OCR Text |
Show The experiences of a penniless immigrant out of work m Philadelphia Phila-delphia thlrt-two years ago is responsible re-sponsible lor at least one of the free roup houses established in this country this year. The penniless immigrant was Albert von Hoffman, now general manager of the Na-1 Na-1 tional Telephone Directory Cqm- V pany. In establishing a free soup house for any hungry man who wishes to be fed. Von Hoffman was doin what he had promisru himself when he was hardly able to speak English. lie came to America from Vicuna when 23 years old in 1SS2. In Vienna he had been an eleetrleal cngimer and had wished to follow the occupation when ho came to America. He could not speak the language of the Americans Ameri-cans and it is hard enough to find work when a man can speak the language of the employer Hoffman finally found work with a farmer. The work lasted thiee months, and while on the farm the young immigrant learned a little i about the language of the country ' 4 of his adoption. Returning to Phil adelphia he tried to find work. Ho was willing to do anything, but there was nothing to do. lie tramped the streets da after day, asking for a chance to get something some-thing to do so he could feed himself. him-self. At Inst his money was gone. While thinking of a plan to get food he read an announcement of an entertainment en-tertainment at the Y. M C A. lit-could lit-could lead Euglish a great deal belter than he could speak it. At one coiner of the announcement it said refreshments would, be served at the Y. M. C. A. He translated i ci eahments 1o mean food He had one man friend in Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, and could not bring himself him-self to ask for assistance. Nightly he visited the Young Mui's Christian Chris-tian Association, and usually a social so-cial entertainment was on there at w Inch he partook of ice cream and Cake. He left the Y. M. C. A. to seek a sleeping pla m the park In the afternoons he was one of the hundreds of "down-and-ouUi V who stood In the soup line. Yon Hoffman's first strike of luck came when he practically had reached the end of his endurance, and hope had Just about left him. n applied at the general delivery window of the Postofrlce in Philadelphia Phila-delphia for mall, asking "is there a I lettci for Von i iortmahn, i ore Vienna-?"' A hand was laid on his shoulder and he turned to face an elderly man If you are a Yon Hoffman from Vienna." the stranger said. "I fought with a relative of yours in the AVar of 1S70." The man had been a comrade of his father in the war-. He gave Von Hoffman work in his factory, and good fortune smiled on him thenceforth. Today he has a philosophy gained from long association with all elassi-s and types of men which pnvin'ces him that ho charity is misplaced. The idea of the soup kitchen did not meet with faor in all directions direc-tions at first." he said "It was said that it would attract an undesirable type of i.ipii. and that professional i eggars would be its only guests. That this is wrong has been amply proved since the kit hen was opened. -Men won't tramp for miles- for a bowl of free soup. Prn-i. Prn-i. Bsional beggars won't stand In line for hours for free soup, when by panhandling' pedestrians for a half hour or so, they can get nickels and dimes enough to buy food and eat it at their leisure, and be a guest instead of an object of charity." char-ity." on Hoffman says men dressed In the best of clothes, who would eqsllj be taken for prosperous and well-to-do citizens, have stood In the soup line. They are haidup only temporarily, he believes, and are the class who cannot ask chnr-ity. chnr-ity. He compares the condition of thesi mr-n with his own more than thirty years ago and judges their needs and Intentions by his own when he faced starvation. thi:oky ALL WRONG. S.W CHARITY KXPITITS. Yon Hoifman's theory of free roup is all wrong, charity experts declare. They say charity should be given after Investigations aro made. Men should be induced to work- If they know they can get charity food they will not be so anxious to keep their positions, these men why ha', e studied charity char-ity questions say. Von Hoffman remembers only the day when he had an empty stomach and insists his theory Is right. He points to the army of hungry men he is feeding every day as the biggest big-gest argument that his theory la Correct. The food Is not goo, enough to cause these men to like that kind of fare," said Von Hoffman. "As soon as they can get a position they leave ine At Ihe same time there is nourishment in the food and it will keep them alive." S.n- e Von Hoffman opened his soup kitchen with ihe first touch of, winter this year he hns fed more than 3,000 men some days. Ile feeds ail who come. He does not ask Hi em if they are hungry. If they are willing to stand in the bread lino he believes they are hungry. A singular thing about these men these guests of Albert von Hoffmann Hoff-mann Is that they are men honestly hon-estly out of work. Hugging th'1 great brick wall and the stone-building stone-building of the soup house, they formed a human cordon of shiver" ing, hungry lut not wholly defeated de-feated men. Nearer the entrance they banked two and three dee). There was no aloofness. "None of that nice diffidence dif-fidence Which places men at aim's length In the air was a biting t hill From long fasting the blood had lost much of its wealth and heat and the vitality left was treasured treas-ured up and passed from one man FORMER SOUP LINE PATRON FEEDING THE HUNGRY NOW Immigrant Lad, Forced to Patronize Philadelphia Charity Table Years Ago, R Wins Prosperity by Hard H Work But Does Not Forget WKM the Luckless Thousands m m l jV J UPPER right Albert von Hoffmann. Center right shows him at the entrance to his soup kitchen, welcoming welcom-ing hungry men. Other scenes show hungry men snapped about Von Hoffmann's Hoff-mann's soup kitchen. f.. another as do sheep huddled in tho pasture lands. The line thinned down at tho B ops. In ones and twos the free alleyway of the opposite side dis-charged dis-charged the temporarll) appeased appetites. For these men had become be-come closely akin to the simplest form of the physical world for now and das to come they will remain re-main appetites. The matter of obtaining the soup ticket, the giving it asain at the second sec-ond entrance are only part of the machinery Von Hoffmann's philanthropy philan-thropy ha put into action. Tho thing which touched the heart was |