperity and advancing to a position more favorable to permanent well-being and independence, the improvement will not be hindered, so far as the unskilled and the less able are concerned, because the dispensers of poor law relief and charity refuse to co-operate, and continue to uphold a policy which is inimical to the best interests of the poor. Rate of pauperism in Bristol: Ancient City i in 20. Bedminster i in 25. Barton Regis 1 in 42. Number of places in almshouses, 526. Number of annuities (^35 to /^5 S-f-), 439- This may not be quite all. Amount given yearly in doles about ^2,144 to about 1,746 persons. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 319 ROCHDALE. INDUSTRIAL AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS, POOR LAW ADMINISTRATION, AND CHARITIES. BY R. A. LEACH, CLERK TO THE ROCHDALE BOARD OF GUARDIANS. I. Industrial and General Characteristics. Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, is a manufacturing town which is typical of many others to be found in the county and in the West Riding of the adjoining County of York. So long ago as 1680, William, Lord Byron (Baron of Rochdale, and Lord of the Manor) described it as '-an ancient market town of great resort." Flannel, which was the staple trade of its inhabitants for centuries, was manu- factured in the town so far back as the year 1322. Notwithstanding its great age as a market and manufacturing town, it is said to be poor "in historic fact and antiquarian memento," but the fact that it was the birthplace and home of John Bright, that it could claim Richard Cobden as its member in Parliament, and that a few of its working men (the "Equitable Pioneers") gave the breath of life to the co-opera- tive stores movement, which has yielded results inestimable and far- reaching, is alone sufficient to make any Rochdalian proud of the place of his origin. The area of the town is 4,180 statute acres, and the population 71,458 (Census 1891). The area of the poor law union, which covers the town and stretches out to the surrounding district, is 34,822 statute acres, and the population 123,910 (Census 1891). The annual rental of the town is ^281,135, which permits of a net valuation for local rates of ^229,492. The annual rental and net valuation for rating purposes of the union are ;;/!^625,639 and ^511,227 respectively. At present the chief industries of the town are flannel, cotton, and engine and machine making. Among the minor industries are manufactories of silks, velvets, carpets and paper, dye works and corn milling, and, as may lie supposed, there are several building contractors. In the surrounding district, besides the industries mentioned, there is stone- quarrying and also coal-mining, but coal-mining is not carried on to any large extent. There is farming, too, though it is not of a kind 320 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. that enables us to speak of any part of the poor law union area as "agricultural" in the popularly accepted sense of the term. The population of the town and district may be truly characterized as a working-class population; and though there may be nooks and corners in and about the town and district where dirt, poverty and wretchedness exist, the population in the bulk for comfort of circum- stances will compare very favorably indeed with the population of any other place. The death rate in the town is, for a manufacturing town, comparatively low. This may to a large extent be attributed to a splendid water-supply and a system of sanitation which inspectors of the English and American Governments have acknowledged to be "un- surpassed." The working people of Rochdale are a people of sturdy indepen- dence and of forethought and thrift, a people who have worked up- wards, and who no doubt will continue to work upwards. Two years ago I made inquiry into the provisions which the working classes of the town made for old age, the days of scarcity of employment, sickness and death. The information then obtained was considered conclusive evidence of the virtues mentioned. The following information is simi- lar to that obtained two years ago, only it is, if anything, a little more ample: PAYMENT.S TO MEMBERS DURING THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER, 1892. Local Friendly Societies having their Registered Office or Meet- ing-place in the Town of Rochdale: ^ s. d. Total Payment for Sickness 20,716 7 10 " " Funerals 4,027 10 o Trades Unions or Local Branches having their Meeting-places in the Town: Total Payment for Sickness 1,297 o 11 " " Funerals 432 6 o *Out-of-\Vork, &c 5,38811 5 Industrial Assurance Societies and Companies doing business with the Working People in the Town: Total Payments by Societies which have supplied information (nearly all death claims) I9i493 '9 9 (Several large Societies have refused to state their Payments). Total ;^5i.355 '5 i' *Had the year been made up from March to March, this amount would have been much heavier because of a dispute in the cotton trade. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 32 I Total amount owing to Deposi- tors at end of De- cember, i8g2, in- cluding Share INVESTMENTS. Lo^'ani^''' " " '^ £ s. d. Post-Office Savings Banks (Rochdale Town Branches) 111,200 o 9 Yorkshire Penny Bank, Rochdale Town Branches 12,428 18 4 Co-operative Stores, Juvenile Banks 5»726 15 i Children's Bank at Board Schools 445 4 8 Co-operative Stores (members"' claims) 5'5'93- ^ o *Rochdale Corporation 36,730 o o '*Linnited Companies which have supplied information (4 of the largest Companies have stated their inability to furnish figures) 186,480 o o *Building Societies exclusive of Loans 41)831 o o Total .^910-774 4 10 *i8go Returns. The figures given have been obtained either from published accounts or from chief officials, and refer to working people. Care has been exercised to limit the information as far as possible to the town of Roch- dale. It may be taken, therefore, that the figures given pertain only to residents within the town and adjoining district. From the investments have been excluded such as are not the investments of indi- viduals, i. e. investments of stores, working men's clubs, and sick societies are excluded. Information of amount standing to the credit of Rochdale depositors in the ordi- nary banks not ascertainable. The local friendly societies and the various concerns in which investments are made .are financially sound. Population of the town, 71,458. To the above information may be added another item which speaks for the sturdy independence and forethought of the working people of Rochdale. From the yth November, 1892, to the 25th March, 1893, a conflict between the masters and the workpeople in the cotton trade raged more or less throughout the cotton manufacturing centres of Lancashire. This conflict was the severest that has ever taken place in the Lanca- shire cotton trade, and it is said to have involved both, sides in the loss of upwards of two million pounds. Rochdale was not so much affected as were some of the other cotton manufacturing districts; nevertheless it was very appreciably affected. An estimate carefully computed by the trades union officials shows that in the town and its immediate vicinity the workpeople employed as cotton operatives drew about y^7o,ooo less in wages than they would have done had the dispute not 21 32 2 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. occurred and had all the mills been working full time during the twenty weeks the struggle lasted. This loss of wages meant privation in hundreds of homes, yet during the half year which embraced the whole period of the dispute, the out- door relief granted by the Poor Law Guardians was only ;£4i9 ii> excess of the amount given in the corresponding half of the previous year. The increase in the number of workhouse inmates was but slight; while the relief given by the local Charity Organization Society was only -^28 OS. 11//. in excess of the amount given in the corresponding period of the preceding year. Even these small increases were not altogether occasioned by applicants who were cotton workers. Had it not been, though, for the spirit of independence amongst the operatives, and the helpful resources of the trades unions, which the unionist workers were able to draw upon as f/ieir own, immensely more poor law relief and charity would have been called for than was the case. The ques- tion may be asked, "Did the workers keep themselves from being recipients of parish relief and charity by being allowed to run into debt with tradesmen?" To such a question the answer may be made that Rochdale, in bad times as well as good, excels as a ready money trading town. II. T/ie Administration of the Poor Law. In dealing with poor law administration it is well to remember that in England the boards of Poor Law Guardians, in dispensing poor law relief, whether indoor (workhouse) or outdoor, are subject to the orders and regulations issued by the central (CTOvernment) authority. As regards outdoor relief, there are two classes of unions, viz: (i) unions where the "outdoor relief prohibitory order" is in force, and (2) unions where the "outdoor relief regulation order" is in force. The "outdoor relief prohibitory order" directs by Article 1 that "Every able-bodied person, male or female, requiring relief (from the Guardians) shall be relieved wholly in the workhouse, together with such of the family of every such able-bodied person as may be resident with him or her, and may not be in employment, and together with the wife of every such able-bodied male person, if he be a married man, and if she be resident with him; save and except in the following cases: I St. "Where such person shall require relief on account of sudden and urgent necessity. CHARIIY ORGANIZATION. .i^J 2nd. "Where such person shall require relief on account of any sickness, accident, or bodily or mental infirmity affecting such person, or any of his or her family. 3rd. "Where such person shall require relief for the purpose of de- fraying the expenses, either wholly or in part, of the burial of any of his or her family. 4th. "Where such person, being a widow, shall be in the first six months of her widowhood. 5th. "Where such person shall be a widow and have a legitimate child or legitimate children dependent upon her, and incapable of earning his, her or their livelihood and have no illegitimate child born after the commencement of her widowhood. 6th. "Where such person shall be confined in any gaol or place of safe custody, subject always to the regulation contained in Article 4. 7th. "Where such person shall be the wife or child of any able- bodied man who shall l)e in the service of Her Majesty as a soldier, sailor or marine. 8th. "Where any able-bodied person, not being a soldier, sailor or marine, shall not reside within the union, but the wife, child or child- ren of such person shall reside within the same, the Board of Guardians of the union, according to their discretion, may, subject to the regu- lation contained in Article 4, afford relief in the workhouse to such wife, child or children, or may allow outdoor relief for any such child or children being within the age of nurture and resident with the mother within the union." Article 4, referred to, directs that: "Where the husband of any woman is beyond the seas, or in custody of the law, or in confinement in a licensed house or asylum as a lunatic or idiot, all relief which the Guardians shall give to his wife, or her child or children, shall be given to such woman in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions, as if she were a widow." It will be seen from the foregoing extracts from the "outdoor relief prohibitory order" that where the order is in force the Guardians can- not give, save in the exceptional cases set out under Article i, outdoor relief to able-bodied persons. The "outdoor regulation order," however, permits the Guardians of the unions where the order is in force to give outdoor relief to any resident destitute person, subject to the restrictions that the Guardians cannot establish an apj^licant for relief in trade, nor redeem from pawn tools, implements or other articles belonging to the applicant, nor pur- chase tools or implements for any applicant, nor pay the expenses of an applicant's conveyance to any place (unless when conveyed in 324 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. accordance with legal provisions), nor pay wholly or in i)art the rent or lodging of a pauper, save temporarily in a case of sudden necessity. The order lays down the further restrictions that relief shall not be given "to any able-bodied male person while he is employed for wages or other hire;" and that every able-bodied male person (save in case of sudden urgent necessity, sickness or death in the family, or the husband being in prison or absent), if relieved out of the workhouse, shall be set to work and kept employed by the Guardians "so long as he continues to receive relief." And further that one-half at least of the relief given shall be given "in articles of food, clothing, or in other articles of absolute necessity." Rochdale is one of the unions where the "regulation," and not the "prohibitory order," is in force. As regards pauperism, the union stands better than the average of the Lancashire unions, and Lancashire as a county stands better than England and Wales as a whole. Taking the returns of pauperism for the ist January last year, when there was not any exceptional distress, the proportion of paupers to the population was in this union i in 74, in the county i in 61; and in England and Wales i in 41. From these figures pauper lunatics in county asylums are excluded, as also are vagrants — of whom Rochdale has more than enough, owing to one of the great highways of the country running straight through the town. The statistics attached to this paper show the class as well as the number of persons relieved by the Guardians on the ist January, 1892, and on the ist January, 1872, there being a freedom from exceptional distress at both dates; and they prove that the pauperism of the union within the twenty years has been fairly reduced, even allowing for the fact that the Charity Organization Society was at work in 1892, while it was not in existence twenty years previously. In the proportion of indoor paupers to outdoor paupers, Rochdale does not stand as well as Lancashire as a whole, but it stands better than England and Wales taken as a whole. On the ist of January, 1892, the proportion of indoor to outdoor paupers in Rochdale was I to 2.38; for Lancashire the proportion was i to 1.58; and for Eng- land and Wales i to 2.61. As before stated, Rochdale is a union where the "out-relief regulation order," and not the "prohibitory order," is in force, and this may be accepted as a reason why there is not a higher proportion of indoor to outdoor paupers at Rochdale than there is. Still, the Guardians are making more use of their workhouse than CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 325 formerly; and there is every reason why they should, for the workhouse is a modern one, and has been admirably planned. It affords accom- modation for about 900, and has a full and efhcient staff. The infirm- ary is detached from the main building, and there are also detached buildings for the insane, for the children and for vagrants, as well as self-contained cottages for the aged married couples. There are two classes of indoor poor, viz., the sick (embracing the insane), and the children, as regards whom the Guardians' management has been greatly improved during late years. The old condition of things, when the sick inmates of the workhouse were left chiefly to the care of other pauper inmates, and the children had not sufficient special care, has gone, and is not likely to return. The sick and insane inmates of the Rochdale workhouse are now attended through the night, as well as through the day, by paid nurses and attendants, who have been well trained for their work. And as regards the children, such as are at the workhouse, besides being kept apart from adult pauper inmates, are brought as much as possible in contact with the better influences of life outside the workhouse walls. Up to quite recently these children were instructed in the workhouse, but now they go out unattended, with the freedom of the children of the artisan, and dressed, not in garb which is uniform and carries the pauper look, but as other children, to the public elementary schools in the neighborhood of the workhouse, and on Sundays to the church, or chapel, and Sunday school belonging to their religious denomination. It would, perhaps, not be amiss at this point to state that the legal provisions which are in force in England enable Guardians to deal with pauper children in a variety of ways at the expense of the rates. For instance, children may be maintained in workhouses or in separate schools, or they may be maintained and educated in voluntary schools certified by the central poor law authority for the reception of pauper children; or, if of age, they may be placed in service or apprenticed, and if orphans or deserted, they may be emigrated to Canada or boarded out with artisans, or the Guardians may allow them to be adopted by suit- able persons willing to do so. Some Boards of Guardians have a pref- erence for one way of dealing with their workhouse children, and some prefer another, but the wiser course is to make as free use as possible of all the provisions named, according to what is found to be best for the children individually. 