Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-22
A Time FOR GIVING.
Canvassers Will Call and Ask You
to Put Your Name Down.
THE PREVAILING DESFIFUTION
Greater Than Ever Known in the
History Of the City.
BEGINNING THE CANVASS.

Help is the cry that is going up from
countless Washingtonians. The distress
W hich prevails today. according to those
who have to deal with applications for
relief. is more extensive and intense than
any which has ever been known in the his
tory of the District.
The appeal that is made is not merely the
annual mid-winter plea for aims. 1t is
something more. Thousands of the people
of Washington want food. Thousands of
WashingtOnians are without it. Hundreds
of families are likely to be homeless be-
cause the rent was not forthcoming.
That part of the population of Washing
ton now in want of the common necessaries
of life is not the worthless vagabond ele-
ment, which many charitable people sup
pose. They are people who have never be-
fore been compelled to ask aims. They are
artisans, who. when trade is normal are
In comfortable circumstances. They pay
their landlord and their grocer, their chill
dren attend the public schools, their wives
are faithful and frugal and their home life
is happy. They are good and worthy citi-
zens. The reason of their distress is that
they have had no work in many months
can find none, and there Is none in pros
pect.
Painters bricklayers, carpenters, glaciers
roofers. plasterers. hod-carriers and labor
erS have been out of employment SO long
that their savings have been exhausted in
the long wait for better days, and low that
the wolf has gained an entrance, the only
silver inning they can hope for must come
from the hearts of their fellow citizens
Work was very scarce and slack last
spring. Building stopped almost wholly
early IN the summer, and there has been
no awakening The building season closes
usually in the fall and during that spell of
industry those connected with 1t can hus-
band enough to tide them over to the next
harvest of labor. This was not the case
last fall AT that time the artisans and
all the various classes dependent on them
were broke" Since then IT has been
struggle to make the ends meet and now
the point OF elimination Is at hand. Var
iouS charities have done noble work, but
systematic. united and far-reaching exer-
tion is Needed to meet the almost univer-
sal want
The central relief committee Is busy but
the demands made upon II are too great.
There Is steady stream of poor and rag
ged folks who apply for help. They tell
tales of suffering calculated to warm the
coolest heart into flame of sympathy and
good will. Their tales of trouble and woe
would thaw out the most frigid misanthro-
pist. Mr.. Wall, who is in charge at the
rooms of the central relief committee at
the headquarters of the Central Union Mis-
sion, told reporter for The Star this af-
ternoon that they needed all kinds of old
cast-off clothes, bedding and other articles
of that kind. Any sort of a contribution
will be received with thanks and placed
where it will be appreciated and where it
Will do great good. The conditions existing
today, he said, were unprecedented in Dis
trict history. 1t was not alone the number
Of people in need of help, but IL was the
character of those people which was start
ling. The house-to-hOuse canvass for the
relief of the poor began today, and it is
hoped that the response will be hearty,
and that il will reach long way toward
EplpinP affiCte6 bridge
their misfortune.
THE CANVASS COMMENCED.