JEWISH CHARITIES 65 



lowed the orp;anizod methods of sister soeieties. In tlie past 

 twenty years, new org;anizations of all kinds have sprung into 

 existence to meet the demands made by the constantly in- 

 creased immi Juration . To revert to New York, when the Cen- 

 tral Russian K,efui2;ees committee went out of existence in Jan- 

 uary, 1893, the decrease in immigrat'on no longer warrant- 

 ing its continuance, the active work of assisting the arriving 

 immigrants devolved upon the United Hebrew charities. 



The work of tliis society will be cited here somewhat in 

 extenso, since it is typical of similar Jewish organizations 

 throughout the United States. The report of the fiscal year 

 ending Sej^t ember 30, 1902, shows that 10,061 individuals and 

 families applied for assistance. Of these, 5,003 had applied 

 for the first time. Material relief was granted to 8,125; 1,270 

 were found not to require assistance of this kind, and 600 

 were refused assistance for some cause or other. The society 

 conducts an employment bureau which is free to employer 

 and employe, and during the last fiscal year found employ- 

 ment for 5,112 applicants. It grants relief in kind, including 

 groceries, clothing, shoes, funnture, etc. The extent of the 

 society's work in this direction will be gathered from the state- 

 ment that 48,802 garments and pieces of furnitiu'e were dis- 

 tributrd last year. The annual [disbursements for material 

 relief alone amount to over $110,000 per annum. Ever since 

 its organization twenty nine years ago, the society has en- 

 deavored to uphold the principles of organized charity. In 

 some instances it has antedated the charity organization so- 

 cieties themselves. We need but mention the giving of relief 

 in amounts adequate to make the recipient independent of 

 further intervention on the part of the relief giving agency, 

 and the establishment of a graded, carefully regulated and 

 supervised system of pensions covering if necessary a long 

 period of years. As a rule, these pensions are given only to 

 families where the wage earner has died, and where, unless 

 such provision were made, no recourse wouUl be left, except 

 the breaking up of the family and the commitment of the child- 

 ren to orphanages and similar institutions. To obviate the 

 necessity of such commitment, the Ignited Hebrew charities 

 disburses annually over $30,000 in pensions. In the history 



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