CHARITY ORGANIZATION. 



147 



of a city comes from the absolute independence 

 of each" other of its inhabitants. There is no 

 human tie, no relation to each other; local 

 public opinion has no influence over individu- 

 als, because it does not exist ; each family lives 

 by itself and for itself, and is lost in the host 

 that surrounds it. The ideal of the district 

 office is a place known to the poor of the dis- 

 trict, where they may come for advice, for 

 help in every kind of trouble ; where they may 

 find a friend who will think with them, work 

 with them, struggle by their side, until some 

 means have been found to lift them out of their 

 distress a place known to the well-to-do of 

 the district, where they may meet together 

 and may discuss plans for helping all their 

 neighbors, rich and poor, as well as themselves. 



For purposes of convenience, the city has 

 been divided into districts, at present covering 

 the east side of the city from Houston to Sev- 

 enty-ninth Street, and on the west from Hous- 

 ton to Fifty -third Street. The idea is, to have a 

 place where the poor can find a friend without 

 a weary journey. Each district has its own 

 committee. These committees are composed 

 of men who give time and labor in seeking a 

 solution of the great difficulties that surround 

 the questions of poverty and charity. Each 

 committee has an office, located convenient- 

 ly in its district, and each has its paid agent, 

 whose duty it is to meet the poor of the dis- 

 trict who call or are reported at the office, to 

 investigate each case and confer with the com- 

 mittee as to the best method for its relief. The 

 society has found men and women willing to 

 act as " friendly visitors." These are people 

 that volunteer to visit and stand by the poor 

 families committed to their care. They are 

 pledged not to give relief, except in extreme 

 cases, as the families are apt to be demoralized 

 if they receive direct aid. The main idea is, 

 to help people to help themselves. Employ- 

 ment frequently solves this difficulty. After 

 this has been procured, comes the need of some 

 one to teach providence. All this is the work 

 of the friendly visitor. 



The society is often used as an agency for 

 inquiry concerning the standing and work of 

 the various charitable enterprises, by those 

 from whom they solicit contributions. It has 

 also been useful to charity organization socie- 

 ties of other .cities in England and this coun- 

 try in investigating cases, and verifying state- 

 ments, in receiving and forwarding beneficia- 

 ries, seeking for missing persons, etc. 



The Labor Markets. In February, 1883, the 

 Council appointed a committee to see to what 

 extent the society could avail itself of the vari- 

 ous labor markets of the United States, in behalf 

 of its applicants who pleaded for self-supporting 

 work which they had failed to find in this city. 

 The same state of things was found to exist in 

 all of the twenty-five large centers with which 

 the committee corresponded ; and the only 

 openings that were found were along the lines 

 of the railways in the far West, South, and 



Southwest, where ample work waits for tens 

 of thousands of rough-and-ready hands willing 

 to brave the toils and privations of frontier 

 life. But few families are found in the city 

 that are willing thus to sunder social ties and 

 be placed where they must work or starve, 

 especially if they have had a taste of the "poi- 

 son of unearned bread. 1 ' The great majority 

 prefer to eke out a precarious existence in the 

 city, and fall back upon charity. 



Early in 1884 the Committee on Co-operation 

 held a conference with several relief societies, 

 and called their attention to the fact that a care- 

 ful analysis of several thousand cases showed 

 that, of the relief given, over 65 per cent, was 

 apparently to able-bodied men, who should be 

 self-supporting. The outcome of the conference 

 was a resolution " that all aid given to able- 

 bodied men should be for the purpose of en- 

 abling them to find employment in or out of 

 the city." A second conference shortly fol- 

 lowed, at which the establishment of a " Cen- 

 tral Labor Exchange for Males " was urged upon 

 the constituents of the society by a circular in 

 which the several relief agencies and private 

 donors were asked if they were willing to join 

 in and contribute toward the formation and 

 support of a free labor exchange ; and if each 

 would statedly furnish information as to the 

 number, character, trades, and employments 

 of the able-bodied men occasionally or habitu- 

 ally relieved by them. But the difficulty of 

 getting concerted efforts toward the desired 

 end has kept the matter thus far in abeyance. 



Work accomplished. The whole amount of 

 work, so far as it can be shown by statistics, 

 is as follows: 9,344 distinct applications for 

 help were made at the offices. These may 

 be counted at a moderate estimate to repre- 

 sent 32,000 persons. Of the 9,344, only 5,169 

 were found to be such as could be taken in 

 charge by the society; the rest were simply 

 referred to some probable source of help. 

 Among those taken in charge, but 327, or less 

 than 7 per cent., were found to require con- 

 tinuous relief, and of these 288 were put into 

 hospitals, asylums, or homes. Less than one 

 fourth (1,269) were found to need temporary 

 relief, and relief was secured on 1,468 oc- 

 casions from churches, societies, the Depart- 

 ment of Public Charities, or private individuals. 

 But more than half of all the families that 

 came under the care of the society needed 

 work rather than relief, and these included 

 those who by reason of infirmities or family 

 cares could only do special work, and those 

 who were shiftless or intemperate, but who 

 might be educated to independence. This ar- 

 ray of people needing " work rather than re- 

 lief "numbered 2,698 (that is, the number of 

 applicants). Each probably had two or three 

 others dependent on him, and of these only 

 566 could be supplied with permanent and 

 regular work, while temporary or occasional 

 work was found for only 853, leaving more 

 than half without the one thing they most 



