SCIENCE IN PHILANTHROPY 45 



blinds the jud.G^ment of ^ood mon and women; it dries up the 

 fountains of vokintary benevolence, and it cripples the chil- 

 dren. New York city and the state of California may be com- 

 pared with Michigan and Minnesota, and the result will be 

 ample evidence of the folly of the subsidy system. The policy 

 of placing normal children in real homes, with natural family 

 life and contact with ordinary community problems, may 

 fairly be claimed as the only poHcy based on science. If ex- 

 periment has any value in the study of the phenomena of 

 society, then family care must be regarded as superior to in- 

 stitutional custody. The reasons are economic, physiological, 

 pedagogical, and political. The expense of support in insti- 

 tutions is enormous; the health of children is exposed to need- 

 less perils of contagion; the artificial training unfits the young 

 person for the actual world; and the relation of the institution 

 to politics, especially if it is a private institution seeking sub- 

 sidies from public funds, is almost inevitably hurtful. 



Public outdoor relief, the assistance of dependent families 

 in their homes, becomes more important with density of pop- 

 ulation and growth of cities. Students and administrators 

 in this country are divided in opinion as to the necessity and 

 wisdom of raising money by taxation for this purpose. Many 

 believe that pauperism in New York, Brooklyn, and Phila- 

 delphia has been better cared for since official relief was abol- 

 ished. But all acknowledge that, for a long time to come, 

 a considerable sum must be given from voluntary or public 

 sources for this purpose. In the distribution of this form of 

 relief, general principles derived from long experience in many 

 countries have been formulated, but are generally neglected 

 by the sympathetic public. 



One who reasons from the world's best thought and knowl- 

 edge would insist that each dependent person must be treated 

 as an individual; that the relief should be temporary and the 

 application frequently renewed; that the way to normal in- 

 dustry should be kept open at every step, and be made prefer- 

 able to the path of indolence and beggary. Trained opinion 

 favors a system of cooperation of all benevolent persons and 

 officials, with a common central record, with information ac- 

 cessible to all who wish to aid the poor. The most successful 



