Show OEGANJJSED CHARITY I I THE ENORMOUS WORK THAT IS DOIXG IX NEW TOKKi i I The Clearing House fop Charitable 1 i Work in Jfct York City A Register Regis-ter Which Slioirs tie Records i I New York Dec 22Now that New York has had a touch of really cold weather the charitable institutes and societies hrve begun their winters work actively I land earnestly There is work for them to do at all seasons of the year but the principal work is done in the winter season There is a wonderful system by whicn the work of giving aid to the deserving roor of New York is carried ona system sys-tem which has been introduced on a smaller scale in most of the large cities of the United States and which will someday some-day have the business of distributing charity arranged on national lines liven noW the charity organization society of New York goes not only to the ends of the United States but to thf ends of the world in its search of information Itw te formation about those who claim to oe in need The object of the society is to prevent fraud and to arrange the dHtn bution of aid so that the deserving poor may secure the assistance i that they need with the least possible difficulty There are sixtynine societies of a similar character char-acter in the United Stites About every I large city has one now They are in I Washington Boston Detroit Baltimore Denver Buffalo St Paul Minneapolis Milwaukee San Francisco Philadelphia New Orleans Louisville and in factc every large city excerrt Chicago and Sr Louis All of the other socities are In correspondence with the parent organization organiza-tion here Their work is similar but is of necessity much more limited Possibly you will realize how enormous the work of relief societies is in New York when I tel you that there are 1300 clothbound cloth-bound catalogues published by the organization organi-zation society and when von learn that the society has now in its files the record of nearly 200ttO families who have requested re-quested aid or whose needs have been brought to the societys attention Of the 1300 societies and institutions about 1500 cooperate with the Charity Organza ition societysome of the others are institutions i JI Sc stitutions which have no need of toopera tion and the remainder are chiefly church societies New York more than any other city in the United States is infested with professional profes-sional beggars They flock on the crowded crowd-ed streets Infest the great shopping districts dis-tricts solicit aid fron the pastors of cijjirches and the chirltaaly disposed land dodge the police If the professional beggar Jails into the hand l of the New York police he goes t Blackwells island for a term Before the Charity Organisation society came into existence eleven years ago charity was indiscriminately distributed The thousands or more cbs rity societies made what investigation they could of the cases which they were called to relieve re-lieve but the professional poor were far too sharp for them Here is an exampe Some years ago before the Organization society was well organized one of Its visitors had her attention directed to the case of an elderly woman who was going about with a little boy soliciting aid in the name of the boys dying mother On investigation the visitor learned that the mother had died a short time before and that the old woman had teen receiving aid from nine charity societies and one individual in-dividual None of these societies knew what the others were doing The visitor latked all but three of the societies to stop their contributions The gentleman who had been giving assistance Agreed to take the little boy into his house to carry wood and run errands after school hours and he sent food to the grandmother regularly and gave the boy 6 a month for his work The boy w is rescued from the ranks of professional oeggars or possibly criminals and was made selfsupporting He is now clerk in a grocery store ani the society still has him under its protecting protect-ing eye Investigation showed they vere getting much more than they deserved and learning that it was easier to get help in the name of charity than to help themselves Their dive Is now a part of the society records in the big building at Twentysecond streat and Fourth avenue I aven-ue which was built for the Associated Charities by John Stewart Kennedy The records of the Charity Organization society are kept in envelopes arranged alphabetically in big wooden cases in the bureau of registration The first records were on cards but the system was found to be impracticable because the papers in some cases were so voluminous that they could not be copied on cards The letters are now filed with reports in long yellow envelopes which stand upright in wooden cass An imposters case is represented IA a green card On the outside out-side of eaui piivelope is a printed form filled OUt with a statement of the district dis-trict in which the case is the surname of the family its color or nation and its place of residence then some particulars about first name ages and occupation of husband wife and children Below is the record of previous residence of the family fami-ly In this envelope is a record card on which is the same information and in addition ad-dition the name of the person recommending recommend-ing the family for relief facts about married mar-ried children In or out of the family church affiliations length of residence in the United States and in New York number of rooms occupied rent paid etc On the back of this card is a blank for the statement of the applicant and a blank for a statement from the registration registra-tion bureau Then there is a memoran ton dum card on vhich Is kept a complete record of the investigations made letters written and relief afforded The letter writing Is an important feature of the societys work for inquiries aiM sent as far as Australia and the antecedents of the poor are traced to the uttermost ends of the earth that their stories may be I substantiated and their worthiness proved A poor family once on the records of the society is kept there always That iS one of the objectionable features of the societys worK in the eyes of the sensitive sen-sitive poor They do not like to be cata Ipgued But it is a very necessary feature for it prevents much fraud and imposture impos-ture One day recently a benevolent woman brought a case to the Associated Charities Chari-ties building which she said had moved her almost to tears She had met in the shopping district on a cold wet day a poor woman with a baby over her shoulders should-ers leading a pretty little boy by the hand She told a pathetic tale of poverty and distress of hunger and cold The woman jumped at the conclusion that it was an emergency case ana took the woman into a dry goods store where she bought warm clothing for the whole party Then she gave them a little money took their address and hurried to the Associated Asso-ciated Charities brildlng to report the case and have it investigated The professional pro-fessional visitor went out and presently returned with a report No one of theme the-me or description of the beggar woman lived at the address given The woman was a fraud She is a professional beggar who haunts the shopping district and appeals to the benevolent by the pathetic appearance of