326 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The following figures show that the Rochdale Guardians have of late years made pretty ample use of the various provisions which relate to pauper children. Placed in service since the year 1880, including children adopted, 249 Boys sent to be trained for sea service since the year 1880 26 Placed in voluntary certified schools since October, 1890 56 Emigrated to Canada since T889 13 The children who have been adopted and placed in service have on the whole turned out remarkably well, and this accounts for the reluc- tance which the Rochdale Guardians have always felt against availing themselves of the "Boarding-out System, "which is the system of board- ing orphan and deserted children out in the homes of artisans and pay- ing so much per week to the foster parents for the children's mainte- nance and schooling. And here let it be said that the proper treatment of the sick poor in the workhouse infirmaries is a policy which must pay well. Proper treatment breaks down the reluctance of the sick poor to enter the workhouse, for they know they will be better seen after than they possi- bly can be at their homes, though perhaps the full and comfortable pro- vision made at a properly appointed workhouse infirmary lends itself to the danger of encouraging persons, whose circumstances do not warrant them in seeking parish relief, to seek admission when sick to the work- house infirmary for the benefit of the treatment found there; but that danger may always be carefully guarded against by vigilant relieving officers. It is equally true that it must in the long run pay well to deal with pauper children in a thoughtful and generous manner, in a manner which not only does not begrudge the children a future free from the taint of pauperism, but which goes a long way towards making such a future for them. The pauper children of to-day will a few years hence be grown men and women. To help them to become free men and women is to ensure a permanent reduction in the pauper roll and an increase in the number of honest toilers and worthy citizens; but to neglect them means continual accession to the ranks of adult paupers and an increase in the number of the idle and the dissolute, who make society their prey. Before passing on from the administration of the Rochdale Board of Guardians, another feature in their administration may be mentioned. It is that they not infrequently afford aid, where they may legally do so, at the expense of the poor rate, to persons who, while they are CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 327 above the stamp of the usual applicant for parish relief, are greatly iri ''need of assistance. Sometimes the aid is in finding the wherewithal to send some such persons to a convalescent home or hospital for special •cases; sometimes it is by undertaking the cost of maintenance and train- ing of a blind child or adult, or a dumb child, or an imbecile child, in a special institution. Within the last few years the Guardians have ■sent ID cases to institutions for training the blind at a cost of £^20 per case per annum; 9 cases to schools for deaf mutes at a cost of £20 per case per annum; and 5 cases of imbecile children to a special insti- tution for educating such children, at a cost of ^29 \os. per case per annum. III. Charities. There are several endowed charities in Rochdale, mostly founded dur- ing the last century. Roughly speaking, they cannot in the aggregate be worth less than ^17,000. They are charities which were founded principally for the schooling of poor children, but one of these charities, viz., Kenion's Charity, which is the most valuable one, having over ^8,000 invested, was founded for "placing out poor children as apprentices;" and another, viz. Gartside's Charity, which has a fund of about ^6,000, was founded that the annual income from the fund might, after the annual payment of 20 shillings for a yearly sermon at the parish church, be applied in buying clothing or corn for distribution among the poor on Christmas day. Both the Kenion's Charity and the Gartside's Charity are at present administered according to the directions of the founders, but as there is a growing disposition that these charities — -and all such endowments — should be applied in founding exhibitions and scholarships at institutions for secondary and technical education, it is within the range of possibility that they may lose at no distant date their present distinctive features as charities; so it would be best here to leave them out of reckoning. Besides the endowed charities above referred to, there are in Rochdale the undermentioned recognized charitable societies and institutions, viz : — (i). The Benevolent Society, established in the year 1807, for the temporary relief of the poor and sick of all denominations. (2). The Ladies' Charity, established in the year 181 7, to afford assistance to poor married women in childbed; and to widows whose husbands have died leaving them pregnant. I 328 INIERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. (3). The Rochdale Dispensary (now Infirmary and Dispensary), insti- tuted in the year 1831, to afford medical and surgical aid to the poor. (4.) The Good Samaritan Society, established in the year 1832, for the relief of the sick poor. (5). The Ashworth Chapel for the Destitute, established 1858, and embracing a nightly shelter for homeless females and a mission for teaching the blind. (6). The Poor Children's Aid Committee, formed in 1878, for send- ing poor and sickly children to the sea-side, which committee has now an excellent Home for Children at St. Anne's on-the-Sea. (7). The Charity Organization Society, established in 1879, for the repression of mendicancy, and for securing adequate relief for really necessitous and deserving cases. These seven recognized charitable societies and institutions depend for a continuance of their operations on voluntary donations and sub- scriptions; and though the Ladies' Charity has ^1,200 invested in Cor- poration stock, the Good Samaritan Society ,^^400 invested, the Benevo- lent Society ^400 invested, and the Charity Organization Society _p^26o (as an emergency fund) similarly invested, yet if the voluntary sub- scriptions and donations ceased, the work of the societies would soon come to a standstill. The value of the aid given in food, money, and clothing by four of the seven charities, namely, the Benevolent Society, the Ladies' Charity, the Good Samaritan Society, and the Chapel for the Des- titute, during last year amounted to about ^265, and the cases dealt with would probably be between four and five hundred. In connection with the infirmary and dispensary, 253 in-patients and 187 1 out-patients were treated during the year, while the Poor Child- ren's Aid Committee sent iio children for a few weeks' stay to the Home at St. Anne's on-the-Sea. The Charity Organization Society, which is the only charitable agency in Rochdale which keeps a paid officer for the purpose of receiving applications and investigating the circumstances of the applicants, received during the year 1161 appli- cations for assistance, of which 659 were recurrent applications. Of the 1 161 cases, 882 received relief, the total value of the relief being ^224 18s. 8d., exclusive of 195 hospital letters distributed, which were valued at ^60 12s. yi. As to the remainder of the cases, 46 were recom- mended to other agencies or to private persons for assistance, while no cases were dismissed as undeserving, and the rest were refused assist- CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 329 ance as being cases which should be left to the Poor Law, or were rejected on other grounds. It may safely be taken that the foregoing figures relating to the relief given by the seven charities during the past year are fairly representative as the figures of an average year. The work of the Charity Organization Society, I feel, deserves more extended mention than is given by the summarized figures of one year, and having that feeling, I append hereto an interesting report with diagrams prepared by Mr. Alderman J. R. Heape, J. P., Hon. Secretary of the Society, on the work done by the Society during the years 1880 to 1 89 1. IV. Co-operation between the Poor Law and the Charities. It would be untrue to state that there is a thorough and an all- round co-operation between the administration of the Poor Law and the administration of the charities in Rochdale. That there ought to be such a co-operation may at once be admitted. That there is not may be set down to want of thought. The Guardians are ready to co-operate with the charities, and do co-operate with the Charity Organization Society by appointing representatives from their Board on the Society's committee of management. The relieving officers of the union and the inquiry officer of the Society also keep well in touch about their cases. That there is not a thorough and an all-round co-operation, and co-operation with the general public as well, cannot be laid to the blame of the Charity Organization Society, as the following extracts from the constitution of the Society will show :-- The objects of the Society shall be (istj to investigate thoroughly the cases of all needy persons in the district coming before the committee, with a view to («:) forwarding such cases to the poor law authorities or • other charities (to be brought if possible into mutual co-operation), or {b^ relieving them through the funds at the disposal of the Society, or \c) referring them to i)rivate benevolence. (2nd) To repress mendicancy within the sphere of the Society's operations by prosecution or otherwise. The Society shall be under the management of a president, vice- presidents, treasurer, one or more honorary secretaries, and a committee (with power to add to their number), constituted in the following man- ner : one representative from each charitable agency and relief society working in the district; one representative from each church, chapel, or other place of worship in the district (not otherwise repre- sented); two or more representatives from the Board of Poor Law Guardians; and other persons able and willing to devote time to the work. The Mayor of Rochdale shall be ex-officio president of the ;^;^0 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Society. All the other officers and members of the committee shall be annually elected. One or more pro]ierly accredited charity officers shall be appointed by the committee, who shall be responsible for the investigation of all cases coming before the committee, and shall be in communication with the relieving officers and agents of the various charities in the borough. The charity office shall be open to applicants at such stated hours as the committee shall determine, and a charity officer shall be in attendance during those hours to receive applications. Tickets bearing the address of the charity office shall be supplied gratuitously to householders in the district, and the cases of all appli- cants presenting themselves at the charity office shall be investigated and reported to the committee. All cases properly belonging to the Poor Law shall be at once re- ferred to the Guardians, and the committee shall not supplement the relief given by the Guardians, except under special circumstances. All cases that can appropriately be dealt with by any existing charity within the borough shall be, after due investigation, referred to such charity, and assistance shall only be granted by the committee in cases which cannot properly be dealt with by any other agency. Information regarding the scope and operations of the charities of the district shall be collected, and kept at the office for the information of residents, and the books of the committee shall be at all times open to those legitimately interested in particular cases, or in the welfare of the poor generally. A register of persons willing to dispense charity privately shall be kept at the office. In face of the foregoing extracts it is scarcely conceivable that there should not be perfect co-operation between the Poor Law and the chari- ties in Rochdale. The lack of co-operation is owing, as above sug- gested, to want of thought ; two or three of the charities keep entirely to themselves and to what they consider to be nobody's business but their own. Thorough and all-round co-operation with the Charity Organization Society, however, will, I am inclined to think, be brought about in the near future, for the subscribers to the various charities are beginning to see the need of proper investigation into cases ; and already several of the subscribers to one charity or another hand over to the Charity Organization Society for distribution the '-Tetters" which entitle them as subscribers to recommend cases to the charities to which they subscribe. With advantage to all concerned the Benevo- lent Society and the Good Samaritan Society might at once be merged CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 33 I into the Charity Organization Society, and I do not see why one or two of the other charitable agencies should not be so merged. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. In concluding this paper, I would point out that if the population of any town or district was mainly a population of thriftless persons who cared not how or by what means they were sustained in the flesh, so long as they were left in the enjoyment of indolence and the vices which indo- lence is so fruitful of, there would be an ever present need for the appli- cation of the best corrective measures and influences. If corrective measures and influences were not brought to bear upon such a popula- tion, the condition of things would ultimately become too frightful to describe. Admitting this, it would be consummate folly to allow that there is not an ever present need for the application of the best cor- rective measures and influences where the population is mainly a popu- lation possessing great virtues. In the opening part of this paper I have stated, and given facts in support of the statement, that the work- ing people of Rochdale "are a people of sturdy independence, and of forethought and thrift — a people who have worked upwards, and who no doubt will continue to work upwards." But although this state- ment with the facts adduced will bear the strictest investigation, there is need at Rochdale, as there is everywhere, for the application of the best corrective measures and influences, for wherever you go is found a lowest stratum of society, and if it be not wisely seen to, there can never be any guarantee that one of two things may not happen, namely, the quiet undermining of the virtues of the higher by the lower, or an upheaval of the lower to the disturbance and hurt of the whole com- monwealth. In England, so long as the Poor Law remains, the wise administration of that law is bound to prove one of the most correc- tive measures and influences that can be ; and if it be not wisely admin- istered, there is no measure or influence of a corrective nature which is not neutralized. The provision which the Poor Law compels for the relief of destitution is practically a tax upon thrift. If the provision be loosely dealt with, not only is an injustice done to the thrifty, but demoralization sets in, which cuts two ways, the thrifty, except such as have great moral strength, becoming demoralized down to thriftless- ness, and the always thriftless becoming more deeply steeped in vice, The poor law administration in Rochdale has not been held up in this paper as a paragon, but it is easy to conceive that if the administration 332 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. were a loose one, no such figures as have been given showing the provi- sion made by the working classes against sickness, non-employment, and old age could be obtained, for there would not be the same incen- tive to make that provision. To a wise administration of the Poor Law I would add organized and discriminating charity as one of the most corrective influences that can be brought to bear where the lowest stratum of society exists. Disor- ganized and indiscriminate charity is as baneful as would be lax poor law administration. Such charity should be called by some other name, for it is not worthy of the name of charity. It is called ' < charity, " it is true, and it is said " charity never faileth." Disorganized and indis- criminate charity unquestionably never faileth to afford indulgences for the idle and the vicious, which in the interest of their present and future welfare should be determinedly withheld from them. Should it be asked, ''Is there a need for charity at all where there is a State pro- vision for the destitute and afflicted?", the answer, so far as relates to England, is that the limitations to the Poor Law, as indicated in the " outdoor relief prohibitory order" and the " outdoor relief regula- tion order" — limitations which could not be prudently removed — and the disabilities which poor law relief carries with it to the adult recipi- ent, create the need for charity. In spite of their forethought and thrift, people are sometimes pushed down under the surface, submerged by sheer misfortune. It is for charity to bring them up again; and when charity, with its hand of strength and kindliness, lays hold of them, then in the sense that is highest and noblest it "never faileth." But the "charity" that so never faileth must be organized, discrimi- native, co-operative, and investigative. It is a mistake to think that charity iS not charity if it investigates. The wounded will gladly bare themselves to the physician; it is the impostor who covers up and when questioned shrinks away. