Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-16


charitie les for the District. is one Of the busies,
men in the District building. reporter for
The STAR called upon him today and inter-
viewed him about his work
Replying to the reporters question be said
What am doing? Getting acquainted as
thoroughly a. possible. In the course of doing
this have. during the eight weeks have been
at work, written from ten to twenty letters per
week and received about the same number:
have visited thirty different institutions and
have ten or twelve to visit for the first time:
have collected upward of two hundred PAM
phiets and annual reports illustrative of the
present condition and history Of the charities
OF the city; also about seventy-hve bound vol
umes OF the reports Of the various state boards
Of charities: have talked with large number
OF callers, have nearly completed a statistical
table showing Just how all appropriations by
Congress for charities within the District since
and including 1880 have been disbursed, and
| am now preparing to attack the compiled stat
utes in order to determine exactly the legal
status OF the various institutions"
what is the object of the table Of expendi-
lures for charitable purposes during the last
decadeT'
TABLE OF EXPENDITURES.
TT will serve several purposes. One is that
ii will give . basis Of comparison with other
cities showing the proportion of expenditure to
population and TO the number OF the various
classes of dependents. ! am told that the con-
gressional committees having charge of chart
ties have been at times a good deal exercised
over the per capita cost of some of our insttn-
tions as compared with those elsewhere. For
instance. a comparison was made between the
per capita cost of our reform school and a SOL
dies home. Among the important things
overlooked IN making the comparison was the
fact that the old soldiers required neither
teachers nor guards. while the boys had to have
both. Then tine table you ask about will ena-
BILE Us to see whether there is any tendency for
one class Of institutions to eneroach upon the
| support of Others. This point is of
most consequence in comparing pri-
waite with public institutions By a
| public institution mean one like the reform
| school for boys, where the governing board is
appointed by the President or some other pub
| lie official, while a private institution il one
managed either by q close corporation or by
| the contributing members In some cities.
| notably New York, there has been strong tend
l ency for the private Institutions by their SUI
perior facilities for lobbying to dwarf the pub
| lie institutions. In New York Is. 900 are annu-
ally maintained by the public in private institu-
/ tons. As regards Washington am simply at
present after the facts In the case. Whatever
way We are going or to 60, 1t is better not to
drift. but to direct our course advisedly."
| DO the institutions seem willing TO be in
vestigated?'
Uniformly so, as far as I have gone. OF
course the first visit il only the beginning of
ones acquaintance with an institution. But all
those concerned seem to feel that If look into
| matters closely and ask great many questions,
it is partly because l shall in turn be sharply
examined by others and must be fully in-
/ formed in order to help them"
| DO you find anything seriously at fault in
the charities of the city?"
soMK DEFECTS FOUND.
| Il find what seems to me quite serious gaps
in the circle Of Washington charities and
among those already existing some things that
a shrewd journalist, il 30 inclined, could give
| quite a sensational appearance. You need not
put your pencil to paper. for / am not going to
give You these points, but merely wish to add
that on closer examination most of the defects
are found to arise not from ignorance or in
dlnerence on the part OF the managers, but
from the inherent difficulties Of the situation,
and while it wonid be easy to find FAINT it
would be very difficult to say just how mat
| tiers might be amended. II Is all very we'll to
talk abaut 'erring on the right side, but when
steering between the whirlpool and the rock,
as we often have to do in charitable work, the
excellent old rule ia Of no use. One Of the very
Important things in an institution receiving
public money Is the code Of rules regarding
the admission of benefciaries. Too great
lanity in this regard may gorge the institution,
taxpayer, while too great rigidity may exclude
applicants that really should be cared for"
| You spoke OF certain gaps in the circle of
Washington charities. What are some Of
| them"
/ CENTRAL ORGANIZATION NEEDED.
''Instead Of answering at length should like
to make two suggestions which may help the
community as whole. including myself, to a
better understanding of the work and needs of
our charities The first is that we need some
| central organization, which shall obtain the
4 conf idence of all nearly all nj fha han
| lent people OF the community; which shall
/ keep clearing house Of charities, bureau Of
| information, corps OF expert agents and
/ which shall have a central Office open from 9
| O'Clock in the morning till 10 at night. where
applicants for relief Of any sort whatever can
| be promptly and properly referred to the ap-
| propriate charity. Both the Associated Char
titles and the Charity Organization Society
have attempted this work, but neither of them
has performed Ii fully. Such a society in this
city must have an income Of not less than
/ $4,000 per year for administrative purposes
alone, aud neither of the societies named has
ever been able to command that amount The
| citizens OF the community must support one or
new society, or the charitable system Of the
city will be behind the times. Many supposed
| that my work would be something along this
line, but as an Official i am powerlesa. such
| society ought to be wholly independent Of
| congressional Interference, and to live wholly
/ by voluntary contributions. As an individual
| / am willing TO do all in my power to further
| such an organization. AZ a superintendent of
charities my power ends when make the sug-
gession.
| CONFERENCE DESIRABLE.
"In the second place, whether such an or
gsnisstion 10 formed or not should be glad to
meet from time 70 time those who are inter
ested in special lines Of charities and chari-
table effort in order to talk over with them the
problems most closely connected with their
| work. The statute creating the office of SUPER
intendent Of charities leaves that official stand
ing very much alone. This il bad in two ways-
first, 1t makes him more likely to blunder and
secondly. it increases the liability of hIs acts
and utterances to be misunderstood whether
he blunders or not. Now, far be it from me to
add 10 the vast number Of perfunctory meet
ings which are regarded as a waste of time by
! all who have to attend them But II
| we could have neSt autumn a gather
ing to discuss. for instance the proper
organization Of our medical charities or
the feasibility Of Furnishing by the criminal Ia W
parents whose misconduct makes their
children charge upon the community. or
other matters Of like Importance and interest.
should hope 70 get together some practical.
clear headed and kind-hsarted men and wome n
whose DISCUSSIONS would clarity the Questions
and be OF use both to them and myself Uni.
would also promote mutual acquaintance. aud
when we went to Congress for either Iegisla-
ton or money We would be more united and
more apt 10 get what we wanted and what was