POOR RELIEF IN THE UNITED STATES 141 



followin<2; divisions the author discusses the arranfi^emeiils of 

 public relief; the so-called Quincy report of 1821 and the Yates 

 report of 1824, for the states of Massachusetts and New York, 

 which were the occasion of a new tendency in relief methods, 

 and which have led to a more individual treatment, akin to 

 that of the Elberfeld system. In particular, the tendency to 

 employ preventive measures and to improve the working of 

 private charities through the later charity organization socie- 

 ties is brought into clear light. 



The American National Conference of Charities and Cor- 

 rection sprang from the same motives as our German Vcrein 

 fur Armenpflege und Wohlthatigkeit. In the autumn of 1873, 

 at the suggestion of F. B. Sanborn, then secretary of the Amer- 

 ican Social Science association, several men came together who 

 recognized the need of an annual conference on relief prol^lems, 

 and most of these persons were connected with the nine exist- 

 ing boards. After some correspondence, mth favorable re- 

 plies, the first conference was held in New York in 1874, which 

 had representatives from four boards and written communica- 

 tions from four others. Not many more than one hundred 

 persons took part in that conference, and its report filled less 

 than fifty pages. During the succeeding years this organiza- 

 tion has been greatly developed and has become one of the 

 most significant factors in American charity. In 1898 the 

 twenty fifth jubilee was celebrated in New York, the place of 

 its origin, and the conference was welcomed by the highest 

 state and municipal authorities. During these twenty five 

 years the activity of the conference has kept essentially in the 

 same course. The object of the conference is to discuss prob- 

 lems in the field of charity, to give instruction, and to pro- 

 mote reforms. This purpose is served by the annual meetings^ . 

 for which preparation is made, by printed reports. The con- 

 ference covers a wide field and includes a part of general social 

 movements for betterment; and, the number of subjects being 

 very large at each meeting, attention is not concentrated upon 

 a few points. This is possible only by the establishment of 

 sections, with quite special technical problems for treatment. 

 Thus there exist eleven special committees, each of which de- 

 votes particular attention to a single branch of charity — as 