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 333 o re- o Q > u OS ID <; CO u <; Q w o z a a z Q en D ►-J w <; M J T* w U ■- J J M ^^ > < as O < o > f^ r^ o fc. u O > in D .J w u m X <5 u :d z a K H b. O H Z u *5 u r' < Ov OS O CO 0^ 00 «^ M M OS s OS lo SO • 00 •* lO ; ^ M M N 1 : in lO OS rl- VO :(noiniAv p3Aai[3j uajp -Iii[D jamo JO suBqcIjo OS CO OS SO o - * O ^ I ■uaapitiio jamo •najpijqo a^-BUipiSani •saiBoia^ jamO •saiT3H Jamo 00 so 00 O to --^ p. »5 o •saiBtnaj •saiBiv; I I 09 c "i'^ u o-o ^ 0) O •uajpi!H0 jaq^lO ■uaapimo a;T3uip]Sani ■saiBtuaj^ jamO •sai-BK JsqiO Q < •rt tfl (U __, a :-■ 3 ea O S O •saiBUia^ •ssiBUi so M vo M M N CO SO M ro fO o li-> lO o in oo OS 00 >^ >> x-l )H rt rt — ' 3 C C rt rf OS < W OS O Q 334 ctf T3 M •d &< 4) ID o < Ph Pi ;-• o o D •a ri p 3 ^ 4) O fi. o 73 > C/J (1) W , in <1) '-:r m tH itH < , — , n J H) ^-1 U ;z; J rt ;:i < J5 '^ > ^ -1 m to < U ■fl Q a) u ffi fe m U O o o C/3 Pi td -M ^ CQ iu c P z w ■< X C H i/i tb o O W IS W > ^ < U5 1) tn 2: S O O 3 Id u u « a, s <: a t- b: o Q u 5 o m -ivxox •saiBuiaj •S8l'BI\[ 91 japun uajpnUD aamo josuBqcJao "siuajBtj mm paAaiiaj 91 japan uajpiigQ •sax-Buiajj •saiBp^ •paAaijaj sajBui luapisaj-uou jaqrio JO saiit«iB[>i ^uapisa^i ■uajpimo ^ ■saAiA\. "S •paAaji -aj sauiJBjt puB 'sjoii^S 'sjaipiog JO saiijiuB^fi •uajpipqo OS On r— OS ^ t^ to vO O VO 10 00 00 10 o 10 VO ON ■saAiAiv 2- •o:)a 'pBO ui guiaq :juajBd^ jo lunooDB uo' paAaipj sajiIiuB^j^ •uajpimo O CM N •s.Taq;o]^ aiaqj puB uajptfUO a^BuiijiSam •saAjAV 2 •uajpijiio S •sjaqioj^ 2 li-J M "vo VO N •uajpimo inotiatAs. uainoyw aiSuig fO ■SAVOpfAV cc uo juapuadap 9^ japun uajpijqo •jamBj aqj q^iAV juapisaj '■t' puB t '3 '1 suiunioo ut saiBM Jinpv JO saiipwiBd; ■SAvopfTVV •91 japun uajpijqo ■aj!M ■sasnBD jBiyuiis jaqjo jo '■5JJOM JO lUBAv JO junon'oB uo paAati -aj (axSuTS jo pauJBUi) saiBi\[ Jinpv ^jBjaunj B jo\io 'AiiuiBj aqj jo kws JO X:>xuiJifu: jo 'juapiooB 'ssau^iots JO :>unooo"B uo paAatiaj sai^H Jinpy^ 10 O 00 c^ 10 O •Xjimjyui JO juappoB 'ssauJiois UMO Jiaq'i jo asBO ui paAaij " -aj (aigiiis JO paijjBui) saiBK JinpV ' -Ajissaoau tjuaSjn puB uapptis jo sasBO ui paAati " -3j (ax3uxs JO pauJBur) sa^BH ;inpv ro CO 00 rt- CO N OS CO < h- 1 M W ^ CO >, >^ < ;-H ;-c UI rt rt 05 D 3 (J r* C Z ri ci5 l-H 10 Ov CO M VO VO VO 00 • t^ <» M VO O VO vO 00 o 00 to vO < O C CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 335 to O X ui o Q > t/3 D < Oh z 2 5 < G U o U < ►J u ►J <; > w fcl. o a! u e U O H C/3 a Z o OS Q Z D Z c o Q D 0} 0"° u to M c o a 3 Oh O > CO a> "IBIOX •91 japun U3jp]iq3 ■sajBoiad^ •saiBit ■91 japun uaap^iiiQ . •sai-Binaj i" •SSIBJ^ 00 00 CO o 00 o 00 M 00 O 00 CD ro I I 10 ■0*0 a) -1 3 •sjuajBd inoijiiAV paAaijaa uaap -jiija jaiiio JO suBqdJO o „« S o c •uajpimo aaq:iO •satBuiaji jamo •saiBjif jaq;o ■a (o So •saxBxnajj =" ■saiBi\r •uajpitii3 jaqiO •uajpijqo a^Biui^iSaxii vO \o O o 10 fO •saxBuiad: jamo O 0\ 10 ■saiBH jamo •saiBcua^ •saiBj^ < Q ri M u t^ On c« CO 00 < M kH" M ^ ^ es >^ >. u •4, < u Q 33(> o < X u r. 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V 17.5" 1 1 ! \ ItfO i N^ iS80 -31 -82 -83 -84 -&s -86 •87 •i^ -39 '.30^ iddi 160 A \so (40 130 ISO i ' \ ^ 1 1 i/\ i ) r ^>'. -■00 i / \ / \ / f ^'jyj x^s^i^A^ iy sc ! \ A / .•?«? 1 \ 1 1 i / /^ y y -crn^Zo-^7n-e.9i^ 70 1 1 • /y r^ V / 60 \ // V S9 \ i i 'J \ 40 \ \^ rf \ \ ■ • 30 \ Uj P \^ --'X iO ! i / i 1 "^ J 1 CT. IQ \J \je:ite:r^ /or j5[csTax^6 cccs-e^ . / '^ZS 9 4.0 \ ^e.r ci&-£<^iCt<7eJ o/' ca^CJ --jjr-** \ _3_?_ \ k ^x^ T^T^^Sc^U^ iJLj, n4}^ 3 2-^ \ * 'e^i^JCJ-x^x^ rc^:f^J^ , \^ 'v "^ t'&Zz^tHt:> cc^uZcj-cyyu^i^ .%^ \ ^ \ ^7~ yct^fa-K^ ZJ.-J' ~~^-^ 1 \ 20 \ J /7^ 1 --\ I4L ' ~~\ * ia.y — 10 344 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. HELPING THE POOR IN ABERDEEN. BY GEORGE MILNE, SECRETARY TO THE ABERDEEN ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. Aberdeen is a city of 125,000 inhabitants, situated on the east coast of Scotland about 135 miles north north-east of Edinburgh. It may be reckoned the capital of the North of Scotland, and is the seaport of a large agricultural district. Unlike many of the large towns in England, or Dundee in Scotland, it has no single industry that overshadows every other; and being far removed from the coal and iron mining districts it is less liable to those industrial disturbances that paralyze these trades and plunge vast multitudes of workers into sudden idleness with its attendant evils. Of manufactures Aberdeen has a little of many, including flax, jute, cotton, wool, combs, paper; and among the other industries of the place are the iron, granite monument, fishing and preserved provision works. The town has within the last thirty years been to a consider- able extent rebuilt and greatly enlarged, a circumstance which accounts for the steadiness that has usually prevailed in the various branches of the building trade. These conditions render Aberdeen a place of comparatively steady social circumstances, never suffering from the excitement of a boom nor from the depression of a general collapse. One other characteristic may be mentioned, namely, the comparative absence of the wealthy and leisured class, and of the most wretchedly poor, who are so frequently to be met with in our large cities. It is thus favorably conditioned for giving a fair trial to the principles of charity organization. THE POOR LAW IN SCOTLAND. Prior to the year 1845 the relief of the poor throughout Scotland was committed to the Kirk Sessions of the parish churches, and the necessary income was derived from a voluntary assessment, though as far back as 1576 a statutory assessment could have been enforced, had the circum- stances of any parish required it. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. ' 345 In the year 1843, however, the formation of the Free Church resulted from the disruption of the Church of Scotland, and in nearly every par- ish in the country a sharp ecclesiastical division took place which mate- rially affected the relations of the people to the parish Kirk Sessions. In 1845 a special act of Parliament was passed placing the care of the poor in the hands of parochial boards, with powers of assessment for their relief, and that act continues in operation to the present day. The legal objects of relief are: — 1. Persons who are disabled by sickness or accident, who are not dependents of able-bodied parents. 2. Women (although able-bodied) having two or more dependent children, or one child under one year old. 3. Persons above seventy years of age. 4. Orphans. 5. Lunatics and Imbeciles. No able-bodied men, nor able-bodied women without dependent children, are legal objects of parochial relief. The City of Aberdeen now includes the parish of St. Nicholas, the greater part of the parish of old Machar and parts of the parishes of Banchory-Devenick and Nigg. The population of the city was in 1851, 71,973; 1871, 88,125; 1891, 124,943; and at the same periods the number of paupers was in 1851, 2,082; 1871, 1,991; 1891, 1,519. In addition to this legal provision for relief of the poor, Aberdeen possesses many private charities, medical, educational, and alimentary, which are managed by boards of directors in terms of the deeds by which they have been severally constituted. THE ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. It was felt that there was room for an organization that would bring help to the struggling classes, not only by the distribution of money or goods, but by personal intercourse. Accordingly, in 1870, the "Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor" was established, with the following objects: — 1. To obtain accurate information respecting the condition and cir- cumstances of the poor in the city of Aberdeen and neighborhood. 2. To prevent the poor from sinking into a helpless condition of poverty, and to endeavor to recover such as have sunk. 3. To discover, and as far as possible remove, the temptations and hindrances in the way of an improvement in the condition of the poor. 346 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. 4. To encourage and foster, in every available way, the efforts of the poor to form temperate, frugal, industrious, provident, and cleanly habits. 5. To discourage mendicity, and the indiscriminate distribution of charity, whether by individuals or societies, and to give such informa- tion as may enable these to administer their charity to deserving and suitable objects; — 6. To encourage and promote co-operation amongst all the charita- ble institutions in the neighborhood, so as to secure better classification of objects, prevent unnecessary overlapping, and thereby secure economy in the distribution of their charitable funds. For carrying out these objects, the city was divided into fourteen sections, and these again into sub-sections and allotments, such as could be over- taken by individual visitors, without involving anyone in a burdensome amount of labor. The section committees are composed of leading citizens, many of whom also share in the work of visitation. The whole visiting staff, who are all volunteers, numbers about 200. With a large body of volunteers there is usually some difficulty in keeping them all up to the standard of sound principle in the discharge of duties requiring so much tact, judgment and human sympathy, and to help towards this end the following instructions were issued to visitors sometime ago: — I. — Only cases of temporary necessity are contemplated for relief from the funds of the Association. 2. — Every case should be carefully considered at the outset. If it be evi- dent that the case will require ultimately to be taken up by the parochial board, it should be handed over to that body at once. If, however, there seems a strong probability of it again becoming self-supporting, although somewhat protracted, it may nevertheless be persevered with by the Association. 3. — Cases of acute illness should have the advantages of treatment in the Royal Infirmary pressed on their attention. The chances of a speedy and complete reco\ery will thereby be increased, and the house- hold relieved so far of the patient's maintenance. 4 — Other existing local charities should be utilized for the benefit of cases, the resouirces of the Association being made available where others fail or are insufficient. 5. — Information about the local charities will be supplied by the secretary. 6. — Cases in which exceptional treatment seems desirable will be considered on their merits by the section committees. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 347 When relief is granted out of the funds of the Association, it is usually in the form of provisions, clothing, &c., rather than in money, and in periodic allowances at short intervals of a week generally. If a personal opinion were permitted in this connection, it would be of a critical kind, the result of twenty-one years' experience and observa- tion of the influence of charity on its recipients. The conviction is forced upon us, that charity, under its most favor- able conditions, "creates much of the misery it seeks to relieve, but does not relieve all the misery it creates." The touch of charity should be as momentary as possible, and hence it is our belief that more good and less harm would be done if, in- stead of attempting to mitigate many cases of distress, we were to set ourselves resolutely to cure the curable. By the adoption of such a policy the work of our voluntary charities would tell more effectively than they do, even if the number of cases were greatly diminished. ABLE-BODIED OUT OF WORK. It will be observed that the Poor Law of Scotland does not recognize able-bodied persons as entitled to legal charity, even when they find it impossible to obtain work. And this necessarily affects the policy of such associations in Scotland, in a direction in which the English charity or- ganization societies have no experience. In Aberdeen we had to meet this difficulty at a very early period of the Association's history. Applicants were numerous who pleaded utter destitution from want of work, and the parochial boards could render them no assistance. A labor test, therefore, became necessary to protect the Association from imposition. The kind of labor provided could not be of such a description as required skill. Anyone who could use his hands at all must be able to accomplish the task if he be willing to do so. Timber chopping for men and knitting for women were in- troduced and have answered the purpose of helping the willing, and o getting rid of the mere loafer. ORGANIZATION. When this Association was established there were already in exist- ence, many institutions for relieving the different necessities of the poor, each acting largely in ignorance of what the others were doing. 348 INTERNATIONAL CONCRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Early in its career this Association set to work in the direction of charity organization and co-operation, and in the report which was prepared on the subject at the time (1874,) the following statement appeared, viz : " In the subjoined statement of the amount annually expended in Aberdeen by the various public charities, which, through the kindness of those connected with them, the committee are enabled to present, there is a sufficient argument for the necessity of such co-operation as would enable each one to know what the other is doing, and thereby to check unnecessary overlapping and imposition." Persons. Amount Expended. Totals. I. Poor Rates (for both Parishes), Less — For stranger poor resid- ing in the above Parishes, the amount of which is re- paid 2,368 Cases. 1,810 13,200 1,000 5,000 8,028 ^^25,438 4.245 ^21,193 2. Voluntary Alimentary Funds* Medical Charities. Congregational Fundst....say, Miscellaneous . ., ^3.613 7.345 1,800 2,152 1.943 Exemptions (complete or par- tial) from Poor Rates 16,853 15.390 3. Hospitals (Educational) Inmates. 1,500 ^15.390 32,906 Totals ^53.436 ' * Including the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. t "'Exclusive of the amount contributed by the congregations of the six city churches, which is otlierwise accounted for." "As stated in the above table, about ^25,000 (including ^4,000 repaid for stranger poor^, consists of poor rates. From ^iq,ooo to ^20,000 is revenue derived either from invested capital or from Gov- ernment grants for industrial schools; while from ^12,000 to ^14,000 is raised by voluntary subscriptions. But the facts to be considered are, CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 349 that on the books of the institutions included in the above table, which, although very diverse in their character, still come within the category of charitable and benevolent institutions, there are about 33,000 names, and that the annual expenditure is upwards of ^53,000." The approaches then made to the various bodies for information to facilitate the preparation of the foregoing statement, have been followed by a gratifying amount of co- operation between this Association and the municipal and parochial authorities, as well as most of the more pri- vate charities. The co-operation takes various forms. In some cases, the chairman of our Association has been made an ex-officio member of the board or committee of management; in others, the secretary is invested with the powers of an administrator, giving assistance in the investigation and disposal of applications, while his recommendation of cases is uniformly accepted, and in every case the representations of the Association receive the most sympathetic and respectful consideration. MENDICITY. In the repression of mendicity the Association has sought to instruct the benevolent in sound principles of almsgiving, but still the tide of beggars flows on and will continue to flow so long as begging meets with the success which it does. The evil can be cured only by making it less profitable to beg than to work. INTEMPERANCE. In the work of the Association during the twenty-three years of its existence the evils of intemperance have forced themselves into promi- nence as chief of the hindrances to the prevention, mitigation, and cure of poverty. If poverty sometimes leads to intemperance, intemperance much more frequently leads to poverty. Better social conditions may do something to lessen intemperance, but the fact that there are many whose social condition is known to have been no safeguard leads to the conviction that not in one direction, but in many, must we look for the improvement of the condition of the poor, which we desire and are striving to bring about. 35° INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY IM AN ENGLISH RURAL UNION. BY H. G. WILLINK, CHAIRMAN OF THE BKADFIELD BOARD OF GUARDIANS, BERKSHIRE. Charity can scarcely be "organized" in the country in the same way as in a town. There is not the same need. People's circumstances are better known, and the amount of real distress is not so great. More- over, persons who accept '' charity organization principles" are rarer, and distance would in any case hinder joint work. "Overlapping " is probably one of the greatest evils, and no country committee could really stop that. As a matter of fact, the writer is not aware of any really rural union in which charity organization, as understood in towns, has been successfully attempted. Nor is this very much to be regretted if the term "charity" is rightly comprehended by individuals. The letters ^j-. d. do not spell "charity," and there is perhaps no kind of help more capable of being really help- ful than that which country neighbors can give. A sensible broad minded rector or farmer, thoroughly in touch with rich and poor, can do as much as any committee. The administration of the Poor Law in rural unions stands, however on a different basis. Officially centralized, in official contact with every parish, endowed with large discretionary authority, a Board of Guar- dians has almost unlimited powers of good and evil. Too often it is an obstacle to the growth among the poor of those very habits which charity organization ists most desire to foster. It can set an example of indiscriminate dole-giving, and promote indolence, improvidence, envy, deceit, dependence and selfishness. It can, by inadequate, unsui- table "relief" leave starvation unalleviated while stimulating greed. It can demoralize him that gives as well as him that takes. It can tempt the rich to evade their proper responsibilities, and can introduce log roll- ing into the dispensation of other people's money. It can in short do everything which the founders of the Poor Law intended that it should not do. On the other hand, a board can do an almost infinite amount of good. And the object of this paper is to give some account of an English CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 35 I rural union in which has been accomplished during the last twenty years a piece of poor law administration that may fairly be regarded as hav- ing been essentially in harmony with charity organization principles, no less by bracing up the spirit of self-reliance than by tending to strengthen those ties of kinship and neighborly feeling between man and man, which are the very bonds of true charity. Would that he who was mainly instrumental in the work, Mr. Bland- Garland, late chairman of the Board, were still alive to describe it. The Bradfield Union comprises 62,650 acres, situated five-sixths in Berkshire and one-sixth in Oxfordshire, to the west of Reading, having a total rateable value in 1892 of ;i^i 36,979. The population, which in 1871 was 15,853, had in 1891 risen to 18,017, ^^ spite of the transfer in 1889 to the Reading Union of a portion containing about 1600 inhab- itants. There is not any large town, and the villages are mostly small and scattered, there being in 1891 only one parish (which has two vil- lages) with a population exceeding 3000; all the other 28 parishes have less than 1500, and only 5 of them more than 1000. The occupation of the laboring classes is chiefly agricultural, except as regards such trades as brewing, brickmaking, building, forestry, corn mills, shop keeping, &c. In some parishes there is a considerable num- ber of resident well to do landowners, while in others there are large extents of moor and rough ground occupied in places by small farmers and by cottagers descended from squatters. On the high lands the sub- soil is chalk, or gravel on London clay, the lower ground being prin- cipally clay or, in the valleys, river gravel. It is impossible to state shortly the rates of farm wages with any ex- actitude, but they may be taken to range at present from 15^. a week for the better kinds of laborers to los. for the lower kinds. Women earn 6^^. as a rule at field work; charwomen of course get more. As regards men, however, these rates do not usually include the very com- mon additional advantage of a cottage rent free, or at a low rental, generally with garden, nor the considerable earnings receivable at certain seasons in respect of harvesting, haymaking and piece work, ranging from 14s. to 25^-. nor the "Michaelmas money" of ^2 or ^3 according to the class.