New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-27
CRUELTY'S ACTIVE FOE.
ELBRIDGE t. GERRY's NOBLE WORK.
ONE OF HIS WAITS NOW HEIR TO s2oooooo-
THERE ARE HOMES AND HOMES


FOR oUTCASTS
Tribune reporter recently called upon that
energetic philan thropist, Elbrdgo l. Gerry "hose
work rs the head of the Society Tor inc frcVchuoh
Of Cruelty to Children has made him as widely hno"h
perhaps in that field Of practical perseverance, d was
his friend and co-worker Henry Bergh' IN eohheouoh
with the prevention Of cruelty to animals The
reporter,s GRAND 10 Mr. Gerry was TO ascertain the
truth of rumor that his society had lately Instituted
q general raid upon the bootbacks. and had placed
large number Of them in various institutions THIS action
was said 10 be only the beginning OF general CRUSADE
against the newsboys matchboys, and other miniature
merchants Of the city who were reported 10 nave
fallen under the Of the society 1t turned out that
the only foundation for these rumo was the fact that
two italian booblacks TO be brought up In court
the next day on habeas corpus proceedings 10 De
taken by their guardians.
Taking this story as his text, Mr.. Gerry explained
ct length the policy of the society in this and other
matters and gave many Interesting details regarding
the general features Of their work "This report
said he Is only OF the many efforts at sensational
Misrepresentation to which the society is continually
subjected by those Who from selfintsrest malice
attempt TO thwart in work. So far as the
bootblacks arc concerned, have never made any
systematic raid upon them and have never eontem-
plated doing so. Why should we? The boy who
supports himself by honest Labor Ia Just the Kind OF
boy we wish to encourage. OF course, when our
=
and worthless brushes infesting some particular
neichborhood watching only for chance to hight or
steal or gamble for money enough to pay their way
into the gallery of cheap theatre, and complaint
Is made against them by the neghooS,
We try to break up the pracuce' we
warn them to stop, aud II repeated warnings
fail to have the necessary effect the cases seem to
be unusually vicious fragrant, we have them COM
United TO institution where they viii fall under
more beneficial influences. That was the case with
the two boys you asked me about.
NEwsBoYs REGARDED FAvoRABLY.
"Now, so far the newsboys are concerned, we
look upon them with considerable favor. Your news
boy Is usually alert, bright little fellow who nat
urally drifts into the Newsboys Lodging House and
comes under the wing of those most excellent charities
the Chldrcn's Aid Society the Mission OF the I'm
maculate Virgin. They take him and make man
of him, II he has any manly qualities, and usually
they find that he has. They secure him employment
and good home somewhere-out West, Perhaps-and
he becomes a useful and oftentmes an influential
member Of society. On the other hand, If we find
that he is falling into criminal habits and ways, being
taught to pick pockets and all that sort Of thing, we
try to check his career before he has time to blossom
out into full-blown criminal That is the reason
we have stamped out so thoroughly the practice,
which used to be common with girls, Of selling flowers
and newspapers in the streets We found that their
occupation was invariably used as cloak for an Inn
pure life, or was the first step in that direction
@The only thing to be done with these children,
who engage in what the law terms wandering occu-
pations,' is to put them In an institution This,
however, ] regard as the last place to put child
If 1t has a home, for there is nothing that can COM
pensate for that loss Then again, many of the in
stutons not what they should be. and this is es-
peclally true Of the smaller ones. Many of them
could exist without the per capita allowance paid
by the city, and they therefore aim to have as many
children committed to their care as possible Why,
only the other day lady came to me and asked me
to have as many children sent TO her as could.
thought this strange and asked her why she was So
anxious about 1t. 'Oh' said She I'VE have just
started, and need all the revenue get There
arc too many sinecures In the smaller Institutions
and II that not the case they have not the
facilities to do their work well the larger ones
The children should be graded by character instead
Of by years. and then there is chance for real
reformation You will plainly enough that one
child contaminated by vice, will poison the minds OF
hundred or moro with whom 1t is brought in con-
tact before the damage can be detected. Not only
that but large Institutions with perfect sewerage and
ventilation isolatng wards for those who are taken
sick plenty Of we'll trained attendants for taking care
OF the little ones of course they get the ones most
competent to handle children for they able TO pay
the best prce)-large Institutions l say, with these
advantages secure only better physical health but
better moral results than the smaller ones. have
also discovered in many of the latter tendency to
skimp in the matter OF food
"sDoes our society intend to engage in any new
branch of work this sessonl' Why the work Of the
society runs in about every conceivable direction al
present Whenever the devil has nothing to do, he
gives me some kind Of Job in connection with the
work of the society. The offences we have to night
the hardest do break out sporadic manifestations
of brutality and crime. but seem to come in waves
One month abduction Will pile up upon u.s. then
ID will be child beating, or the cruelty of rapacious
i
children rescued time ago from inhuman rel
before long viii fall heir to 81 100000. lie viii be
great catch I'm the matrimonial market. VIII tell
IT, and then he win have hundreds of young ladies
running after HIM what If you publish the 1act ana
and can manage them much better than he
OVER CROWDED SCHOOLS.
But, Joking aside. there is one class OF injuries TO
children intend to look after and that is the over
crowdIng and bad sanitary condition OF many Of our
public schools. II the new Board of Education do
their duty We shall not have much business OF that
kind to occupy attention. for We only act on COM
plants which brought to 1t Is matter for
each group OF trustees who have charge of school
TO see that It is kept in proper condition But II
tbey do not, they will find that there Is law to
compel them TO do their duty that there IS such a
thing as grand Jury that there is such ,h,hg as
Court of Sessions. Understand ms clearly, We do
not 60 into these investigations in any captious spirit
but act on the assumption that the ohclas concerned
have meant TO do their duty. And we always IN
vestiyate thoroughly. In the case Of school 70.
80, we took months and then sent communl,
cation to the Eoard of Education and the Board Of
Health. The latter board made an examination and
then reported that the condition OF the school was
far worse than we had stated.
Another thing shall try to put stop TO IS
the sending Of messenger boys into liquor saloons
rambling houses houses OF immoral resort. These
boys are usually the Of widows or else belong
10 large families The district telegraph companies
look after them closely for one thing, and then 1t
is probable that they do not see the worst OF tho
scenes enacted in the vile resorts they sometimes
visit The real fact of the matter is that the in
strumsnts ought never to be put in these places;
The law which their case Is loosely drawn, aud
shall have II amended, else frame substitute
Is these anything esel Oh yes, there Is always
plenty Of work cut out ahead for us, but IL would
take too much time to tell you about 1t. There
will be q congress OF the humane societies OF this
country and Europe held here in 1859. There are
fifty sixty OF them in the United states, and how
many Of them there IN Europe cannot say. IL
NAV interest your readers thing, however,
and that Is that the humane legislation of YORK