JEWISH CHARITIES 69 



York prior to 1874. Aside from these, there are to-day hos- 

 pitals, orphanages, technical schools for boys and girls, trade 

 schools, day nurseries and kindergartens, guilds for crippled 

 children, burial societies, loan societies, societies for maternity 

 relief, and a goodly number of smaller organizations which 

 have been founded by the immigrants of the last twenty years. 



It is estimated that there are over one thousand Jewish 

 organizations and societies in the city of New York to-day, 

 whose activities to a greater or less extent are directed along 

 philanthropic lines. Practically all of the larger organizations, 

 such as the hospitals, etc., work in cooperation with the United 

 Hebrew charities. It is only a question of time until even the 

 smallest will direct its activities in consonance with the work 

 of the central society. 



In some of the other cities in the United States, where 

 the question of the care of the poor is not so complex as in 

 New York, closer cooperation has gone by leaps and bounds. 

 In cities like Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland and 

 others, the individual societies have formed federations of 

 charities, the purpose of the federation being to express the 

 philanthropic impulse of the community in terms of greatest 

 economy, the smallest amount of friction and the highest pos- 

 sible efficiency. In Philadelphia the federation is the com- 

 mon treasury. It acts as the common collection agency of 

 all moneys, and distributes them pro rata among the various 

 societies and institutions whose autonomy is not impaired by 

 this method. In other cities, this plan with some slight vari- 

 ations is in force. 



In addition to these local federations, the various societies 

 throughout the United States have joined together to form a 

 national body known as the National Conference of Jewish 

 charities. At present it comprises the relief organizations of 

 fifty three cities. 



At the meeting of the National Conference of Jewish 

 charities held in Detroit, the writer introduced a resolution 

 advocating the establishment of a central bureau for the 

 placing out and boarding out of dependent Jewish children 

 in private homes. At that time the work of devising such a 

 plan was delegated to the independent order of B'nai B'rith, 