* On the whole it may be said that a man * The old custom of yearly hiring, wages being paid throughout, rain or fine, sick or well, has been larsicly superseded by written agreements providing i/i/dr alia that wages shall cease to be payable during disability caused by sickness or accident. Michaelmas money is not paid to laborers who are earning extra money at harvesting, haymaking or piecework. JO' INTERNA'l'IONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. in regular employment at a nominal 12s. a week really gets something more like 17^. a week on a year's average, without taking into account the produce of gardens and cheap allotments, the latter being rented usually at from ly^d. to 3^/. per pole, including rates, tithe, &c. In many households, of course, the boy's earnings form a substantial addi- tion to the family income. Other wages run, roughly speaking, as follows, viz., building trade from 365. to i8s. bd.; brick kilns from 25^^. to i8.y. ; breweries from 25 j. to I5J-. with 3 pints of beer per day; corn mills from 24^-. to i8i-. and often a cottage rent free; railway laborers about i8j. Another large field of labor is afforded by the wood lands, the weekly earnings averag- ing about 145-. to i6j'., with the advantage of being earned at seasons when Other work is scarce.* Cottage rents vary as much as do wages, the highest rented cottages being by no means necessarily the best, for, as usual, the small land- lords and small farmers can generally least afford to be liberal. From TyS. (yd. to li-. bd. or even lower, is probably a fair statement of the extremes ; \s. 6d. is an average rent for a cottage and garden on the larger estates. As above stated, there are some cases where squat- ter cottages exist. These are either held at low rentals, or are prac- tically freehold. They are, for the most part, wretched little one-story, ill built tenements, often sadly overcrowded and sometimes falling into decay. The people, however, are attached to them, and indeed in many instances prefer them to the better-constructed dwellings erected by good landlords, which are probably as good as the same class of habitation all over England. The character of the district having thus been stated in general terms, the reader will be better able to appreciate the following account of the poor law administration. On ist January, 1871, there were in receipt of poor relief 999 out- door and 259 indoor paupers, (exclusive of lunatics in asylums and vagrants), a total of 1258, or one in thirteen (7.7 per cent.) of the then population. The total poor law expenditure for the year was ^10,865, and the poor rate stood at 24^ (^/. in the pound, entailing a cost of it,s. 8j4d. per head of the population. On ist January, 1893, the corresponding figures were as follows, viz., outdoor paupers 22, indoor 99, total 121, or 1 in 148 (0.67 per cent.), * In Appendix A will be found a more detailed statement of the wages in the various trades. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 35.^ expenditure during the preceding year ^1995, poor rate t,}4<^., cost per head of population 2s. 214//.* These figures (the scope of which is perhaps more clearly seen from the diagram in Appendix C) do not, remarkable as they are, suffice of themselves to show that the change of system has been successful in the true sense of the word. If they signified that there had merely been a blind withholding of needful relief, and that in 1892 the poor were actually worse off by ^9000 than in 1870, they would point rather to failure than to success. If, again, it could be shown that the ^9000 had been distributed in alms instead of in poor law relief, the outcome would appear to have been little more than a displacement of burden from public responsible shoulders to those of private individuals; though there would be something to be said even for this result, since charita- ble gifts are less pauperizing than poor law relief, inasmuch as they do not create a feeling of claim as of light. But if the reduction of relief has been gradually made, and no appli- cations have been refused without careful investigation ; if, as is generally admitted, the present condition of the poor is no worse, but decidedly better than under the old system, and bears comparison with the con- dition of the poor in other similar districts ; if while there may have been some increa.se of individual voluntary aid, such increase includes increased assistance from non-chargeable relatives, and from other per- sons (such as employers), upon whom there are only moral claims ; if, as is certain, there has been a marked growth of friendly societies, doctor's clubs, savings bank accounts, and other signs of thrift, then it cannot be denied that the poor law figures do represent a real advance, and that they testify to the success of a work which by raising the poor to a position of greater independence is in accordance with the principles of true charity organization. It is sometimes objected that the work would have been impossible but for the general prosperity of the country and greater cheapness of living. This may possibly be quite true ; at any rate the general im- provement of circumstances has been a factor which must not be for- gotten. t But this only shows, if it shows anything, that other unions * P'or statistics as to neighboring unions, see Appendix B. t Agricultural wages seem to have risen but little, if at all. Labor in other trades is better paid. The prices of most necessaries have fallen, c. g. the 4 lb. loaf cost -jd. in 1873, '" '^93 '"^ ^°^^ A/i^. On the other hand, the standard of living is higher than it used to be. 23 554 IN I'ERXATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARIJIES AND CORRECTION. could have done the same, not that Bradfield has been wrong or has not done anything. Unfortunately there is some difficulty in getting exact statistics as to absence of hardship. The case must rest upon the statements of per- sons living in the district, and their opinions will vary according as they approve or disapprove of outdoor relief. There always will be people who would like to have out-relief if they could get it, as well as people who would like to be saved the trouble and the direct expense of taking an active part in trying to help their kinsfolk and neighbors. And there are still some people who honestly think that public relief is in itself better than private charity. Moreover there is, no doubt, as there has always been and always will be, a certain amount of real poverty in the union. So long as men, especially young men, spend all they get, so long as people marry before they can afford it, so long- as there are bad workmen, and so long as drink maintains its attrac- tions, there must be poverty. Consequences will follow causes. But poverty is not more likely to come when men realize that they can themselves provide against it;* and that if they do not do so they cannot reckon upon others saving them from the results. It is a significant fact that the late chairman's successor was elected upon the express understanding that the policy of the board should be continued, and no suggestion has since been made that that policy should be changed. The present condition of the union may be judged in various ways. To take as a sample one parish, the population of which was 1327 in 1891, there were on ist January, 1893, in the workhouse 12 persons belonging to the parish (5 being above 65 years of age, and 3 being children), and on the out-relief list 4, all these latter being survivals from the old times. It is not possible to give detailed statistics of any firm value as to the numbers and condition of the rest of the poorer classes, or the causes of their poverty. But of those persons (widows, widowers or old married people) who are unable to support them- selves, there are, beside those known to be receiving more or less substantial help in charity, many who are practically supported by their own relations. There are several endowed charities, viz., one of about ^25 a year applicable to the apprenticing of boys to some useful trade; one of about ^3 los. applicable in donations for special * See Appendix E. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 355 cases; two others of about -£^\2 each, distributed once a year in doles among lo ])oor men and lo poor women; and lastly, almshouses capable of accommodating 3 old women. There are a clothing club, a boot and shoe club, and a coal club. A medical club has long been in existence, the members of which, num- bering over 100, are by a yearly payment of ^s. for adults and 2s. for children entitled to attendance free. A parish nurse is just completing her first year, and there has not been one instance in which difficulty has been made as to payment of her small fees, though, of course, the expenses are chiefly met by private subscriptions. An Oddfellows Lodge, of many years standing, now has about 145 members; it is entirely self-managed without the aid of the gentry, except that one acts as treasurer, and has more than ^900 invested in sound securi- ties. A schools penny bank has about 150 subscribers, with a total balance of about _^ 80 deposits, in the Post Office. Interest at \d. on each complete pound per month is allowed. The number of private savings bank accounts cannot be stated, but the writer knows of several. There are three voluntary schools, two of which are supported to some extent by a voluntary rate, the third being endowed. There are two village and one junior, cricket clubs. There is a Horticultural Society, at whose annual show the cottagers and allotment holders compete in large numbers. Allotments in three or four different places are to be had at from \d. to 2d. per pole according to situation. A working- men's club, self-managed, is in a prosperous condition. It is not teetotal, but for a long time there has been no complaint. Lastly, at a recent sale of cottage property, chiefly of the squatter class before men- tioned, no less than fourteen were purchased by cottagers, money being borrowed for the purpose in (it is believed) only four cases. If it is said that this may be an exceptional parish, as being the one in which the late chairman of the board lixed for twenty years, the writer can only say he does not believe it is exceptional, at any rate as re- gards the general condition of the people, though the smaller parishes can i)robably not show quite so good a roll of special advantages.* In other parishes there are similar signs of a healthy independence. For instance, a group of three small contiguous parishes, numbering together only I TOO, has jjossessed for \ery many years a benefit society which * In Appendix 1) will be found some tabulated information as to other parishes in the union. 356 INTERNA IIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. has, with a present membership of 103, no less than ^1230 invested, and has recently been pronounced by a competent actuary to be on so sound a basis that part of the fund may be applied towards pro- vision for old age. In some parts of the union the Oddfellows, in others the Foresters, in others the Hearts of Oak, in others the Berkshire Friendly Society predominate; but there can be few, if any, in which thrift is not apparent in some form. Even the public house clubs, bad as they are (and they are giving way to better), point to a habit of liv- ing within income. Not that thrift implies every virtue ; but its ab- sence makes the practice of others very difficult among the poor. The real danger, perhaps, lies in the direction of an exuberance of private alms-giving with the accompanying evil of mendicity, or at all events expectation of alms. The parishes where there are fewest rich residents are not always those which furnish the largest number of pau- pers in proportion to their population. There is in some places a tendency among benevolent people to relieve the merely "poor" from the duty of providing the necessaries of life. It is quite right that individual cases of real distress should be liberally helped, with care and discrimination. Nor can it be wrong for the rich to assist the poor to obtain certain advantages which, while not strictly necessaries, are nevertheless of real benefit to them and would otherwise be beyond their reach. For instance, a trained nurse cannot possibly be main- tained solely out of the fees which poor country people can afford to pay. Yet so long as they do pay something her services may wisely be secured, not only for the sake of the comfort which they bring, but because of the teaching which insensibly accompanies them. Again, a well managed horticultural society can do so much to encourage proper gardening and husbandry, that money spent in supporting it cannot do anything but good. On the other hand, funds raised to enable whole classes of poor to purchase at less than cost-price articles (such as coals, clothing, or food), which would otherwise have to be bought in the usual way, are open to the objections against benevo- lent trading. And the same is true, in its degree, of the practice of subsidizing interest on savings. The most that can be said for these things is that they are less harmful in proportion to the amount contri- buted by the recipients, and that in so far as they induce self-denial by extracting periodical deposits, or as they bring rich and poor together in the transaction of necessary business, they do have a good effect. But these merits are not peculiar to these forms of action ; and it must CHARll'Y ORGANIZATION. 357 not be forgotten that there is difficulty in confining the dispensation of these funds within proper limits ; so that there is always a tendency to admit to participation in them individuals who ought to be able to do without them. It is in the direction of a wise ordering of these kinds of assistance that the influence of those who aim at promoting the well-being of the poor in rural districts may be applied. The object of charity is to relieve not the giver but the receiver, and so to relieve as to remove the causes of distress and not to perpetuate them. But to return to the Bradfield Union. Another test of the working of its system may be applied by analyzing the indoor pauperism. Of the 99 indoor paupers on ist January, 1893, 59 were male and 40 female; 33 were children under 16, and 36 were old people over 65, 28 of whom were males and 8 females. Of the children 2 were orphans having lost both parents, 3 deserted by both or the only surviving parent, and 8 illegitimate. Of the total number of inmates 17 were in the infirmary on the doctor's book and 8 others were imbecile. There were 10 classed as able-bodied, 9 women, i man. This man, aged 44, who has since gone out, is of the casual class and unmarried ; his father and uncle were then in the workhouse. Of the 9 women, 5 had illegitimate children, 3 were weak-minded or subject to fits, and the husband of i was in gaol. Again, these inmates- may be regarded in the light of families, not individuals. Viewed in this way, the indoor pauperism reduces itself to 74, and even these 74 families were to some extent inter-related, and in several cases are of pauper descent or connection. It is hard to believe that any poor law administration could produce better results on a total population of over 18,000. To sum up, unless it can be shown [a) that the poorer classes are worse off in Bradfield than elsewhere, or (_/;) that if not, private charity has reached an excessive pitch and is a worse form of assistance than outdoor relief, there can be no doubt that the board have proved them- selves true guardians of the poor. As to the latter point, those who hold charity organization princi ])les, and consider that reliance upon State or rate funds is fatal to independence, will agree that private charity must indeed be badly and lavishly bestowed if it can do as much harm as out-relief; while as to the former point, this paper will have failed in its object if it has not convinced the reader that the laborer's position in the Bradfield Union 35<'^ INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. is not below the average standard of comfort in that part of England * from youth to age, and that in the absence of great social or commer- cial disturbances everything points to a progressive amelioration of the present satisfactory conditions. * Before this paper is printed will be published the Bluebooks containing the Report of the Assistant Commissioner upon the condition of the agricul- tural laborer. Bradfield was not among the unions selected for investigation, but the adjoining union of Basingstoke and the union of Wantage were visited, and the Reports will no doubt be full of information. They can be obtained from King & Son, King Street, Westminster. There are about 12 series, each costing from I to 2 shillings. CHAR IT V UK(;ANIZAriON. 559 APPENDIX A. Current Wages in Bradfield Union. 