The morning times., 1895-10-16

The Inauguration of the annual charity
campaign TOOK place yesterday afternoon at
the rooms % the Beard of Trade. AT that
place Il meeting was held OF {; number of
ladies' and gentlemen who were invited
to attend Il conference by Mr. +. l.. Moore.
chairman %! the committee Of charities
OF the Board OF Trade.
The special object ofthis meeting was 10
hear from Mr. j. K. Brackett, one OF The
mana cement OF the Baltimore Charity Or
ganiZation Society, as To the methods or
work and tie results OF the system in vogue
in Baltimore.
Among those noted present were Mr.. r.
L. Moore, Hon. Simon WOLF, Mr. John +.
Cook, Prof.. Jauncy, of Georgetown, air.
L. $. Emery, SECRETARY OF the Associated
Charities, DR.. NJ u. Peck. Miss katherine
HusiEer, Oh the Give Cenler; Miss Spofford,
Mrs. Stowei.. oi the board of school truS-
tees. and Mrs. II. B. +. Mac:ariand. The
absence OF Judge u {. Cole the chairman oi
the Central kgiiri Committee, was much
regretted, but he was uaagcidabiy de
tanned, having expressed. previously much
interest in the object OF the conference.
Mr. Moore stated at the outset fnat the
meeting was lot under the auspices of the
Board OF Trade. but merely one OF those
brought Together at mis- personal invita-
ton. 1t gave him pleasure, ne said, TO
introduce Mr. BraeEett, who represented
an organization walcn had done a great deal
ol practical work. and he would speak to
ltt iEttfAlDG cI nov HtIG
comp!ishea ia Baltimore.
A POINTED QUESTION.
Mr.. Wolf suggested after scme discussion
Of the points that ought TO be covered that
Nr. EracEett tell something Of the manner
ia which Baltimore nad d,ecrta scd Iiluperisni
ami made the meDdlcant ciasSes Self
sustaining.
Mr hr;tckett said that 1t was well known
that there were two classes OF la, Ieica nts,
the transient aud tae Perlila nent or resident
'Ifs.Ts ORGANIZATION III ia ltffllpEe
whiCa dealt exclusively with the tfaESient
Glasses aiid yet they are "a class that affect
to great extent the amount Of CHARITY @ork
done. but there is Eecd in every city CT a
central Once or place where tile DeSgdr can
be referred
In other words there are emergencies.
which mast be provided for Dy private or
public nirlnS. Previous to 1881 the city
authorities took care OF tits class. IN that
year the charity society OF Baltimore was
Orsa El.Zcu and nine yea rs III ter TIE secretary
OF theml yOr, ,whohadforEleTiybC ybCenciiarg rged
with the duty of attending To this work,
wrote u letter vhica Mir. hra Chett read, tes-
tifying to the great assistance the cha rites
had been N re.:eving the situation and in
doing tire charity work promptly. The
detective work of tie society was especially
commended and its success In distinguishing
between worthy and unworthy objects or
charity.
The organization was composed of
central body, of which DR.. Daniel Il. Gilman
was president. ThcseGerai isecretaFy is Miss
VI. Richmond.
In orccr 10 cover the oty Thoroughly it
was divided into seven districts. each OF
v hich is in ol.aTgc Of an agent. This
agent has As conference about 400
friendly visitors, y no do work such as is
done by he Central Union Mission III this
city, and by the agents OF tha Associated
Charities and The pastors OF The churches
in seeking out the distressed.
TIE FRIENDLY VISITORS.
The society had 4; its commend system
of registration OF all Tie deserving poor Of
the city, but they did not corend on this,
but rather on the personal work of The
agents and the friendly visitors
Mr. Wolf wanted TO know what the So
cieiy did in the lire of making its bcne-
piled lhat the friendly visitors, Numbering
400, looked after this matter, and that IL
y as always their ann 10 secure worE Tor
the needy as soon as practicable.
Mr.. WO.f noieG the TACT Jta; the Hebrew
Society OF this city had mace eighty -fuur
families Of this city sell usla,nIrg and
them from receivers To giyers
of charity.
Mr. Bracket, giving sone statistics, said
that the Baltimore society mad secured
employment Tor leo people, temporary
employ yment Tor over LOCO, and trans
poriation for fifty-four, ana removed TO
better homes for nine. lie said tnat " hen
they moved traIsients from Baltimore to
other cities it was usually with the con-
fidcnce that they could secure employment
there.
The society had placed eIghty-:ire per.
sons in various institutions, had made 3S
families seif-supporIing, Eade a,3l visits
TO the homes OF the POOR, and had exposed
562 impostors. All this was the Wcfk or
one year.
The society disbursed last year 50. .21S.i9.
This fund was raised entirely by the vol
untary contributions OF the Charitable
This was expended in salaries and office
expenses. The general secretary got about
81 500 a year, while the seven agents OF the
districts, nearly all of whom were hard
working women, who devoted their entire
time and attention TO their work, received
from 500 to $500 annually each. Mr.
Bracket spoke only approximately and did
not give these as the logical figures.
The society Il lso made small loans. Being
asked whcret the loans came from Mr.. Era ckett
said that they, too, were the offerings of
charitably disposed people.
The point was made tHat the society did
not dispense charity in general at its Of
fices, but that cases were referred to the
proper places For instance, a man who
would be naturally taken care of by the He
brew society would be referred 10 That or
ganization. He believed that the proper
sources of charities are the churches, he
nevolcnt people, and organzat.0 ions, such as
the Kings Daughters.
NOT TRUE IN FACT.
Mr.. Wolf intimated that in theory this
was true, but that it was not the fact that
thechurcheS were in harmonyont this subject.
Nir. Bra ckett admitted that this was the fact
only to q limited extent in Baltimore and
rather because of personal reasons than as
coming from the churches as such.
In reply 10 Il question from Mr.. Macfar-
land Mr.. Brackett said he had not thedata to
show the ratio OF the mendicant to the
total population of Baltimore, but said that
the society had referred 5000 applica-
tions for = III last year.
Mr.. Wolf wanted to know what was the
percentage of decrease in tncndicancy since
the organization and working of the So
Ciety. Mr.. BraCkett said that there were
no statistics available to answer that
question. He said. however, that the fact
of the many cases attended to indicated
that the percentage was decreasing.
Mr. Brackett, in answer to requests from
the ladies'. gave n detailed account of the
manner in which the friendly visitors to
houses did their work.
Mr.. Bracket closed his address with a
description OF the Golden Book. in which was
kept an account of the amounts distributed
in emergency cases, where time was an
essential for relief