Evening star., 1896-03-26
REAL VS.. FICTITIOUS CHARITY.
IhoughtIess Giving Often Works Inst
Ing Injury Instead of Doing Good.

IN -
Ing Injury Instead of Doing Good.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Will you kindly allow me the courtesy
OF Your columns to correct some mis-
statements made concerning a "dastitute
family on Capitol HILL in an item. pub
hshed March %, purporting to come from
the police of the ninth precinct This item
mas been the occasion Of many inquiries t
this office concerning the family, and as it
contains several false statements it is de-
slrable that they should be corrected. The
Item contains the following, in reference
l" tte family: THE family consists of
iather, mother ard eight children, the old
est enid, boy fifteen years old. is en-
Pioyed AT slJO per week, but he has been
III with typhoid fever. They are originate
riolh Virginia, and the father is a cripple
our agent in the northeast noticed the
item and al once recognized tho family To
"nlch II referred, but in order to make
sure she made inquiries at the station and
va Mas toiu ~ was the same family, though
me lieutenant did not know who had given
She Item to the paper 1t is true thai the
iaiiiiE mad been destitute, and we have
peen epISed to help them great deal
for -, .he winter, and have obtained help
= rlaay. an order CT groceries was sent
there to help the family until the mother
aha SON could get their pay, as both had
nsIn 49,. "oIkinS last week. There are not
s.sHt cniidren. There are Only three chill
dren at home. There were six hnt one
Mas sent 10 friends in Virginia and two are
IN one OF our orphan asylu.ns. Both the
fn,,ati anu cnlldren have, at least, COM
!ortapie clothing. The eldest boy is seven
Teen years of age. and did not have tvnboid
.essr as stated, but had, however. an az
.icK OF pneumonia, but that was as r1iar ~
o,,r sanr, s,a.er. IN the latter part of February
our agent obtained work for him at q hai:
ers az slO per week. The how has ~
Morhif regularly since that time. and h;s
,Tt TSses nave been advanced to 81 Ger weeI,
gels conSidos mg5 IS competent dressmaker and
se.s considerable work. Last weak tha
t,other t; earned ST, and the boy 50: in addi-
aioil 10 this they obtained a dollars worth
VI groceries. and were helped somewhat bn
how recai,.as s,.e .ma'xidnal; whom We know The
uoy receives in addition to his wares an
sne bread that the family needs II u;i, a., he
seen then that the income of tho far,ip'
ta5Io "ssh s was IS, in addition to the chari.
mctbar u w mhich they received. Both the
week "oih again this
sbonl5 eI Unfortunate that such statements
in ioiiu .h @ ma their way into the papers for
impulses Of 'h1S tSos Tend Ito to kill the charitable
;ii ;neni. we nave full record of tbis f.,,; ~
ny on fle in our Office, and wnn,d al. ~
iitsres.d btaa 70 nave any one who is charItabiv
"a iiliterested In the family examine Il Tbis
Is one Of the families that bave I,ooanl ms
lohic IN the-r appeals, ard our record
snow that they have appiied to olus I
iof 81 oi charitable organizations for re-
III. II IS such people who can MAKE ~
most piteous appeal, and the nl,hiin laAs ne .ne
insist on showing the circumstance go
hected with the family before thav r.n4n n1li.
r,ora lance. nee. Otherwise their aims NAV he
ard the services of our aesn+s iecoIus'
.oiiihdnu OF the public, and We uree III
tr tiose enaritably inclined to make inn1irias
lief If We roneernlng be those applying for re-
.;e II we nave not the desired inforno-
tion on hle, we will immed.ateIv disnatL
one OF our agents to obtain it, We hat,a
- a,.teu reference cards for referring anni;
ona S maI.n,s rTl reheI TO our office, and to any
siadiy send supply of such cards va
since the case of this family has been
Drousht to light, allow me to saw ono othar
oii.s .E.at etncern.hs them. which will apply to
many other families in the Dis
trlct; tnat is: That the commun.tv sbnnia
discourage the system which allows nan
pefs rom Virginia, Maryland and other
to,, 10 ha states to drift into Washing
community here. This family referred to
mas been here about two years and orr
records snow that they have been rece.y-
ing charity during the larger mart Of .h
time they have been in the District Tuo
oi tnelr children are now in an inst;tution
pe'ng supported at the expense of the COM
munlty. Some time after the arrival of
this family another woman came from C;r
pioyed as a nurse for little while. but
was taken sick and sent to the Proyidence
Hospltal. When discharged from the hos
Ptal she went to live with this family and
applied to us for relief. We saw that there
was little hope for the woman being self
supporting here, and. through Sanitary
Ofhcer Frank, We obtained transporta ton
Ior her and sent her back to Virginia,
Where she belonged. Again, during the
present winter, man, relative of the
1am'ly referred to, came here from Vir-
gina, with four children Two of these
children have been put in one of the or
phan asylums. and are being supported at
the expense of the community
Is II not time that the District should call
n halt on this kind of business? There are
poor enough III our community, who have
rights as residents here, and it would seem
10 De our duty to provide for them first.
and insist that the District shall not be-
come dumping ground for the worthless
and dependent of other communities.
GEO. S. WILSON,
General Secretary of the
Associated Charities