National Republican., 1877-12-01

suggestion to our Labor Exchange
Now since winter has suddenly como upea
us, suffering among the poorer classes must in
evitahly increase In proportion, as fuel be-
comes one Of the neccssarics Of life. The
question with the truly philantrophic Is how
10 do most good with given amount ofmoney,
and to make public charities benefit the
greatest number of needy persons. A benevs-
lent enterprise which throws Miss Corsons
iiitccn-cent dinners far In the shade, has re-
Gently been inaugurated and proven q success
in the city Of New York. II Is that ofa
PENNY RlsTAuRAST,
carried on by lady well versed in the pur-
chase and preparation Of food, who. having
been many years resident Of that city, knew
well its need among poor folks whose means
are small, but whose innate respectability
rebels against eating the bread OF charity.
By close calculation this lady is enabled nos
only to pay expenses but to realize q fair
profit. The restaurant, No. Ala Grand street.
near Clinton, has now been running about .
month, and by liberal distribution Of pacards
aud handbills, 1t speedily acquired an i'm
mensc custom. The proprietress has since
fitted up second dining-lia in the immediate
neighborhood, desiring to reserve the former
for workingnen, clerks and shop girls, and the
latter for news.boys, boot-blacks and gamin
generally. She has now some eight hundred
regular customers, who arc in the habit of
feeding at her tables two or three times daily.
investing from one to five cents at o meal, %
that she has now been enabled to somewhat
| improve her bill of fare for the same price.
OF course she Is not expected for that small sum
| to furnish surloin steaks puddings and pastry,
but she does set forth
| wHoL EsoME AND HEARTY FOOD,
such as soups, baked beans, boiled cabbage and
oole-slaw, corned bcef, Coffee bread and buttor
even pie, &c. BY buying ut Wholesale
beans by the bushel, pork by the carcass, The
necks, leg-pieces, and other parts Of the boof
which are inferior in price, but superior in
point Of nourishment-she reduces expenses
greatly, and thereby comes in the profit Pur-
chased In this way, the whole cost of "boilcd
dinner or n great kettle OF beans, with gen.
erOus allowance Of salt pork, Is inconsidonblo; |;
and then there is the soup to be saved from this,
| which may be further enriched by boiling cab
bage and other vegetables in it, to bo served by
| themselves.
This lady does not claim that she undertook
the work entirely as a labor of love, hut because
she had also her own living to earn, which sho
is doing, and making money besides Some Of
her accounts of first experiences are very amus-
! ing-as, for instance, how q newsbOy came In
| one morning, bright and early, with quarter
which ho had saved, intending to spend IL on
| the theatre, but had concluded, on reflection,
to invest in his stomach Instead. All day long
he came, again and again, spending "A cent or
|
when he expressed himself fully satisfied, and
stutted away like ~ bloated bondholdcr."
Another, q tattcred chimney sweep, brought
three lalf-starved companions, and, placing .
cent in front Of each, cried, loftily Nov, then,
gents, what are yer goin to taxi" I" and they
| each took baked beans.
There is another class who can seldom raise
even one cent. unless they beg il, and for them
perhaps
| >GRATUTToUs SOUP HOUSES
are indispensable; but rs general rule tho
Influence Of these Is to encourage idleness and
beggary, while the more deserving poor 20
suffering because they will not beg aud can
not buy when prices are beyond their means.
Why cannot our Labor Exchange utilize
some Of its forces for which they wish to find
employment, by setting them, under intel!i-
gent supervision, 10 the cooking, dish washing
and serving IN such an enterpriscp There
arc plenty OF eharitahly inclined individuals In
the community who, once convinced Of its
feasibility, would keep such RESTAURANT going
until 1t became stlt-suPporting, and no doubt
our marketmen aud merchants, with their ac-
crlstoned generosity. would furnish provisions
at lowest cost Surely there would be no lack
of customers among the army of mendicants
which iufcst the District of Columbia.