tributes shoes and clothing given regularly by the school chil- 

 dren at Thanksgiving time. As for the Society's remaining func- 

 tion of investigating the causes of poverty, and working toward 

 their removal, facts have been obtained in records of families re- 

 lieved, but no program has been outlined for the removal of these 

 causes. 



The Children's Home, a private institution, accommodating 

 about ICO children, is excellent both in equipment and manage- 

 ment. It is a pleasure to visit such an institution where the chil- 

 dren escape the ordinary institutional stamp and are afforded 

 some near substitute for home life. In spite of the good work 

 done by such an institution, it is nevertheless true that a child 

 placed in a private family under proper conditions and with the 

 necessary supervision, is better off than in an institution however 

 home-like. Unless the co-operation of private child-placing so- 

 cieties now operating in San Francisco and Los Angeles can be 

 secured in San Diego, the city's charitable agencies themselves 

 must face the problem. In order to meet the question squarely 

 as to the superior value of child placing in private homes over in- 

 stitutional care, a careful investigation should be made of the 

 circumstances of children now in the city's institutions — espec- 

 ially of those children supported by state and county funds. Such 

 an investigation would cover the Children's Home, the Helping 

 Hand Home, the County Detention Home and any other private 

 homes in the city where children are regularly kept for pay. Sim- 

 ilar investigations in other communities have shown what is 

 probably true of San Diego, that if the money now spent in giv- 

 ing the child institutional care by state or county were given in 

 certain cases to the mother and added possibly to her small earn- 

 ings, the child would be better off with the mother than in an in- 

 stitution as a public charge. Such a readjustment might even 

 lead to an actual saving of money for the tax-payer and with bet- 

 ter results secured for the child. This investigation into the in- 

 stitutional care of children should discover also how far the state 

 and county aid now given for the support of children in institu- 

 tions and in their own homes as well, is adequate according to 

 approved standards of relief giving. While the County Supervi- 

 sors in San Diego give v;illingly to institutions for the support of 

 children, these officials, we are informed, are not accustomed to 

 the idea of giving relief to the mother or responsible relative suf- 

 ficient to provide comfortably for the child outside of an institu- 

 tion. There is no public central registration of all dependent chil- 

 dren in San Diego. The Juvenile Court offers machinery for such 

 registration and should do this work. 



Before the whole problem of relief giving and of charitable as- 

 sistance to families in their homes can be solved in a measure, by 

 local charitable societies, both state and county must provide ir.- 

 creased accommodations in institutions for the tuberculous, in- 

 ebriates, insane and feeble-minded. 



Mention should be made of the Helping Hand Home, a small 

 private institution for men, women and children, conducted to 



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