1893. Agricultural: Per week. Carters, 13/ to 15/ -|- cottage -|- harvest and extras. equivalent altogether to about 1 7/ to 20/ Under carters, 9/ to 13/ -j- harvest and extras, equiva- lent altogether to about 1 2/ to 15/ Stockmen, (young men generally) 12/ to 14/ -[~ cot- tage -|- harvest and extras, ecjuivalent to about 17/ to 19/ Mill men and machine men 16/ to 22/ Farm laborers, first class, 15/ -|- harvest and extras, Csometimes cottage) 16/ to 18/ Field hands, 12/ to 13/ -f- harvest and extras 14/ to 16/ Rickbuilders and Thatchers 1 6/ to 17/ Building: Per week. 7c/. per hour, equivalent say to 32/ Bricklayers, Stone masons. ^d. 8 Plasterers, 8 Carpenters, Plumbers, 7 7^ Painters, 6^ Plumbers' mates ,43^ Laborers, 4 -loing: Tun men, 1 Enginemen, Coopers, Head Maltsters, 1 Krc 1 J ( i i I i I 36/8 36/8 32/ 34/3 29/9 20/6 18/4 j Chiefly V Summer Work. ^from 20/ to 25/ per week. Ordinary laborers, -\ e. g. , Cleaners, y from 1 5/ to 1 8/ [also 3 pints per day ..i Draymen, &( C'ornmi/ls: Foremen, 30/ -\- cottage, equivalent (say) to 7,2/6 per week. Purifiermen, Rollermen, 24/ -j- cottage, equivalent (say) to 26/ Carters, 20/ -|- cottage 22/ Sack carriers and general millers 18/ " Briik Kilns from 18/1025/ IsoTK. — During the last ::o vears wages have not varied niucli as regards agricultural labor. In the brewing and cornmilling trades they have risen lo per cent. < i 360 INTERNA IIONAL CONGRESS OK CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. APPENDIX B. Percentage of Indoor and Outdoor Poor (excluding vagrants) on the population of twelve Berkshire Unions. Union. Abingdon Bradfield Cookham Easthampstead. Faringdon Hungerford Newbury Reading Wallingford .... Population ! Percentage of In- I Percentage of Out- door poor on the door poor on the Population. | Population. Wantage. Windsor. Wokingham. 19,612 0.80 i-73 18,017 0.61 0. 14 20,468 0.86 2.91 i3'7i7 0.78 2.03 i3>544 0.80 2-37 17,017 0.63 3.22 21,677 0.90 1.97 60,054 0.85 0.28 14,706 l.OI 0.66 16,544 0-57 2.80 35>649 0-75 113 i7>347 0.72 2.01 268,352 0.79 1.50 CHAR] I'V ORGANIZA HON. 361 APPENDIX C -Tasle t(lL OuJMji Or- 'f- 7yyJ.jv^ fA^ M-.- fny c^ < tzii raJLSWUCu<.ir^ ^ /i' ^A^Y^l^Yx, '♦^ ^J^^ , 'tP7t-/d'fS '!]/ 'Sji ^p ///^ /£;$■ 'SjC yf77 ^^/f /S7f mo m /m /m /m Wf Wi / i 1 1 1 \ N \ ; 1 1 1 1 ; 1 1 •^ — < ^ 1 1 - —\ - \ ^ V. ■^ / 1 1 /vbo 07i > 1 1 "^v ■^ Tr L/ "7 ^T|^^o) I 18, My ^'',^ 3f/ h"'/' '\'% '<^/? ;/♦- p'-<^ iSSo \l98l 'ffi l/% \fSSj. '/(fA '^/ ^> ^i 362 INTERNA riONAL CONGRESS OF CHARIIIES AND CORRECTION. APPENDIX D. Fou-R Parishes in the Bradfield Union. Par- ish. Area in Acres I Paupers Popu-' 'J^"-''^93- lation. 1891 In- I Out- door. 1 door. B D 4237 1327 1175 277 Other poor dependent on rela- tives or friends or charity. Endowed Charities. The district really forms part of a larger parish, though it is for most purposes distinct, and there are no sepa- rate returns * 989 159 a-ji 2 oJ 0) t. ai o O O^ ' " c c c S n! '^ C8 « p., Clothing-, coal and similar Clubs. Doctors clubs. 0) V '^s?s?s?< .2 0.C-2- 5| ^ of whom 2 are cer- tainly sup- ported entirely by relatives. 1 1 , O 38 (over 65) of whom 15 are cer- tainly en- tirely sup- ported by relatives. 2 (widows); one is supported entirely by relatives. i. Rent of parish land applied in coals, ii. Alms- houses for 3- a. £V1 a yr. School and Poor. b. £\ Ws. Calico. Clothing club. One. 55-. per head per annum for adult IS. for children. Member- ship over 100. Parish Nurse. One. Much same as above. Clothing club. Coal club. "Relief club." One. Clothing Club. 8 members Subsi- dized. One. &ci. per quarter. ' One. Paid out of (a) fees {b) sub- scrip- tions. No. No. No. 27^ ♦The returns for this large parish are as follows: Outdoor I. Area 4848, Pop. 3154, Paupers, Indoor CHARITV ORGANIZAIION. 363 APPENDIX 1).— Continued. Friendly Society. 1 Pennv 9 Bank. .5 u 1 Work- ing- men's Club Allot- ments. Remarks. Oddfello'cvs. Membership MS- Invested Funds over Berks Friendly. Membership 8. Three In all fl schools. \o'""- Member- ,^„'*'">'; ship about ^;^'[a' Balance '^'"e" in hand , "" -•-^«°- aSotf 300. Three and a Junior. Yes, very v?ell sup- ported. Yes. Non- tee- total, self man- aged. Yes. In -s, or places, from \d. to id. per pole. Occupation chiefly agri- cultural and forestrv. A straggling parish, 3 or 4 good sized, and 6 or 7 smaller, gentlemen's houses, I large flour mill. Cottage rents from \s. to 3J. kd. A good many small freeholders. A joint Society com- mon to three small Parishes. Membership (all 3 Parishes) J03. Invested Funds over ;^I200. One. Volun- Started in tarv. Dec. 1801. Chil- Member- dren ship about on 40. ; books about 60. 1 One. No. No. None. Occupation chiefly agri- cultural. One good sized brewery. No freehold cottages. No squatters. Only one large house & the rectory Foresters. Member.ship 200. Invested funds about ^600. Oddfelloivs. G. W. Rail- zvay Benevo- lent Society. Juvenile For- esters and other clubs. Yes. Doing well. One senior, one junior and a foot- ball club. No. Yes. Non- tee- total. Yes. at ■>,d. per pole, but not all taken. Five good farms, brick kilns, mar- ket gardens. Many men work in Reading, or on the rail- way or river. Cottage rents from IS. 6 to 7J. 6. District Benefit Society. 21 Parishioner members. Total No. of members about 25U. Total funds ;C1000. No. Voluntary, 30 on books. No. In neigh- boring pari.sh, a few ; No. parishi- oners exhibit. About 5 acres at la", per pole. Occupation agricultural. Two farmers. Three freehold cottagers. No squatters. No gentry be- sides the far- mers and the parsoi). Cot- tage rents from 1.5'. to Ijr. ^d. a week. 364 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHAKlllES AND CORRECTION. APPENDIX E. Table showing means available for providing against sickness and old age, (the figures being only selected specimens from a number of various tables.) Oddfellows: A young man joining at the age of 18 may by weekly payments of 65^^. secure a sick allowance of 12/ per week for the first 6 months of sickness and 6/ per week afterwards, with -£\ 2 on death, and ^6 on death of his wife. Berkshire Friendlx Society: Such a man may by payments of id. per month during his life secure a sick allowance of 4/ per week at any time during his life. For 1/ per month he will be entitled to 6/ per week in sickness up to 70 and a pension of 3/ per week after that age. Private Saving: A lad beginning to save at 17 may by putting away weekly sums increasing gradually from 3^/. to 1/6 find himself at 25 in possession of ^^25, without including interim interest receivable. By saving sums rising similarly from 6d. to 2/6, he would have accumulated ^43, exclusive of interest, by the same age. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 365 CHARITY OR(rANIZATlON IN RELATION TO VOLUNTARY EFFORT. BY THE REV. BROOKE LAMBERT, M. A., B. C. L. , VICAR OF GREENWICH, LONDON. A cynic has told us that when the virtues met in a better sphere. Charity asked to be introduced to Gratitude ; they had never, they said, met before. The cynic is wrong, as cynics generally are. He has mistaken so-called Good Nature for Charity, and as for Gratitude, which he tells us elsewhere in the History of Human Weakness is the expectation of future favors, he has not seen her. Yet I should like to make his parable true by saying that Charity and Commonsense were strangers till they met at 15 Buckingham Street.* In saying this I am by no means claiming for the Charity Organiza- tion Society any more than I claim for any other good movement. The genesis of all movements which are destined to prevail is the same. First, there is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and some fev/ go out to hear him. But he dies the martyr's death. Then his big message is caught up by minor prophets, till by degrees the conscience of mankind is awakened. Then there comes a movement which gives voice to half formed, half expressed notions. Such has been the story of charity or- ganization. It is the result of many prophets' work. It has succeeded at last in introducing Commonsense to Charity. Charity so-called had long sought to better mankind, but Charity such as we know is human, and therefore fallible. She needed to learn of Him who visited a pool at Bethesda and saw a multitude of sick folk, and healed only one. Commonsense met her and explained this apparently eccentric exercise of mercy, showed her that poverty like disease had many causes, and that it was mere waste of power to help those who would afterwards fall back into the same condition. Commonsense made her understand that there was a "worse thing"even than thirty-eight years suffering, that character was more precious than comfort, that self-restraint was cheaply purchased at the cost of suffering. For commonsense is educated judg- * Office of Charity C)rganization Society. London. 366 INIERNAI'IONAL CONGRESS Ol" CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. ment, and is not to Ije mistaken for that enapirical instinct which often breeds nonsense. I learn that in other papers which are to he presented to this Con- gress it will have been laid down that there is a sphere for voluntary effort. I ijresume that it will have been shown that there is a sphere in which it can profitably work, that there are cases which must be left to legal treatment, which if equitable is stern. To use the parallel of medicine, some cases must be treated in hospitals and asylums. I learn, too, that it will have been asserted that there is a special sphere and scope for the work of the churches. I hope it will have been emphatically asserted that when the churches take up a case they must treat it thoroughly and fully. Again using the parallel of medicine, they must see that the patients have food as well as physic, and must not because the case is burdensome provide the one, and leave the other to haphazard. I learn, further, that it has been laid down that there is a sphere for individual munificence. I suppose a distinction will have been drawn between organization and relief. Organized charity is not selfishly eager to treat the case for the satisfaction of being credited with the cure. Again using medicine to guide us, the patient will be sent to that doctor, that climate, that "cure," where the case can be best treated. I am asked to wind up the discussion with some words on the mutual relation of these agencies. I write in the dark, not having seen the other papers. Some remarks on the subject of charity organization will, I hope, illus- trate the subject. Whatever may have been said : i . It is the purpose of charity organi- zation by calling in the aid of all society agencies to quicken individual sympathy. The charity of the multitude, that which the cynic miscalls charity, may be expressed in the words "Send her away for she crieth after us." Poverty is so unpleasant, let us get rid of it. A gift of money will stop the cry, a gift of clothes will cover the rags. The ' Charity Organization Society says to those who call themselves bene- factors, to the individual givers, you must throw yourself like a doctor into the case, determined to cure, not simply to palliate the suffering. This is further the message 'it gives to voluntary societies. Only that society can be said to be doing the work it ought to do in which the care of the individual is not lost in the thought of the association. The society must beware of routine and treat each case individually. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 367 2. This will be the message of charity organization to the churches. The great object of charity organization is to produce better conditions of life. When the doctor has to treat a case he does not nowadays at- tempt only to alleviate symptoms, he tries to restore the system. Diet does as much as drugs. You, it says to the churches, have been thinking of one remedy mainly, and in your effort to make people take that remedy you have often increased the disease. Without self-respect the sufferer can never recover. In your effort to make men take the nos- trum on which you rely, you have mixed up charity and religion in a way which has destroyed self-respect. When you fully realize that your agency is only one among many, when you have ceased to regard your proselytes as worthy of more attention than any others, then you will have learnt that true charity regards the need and not the creed. Then perhaps you will understand why He, whom you profess to follow, was so constantly pointing, out that Samaritans and heathen were not so completely outside the pale as your representatives in these days affirm. You will learn the difference between faith and a creed. 3. The Charity Organization Society holds up to the individual donor the two truths which it has tried to enforce on volunteers and on churches: individual contact; the bettering of the general conditions. It will show him that this agency offers the munificent donor a way of coming into contact with those who need his help, new to him. If he listens to the tale of the man who knocks at his door, or makes the postman his ambassador, he will find himself often deceived. If he will spare an hour a week to go down to the Society's office and read through the case papers, he will find abundant occasion for munificence. His charity account will be like his private account. There will be big and little sums in it. He will not always be spending. He will often find it well to reserve himself for a big occasion. He will find there is a spring and an autumn, a time for spending, a time for .saving. Generally the result of his experience will be that, whereas before he gave ten pounds or shillings to ten cases, and found these cases to be recurring decimals, he will now give ^lo to one case, and find that by the gift he will have put the person out of need of distress. He will understand the incident at the [)ool of Bethesda, and .see that perfect charity must leave certain cases untouched. Meanwhile he will have learnt what a millionaire may do. The meaning of ])overty will have been revealed to him, he will of necessity become a jjhilanthropist. 368 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Not content as once to leave orders when he is away to draw on him for heavy cases, he will use his leisure and his brains to do away with the causes of poverty. Some of these are as remediable as those sanitary defects which made epidemics plagues. He will learn that legislation can come to the aid of sympathy. In removing the sources of evil, in supporting efforts to develop thrift and self-reliance, he will do much to diminish pauperism, if he cannot annihilate poverty. Money spent to help forward such projects- will be as real charity in his eyes as direct gifts to the poor. Then, too, perchance there will be born in him the spirit of the old Greeks. He will feel that to undertake a Xstrov^ytet, to be the means of furnishing public recreation in providing for the people parks and libraries is a privilege. He will know that this ex- penditure of money will be more profitable than that employed in con- trolling syndicates, or in supporting a personal state which is food for penny-a-liners. He will feel that his own art treasures and pleasure grounds minister to a much higher purpose when he holds them in trust for the good of others. His own personal satisfaction will be multiplied just in so far as he shares with others that which once had only the value derived from exclusive and solitary possession. This will be the message of charity organization. As men listen to it they will become acquainted with the sweet virtue Charity, who is always accompanied by her sister Gratitude, because she does not, like the Charity of the cynic's story, patronize, pauperize, or humiliate her clients. