PUBLIC CHARITY AND PRIVATE VIGILANCE. 437 



no better index of positive progress in solving the practical prob- 

 lems of charity than a steady increase in the ratio of expenditures 

 in salaries and wages on account of investigation and prevention to 

 the amount spent in actual relief. That, in fact, would be an ideal 

 administration of public and private charities in which the efficiency 

 of investigators and the practical sagacity of relieving agents was 

 so high that nearly the whole sum expended had to be charged to 

 their salary account. 



This is precisely the principle which private organizations like 

 the State Charities Aid Association and the Charity Organization 

 Society have labored in season and out of season to make the public 

 and the officials comprehend. Innumerable exposures of the im- 

 postures practiced upon a credulous public by the great class of 

 professional mendicants, tramps, and place seekers have furnishe'd 

 all the evidence that sensible men need to satisfy themselves that 

 large sums expended by the public and by private individuals of 

 charitable proclivities have no other result than that of encouraging 

 pauperism and misery. It is largely due to the tireless efforts of 

 the State Charities Aid Association for many years past that the 

 institutions receiving public moneys in this State have been watched 

 with such vigilance that there is now a strict system of accounting 

 in all of them, and that it has become the duty of the State Board 

 of Charities not only to insist upon such accounting and to carry out 

 a thorough inspection, but also to frame and enforce rules for their 

 government. 



These criticisms I offer, however, only because, as I said at the 

 outset, I desire to see the fundamental proposition of Mr. Coler's 

 statement strengthened and made to bear practical fruit. It is in- 

 deed a very serious question whether the appropriation of public 

 money to private institutions has not become so great an evil that 

 it would be better to put a stop to it once for all. And yet I must 

 confess to a doubt whether, upon a complete survey of all the facts, 

 this would be the judgment of the most practical and far-seeing men. 

 The granting of appropriations gives to the city and the State a rea- 

 son and an excuse for a strict inspection of organizations that other- 

 wise might do incalculable mischief by preying upon the credulity 

 of a generous public while concealing their actual operations. I 

 therefore am inclined to think that the path of practical wisdom 

 lies through an attempt to perfect the existing co-operation between 

 public and private agencies, and to bring it to a sounder business 

 basis by developing inspection, publicity, and accountability. If 

 private organizations are encouraged to do all in their own power 

 under a system wherein the State grants them aid under strict con- 

 ditions, lays down necessary rules for their government and guid- 



