Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-01
THE ARuSE OF CHARITY.

The abuse of charity does not receive the attention it deserves, nor is it likely to at present. but it is gratifying to observe that iu three great cities, London, New York and Philadelphia, some notice is now being taken of it. In the latter city the evil comes to the front in connection with free dispensaries with which the city is generously provided. The physicians of Philadelphia some time ago came to the conclusion that the free dispensa- ries were being abused, and committee was appointed to investigate. The duties of this committee were twofold. It was directed to ascertain in the first place the actual number of cases which received gratuitous treatment in a given year, and further, to find out whether there was any direct evidence to show that many of those who demanded and re- ceived free treatment were in position to pay for the services which they secured for noth ing. It was found that in one year no less than one hundred and twenty thousand per sons were gratuitously treated at the various dispensaries of Philadelphia. These figures alone afford sufficient evidence that the medi cal charities of the city are being shamefulIy and systematically abused, for it is certain that out of ono hundred and twenty thousand patients there must have been 8 large number who had no right to ask for the relief which they obtained. But the committee, following it's instructions extended it's inquiries fur ther, and the more it inquired the greater the abuse appeared Very many instances of imposition were discovered and verified by actual examination. There were 50 many of them that it WAS impracticable and unnecessa- ry to report them all, but the committee fur nished list of ffty-nine illustrative cases in which the people receiving gratuitous relief were amply able to pay for 1t. This revela- tion of the state of affairs has had good ef- feet, and it is now proposed that the dispen- saries of Philadelphia shall work together, and work also in cooperation with the So ciety for Organizing Charity and Suppressing Mendicancy.
 In New York city the matter has come up in different way. There many charitable institutions receive per capita allowance for their inmates out of the proceeds of munici
 pal taxation, and it is charged that so much of the public money is given for charity that Sit is tempting people to establish charitable institutions as 8 commercial specu- lhtlOu. 4T6 0OSepu1u0 6udW AOH- ell, one of the members of the State Board of Charities, declared recently that charities are started for the express purpose of getting the allowance from the city. That is the capital on which they rely. She referred particular ly to the Protestant Infant Asylum, bill for whose incorporation is now in the Legislature, and another and existing institution of the same sort, which ought to be broken up. They are not needed and they tempt people to give up their children to be supported by the public. The same evil is attracting atten- ton in London. The business of charity there is one out of which many pretended philanthropists are getting their living. As a writer in ths London Standard puts it, some of the older and smaller charities are regularly plundered by 8 set of hereditary officials who manage to divert the greater portion of the proceeds into their own pockets, their offices often descending like an entailed estate. The newer ones are very frequently got up by reg ular promoters, trading on some great disaster or some circumstance that forcibly attracts public attention. In some cases the expenses | of managing these concerns absorb as much as 80 per cent. of the contributions. The same writer tells us that it may be safely as- serted that, stwith very few exceptions, the published statements of accounts of charities would not stand close investigation, the in formation given being of the most meagre description, often evidently imperfect, and too often, it is to be feared, wilfully inaccurate. y It is unquestionable that in every city alto gether too much of the money spent in so- called charity goes to encourage indolence and vice, and in many cities, as in New York and London, there are those who make profta- ble business of philanthropy. It is lamenta- ble that so much money should be wasted in this way as there is, and every attempt to de- crease the waste deserves encouragement.