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 369 FRIENDLY VISITING. BY MISS F. C. PRIDEAUX, WOMEN' S UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT, BLACKFRIARS ROAD, LONDON. The organized scheme of friendly visiting which I am about to describe jiad its origin rather more than two years ago in the minds of Miss Octavia Hill and others, who were keenly alive to a need which it is intended to till. This need is described by Miss Octavia Hill herself in the Nineteenth Century Magazine for August, 1891. It may be briefly characterized as the need for the union of two people in one, the ordinary district visitor and the charity organization visitor, or perhaps it would be more correct to say, the union in one person of the methods of the ordinary district visitor with the principles of the charity organization society visitor. These two had for the most part been strangers so far, and not infrequently regarded one another with something of the suspicion bred of ignorance. But this was not a necessary state of things. Miss Octavia Hill felt how much might be gained by the really friendly and systematic visiting of a group of families by one who came with no gifts in her hand and who would therefore be valued as a friend or not at all, visiting not only in times of special pressure or distress, but constantly, and so gaining some knowledge of the family under all circumstances. What she wished to see was the periodical house to house visiting and the personal know- ledge of a few peoples pecially committed to her charge, that is, the method of the ordinary district visitor, combined with those princi- ples on the subject of material relief and other questions which we may call generally "Charity Organization Society," and which the ordinary district visitor is in the habit of disregarding. It is impossible for the visitors from the charity organization committees to fill this need. Their time must be occupied for the most part with visiting the cases actually applying for help; and after the decision has been arrived at and the family helped or not, as the case may be, the visits in the nature of things will drop. Where a pension is regularly allowed, there will certainly be scope for a friendly weekly visit, and that the value of 24 1 370 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. this visit is recognized is shown by the fact that most committees make a point of the pension being taken by a visitor rather than fetched from the office by the pensioner; but such cases form a very small pro- portion of the whole, and even in them perhaps the friendliness of the visit is a little spoiled by its being inseparable from relief. Evidently then, visiting from a charity organization society's office could not meet the want, though close co-operation with the local charity organization committee was an essential element in the idea. It was clear that some fresh organization was wanted and this organization, as then planned and now practised, I will here attempt to sketch. The central idea being to have a body of visitors whq would each undertake to visit regularly a certain group of families, the two questions which first arose were naturally how should the visitors be found, and whom should they visit? Miss Octavia Hill's connection with the Women's University Settlement in Southwark led her very readily to an answer to the first question. Here were already a few women who should be fitted and would certainly be willing to undertake the work, while beyond those actually living in Southwark was the association which supported the settlement and included many who would be glad to give one day weekly to something of this kind. And so it came about that the organization started with the settlement as its basis, and ever since the connection between them has been of the closest possible nature. In the first place the warden of the settle- ment naturally became the head or directress of the visitors. As all applications for work of whatever kind at the settlement are made to her in the first instance, she was thus able to select for this visiting work those who seemed likely to succeed best with it, and these visitors understood that they were responsible to her. It was impressed upon them that when anything seemed to need attention in the circumstances of the people they were visiting, this was to be reported at once at the settlement, special report forms being provided for the purpose. Among those circumstances that should be and are reported are such as destitution, unsanitary condition -of the house, neglect of school, chronic illness or special physical affliction of any kind in any mem- ber of the family, as well as occasional events, such as temporary ill- ness or accidents of any description. These reports it is the care of one of the resident workers at the settlement to receive and attend to at once. The advantage of this is obvious, as the resident worker being CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 37 I always on the spot there is no unnecessary delay, which could not be avoided if the visitor herself, living as she often does in quite another part of London, tried to do all that is required. But as far as possible, she is associated with the resident worker in what is done for the cases reported by her. Often where she has the requisite experience she is able to carry the whole matter through herself, and always the aim is not to take it out of her hands more than is necessary. When a report has been received it is made into a case much after the fashion of the ■Charity Organization Society case papers, and every week at a fixed time the warden and the worker in charge of the cases, — secretary for the district visitors as she might be called — go through all the . cases, discuss the best means of dealing with them, and record their suggestions as to how it should be done on the case paper. The visitor at her next weekly visit comes to the settlement to see what this sugges- tion has been and acts upon it, always supposing that her judgment coincides, as it is not at all wished that she should look upon it as an arbitrary decision. But it was felt that this system of reports would not quite suffice for the visitor, who might easily desire advice about some of her people without having any special need of theirs to report upon. It was there- ford arranged that each visitor should have an opportunity monthly for talking over her district. To this interview she brings her book in which are entered the names of all those whom she visits, with as many particulars about them as she has been able to gather, the families are gone through and the difficult points which are sure to arise in her intercourse with her people can be discussed. But a need for some- thing more than this even was recognized, if the work of the visitors was to be all that it might. Beside advice on special points, which could only be given separately to each, there was much knowledge of a general nature which would be useful to all and which could be given to them collectively, local knowledge as to the resources of the neigh- borhood in the way of education, amusement, relief in sickness, etc., or knowledge on such points as the working of the Poor Law, elemen- tary education, friendly societies and so forth. It was therefore decided that the best way would be to have monthly meetings at the settlement to which all the visitors should be invited, and at each of which a paper was read or an informal lecture given on one of the subjects mentioned above or the like. These monthly meetings were held for 372 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. more than a year and only discontinued as their place was taken b} courses of lectures on similar subjects given at the settlement to other workers besides the district visitors. It had been felt for some time that education for philanthropic workers of every kind was becoming more and more important, as the complexity increased of the problems which, however seemingly simple their work, they must inevitably come across. To meet this demand to some small extent these lectures were started at the settlement, specially with a view to the district visitors and other workers in Southwark. So much for the organization of the visitors; now for the question ' as to whom they should visit. Possibly it may seem as if this ques- tion could hardly present a difficulty, considering the great numbers of the poor massed together in South and East London, and tlie com- paratively small number of those who have any desire to visit them. But it must be remembered that the parochial machinery, though inade- quate for the most part for want of workers, is still at work and that wherever the settlement district visitors began to visit it must be in somebody's parish, and that at least the leave of the vicar, if possible his co-operation, must be obtained. Fortunately for the new scheme the vicar of St. Paul's, Westminster Bridge Road, was ready to welcome as a band of helpers the visitors from the settlement. A certain part of his parish was apportioned off to be visited by them and the connection of these visitors with himself and the other clergy of the parish was and is still maintained by means of the parochial relief committee held weekly, at which the warden or the secretary to the dis- trict visitors is always present, and reports are exchanged. Nothing of moment, therefore, can happen in any district without its being reported to the clergy at the weekly committee, or if their help be urgently needed, they are communicated with by the secretary without any delay. There are now 15 visitors all with two or three exceptions working close together in this parish of St. Paul's. I have said that co-operation with the local charity organization society committee was one of the essential elements in the idea of the scheme. This co-operation is very closely maintained, for the secre- tary for the district visitors is also a member of the charity organiza- tion committee. She there takes special charge, as it were, of all cases which apply from the districts and works them entirely. The warden IS also a member of the charity organization committee, and the fact CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 373 that these two are on both the parochial and charity organization committees secures the most complete co-operation possible. It was hoped that not only might the charity organization committee help the visitors, but that occasionally at any rate the visitors might help the charity organization committee by being able to supply information about applicants living in one or other of their districts of a more detailed and dependable kind than could be obtained from a single visit or the accounts of the neighbors. But, of course, the help is chiefly on the other side. Whenever a case reported by a visitor at the settlement seems to be of such a nature as to make help by the Charity Organiza- tion Society desirable, it is referred to the committee, and the person in need is told to apply; or sometimes the intermediate step of reporting the case at the settlement is not necessary and the person is sent straight to the charity organization office. Almost all cases except those of temporary sickness are by the decision of the parochial committee referred to the Charity Organization Society, Avhich, therefore, becomes the usual channel of relief. But the visitor may be and generally is the means by which the relief is given; as if it be the question of a loan granted by the committee, she would be the natural person to collect it at her'weekly visit, and to distribute the pension or temporary relief which had been allowed to any of her people. Effort is also made to maintain co-operation with all other wise local agencies for the good of the people; with one especially, perhaps, it is well that the visitor should be in close touch, namely, the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants. Sometimes certainly, very often .possibly, she will come across young girls in her district on the lookout for places, first places perhaps. She will feel the great import- ance of this first place turning out successful, but will not have the re- quisite time or opportunities for finding it herself. By referring the girl to the free registry of the Association she knows that all she would like to do will be done and done more efficiently by them. One word might here be said as to the rules for visitors to guide them in their work. They are of course expected to visit regularly, and to make note of their visit in the book of which mention has been made. Appended is a specimen sheet from one of these visitors' books, showing the sort of information that is to be obtained where possible, and, of course, only by degrees. Very often there may be no special remarks to record, but just the date and the fact of the visit having been 374 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. paid should be entered. This system of keeping a written record has- been found of great use both by the visitors for reference for themselves, and also specially when a district has had to be handed on from one vis- itor to another. But there is one rule, and one only, on which much stress is laid, and that is one which really follows from what has already been said about the connection with the Charity Organization Society, namely, that no relief of any kind be given by the visitor on her own responsibility alone. One great point in the whole scheme was this, that the visitor never being looked upon as the source from which material relief in the shape of tickets or money would flow, her visits might be valued by the people for just what they were worth in themselves; the help that she was to give them was to be just that which her own nature made it possible for her to give, and as experience has shown, this means a great deal from some people, if but little from others. And it need hardly be pointed out how much she herself gains from this rule; if she is wel- comed, she knows it is not for the sake of what she brings with her, and at any rate one obstacle to her getting to know the people as they really are- is removed. Perhaps it may be thought that a good deal has been said about what the visitor may not or cannot do, and very little about the positive side of her work. It must be remembered in the first place that friendli- ness is to be the characteristic of these visits, and we may have a very friendly feeling for a person for years, and add something, however, inconsiderable, to their pleasure in life by this feeling, without being able to do them one single act of service worthy of record, much as we should like to. It was felt by the starters of the scherpe that friendli- ness was a thing of growth which if it were to be worth anything would not spring up at a word; it would, however, be very desirable to give the visitor some regular excuse for calling on the people whom she was to try to know, some raison d' etre for her visits until such friendly rela- tions should be established as to make excuse unnecessary. The distri- bution of tickets or tracts, the traditional district visitor's resource, was out of the question, and the exactly opposite course was decided on> the district visitor should not distribute, she should collect. She should suggest to and make easy for the people the habit of putting by some- thing weekly, by taking round with her a number of stamps and post office forms, selling the stamps to those who would join her bank, and then starting them with their post office savings bank book when the CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 375 necessary shilling had been saved. Thus she not only gained an intro- duction to her people, but began her acquaintance by a real, if small, act of service, introducing them to the great State-aided system of saving, and helping them in the little formalities which often seem so formidable to them as to deter them from belonging to the Post Office Savings Bank. And the acquaintance once established, opportunities for other acts of service are sure to come sooner or later in the course of the family vicissitudes. There is at the settlement a small library from which books can be taken by visitors and lent to their people; there are often notices of evening classes, entertainments, exhibitions or the like, to which she can invite those for whom they are suitable; she can urge upon the girls to join a benefit society established in the district, and in many other ways can she be the link which is often all that is wanted to bring together the people of a neighborhood and the advan- tages, educational or recreative, all ready for them. > And now to conclude, as this scheme has been in force nearly two years it may fairly be asked has it been a success? The answer must be I think that where the right person has been at work the scheme has been distinctly successful; everything depends here, as elsewhere, on the individual worker, and the difference between what some have achieved when compared with the results obtained by others is most marked. But speaking generally, I should say that so far as succeeding in getting on friendly terms with the people goes, the visitors as a body have been more successful than might have been hoped, though perhaps not as much is done in the way of collecting savings as was expected at first. And as among ourselves one friend will have far more power of helping and influencing for good than another, so one visitor will be able to make her friendli- ness much more fruitful than another, yet the mere fact that a feeling of friendliness exists at all must be so much to the good and is well worth any efforts that have been made to advance it. But not too much of even this must be looked for by any who might think of taking up work of this kind. Again what we find in our intercourse with friends and acquaintances of our own class will hold good here. With some we seem to have by nature that inexplicable sympathy which makes it possible for us to influence and even help them sometimes, while with others it is just the contrary; without any fault exactly, our two natures do not har- monize and we can do each other no good. So in our districts, we must not reasonably expect to influence all alike, perhaps with some we 376 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OK CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. may never "get on" at all. Of one thing we may be sure, that there will be very little to show or to t;.ilk of as the result of our work; it will be very indefinite, intangible, so that we ourselves may often doubt whether we are doing any goud at all. But the "growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts," and that friendliness and mutual interest should be awakened is surely something towards the "growing good," though the acts that go to bring it about are unhis- toric and insignificant indeed. Name, Specimen Sheet From Visitor's Book. (RIGHT HAND PAGE) Address, Floor, Christian Names. Age. Occupation' or Children's School. Savings or Club. REMARKS. Only remarks of permanent interest to be entered under tliU heiiil. (LKFT I.IAXU PAGE) Date. Deposit. Visit. Date. Deposit. ^'ISIT. CHARITY ORGANIZATIOX. 