Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-02
THE WORK OF RELIEF
The Means Employed in Washing
ton to Aid the Destitute
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES TRACEY
Funds Raised and the Methods Of
Distribution.
AN INTERESTING REVIEW

The March number of 1.-The Review OF
Reviews" contains the following account,
written by Col John Tracey, superintendent
of charities and chairman of the central re-
lief committee, of the means employed to
relieve distress here during the season of
great restitution:
The federal capital is peculiarly placed
with regard to the conditions of distress
that exists in all large cities of the country.
Not being a manufacturing center the num-
Der of unemployed artisans and laborers is
relatively less than in other municipalities
of Importance. Nevertheless, the entire
suspension of building industries has thrown
a large number of men out of work, not
only masons. carpenters and plasterers, and
other mechanics but the employees of brick
yards and other establishments in which
building materials are prepared. The sus-
pension of these industries has left out of
work about 800 hundred men who usually
earn wages at this season of the year.
There is considerable suffering among the
people engaged in what the French call
the small industries" The financial panic
has deprived these people of their ordinary
custom, and there are many hundred homes
in Washington in which there now exists
real want of the necessaries of life among
people who are very reluctant to make
their sufferings known, and who. through
pride, bear their privations in silence as
long as they can.
There is also, as is customary in winter,
an influx of needy people, particularly col
ored persons, from the District of Columbia
outside Washington. and from nearby local.
tiles in Virginia and Maryland. This tenn
porary migration has been larger than last
year, but is now daily increasing. Alto
gether with resident population approx
mating closely to 100000 there may be esti-
h, WaShiDptOn a
persons who are legitimate subjects of pub
lie aid, exclusive of those who are regular
inmates of charitable and reformatory insti-
buttons.
Charitable Institutions.
The institutions of Washington care for a
large number Of persons. both permanent
inmates and transient subjects of relief.
1t is a singular feature of the situation that
some establishments of the latter class have
not been crowded. Such is the case with
the Temporary Home for ex-Union Soldiers
and Sailors. where applicants for pensions
usually resort. and also with the Municipal
Lodging House where those seeking re-
lief are required to do a certain amount of
work for each nights lodging and each meal
furnished. The Central Union Mission.
general institution of aid AMI shelter for the
INDECENT, reports its applications this winter
larger than at any time during the past
nine years; as is also the with the
Young Women's Christian Home, which
does similar charitable work exclusively
for females. On the other hand, the police
authorities and Society of St. Vincent de
Paul, the Associated Charities and other or
CARNATIONS which distribute food, clothing
and fuel to persons at their homes, report
the demand for relief as large beyond pre-
cedent, and many cases of extreme desti-
tuition in quarters wi ere ii has not here %
fore existed. The Washington Asylum. which
unites the offices of aims house and hospital
for the destitute. is very crowded, and ar
ranEempntS increasing accOmmO1a
there became necessary.
Specific measures for emergency relief
were adopted by the organization of the
central relief committee of citizens upon
the plan outlined by the public meeting
held on December 10. That meeting was
called by the Commissioners of the District
OF columbia in response to public de-
mand, expressed through the newspapers
and many communications. 1t resulted in
two lines of relief effort-one to obtain work
for the unemployed. and the other to give
systematic Succor to those needy and de-
serving. A committee was appointed to ask
Congress to render Immediately available
the contemplated appropriation of 1884,
for construction and repair of District road
ways. This application, favored by the
House committee on appropriations failed
temporarily through q single objection in
the House, and was thrown over until after
the tariff debate. 1t is still expected that
the bill will pass in time to insure the be-
ginning of the work early IN the spring in
stead of after July I.
The Central Committee.
A system Of relief to the worthy was pro-
vided in accordance with a resolution of
the same meeting, by the appointment of a
central relief committee of fifteen, desig-
mated by the Commissioners Of the District
This committee Immediately organized and
adopted as relief agencies the police depart
ment the Associated Charities. the United
Hebrew Charities. the Society OF st. Vincent
de Paul. the Central Union Mission. the
Young Mems Christian Association (coloredO
and the Deaconess' Home. a committee on
distribution was appointed. and a central
depot for the receipt and distribution of
supplies was opened on the premises of the
Central Union Mission, in the old post Office
building, very accessible and suitable To-
cation. committee of fifty citizens was
appointed by the chairman of the central
relief committee, and charged with the work
Of soliciting contributions in money and in
provisions, in accordance with a system re-
ported by Mr.. Theodore W. Noyes as chair
man of the subcommittee on ways and
means. This canvassing committee divided
the District of Columbia into thirty-three
districts, with neighborhood subcommittee
in each. These executive subcommittee
were furnished with blanks. which were left
at every house and called for by the can
vassers. The blanks have spaces for dona-
lions in money, in fuel, ana in provisions
and also for notes of cases of distress COM
ing under the observation Of the neighbor-
daily transmitted to the central relief COM
mittee, and the contributions of supplies
are collected by the co nmittee, while those
of money are sent through the treasurer of
the canvassing committee to the treasurer
of the central relief organization. In this
way a very thorough knowledge of wants
well resources, is acquired, and i'm
posture Is rendered difficult.
Various minor eXpedients have been re-
sorted to as parts of the system, rapidly
devised to deal with an emergency Among
them was the issuing of meal tickets. at
10 cents each, of which 10000 have been
used up to date, distributed by citizens in
stead of aims in money. Unavailable for
other use than q good meal, these tickets
have diminished the nuisance of professional
aims seeking.
Donations of Supplies and Money.
OF donations in supplies there have been
distributed during the month of January
one hundred large van loads consisting of
meat, vegetables. groceries. bread. meal
and clothing of all sorts. Fuel orders have
also been given against donations by dealers
to the extent of one hundred tons of coal
and an equivalent quantity of wood. In adj
dtion to large deliveries through the nine
police stations of the District OF Columbia,
the district offices of the Associated Char