The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-12-17

pCOlclAy liz UA0 CaoO VI LllO WOAAOA ~
the prospect a hopeless n The,
man who has determined to make a
new start, may, conceivably, work
his way to new regions where he is
unknown. Ifhe is willing to begin low
down and work up, his lack of name
and reputation are only a detriment,
not a positive obstacle. But there is
no such chance for the oma or girl.
Her name and her character are
everything, and nc character is al
most as disastrous as a bad n
When it comes to helping such peo-
pie, the practical problem is a diff
cult one, and the results are often
horribly disheartening. Ingratitude,
incurable propensity to evil, invinci-
BILE habits of idleness are only some of
the discouragements that beset the
charitable worker. Perhaps the
worst of all is the inadaptability of
the material, and the genuine bona
fide lack of use which the world has
for it. When honest men in scores
are out of work, it is hard to put the
ex~-dishonest bookkeeper into a situa-
ton; when skilled workingmen and
robust laborers cannot average nine
months work a year, it is hard to
find employment for the man with
the eonvict's mark upon him, for the
man physically degenerate from
drink, exposure and general bad hab-
it's, for the general ne'er-do-well, who,
at a late period of life, has to begin to
learn to use his muscles and his brain
for some useful purpose. 1t is i'm
possible, simply, to get the average
Magdalen a situation as a domestic
servant or the released female thief a
place behind the counter of dry
goods store.
1t is not wholly because SO ciety dis
trusts or shuns such people-though
that, too, of course. 1t is because
there is no place for them. In an
ideal state, the world would be in per-
feet economic balance. Every man,
woman and child would contribute IN
just the right degree to support every
one else in comfort. There would be
just enough butchers and bakers and
thinkers and tailors to support each
grocer, and the same all around, the
right number of each for every lawyer,
doctor, actor, soldier, sailor, railway
president and newspaper editor in
the universe. But the very people
who throw that system out of gear
are the willful idlers, the vicious and
the criminal They are the people
people who throw the general
balance out of trim, and in the
general loss that results, they are the
principal sufferers.
In it's own interest-to get the bur-
den of supporting and Furnishing
them off it's hands-and in theirs, for
the sake of the great principle of
good, from religious feeling and
human sympathy, the world is always
trying to find a way to readjust con-
ditions, to restore the lost as active
factors in the great machine of
civilization, to find a way for
them to help themselves, by help
ing others. 1t is the very best
of all good works, and of ali
things it is the one in which not only
our clergymen, our women, our char
table gentle souls should take an in
terest, but, above all. it is a work for
our hard headed practical men to take
in hand. 1t is SO much cheaper to re-
form a tramp than to put him through
the mill of the courts and feed him
and clothe him and warm him in Jail.
Germany has gone into the science
and art of reforming outcasts more
Systematically, and it is believed
more successfully, than any other
country. The interesting experiment
of refuge settlements, farms in rural
districts out of reach of easy tempta-
ton, but not so far from big cities as
to be inaccessible, has given so far ex-
cellent results. A very large number
of those who have visited them have
remained the limit of time-stay is
absolutely voluntary-and have left
showing all the signs of having re-
quired the habit and need of civiliza-
ton. In some cases, the later history
of which is known, complete restora-
ton to sound social status has re-
suited.
The scheme which Mrs. William
son, Secretary Of the State Charities
Aid Association, is urging on the State
at large, and that which Mr.. New
man is agitating in this city
are not unlike these refugees
in character. Mrs. Williamson's
idea is to provide a refuge for
discharged prisoners, an intermediate
place between the gaol and the world,
where the newly liberated man may
catch his breath, and accustom him
self to liberty, where he may feel sure
of honest work and honest pay to
start him on his new career, and
where he may be helped out of the
need Of new crime by being started on
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