377 ENGLISH POOR LAW. EY BALDWYN KLKMIXG, GENERAL INSPECTOR OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD FOR COUNTIES OF DORSET. SOUTHAMPTON, SURREY AND WILIS. The memories of sixty years ago have grown so dim that it is difficult to realize the terrors and the miseries which led to the introduction of the '•Xew Poor Law" in 1834. Much may be learned from the most logical and powerful report of the Poor Law Commissioners upon which that act was founded; but it is necessary to dig deep into local records and the passing literature of the times to appreciate how com- pletely the comfort and convenience of the well conducted sections of society were at the mercy of vicious, insolent, and rapacious idlers. In the more quiet days which have come for us it is difficult to under- stand a state of affairs under which employers of labor were obliged to part with old and trusty servants, in order to find room for the able- bodied loafers allotted to them by the parish. It is hard to believe that if any single woman declared herself to be pregnant, and charged any person with being the father, it was lawful for any justice of the division to issue his warrant for the immediate appre- hension of such person, and his committal to gaol unless he gave security to indemnify the parish. Grumble as we may at the rates imposed upon us, it is difficult to picture to ourselves the reality of a time when they were in many places los. and 12^-., in several places over 20s., and in at least one place over30j-. , in the pound. It is difficult now to realize the absolute despair of employer and employed in the times when nTght after night through the southern coun- ties of England the sky was reddened with the flames of the burning food of the people, and the landowner or the farmer scarcely dared to lay his head upon the pillow. We have almost forgotten the tragedy of the special assize issued to deal with the rioters of Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset- shire, when prisoners were tried by the hundred and sentenced to death by the score. Public opinion revolted against the execution of such a crowd of victims. But althoifgh in a few cases only was the capital sentence car- 378 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. ried into effect, the wretched men were torn from their homes to transpor- tation and imprisonment, in numbers which represent so appalling a sum of suffering that even now it can be recalled only with shuddering horror. The problem to be solved by the Poor Law Commissioners was two- fold: (i) the reformation of the laboring classes who'had become abso- lutely demoralized by the then Poor Law; (2) the salvation of the country from financial ruin. The Commissioners spared no effort to obtain every information upon every branch of the complications which they were set to unravel, and as the evidence was sifted and compared, it was found all to point in one direction only — that the evils which had assumed such portentous propor- tions were distinctly traced back to one great economical error, the unlim- ited grant of outdoor relief to the able-bodied. The whole tenor of the elaborate report of 1834 may be summed up in the foregoing sentence, and the cause having been fnade clear the remedy was equally apparent. Outdoor relief to the able-bodied must be abolished. This alone would not, however, complete the reform that was imperative for the restoration of order and prosperity. It was essential that all able-bodied destitu- tion should be tested, and that, in one form or another, the test should be work in return for the relief afforded. The Poor Law Acts and Orders do not prohibit out-relief to the sick, the widow, the orphan, or the aged and infirm, but only to the able-bod- ied; and even for that class there are many exceptions and modifications to meet emergencies and prevent hardship. The great principle of the English Poor Law as it now exists is that outdoor relief shall not be given to those who are able to work, and that all who are able to work and receive relief, whether under ordinary circumstances in the work- house, or in exceptional cases out of the workhouse, shall have their destitution put to the proof by the enforcement of a labor test. In work- ing out this principle another great object has been kept in view — that the position of the pauper should be less eligible than that of the inde- pendent laborer. A comparison between the England of to-day and the England of sixty years ago will show at once how sound were the conclusions arrived at by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1834, and how large a measure of gratitude is due to them from their descendants. In one sense the present position of pauperism is undoubtedly disappointing. The pre- vailing sentiment which underlies the "New Poor Law" is the abolition CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 379 of outdoor relief, and although the law has been more than fifty years in operation out-relief continues to be granted to a large, and in some parts to an enormous extent. It was apparently the hope and the intention of those who framed the Act of 1834, that the withdrawal of out-relief from the able-bodied, and the closer restriction of all relief outside the workhouse, would create habits ofthrift and independence, which would result in provision for sickness and old age without recourse to the degradation of relief from the rates. It may be argued that the large amount of out-relief still granted is proof that such hopes and expectations have proved to be unfounded* But it would be very wrong to assume that such an argument is correct. Many considerations must be weighed before any conclusion can be attempted, and it is doubtful whether even yet expe- rience is old enough to warrant a reliable decision as to the final effects of the Poor Law as at present constituted. One thing is certain, it was inevitable that the aged and infirm who are now upon the rates, either in or out of the workhouses, should come upon the rates when they had outlived their own generation and their wage-earning power. Neither they nor their relations had the facilities for thrift which are so freely offered to the younger generation, and it was the almost unavoidable consequence of their position that sucTi as survived to old age would find themselves compelled to come to the Poor Law for maintenance during the ending of their days. This fact, however, should not put us out of heart, and society to-day can afford to grant with a very sympathetic hand such relief as may best meet the necessities of those whose burdens are the outcome of the stormy times in which they were bred. It by no means follows that succeeding generations will be equally needy. On the contrary there are many hopeful indications that the present phase of old age pauperism is a passing one, and that the laboring population are taking full advantage of the opportunities for maintaining their inde- pendence. The enormous development of friendly benefit and kindred societies, the steady increase in the savings banks deposits, the greater prudence with regard to marriage, the intellectual advancement of the people, the evergrowing facilities of transport, the extension of free libraries, the means of obtaining instruction in every branch of education, and the constant decline of pauperism, all give evidence that the working classes are willing and able to provide for themselves when they are not demoralized by mischievous offers of maintenance without work. 38o INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. The test of destitution by work has been proved to be the only sound principle upon which relief can be afforded at the public cost. This prin- ciple is at once the justification of the workhouse, and the condemna- tion of outdoor relief. Indoor relief can be tested; outdoor relief can- not. Indoor relief is sufficient; outdoor relief must be insufficient. Indoor relief is shown to be required by the fact that it is accepted; outdoor relief affords occasion forendless fraud and imposition. Indoor relief is safe as regards the interests of the poor and of the ratepayer; outdoor relief is equally dangerous to both. The large amount of out-relief still granted, although not so indefen- sible as it may at first sight appear to be, does most certainly give ground for anxiety — all the more so, because it has been over and over again proved to be unnecessary, notwithstanding all that may fairly be urged in its favor. Wherever the Guardians have made an intelligent and continued effort to diminish pauperism by restricting out-relief, they have been successful. The object to be aimed at is not the abolition of out- relief, but the restriction of out-relief to the smallest legitimate amount. This has been tried under every variety of circumstances in unions of the most different descriptions, Atcham, Bradfield, Brixworth, Manches- ter and Whitechapel are but a few of many, where. sound administration has worked as beneficially for the poor as for the ratepayers. If the good example of such administration had been universally followed, the con- dition of the laboring classes would give less cause for doubt than it does at present to those who most desire to elevate them above the necessity of recourse to rate relief. The very fact that the Poor Law stands between the individual and actual destitution must have an adverse influence upon thrift and self-help, and that influence becomes the more power- ful as the limits of rate relief are widened. The influence itself may be submitted to in order to protect the com- munity from greater mischief, but clearly it should be kept within the narrowest possible bounds. It is a mistake to urge that indoor relief is more disgraceful than outdoor relief. Both are unfortunate necessities, and it is a false philanthropy to minimize the evils of pauperism; but in a comparison of in with out-relief the latter is the worse of the two. The recipient of indoor relief submits to the fullest test of destitution and gives the fruits of his labor in return for the relief afforded to him. The person who obtains out-relief, submits to no test of destitution and gives nothing whatever in return for what he receives. That indoor relief is distasteful may be admitted, and it is fortunate that it is so. CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 38 1 The reluctance to enter the workhouse is the best inducement to make provision for the later years of life, and operates powerfully to enforce the obligation upon the members of a family for their mutual support. As regards life in an English workhouse there is very little to which reason- able objection can be taken. Speaking generally, the accommodation is good, the diet is sufficient, the regulations provide for every comfort sub- ject to the enforcement of necessary discipline, the sick are carefully tended, the children well educated, and the inmates well treated. In 1834 the able-bodied poor created the difficulty to be met. Since then the number of the able-bodied and the children in workhouses in the rural districts, and to a less degree in the towns, has gradually diminished, and now the unions are filled with the aged and the infirm who were young during the thirties. This change in the character of the work- house inmates has rendered it possible to introduce a less rigid enforce- ment of discipline than when the inmates were drawn from classes requiring stricter treatment. We have reasonable grounds to hope that as those who are now aged and infirm pass away, the amount of pau- perism in the country will diminish. The deterioration of laboring class morality, which reached its crisis in 1830, had sunk far too deep to be quietly eradicated. The Poor Law then introduced has been unevenly, and not always loyally administered. Although it is a sad fact to be faced that there are still more than 750,000 paupers in the country, costing over ^8,000,000 a year, it is well to know that much of this vast amount is amenable to the sounder administration which is gaining ground; that we may look for a gradual diminution of the large proportion now resulting from old age and infirmity, and that the good influences at work for encouraging thrift and independence are daily acquiring a firmer hold upon the classes whom they are designed to benefit. Large, and to a great extent unnecessary, as is the burden borne by the country on account of this vast weight of pauperism and expenditure, when the proportion of pauperism is spread over the population of Eng- land and Wales, it is well under 3 per cent., and the cost upon rateable value is less than is. 2d. in the pound. Even to those who feel most keenly how imperfect much of the poor law administration still is, there must be a feeling of grateful satisfaction in the comparison between these figures, and the state of the poor and the expenditure prior to the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act. 382 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OK CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. That the principles of the English Poor Law are thoroughly sound has been demonstrated by all experience since the great reform of 1834. That those principles have not been more uniformly and consistently applied has prevented the much greater good which might have been gained. Those, however, who seek to depreciate what has been done, and to deny the future possibilities for good, are blind to the lessons taught us by the past. In the first three decades of this century England went through a struggle during which the administration of the Poor Law had brought absolute ruin within the near future unless measures could be taken to cope with the general distress and disorganization. The Poor Law Commissioners ascertained and applied the remedy. Many and many a time since then the working classes in this country have suffered periods of stress and difficulty. They have emerged from them with- out serious detriment, however great the local and temporary suffering may have been. Often the Poor Law has been abused, and sugges- tions in every conceivable direction have been made for its modifica- tion or amendment, but always it has stood strong and firm to bear the burden imposed upon it, to give maintenance to the destitute on the one hand, and on the other to save the people from an expenditure, which had nearly brought them to ruin sixty years ago. It is not feasible within the limits of this paper to do more than advert in the most general terms to the past and present position of pauperism in England. The many and interesting collateral influences and effects have necessarily been for the most part left aside, but it may truly be said that the actual good obtained by the Poor Law Act of 1834 is small in comparison with the far reaching indirect, but con- sequent influences, which have been at work in furthering the interests and well being of the non-pauper population, and in keeping large numbers who would otherwise have been paupers in a position of inde- pendence. The great growth of benefit societies is one of the most striking symptoms of improvement. Upon this important subject there is still a considerable lack of definite information. The best of the societies are making strenuous eftbrts to place themselves upon a thoroughly sound footing, and the immense numbers of members prove that their hold upon the public confidence has been well established. It is im- possible to estimate their enormous power and influence for good, and they carry with them the hearty "God speed" of all who care for CHARITY ORGANIZAITON. 383 the true interests of the working classes. Unfortunately there are still extant many societies which are not sound and which may in the future add to the distrust consequent upon failure. There are no data upon which it is practicable to state what proportion of the population have made efforts to provide for themselves more or less completely by this description of thrift. The number of members of bene- fit societies is known to be very large, and it is also known that very large numbers are not counted in the recognized returns. Although the propor- tion of members and those dependent upon them to population cannot be given, it certainly may be reckoned by millions and is constantly increasing. An additionally satisfactory consideration is the fact that this increase is chiefly among the great and well managed societies, and that the small and unsound ones appear to be gradually disappearing. The wiser use of charitable funds, the provision of institutions with- out end to meet the varied necessities of the poor in sickness and in want, the growth of kinder feeling between class and class ; these and many other things which have for their object to render the life of the working classes better and more wholesome, owe much indirectly to the law which has laid down the right principles upon which pauper- ism should be dealt with. When we look back through the half century since the present Poor Law was enacted we have reason to be grateful to it for the remedy of terri- ble evils, the removal of many dangers, and the active benefits it has conferred. Having regard to the dark past and the comparatively happypresentjOur prayer should be that no temptation may induce those who will administer it in the future to abandon the sound line of action which has brought us to the calm of to-day out of the wild storm in which the Poor Law Amendment Act was launched sixty years ago. 384 IN I'KRNAriONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. SCHOOL SAVINGS BANKS. BY CHARLES HENRY WYATT, CLERK. OF THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL BOARD. In response to the request conveyed to me by Mr, C. S. Loch, Secretary of the Charity Organization Society, I have pleasure in laying before the Congress the following particulars relative to the 'School Savings Bank movement and its development and extension by the School Boards, and the managers of public elementary schools. The object of the banks which are carried on in England, Wales, and Scotland, may be said to be two -fold: First. By the practical method of instruction to inculcate habits of thrift and the husbanding of resources; Second. To enable children and their parents to save small sums of money which are not received by the Post Office Savings Banks carried on by the Government. These school savings banks are valuable auxiliaries for supplying de- positors to the Post Office Banks and must be of extreme value in bring- ing into the homes of the people, particularly those of the lower classes, a fuller and more intelligent acquaintance with the various facilities which are now offered by the Government for the safe deposit of money in connection with the savings banks, which have developed into such a gigantic business in the United Kingdom during the reign of our present Gracious Sovereign. Englishmen lay claim to a great many virtues, some of which they do not possess; but the most devoted Anglo-Saxon would scarcely say that thrift is one of them. We know that the working classes of this country are probably as well off as those of any other part of the world, and yet the less reputable parts of the great cities and towns of the United Kingdom will match for squalor, depravity, and poverty, with centres of population in other countries which lay no claim to such advances of civilization as mark Great Britain. It has been very wisely said that, like many other good habits, the husbanding of our resources is an art which may be acquired, and if the wasteful improvidence of the work- ing classes is to be combated, it must be very largely by the tuition of CHARllY ORGANIZATION. 