the hteenmonths baby and the little boy who goes With her Probably the warm clothing wa sold within an hour and the woman and children child-ren went back to begging It Is a damper on the enthusiasm of the benevolent to meet cases like this Those who give freely to the poor and who do not care to make personal investigations in-vestigations now go to the Associated Charities and report the cases which come to them authorizing the use of money or credit to pay the rent employ a doctor or buy supplies I the case is one of emergency the society bends one of its Is agents immediately to investigate and if necessary the agent gives aid Then the case is taken in hand by the district commte and followed up until all nec essary assistance has been given None of the money of the Organization Society is used for relief work but if an agent gives immediate relief it is made good by some one of the district societies or some individual Mrs W W Astor is a frequent visitor to the Associated Chari ties building and there are many other oter women of great wealth and a social stand ing equal to hers who report there the cases of poverty and idstress which are brought to their notice and who do much charitable work through the societys agent The Charity Organization society is the great clearing house for the Associated Charities of New York Whenever a case of destitution Is brought t the notice of one of the charity societies it notce socIetes ported to the bureau of registration re the record of the applicant is investigated I there is no record one is made There is no difficulty in finding the record Ther an old case I is kept on file not only under the name in which relief was asked but according to street and number There is a complete street directory on cards in the bureau of registration to supplement the alphabetical regstrton Ice I alphabetcal inde names When a case is of record the papers are taken I from their envelope and sent to taeen trict where the case is being Investigated and cared for The envelope or jacket remains always in its place While the case is under investigation or care the papers remain with the district agent There are ten of these districts ad gent some of them there are volunteer vial tors In all of them the work of the district committee which meets once te week is purely voluntary There are j 1 thousands of earnest women devoting time and thought to the work of dispensing I charity in New York and other thousands in other cities nddoniy of the United i oter States hut of Europe The Charity Or ganizatin society is built on a European model The Charity Organization society answered an-swered 312 requests for information inN in-N v mbe made 538 written reports to hospitals and dispensaries and 468 Other reports and the agents of the society repor agerts reported on 592 cases This gives a idea 10C the extent of the work which the society l so-ciety does Secretary Kellogg tells me that he believes that there is not a case of I deserving poverty or distress In the city Of New York which is not reached by the Associated Charities There are a great many cases of fraudulent distress which are not reached by it and a great many which are The banner record in the files of the bureau of registration is one which fills four jackets and which weighs about three pounds It contains the papers in the case of a begging letter writer who is well known to the police She has imposed on a great many people who have reported her case a deserving and have expected the Associated Charities Chari-ties to become interested in her A typical case which came to the so cietys notice recently was that of three worrien who applied to the pastor of a church for f id The or who brought their story told a most pathetic tale The women were dying of starva tion she said There was not even a i I candle in the house to light the death scene The clergyman was so harrowed I I by the story that he went out immediately immediate-ly and brought a candle for the woman Then he started with her but thinking that if the women were dying a womans services were needed he stopped to get a sister of mercy to go with him The sister and he took the elevated railway They reached the house of impending death just behind the breathless messenger mes-senger They found one woman in bed with her clothing on she said that she had to wear I because she was cold The second woman had her hand bandaged I band-aged but apparently was in excellent f health The third dying woman was evidently evi-dently the mcssanger The people were professional mendicants Doubtless if the clergyman had been less sympathetic and a little more deliberate he would have found n very beautiful triple death bed scene awaiting him A favorate trick of the impostor is illustrated in the experience of one of I the oldest visitors of the Charity Organization Organi-zation society All but a very few of these visitors are women They have stronger sympathies than men though in their early experience these sympathies are not always under perfect control The woman who tells this experience was comparatively com-paratively young in charitable work when this case of destitution was put in her hands to investigate The case was that of a sewing woman reported sick in the hospital her rent unpaid and her four little children about to be turned into the street The agent went to the house which was en the east side a unhealthy tenement She found an old woman cook iny a little girl carrying water in a pail much too big for her and another child playing on the floor The old woman repeated I re-peated the tale of distress The other two children she said were with their I Uncle John the father had been sent I back to Ireland a long time before because be-cause he had consumption and was no I good The visitor questioned one of the children She told the same story The old woman did not know Uncle Johns I address but the child gave i That night gve the visitor went to see Uncle John II She found the other children with him She asked how he cared for them He I was a ice man he said and he drove by I the house occasionally and stopped to look ater them Would he take the other children He hesitated but finally said that he would The visitors husband was with her and his sympathies were so moved by this unselfish offer that he patted Uncle John on the back and told him that lie was a good fellow The next day the visitor called to seethe I see-the mother Katie She told her what arrangements she had made for the children child-ren and asked i she should have her goods stored No she said it would be better to send them to Johns So that was arranged All the way down town the visitor wa trying to remember what there wa about John and Katie that sounded familiar to her Presently it came to her She looked in the records of the society and found the case John was Katies husband hus-band He lived in one part of the town and got aid from a setcof Catholic church societies The children were brought up to tell a lying story and to speak of their father is Uncle John When the visitor visi-tor told the parish priest of the imposture he laughed I was only one of a great many such cases he said And cases this the like are undoubtedly exciting sympathies or the benevolent in all parts of New York todayGRANT GRANT HAMILTON |