Show FOR THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS By J. E. President of the Society for the Aid of the Salt Lake Mankind is essentially whether an aboriginal or twentieth century freak of the undeveloped characterized by his selfish efforts toward individual His object in life even been now is a betterment of- And herein lies a incentive to On the next round of the ladder of advancement stands the man who contends not alone for but also for those who are near dear to His prayer bless me and my my son John and his us four and no Next is the man who strives for the betterment of his local man to whom neighborhood is the unit of organization and Then follow in order the advocate of precinct rights and town of county prerogatives and of state and above all these is the champion of national And this is not the end of the There are some who plead and strive for the betterment of greater family of which town and state and are but We arc of distinguished you and and all of my friends we are scions of the ennobled family of the royal family of humanity of which the Eternal God is the Utah Aids To-our-credit be said that we respond to the family demands when the call for help is few within our a years own a coal mine explosion snuffed out the lives of hundreds the citizens Of Utah forgot personal and household put aside all pending demands of town and county postponed action on state and made concerted and effective effort to relieve the widows and the orphans within our family but three years ago the western coast of our country was riven by a convulsion beyond the power of man to or when earthquake and fire ravaged and did we stop to think of personal or family of municipal measures- or state We rose as a to the task relieving the distress of our stricken And more but a short two months when the cry of suffering reached us from distant when word of quake and fire and flood broke upon our did Thousands of dollars poured into the coffers of the relief fund and the hungry were the naked were the homeless were The people of Utah have won the title of altruism unselfish interest in the great human family to which they A Call from the Now comes a call from the stricken and the suffering near at here at Shall the adage begins at be belied in this great commonwealth of the Suppose tomorrow's papers should report a mine disaster in Utah in which two hundred of our citizens were maimed and bereft of Think you the people of our fair state would hesitate in the work of And of what would possible relief Would it end in supplying the next meal to the afflicted Verily Our people would unite in providing means of 1 and would seek to obviate every tinge of beg-garly supplication or of alms-giving Utah's would act spontaneously as a well-ordered in relief to the distressed of our own Two Hundred in We have amongst us a round two hundred who sit in Some of these have never known the many have been plunged into abysmal night through sudden unforeseen and These sightless ones ask your your your True the blighting stroke did not fall on all at the same moment no single disaster afflicted all One by or but a few at a time have they dropped into perpetual Shall the helping be withheld because the stroke of affliction was not sufficiently Shall the blind man appeal vain because his calamity was individual and because others And this in face of the fact separate disasters of the kind have already made a multitude of School for Sightless Utah has provided a school for sightless youths a school rendered somewhat and inadequate from its incongruous and wholly disadvantageous association with the school for the deaf and dumb a school that if its officers accomplish much for blind children in But Utah has done nothing for the adult blind within her An age limit fixed by law prevents sightless adults from entering the school and could they enter they would find there but little of that of which they stand in dire The blind are They ask not the charity that begins and ends the throwing of a coin to the They ask only help hi learning how to help They ask the assistance of the state in establishing and maintaining workshops in which the stricken ones who grope in never-ending night may learn to use their hands in productive Adult Blind Ask for The experience of other and old er states is conclusive in demonstration of the fact that the blind may be rendered able to do much for the general avenues for their employment are These afflicted ones can make brooms and your and your hammocks and they can operate your typewriters and they can they can they can embroider and they can use tools and instruments of precision they can work for themselves and for if you will but give them the The Help In Hue with the course that has been shown to be best in older a bill was introduced in the present legislative assembly of providing for the creation of a commissioner to care for the interests of the adult blind of the and appropriating the small sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for the carrying out of the possessions of the The measure has been and strange to the has come from the state school for the I have heard of none others who have ventured to say their nay to the hi tic appeals of our sightless What Objectors The objectors set forth that the state of Utah can afford large sums for a greenhouse and for an additon to the barn at the but cannot afford more than for the needs' of the adult blind and that this can be afforded if expended under the direction of the and for For the gathering of information as to the needs of the blind people of with a view of possibly doing something for these afflicted ones two years hence in the meantime they may beg or die as best they There is no immediate need of a special appropriation for investigating the needs of the blind in their needs arc what is wanted is substantial help to meet those People may starve while officials are compiling statistics as to the hungry who begging for Work of Aid The for the Aid of the an association incorporated under the laws of the State of Utah has already compiled an extensive directory of the sight for aid within-our less who are calling directory degree of cause of family ami other mation of the All such facts have been gathered at private without request for or expectation of a penny of public The society- has sent its representatives to visit and consult with most of the afflicted and has given their instruction and aid in their The railroad companies have most generously extended courtesies' in furtherance of this labor of but aside from this indispensable co-operation no assistance his been except that derived from private Separate Control The bill recently introduced in the Utah house of representatives provided for a board of the members of which would be required to give bond for the faithful performance of their and would serve without In a ing before the house committee in of the the superintendent of the school for the blind stated that the institution could not undertake the care of the adult blind in additon to the work of instruction for the sightless children at the This is in line with the experience of other institutions of the Workshops for adults are essentially different from schools for A distinct kind of training is called a separate administration is Wherein then lies the difficulty of or the objection to providing a separate commission for the care of the adult In other states experience has shown it to be impracticable to combine their institutes for the adult blind with their schools for Hind greater wisdom has Utah to offset this experience of Were it now-proposed to create salaried officers for the commissioners there would be some grounds of but authorized and proper division of labor without increase of administrative cost scarcely calls for and assuredly not for Private Funds The Western Association the composed of adult blind asks but a iK for the benefit l sightless citizen Utah nl our great state afford the request in- view of the that the expenditure is guarded under sovereign and with the sole helping the otherwise help The declares that an amount that of the appropriation has been pledged by private A conditioned the of the state this worthy donation be lost cause the state refuses to a helping Shall They Ask In If the state can afford hut for the aid of its let it place this amount any other amount it can afford the hands of its specially appointed to 9 this class of the state T Utah support its blind in a houses' or will the state blind to support A When an able-bodied man a dime because will sot to earn it he is a an afflicted one asks aid ia efforts toward self m declares his standing in a hM The blind within state ask help only as California sufferers in did the stricken survivors and Sicily last Sw they look abroad for the have a right to ask from m. |