385 the children in attendance at our public elementary schools in the proper use of money and the economical expenditure of earnings. Such teach- ing will also have a very valuable effect in the furtherance of the tem- yjerance movement and of all that tends to the lessening of the evil aris- ing through the drinking habits of a large portion of the working class community of large cities. I will now proceed to explain as briefly as possible the mode in which school banks are carried on in English public elementary schools, tak- ing for example the case of the City of Manchester with which I am most intimately connected, and where the system has achieved the highest success. We have 130 of these school banks in Manchester under the control of the School Board. They are open each Monday morning for the receipt and withdrawal of money. The work is entirely a labor of love on the part of the teachers, who do all the necessary bookkeeping; it is of course made as light as possible. To ensure accuracy the Board have the books audited twice a year. I should like to say in passing that in dealing with the savings of the working classes every care should be taken to give confidence to the minds of those whom it is wished to attract as depositors. Every thing connected with the banks must be like Caesar's wife, "above suspicion." Monday morning is found to be the best time for holding the banks. This, however, does not hold so strongly now as when the banks were established, one rea- son for the choice of the day having been that the savings could be brought in with the school fees; but the general adoption of free edu- cation in England limits the argument at the present day. The money is collected each week from the schools and deposited at the bank of the School Board. We have not found it practicable to allow interest in our school banks in Manchester, but when a depositor has saved twenty shillings he is encouraged to have the amount transferred to the Post Office Savings Bank where he is allowed interest at the rate of 2^ per cent, per annum. It is always well to encourage these transfers, but it cannot always be managed, as many of the parents i)refer that the deposits should remain in the school banks thinking that the money can be more easily got at in case of emergency. The books required are: 1 . Depositor's Pass Books, 2. Cash Book, 3. Ledger. 25 386 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARTITES AND CORRECTION. The ofificials who conduct the business of the bank are: 1. Cashier, 2. Secretary, or Bookkeeper. The banks should be open only on the day and at the hour appointed in the rules (see Rules, p. 389), and no business can be transacted with depositors at any other time. Each depositor on opening an account receives a pass book showing his number in the ledger, his initials, and the amount of his deposit. The full name of the depositor appears at the head of his ledger account. The initials only are inserted in the pass book so that in case the pass book is lost, any fraudulent attempt on the part of the finder to withdraw the money may be rendered more difficult. The name of the bank, and the place and time when it is held, are printed on the cover of the pass book together with the names of the officials of the bank. An abstract of the rules of the bank are printed on the back of the pass book. The pass book is produced every time business is transacted with a depositor. The cashier receives and pays all moneys, and enters each transaction in the cash book giving the depositor's number, his initials, and the amount either deposited or withdrawn. The cashier also enters the date and the amount in the depositor's pass book, which is then passed over to the bookkeeper, who finds the account in the ledger, and enters the date and amount, copying these particulars direct from the pass book, after which the pass book is returned to the depositor. All entries in the pass books and ledger are initialed by the person making the same. At the close of business the cash is at once counted, and the cash book added up in order to see that they correspond. The cash is then forwarded to the offices of the Board with an advice note, signed by both the cashier and bookkeeper, authenticating the day's transactions, in order that the officer of the Board who has the oversight of the school banks may lodge the amount in the general account at the bank. As pass books are repeatedly lost by the depositors, it is customary to charge a small sum (one penny) for supplying a new book, the balance to the credit of the account being duly entered in the new pass book, and a note made in the ledger that a new book has been issued, so as to prevent fraud. When any depositor has £^\ in the school bank he may have an account opened in his own name at the Post Office Savings Bank and he will then receive interest on the same. Before making such transfer the bookkeeper enquires whether the depositor has a pass book with the Savings Bank; if he has, he is requested to bring it; if not, one of the forms pre- CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 387 scribed by the Savings Bank in the case of new depositors is filled up, in order that a pass book may be procured. All transfers are effected through the office of the School Board. When a transfer is made care is taken to write off the amount in the school bank pass book, and also in the ledger account of the depositor. Transfers are entered in the cash book after the re-payment. The books are balanced on the 20th November in each year. Each ledger account is added up, and after the balances due to the depositors have been checked, a list is made and a total arrived at. This list is copied in the cash book and follows the last week in the year. The correctness of this list is found by com- paring it with the cash book. Should there be any discrepancy between the total of the balances due to the depositors taken from the ledger, and the annual statement made up from the cash book, a rigid exami- nation is always made until the cause of difference is discovered. The teachers are advised to try the accuracy of their books (say every three months) by a trial balance. This is easily done by adding up the various accounts in pencil in the ledger, and comparing the total with the cash book summary, which should be regularly posted up week by week. According to the rules, a week's notice is required for the with- drawal of money; but we do not insist upon the rigid construction of the rule, the teachers re-paying any money that may be required from the money in hand, so long as they are able. We began this work of school banks in Manchester in the year 1877. We had then 3 banks and the total amount deposited during the year was y^93 5.^- 3'/-, the number of depositors, being 921, and the number of transactions 5,157. In order to show the way in which the work has grown, 1 will quote the figures for the last year (1892), when we had 133 banks, and the amount deposited was ^^16,415. The number of depositors was 21,257 and the number of transactions 584,453. Since the establishment of the banks we ha\-e received altogether ^112,740 6s. -jt/. In order to show the very small risk connected with the carrying on of the work, I may state that a y^5 note would cover the whole of the money which has been lost, mislaid or stolen. With regard to the safe care of the money in the banks, the Board have all deposits collected from the schools weekly and paid to an account which is open in the name of their treas- urer at their own bank. We know pretty well the amount of money likely to be required, and also the amount beyond which the withdrawals are not likely to pass. I may say that .such a thing as a panic in con- 388 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. nection with our school savings banks is unknown. Our principal with- drawals are at the great Lancashire holiday of Whitsuntide, and again at Christmas. There is no doubt that many thousands of children in the City of Manchester are provided with new clothes and new shoes at these annual festivals through the aid of the banks. We calculate the amount of money required to be kept at our bankers for the purpose of working the banks, and the balance is invested in govern- ment securities, /. e. consols. The interest upon these consols and upon the money lying with the Board's bankers is carried to a reserve fund to meet any necessity that might arise, and at the present time this reserve fund amounts to ^1,043 \z^s. In order to develop the work of the banks as far as possible we adver- tise them by means of handbills, and we have also found it a capital plan to issue picture cards to the children. The first time these cards were issued some 25,000 were distributed. The business of the banks the following week was nearly double what it had been before the issue of the cards, and the business has since continued to increase. Such briefly is the mode in which this work has been carried on suc- cessfully for many years past in the city of Manchester, and it is the conviction of all who have had to do with the work that a very large amount of good has been done, not only in giving lessons of restraint, but in arming the children with weapons of defence against the innum- erable tendencies which may work to affect their misery and ruin in after life. But the banks are also very valuable to the schools themselves. Though we have compulsory attendance at school in Great Britain, it does not follow that every child attends perfectly, and it is found that these school banks contribute very much to regularity of attendance and to a large extent stop the capricious migration of children from school to school. An account in a school bank is a wonderfully good anchor. I believe that such banks, wherever established, if carried on with sys- tem and properly supervised, are likely to be among the greatest bene- fits that school managers can confer upon the rising generation. [ esteem it a high honor to have been invited to send a paper to the Congress upon this subject. I hope the day will soon come when there will be facilities in all civilised countries for children to have bank accounts at their schools and so learn to save their small .sums of money " Not for to hide it in a hedge, Nor for a train attendant. But for the glorious privilege Of being independent." CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 389 SCHOOL BANK RULES. 1. The bank is held in the school premises every Monday at nine o'clock in the morning. 2. Any sums from one penny upwards will be received. 3. No money will be received or paid out without the production ot the pass book. The depositor is requested to see that the sums deposited are correctly entered in this book. 4. If the depositor loses the pass book, a week's notice must be given, and a new pass book will be supplied for one penny, in which the balance of the account will be shown. 5. As soon as any depositor has deposited ^i, an account will be opened in his or her name in the Post Office Savings Bank, and interest will be allowed. The school bank will continue to receive future deposits from such depositor, but does not allow interest. 6. In the event of the death of a depositor, such money as may stand to the credit of the deceased in the hands of the trustees of the school bank, will be paid to the parents, guardians, or other representatives. The trustees will pay the same to the person whom they believe to be the legal representative of the deceased child, but will not be responsible if the money is paid to the wrong- applicant in error. 7. The index number and initials of the depositor are written on the pass book. 8. Twice every year the books of the school bank will be audited, and four times in each year, viz., on the second Monday in February, May, August, and November, every depositor will be required to leave his or her pass book at the school for com- parison with the ledger. The pass books will be returned to the depositors on the following Mondav. INDEX Aberdeen, Scotland, helping the poor in, 344-349. Alford, B. H., 250, 253-2^7- Almsgiving, indiscriminate, x, xvii, 44, 49; see Begging. Almshouses, 34, 59, 62, 75, 84; see Workhouse. Ames, Miss, 35. Apprentices, homes for. Dresden. 241. Austria, charity in, 21S. Ayres, P. W., 15, 30, 35 Baltimore, charities of, 92, 129. Barbour, Levi L., v, vii, 4, 34. Begging, suppression of, 49; in France, 156; in Italy, 169, 183; in Germany, 213, 219; in Russia, 244; in Great Britain, 254, 285, 349; see Almsgiving. Belgium, charity in 135, 162-167. Bemis, E. \V., 12. Benevolent trading, 356. Berlin, organization of charity in, 217. Birtwell, Miss Mary, 19. Bland-Garland, Mr., as administrator of poor law, 301, 302, 351. Buhmert, Victor, xiv, 210-243, 215. Bolles, Commissioner, quoted, 131. Bonaparte, Charles J., v, vi. Booth, Charles, xxvi, 253, 263. Booth, William, quoted, 85. Boston, charities of, xii, 17, 19, 28, 44, 47, 49, 53, 91, 99, 108. Brabazon experiment, 293. Brackett. Jeffrey K., 15, 17, 22. Bradby, E. II., 251, 258-267. Bradfield, England, charity in, 350-364; see Tables. Brinkerhoff, Roeliff, 32. Bristol, charities of, 312-318. Brooklyn, charities of, 44, 48, 90, 125, 127. Brooks, John Graham, v, vii, xv. Phillips, tribute to, 56. Buffalo, Charities of, 10, 14, 44, 47, 48, 51, 93. Bureaux de Bienfaisaiice , 154, 156, 179. Burial clubs, 306. Burlington, Iowa, charities of, 26, 48. Bury, Mr., as administrator of poor law, 302. Buzelle, George B., tribute to, 56. 392 INDEX. Cedar Hill farm labor colony, TJ-JC). Central Bureau of Poor Relief and Charity, Dresden, 220. Charities aid associations; see State charities, etc. building in Boston, 44, 47; in New York, 47. <"harity organization, general principles of, viii, xvii, xxiii-xxxii; in Italy, 182; in Russia, 244-247. — : — section of Congress of Charities, etc., committee of arrange- ments, ii, v-vii. societies, in America, 43-57,87-119; history of, 43-55; lapsed societies, 45; relief given or withheld by, 45, 46, 53; finances of, 47; organization and work of, ix, 48-55; friendly visitors of, see friendly visit- ing; registration by, 50, 99-107; agents of, it 2; co-operation of with public relief, 50, 114-119; educational work of, ix, 1S6; Great Britain, 249-36S, 372-374; West London, 253-257; East London, 258-267, 299; Shoreditch, 268-277; St. 01ave's,'278--282; Islington, 283-289; St. George in the East, 299-303; Manchester, 251, 307; Bristol, 316-318; Rochdale, 328, 338-343; Aberdeen, 345; co-operation of, with poor law, 255, 270, 2S5, 290-303, 317, 329; difficulties encounteied, 263, 288, 316; repressive work of, 254, 285, 332. 339; organizing work of, 254, 273, 288, 317, 330, 34S, 365-368; relief granted by, 2S6, 297, 339, 340, 373; educational work of, 287; objects of, ^90, 329, 367- Charity, the problem of, xix-xxxii. Chicago Relief and Aid Society, 53, 89. Children, homes for, 63, 67, 72, I2i, 127, 325; poor law schools for, 306, 325; placing out, 11, 325; boarding out, 326. Church charity in England, 273, 280, 287; France, 136-141, 160; Italy, 169; Russia, 244. Churches, charities of, 5, 7, 8, 11, 18, 29, 125, 367. Cincinnati Associated Charities, 48, 93. Clark, A. W., n. Colston societies of Bristol, 313, 314, 318. Committees of State Charities Aid Association, duties of, 59. Compulsory relief, 117, 150, 162, 166, 187, 214; from children, 310. Confre7-es, 139, 140. Congregazione di Carita, 182, 218. Congress of Charities, Correction, and I'hilanthropy, vi, xix; officers, ii; section on organization of charities, committee of arrangements, ii, v, vi. Convalescent home at the sea side, 308. Co-operation, ix, xvii; between voluntary and officiarbodies, 14, 33, 68, 114-119, 210-227, 290-303; see Public and private charity. Charity organization socie- ties, (_>rganization of charities. State charities aid associations. industrial, at Rochdale, 319, 321. Country week for children, 274, 279, 328. County visiting committee of State Charities Aid Association, 60. Craig, Oscar, 32. Crozier, A. O., 12. Dawes, Miss Anna L., v. Decentralization of poor relief, 200, 221. DeForest, Robert W., v, vi, 3, 4, 8, 22, 31. INDEX. 393 Depots dc' mendicite in France, 156. Deserted wives, 305. Directories of charities, 106, 161. Dispensaries, private, with public support, 129, 156, 162; provident, 302. 308. District Provident Society of Mancliester, 307-309. Dooly, John. 77. Dresden, organization of charity in. 219-225; People's Club of, 228-243. lOrexel, Joseph W., supporter of Cedar Hill labor colony, 77. Dugdale, K. L., quoted, 85. Dupuy, E. J., 37. East London, charity organization in. 258-267. Educational work, sec Charit}^ organization societies; of People's Club, Dresden, 238. Klberfeld system of public charity, xxi.\, 5, 113, 185, 187-209; in Elberfeld, 191, 225; in Hamburg, 196; in Freiburg, 203; in Crefeld, 207, 225; overseers, 191, 197, 202, 209; district board, 191, 197, 202; central board, 192, 201; business department, 194, 198; unpaid service, 193; temporary grants, 194, 205; application in large cities, 195; circuits, 197; conditions of relief. 201; paid agents and inspectors, 204, 207, 208; its shortcomings, 113, 203. 207; adaptation to American towns, xxi.x. Electric sewing machine rooms of Baltimore, 92. Emergencies, 53, 223. Employment bureaus, 241. Endowments, charitable, 136, 143, 165, 169, 182, 275, 279, 2S3, 312, 327. Epileptics, care of, 67, 70, 292. Evening entertainments of People's Club, Dresden, 229-233. F'arming out the poor, abolished in New York, 63. Feeble minded, care of the, 292, 294. First aid to the injured, 64. Fitch Creche, Buffalo, 47. Fleming, Baldwyn, 377-3S3. Foundling hospitals, 150. France, charity in, 5, 37, 135-162; history. 135-148; ])ublic assistance, 149-157; private charity, 157-162. Friendly societies, 280, 320, 355, 363, 382. visiting, discussion of, 15-31; papers on, 15, 10S-113, 369-376; in .Aber- deen, 346; Boston, xii, 17, ig, 28; Burlington, Iowa, 26; Galveston, 23, 31; London, 16, 286, 369; Manchester, 302; Minneapolis, 26; New York, 22, 24, 67; Philadelphia, 27; by districts or by families? xxi.x, 25, 113, 191, 197, 202, 346, 370. visitors, conferences of, 112, 191, 371; education of, 19, 28, 346, 371; enlistment and introduction of, 29, 108, 370, 374; suggestions for, xxxi, 15-31, 109-112, 373-376; as almoners, 27, 373, 374; as collectors of sav- ings. 374; in tenement houses, 28; in cases of intemperance, iii, 276; from churches, 29; from colleges, 29; of Association for Improving the Condi- tion of the Poor, 24, 346; of St. Vincent de Paul, 30; of the Women's University Settlement, 369-376; see Elberfield system, overseers, etc. 394 INDEX. (ieorgievsky, H., xvi, 244-247. Germany, charity in, xxix. 1S7-243, 200; see Elberfeld system. Oilman, Daniel C, v, vi, viii, xviii, 3.