Evening star., 1896-12-26
GIVING OUT CHARITY
The Fund in the Hands Of Superintendent
Tracey is Rapidly Melting.
Strict Investigation Made of All Ap-
plfcants-SOme ImpOsters Dis
cOvered-What Is Given.

The idea that Christmas brings good
cheer to all people would have been dis
spated in the mind of any one who had
visited the office of the superintendent of
charities in the District building today
Superintendent Tracey received about
twenty-five applicants for relief in his Of
flee this morning. Most of them were wo-
men who had large families and were either
widows or whose husbands were sick or
had deserted them. 1t was a sad thing,
and most of the applicants assured Mr..
Tracey that they had scant rations on
Christmas day and that their children had
cried for food and received only scraps or
nothing at all.
The superintendent of charities has about
1000 per annum with which to relieve the
distress in the District Of Columbia. He
is assisted In this work by Mr.. r. w. Bar
naclo. his secretary. When applicants tell
a story of their distress their names are
recorded and the police precincts in which
they happen to live are at once informed,
an investigation is made and it Is decided
whether or not relief is to be given The
policemen's reports are acted upon, except
in extreme cases, in which either Mr..
Tracey or Mr.. Barnaclo personally interest
themselves. If q favorable report is re-
ceived and the case is designated as one
of decided distress the usual allowance
given to the applicants consists of a quar-
Ter of a ton of coal, half dollars worth
of wood and much wholesome provisions
as can be bought for 81. Everything is
done by telephone, and if a favorable an
swer is given to the application the officers
at the station house are instructed 70 pro-
vide these artisleS and they are paid Tor
out of the fund in the hands of the super
intendent of charities. A case of severe
distress is frequently relieved in the course
of an hour or two, and IN some instances
before the poor woman is able to return to
her home and to her children provisions
have been delivered at her door.
Most of the applicants live in the south
western or southeastern part OF the CITY,
and are found on investigation to be abb
solutely destitute, Many of them year
or two ago were prosperous, owning their
little homes and having employment sum
cient to bring them living income but
today, through misfortune, they are
thrown upon the world for charity. The
applicants that are visiting Mr.. Tracey are
nearly all dressed in manner showing eX-
treme poverty, and on the coldest mornings
of the past week women have come to him
clad in calico dresses, with no warm gar
ment for their protection. The fund at the
disposal of the superintendent of charities
with which to give relief is so small that
it will shortly be exhausted. When it is
exhausted he will have nothing to do ex-
cept to turn deaf ear to the appeals that
are made to him, unless it should happen
that some wealthy and well-disposed per-
son should see fit to donate money which
might be distributed in the same manner
the present fund is being used.
OF course, there are impostors. Only the
other day one of the superintendent's ap-
plicants gave her address in a fashionable
part of the city. 1t was suggested that she
could get cheaper rent in another part of
the town.
What, do You think / would live down
there?'
A look of great disgust overspread the
features of the mendicant, who was not
ashamed to ask for aims, yet who was
ashamed to live in part of the city oc-
cupied almost wholly by poor people. But
the investigation made through the police
OF all applicants is so strict that it is be-
heved that the little fund at the disposal
of the superintendent is given only to most
deserving people.