New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-22
PHILANTHROPIC WORK.
THE UPLIFTING POWER" THE SUBJECT
CONSIDERED YESTERDAY.
A SERIES OF CONFERENCES BEGUN UNDER THE
AUSPICES OF THE woMANs CENTRAL COM
MTrEB OF THE CHARITY ORGAN
rJATfON sOCTETY


A series OF monthly conferences on subjects
neoted with phanthropic work begun yester-
day morning at the Church Mission House
Twenty-second-st and Fourth-ave., under the
auspices OF the womans Central Committee OF the
Charity Organization Society Miss Kate Bond
chairman OF the committee, presided. and the sub
tect considered was The Uplifting Power Of
Work" The principal address was delivered by
the Rev J. Lewis Parks and the discussion OF the
subject was continued by Howard Townsend. one
Of the Vice presidents OF the Association for I'm
proving the Condition Of the Poor. and Mrs Will
lam A. Ewing. OF the Central Presbyterian Church
Mr.. Parks not sure that people ought 20 have
anything that they didn't work for. unless they
were old or sick
Il inclined TO dsapprove" no said. "of tho
free distribution OF medicine and Of education
but there is thing would like TO spend money
for. and that is TO keep people away from New
York. l presume. however that It is not possible
or allowable for us to build wall about the city.
but could. perhaps. help few unemployed
people out OF It 20 tell the tale"
Mr. Parks also thinks that will have to come
to q species Of paternslsm in the care Of the in
corrigible poor II they won't work in
capable Of finding work FOR themselves ii must be
found for them and they must be made to do it,
IN 80 far as this can be done without interfering
with the rights of labor. Mr. Parks suggested vari-
Gus ways in which work might be made for such
people, and said that the wages should be 50 low
that they wouldn't DO II II they could mo anything
else. In conclusion he said
THE time has come when II should be under
stood that the right OF woman 10 have
family should depend on their properly caring for
It. If they cannot and will not do this their names
should perish in Israel"
Mr. Townsend opened the discussion by making a
plea for almsgiving
at is all very well" he said Ito talk about get
ting a employment. instead Of giving him
money, but ii can't be done. Employment can't
secured by touching button and until II is
found the and his family be supported
1t is not what you do for a man. but the way you
90 It that injuries his sefrespect and II you point
out 70 him that you cannot get employment for
him at once. and that meantime you must sup
port him because you happen 10 be more fortu-
nate than he ne will not feel any more degraded
by taking your money than ne is by allowing you
10 help him 10 find work. We should not treat
money as IL it were cobra a rattesnake but
should use II in moders don. | think too much
routine Of baths and fumigation Is apt TO hurt a
mans self spect as much as giving him money"
Mr.. Townsend also ventured TO question the up
Hitting power OF work.
"Our richer classes all work." he SAID FOR
a Nation Of workers. yet they do not seem to be
greatly uplified thereby"
Mrs. Ewing spoke Of some individual cases in
which the workrooms for unsked women con-
Quoted by the Charity Organization Society had
proved uplifting power. She said that the work
rooms not only afforded 10 philanthropic workers
an nfalble method Of distinguishing the worthy
from the unworthy but was also an actual reform
ing agency. AS example Mrs Ewing mentioned
the case Of a professional Deggar who had been
transformed into an honest working woman by
being sent to the workroOms.
When Mrs. Ewing had finished, Miss Bond said
she was not sure that the Chair had any right 70
an opinion, but she wanted 70 bear witness TO the
uplifting power OF the bath" No woman was adj
mitted TO the workrooms, she said, without bath
and after they had been educated up to 1t they en-
joyed II.
K question about how. homeless woman was to
be cared for while work was being found for her
precipitated a discussion about lodging houses. and
Mrs. Charles X. Lowell said that she thought the
more lodging there were for homeless women
the more homeless women there would be
The committee in charge Of the conferences con-
sIsts Of Mss Kate Bond. chairman; MISS L. L.
Williams. secretary; Mrs James A. Scrymser'
William Stone Miss Lucy KeaD, Miss Gertrude
Sackeit, Mrs. F. s. Seew. Mrs. A. L. Hopkins and
Mrs. Charles r. Ostrander.
The next meeting Will be held on January is IN
the United Charities Building, and IL Is expected
that Charles Dudley Warner may be one OF the
speakers.
Among the societies and churches represented
yesterday were the Benevolent Society OF the Cen.
tral Presbyterian Church. the Woman's League or
Rye; the Methodist Episcopal DeacqSesses So
ciety the Young Womens Christian Association.
the Little Mothers AID Association the Fifth Ave-
nue. Presbyterian Church. the Sheltertng Arms the
Association for Improving the Condition OF the
Poor and the Charity Organization Society.