146 



CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 



so far as private relief-work is concerned. The 

 New York State Board of Charities adopted, 

 Oct. 11, 1881, the foUowing: 



Whereas, There are in the city of New York a large 

 number of independent societies engaged in teaching 

 and relieving the poor of the city in their own homes ; 

 and whereas, there is at present no system of co-oper- 

 ation by which these societies can receive definite mu- 

 tual information in regard to the work of each other ; 

 and whereas, without some such system, it is impos- 

 sible that much of their effort should not be wasted, 

 and even do harm by encouraging pauperism and im- 

 posture : therefore 



Resolved, That the Commissioners of New York 

 City are hereby appointed a committee to take such 

 steps as they may deem wise, to inaugurate a system 

 of mutual help and co-operation between such socie- 

 ties. 



Thereupon those commissioners caused a 

 constitution to be prepared, and invited cer- 

 tain men to become members of the central 

 council. These men, and some ex-officio mem- 

 bers, met on Feb. 8, 1882, and organized the 

 council and society. The constitution pro- 

 vides that the society shall be conducted upon 

 the following fundamental principles : 



Every department of its work shall be completely 

 severed from all questions of religious belief, politics, 

 and nationality. 



No person representing the society in any capacity 

 whatsoever shall use his position for the purpose of 

 proselytism or spiritual instruction. 



The society shall not directly dispense alms in any 

 form. 



The objects of the society shall be 



To be a center of intercommunication between the 

 various churches and charitable agencies in the city. 

 ! To foster harmonious co-operation between them, 

 and to check the evils of the overlapping of relief. 



To investigate thoroughly, and without charge, the 

 cases of all applicants for relief that are referred to the 

 society for inquiry, and to send the persons having a 

 legitimate interest in such cases full reports of the re- 

 sults of investigation. 



To provide visitors, who shall personally attend 

 cases needing counsel and advice. 



To obtain from the proper charities and charitable 

 individuals suitable and adequate relief for deserving 

 cases. 



To procure work for poor persons who are capable 

 of being wholly or partially self-supporting. 



To repress mendicity by the above means and by 

 the prosecution of impostors. 



To promote the general welfare of the poor by social 

 and sanitary reforms, and by the inculcation of habits 

 of providence and self-dependence. 



There is a central office at No. 21 University 

 Place, where the Council meets and the gen- 

 eral business of the society is transacted, and 

 where record is kept of all its work. At the be- 

 ginning of the active work of the society, many 

 societies and churches agreed to use it as a me- 

 dium through which to exchange information 

 in regard to their mutual beneficiaries. The 

 Department of Public Charities and Correction 

 also agreed to give all the information it might 

 have about those who received city coal, and 

 money appropriated for the relief of the adult 

 blind, and about those persons committed to 

 the penitentiary and to the work-house. 



Registration. Registration is done by means 

 of cards upon which each reporting society 

 transcribes all the information it gives to the 



society in regard to each case that it has 

 helped. A number on the card shows the so- 

 ciety or church from which it comes. These 

 cards are arranged alphabetically in locked 

 drawers. When it is found by this means that 

 two or more societies have helped the same 

 family, a notice is sent to each society, show- 

 ing what the others have done for it. These 

 cards are shown to no one that is not known 

 to have a right to see them, nor is the informa- 

 tion they contain given to any but those who 

 have a right to it. A street-register has been 

 made by taking all the names from the alpha- 

 betical cards, and .putting them on other cards, 

 according to streets and street-numbers. These 

 cards are arranged by the street-numbers, and 

 each street is kept in a package by itself. By 

 looking over one of these packages, a person 

 can tell how many families in a street have re- 

 ceived charitable relief, or have had members 

 in the penitentiary. It is found from this 

 street-register that alms-getting families tend 

 to congregate. A dozen such families are often 

 reported as living at one street-number. The 

 greatest number of families reported from one 

 house is eighty-three. This shows that the 

 habit of looking to charity for support is con- 

 tagious. 



Information. The central office receives in- 

 formation from all the societies, churches, and 

 individuals that will furnish it. Two hundred 

 and one societies and churches have agreed to 

 send to the society the name, address, and all 

 they know of those that receive help from 

 them, or apply to them for help. The cards 

 are arranged alphabetically. Of course, where 

 several cards bearing the same name and ad- 

 dress are received from various sources, they 

 come together, and the "overlapping of chari- 

 table relief "is at once discovered, and each 

 society interested is told of all that the others 

 have reported concerning that individual whom 

 all have been helping. The card system ren- 

 ders it certain that the information received 

 shall be kept private wherever the person 

 helped applies to only one church, or society, 

 or individual; for, once in the cases, unless 

 some inquiry comes concerning that special 

 person, the card is probably never looked at 

 again, as it is one among 96,496 that are now 

 filed in the central office. One of the results 

 of the work of the society in Boston was said 

 to be that " it had taught the poor that it was 

 bad policy to lie." In one case a woman was 

 arrested whose baby of two months had been 

 four times baptized in as many weeks ! 



The number of houses registered by the New 

 York society as occupied by the dependent or 

 vicious classes reaches 21,410. 



Charitable Work. In such a vast city, the 

 only way to obtain any hold at all upon the 

 poor is to take a comparatively small area and 

 confine one's labors to that, seeking to gain the 

 same sort of knowledge concerning it and its 

 inhabitants that the people of a village or small 

 town have of one another. The great danger 



