The herald., 1895-03-03

References-None.
Chief cause of distress-Lack OF work
and lack of energy ff....
Out of employment-Six months.
Relatives able to assist-None in this
state.
Relief from other societies and individ-
uals-L. B. S., the Assistance League and
the Methodist church.
Relief recommended by district agent
A very little help with groceries and work.
Case presented by-Himself.
Remarks--This case, while needy, is not
wholly worthy, as the people show a de-
gree of wastefulness and a willingness to
be helped that it is not well to encourage.
They need to be taught that they must de-
pend upon their own exertions, which
they will not do as long as people use
sentiment instead of the true charity
which insists that they help themselves.
The above case is purely supposititious,
but serves to show the method adopted by
the association to keep history of each
case as it goes to it, or is reported to the
office; and when it is repeated that there
are on file eleven hundred and fifty such
cases, not counting the hundreds of those
of single men which are taken and kept
on other and separate slips, some concep-
ton may be realized of the enormity of
work which is being accomplished.
The president of the organization is
william Pridham; first vice. president, H.
Newmark; second vice-president, Mrs. G..
Ducommun; third vice-president Mrs II.
S. Bath; secretary, Mrs. T. j. Stuart, and
the treasurer is the Farmers and Merchants
Bank. The board of directors are Messrs.
W. c.. Patterson, J. Messmer, William
Pridham, H. Newmark, ]. P. Newkirk,
III. Jevne; Mines. G. Ducommun, H. G..
Bath, F. T. Griffith; Misses M. f. Wills
and Anna L. Cash.
This board, with Mrs. E. Hollenbeck, J.C
Rays, Mrs. Amy c. Brown and Mrs. William
Ferguson, constitute the central commit
tee which has actual charge and supervision
of the workings of the organization; under
this central council are sub-councils or
conferences in all the wards of the city,
wheels within wheels, as it were, COM
posed of volunteer workers, who assist
in investigat ting cases and act under the
direction of the central council.
There is a mistaken idea abroad that
none but Catholics are helped by the AS
ISOLATED Charities; another, that no
Catholics are ever helped; both of which
are absolutely without foundation. Mrs.
Bath is a Presbyterian, MIR. Stuart a
Methodist, but the organization is strictly
non -sectarian, always has been and will
so continue to be.
The local organization is in constant
and active communication with those of
San Francisco and all the eastern cities
and the correspondence is no small mat
ter; but the assistance given is very help
| full and felt to be necessary in many ways,
| for the whole country, not alone this one
state, is suffering from one OF the greatest
financial depressions the world has ever
known; and millions and millions OF
unfortunate people are out of work, with
no outlook for better things at the present
time.
People who have always been self-sup-
porting and have never been obliged to
ask help of anyone, are today beggars or
hungry; not from any fault of their own,
but from the conditions of the times.
Men with families to support, good, hon
est men, apply at the Office for help and
beg, in the name of God, for work; but
the Association is powerless.
If the city would do what it might and
could do, it would benefit large class of
people who are suffering for bread, and
at the same time improve the city at a
less actual outlay than may be possible at
any future time.
There are numberless cases which
might be enumerated that would touch
the heart with sympathy. or shock the
sensibilities on account of their lack of
honest purpose, as the case might be.
The whole country seems alive with i'm
posters. They appear constantly, from
every quarter, and the devices they resort
to in order to gain their point would out
general the most corrupt ward politician.
In these cases the women Guido the men !;
they are adopts, and what makes them
hard to deal with is the susceptibility of
the unwary, those who seldom come in con-
tact with real and genuine distress, for
such will almost invariably fall victim
1t is the business of the Associated
Charities, by ferreting out the history of
these people, to prevent imposition and
the displacement of what is intended to
be true charity.