JEWISH CHARITIES 67 



results — not only have beneficiaries become independent of 

 the society, but many of them have managed to repay the 

 loans made to them. 



Of all the problems which confront the average charity 

 organization, possibly the most perplexing is the one of the 

 family in which the mother must be the wage earner. The 

 kindergarten and the day nursery have by no means solved 

 the problem. They are at best but makeshifts in an attempt 

 to solve a situation which has its root in economic and indus- 

 trial conditions. Again, the factory removes the mother from 

 her sphere of influence over her children, and opens an oppor- 

 tunity for the growth of incorrigibility and waywardness on 

 the part of the latter. In the hope of partially overcoming 

 this difficulty, the United Hebrew charities has for some years 

 conducted a work room for unskilled women in which the latter 

 are taught various needle industries, in the hope that they 

 may eventually be sufficiently accomplished to work in their 

 owTi homes, and in this fashion supplement the family income. 

 The amoimt of such work that can be found is limited. More 

 and more, daily, the factory is competing with home industry, 

 to the exclusion of the latter. A study made by the society 

 last year showed that work could be obtained for women to 

 do at home in industries such as silk belt making, men's and 

 women's neckwear, garters and hose supporters, paper boxes, 

 slip covers for the furniture trade, over gaiters and leggings, 

 dressing sacques, hats and caps, flowers and feathers, beaded 

 purses and other beadwork, dress shields, incandescent light 

 mantels, embroidery and art embroidery, passementerie work, 

 bibs, knit goods, etc. In the society's workroom the effort 

 has been made to teach such industries to unskilled women, so 

 as to enable them to become at least partially self supporting. 



It is needless to state that in a system as comprehensive 

 as the United Hebrew charities desires to be, provision has 

 been made to alleviate distress in all its forms. Under the 

 plan of dividing the city into districts, immediate relief can 

 be given to emergency cases. These districts are in charge 

 of cooperating societies known as sisterhoods, who are respon- 

 sible for the condition of the poor who have been placed in 

 their care. Each of these agencies is practically a miniature 



