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CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 



farers' lodges, and they are now in operation. 

 The same year Baltimore tried to procure an 

 amendment to the law forbidding street-beg- 

 ging, was unsuccessful, and is continuing the 

 fight. New York is now attempting to secure 

 longer sentences for drunkenness and vagran- 

 cy; and efforts are being made, and will be 

 continued at Washington, to carry out the 

 views of the combined societies with regard 

 to immigration. 



When charity organization does not procure 

 legislation directly, it does it indirectly by con- 

 stant agitation of certain topics, and by educat- 

 ing the popular mind as to the precise nature 

 of legislation needed. In general, it may be 

 said that the legislation most needed is that 

 of such a character as to render criminal legis- 

 lation unnecessary. 



Order. In 1881 the Executive Committee of 

 the Boston Charity Organization Society called 

 the attention of the police commissioners to 

 the lack of interest in enforcing the license, 

 screen, and Sunday laws, and the laws forbid- 

 ding the selling of liquor to minors and habit- 

 ual drunkards, or to be drunk on the premises. 

 After two years of agitation, they were meas- 

 urably successful. 



Statistics. Charity organization was insti- 

 tuted in London in 1869; in America (in Buf- 

 falo, N. Y.), in 1878. There are now 82 

 affiliated societies in Great Britain, 93 in Eu- 

 rope, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and 65 in 

 the United States, with correspondents for co- 

 operation in investigation or aid in 85 towns 

 or villages, where no society exists. It is es- 

 timated that 1 in 125 of the whole population 

 belongs to the dependent classes, is either a 

 pauper or a criminal or dependent on them, 

 The urban pauperism of the country is as 1 

 to 16; 62'5 per cent., or five eighths of the 

 pauperism within the bounds of the thirty-four 

 larger societies, or one sixth of the entire pau- 

 perism of the United States, has been investi- 

 gated and registered. 



Co-operation. Charity organization, in the va- 

 rious towns and cities where it exists, has ob- 

 tained the co-operation of 66 per cent, of vol- 

 untary out-door charities, of 69 per cent, of 

 indoor institutional relief, of 80 per cent, of 

 the boards that distribute relief from taxation, 

 of 45 per cent, of the churches, and of 50 per 

 cent, of private beneficence. These figures 

 represent co-operation promised and available, 

 rather than actually and fully used. Its bene- 

 fits are to a large degree mutual. 



Results. In Elberfeld, Germany, charity or- 

 ganization has reduced pauperism 78 per cent, 

 in fifteen years ; in London, 80 per cent, in ten 

 years; in Buffalo, 37 per cent, in ten years. 

 In many cities it has entirely done away with 

 public out-door relief. In Cincinnati there was 

 a decrease in one year of 16 per cent, of pau- 

 perism ; in the smaller towns and cities the 

 result is more marked. In New York, in five 

 years, 4,548 families have been made self-sup- 

 porting who were previously chronic depend- 



ents. The results for law and order are very 

 evident in some of the smaller towns, notably, 

 in Newport, R. I., and Casileton, Staten Island. 

 In the large towns they are not yet visible. 



Conclusions. From the tabulation of statistics 

 collected in the thirty-two larger towns, it is 

 conclusively shown that from 40 to 53 per cent. 

 of all applicants for charity need employment 

 rather than relief; that from 16 to 23 per 

 cent, need police discipline; and that from 31 

 to 37 per cent., or one third of the whole num- 

 ber, need material assistance. In other words, 

 two thirds of the real or simulated destitution 

 of the country could be wiped out by a more 

 perfect adjustment of supply and demand for 

 labor, and by a more efficient administration of 

 the laws. The fact that the best successes ot' 

 charity organization are in the small towns, 

 shows that the cure of pauperism is a question 

 not of alms, nor of a redistribution of wealth, 

 but of neighborhood. 



The value of the statistics collected and tabu- 

 lated, and of the conclusions drawn from them, 

 is evident. The aid that co-operative study and 

 experiment by so large a body of experts lend, 

 to the student of social questions, can hardly 

 be overestimated. The financial economy of 

 the work is excelled only by its moral economy. 

 Edward Atkinson's estimate of the value to the 

 community of a single man converted from 

 pauperism to self-support, shows a gain to 

 New York city alone of $1,819,200 in the past 

 year. This amount, compared with the $30,- 

 000 that the organization cost, gives but a 

 faint idea of the gain to society. Among its 

 moral benefits are the uplifting of character, 

 the inspiring of confidence between class and 

 class, and the holding of public officials, such 

 as boards of health and inspectors of build- 

 ings, to their duties. 



Charity organization is steadily growing in 

 favor, but is not yet sufficiently understood 

 and trusted either by rich or by poor. An at- 

 tempt made in New York in the spring of 1888 

 to bring it into disrepute as " a device of capi- 

 tal, not to save the poor, but to save itself a 

 class-movement, a conspiracy against the inter- 

 ests of labor," brought forward a large num- 

 ber of new adherents, but doubtless was not 

 without its effect upon the minds of the lower 

 classes. 



Bibliography, Chicago publishes a monthly 

 bulletin, " The Council," a series of useful 

 monographs upon topics connected with the 

 work.' "The Monthly Register," of Philadel- 

 phia, is a medium of communication between 

 twenty-four of the societies. " Lend a Hand," 

 a monthly magazine, devoted to philanthropy, 

 gives much space to it, and publishes monthly 

 lists of reports, essays, and books on kindred 

 subjects. London publishes a '"Charity Or- 

 ganization Review"; New York, a "Monthly 

 Bulletin " for the information of members, a 

 "Directory of Charities," a "Handbook for 

 Visitors," and various miscellaneous papers. 

 Baltimore and Boston publish " Directories of 



