The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-02-12
A MAKE-BELIEVE CHARITY.
PUBLIC PROTEST AGAINST THE
sour KITCHEN NUISANCE.

the Miserable Business-Feeeing the
viciousiy IdIe-Temptipe aud hs-in q
sbo worthy foor for enc.t
About the corners Of Grand and willett
streets between o $40 In the morning and $3.50
in the afternoon any day are to be found pan
handlers and professional ioafers In great vari-
ETY.. They block tho sidewalks. make regular
m on psssers.by. insult women. and
make themselves generally obnoxious to the
neighborhood.
1t was q decent neiRhborhood until the New
York Journal started a free soup kitchen In q
vacant store. This last enterprise OF new jour
: nallsm IL. IN the opinion OF those able to Judge.
worthy OF serious attention from those men and
women VINO have tho welfare Of tho city at
heart For Advertising purposes Mr.. Hearst
has rssortsd to means that have been condemned
time aud time again by all persons who have
had any experience in charity work. Leaving
out Of the question the methods employed to
raise money from the public for carrying on this
advertising enterprise. the direct effect Of the
s~o-cailed charity upon that part Of the commu-
nifty affected 10 = matter Of general interest.
The causes of this enterprise were explained
in TIE SUN some days ago. Mr.. Hearst was
bound TO outdo the inventor OF tho Sick Babies
Fund school OF beggars. and he decided to raise
the cry of starvation and start q relief fund.
His intention at first. as announced In his pa
per. was to turn over all his funds to charitable
organizations. This announcement brought some
Of tho largest subscriptions to hs fund
when IL was started. Mr.. Hearst actually did
turn over some money 10 these societies, q few
hundred dollars, possibly $500 all told. But he
sooh ioun" u '"s' W. "etnou 49, ~
at all. There was no chance for his reporters
to write up pathetic" cases. There was no
chance for yellow wagons to drive about from
door to door distributing tea and coffee and
broad and meat, and ad vertising his newspaper,
an h. d.cid.d N carrv on the wort of relief"
himself. II made no difference whether the
people were suffering or not. II they were
Wiling 10 DO renewed. ana 70 nave pathos
and pictures devoted TO them they were good
enough morsans. .,.. ,.u.
49, .no oup .nue, nenoo
w fsl,S, : .ss..,.. H sa' .% .ss.S, .,ors r q, G h,red a anS
rrea. yellow placards hung about IL; plscards
in Enslish. German. Hungarian. and Yiddi.h.
ann9nneias thst any one could get three square
WTsaI' i : aay ths RE, a. so .he b enpsn se. OF ao .ns Ss%
from its beginning. Al predictions made con.
sernips i; based on past ,S Sapsritne.; haze been
about the place as can be found outside Of a
that women fear 10 90 by the place. and the
women who 1.-Two Whereabouts are In q state OF
The kind of people that come for food can be
seen By any one who will spend an hour there at
mtAl luitn U u " tuo tThulpS.
Then come children in squads, carrying pals
and kettles for the soup and baskets for the
served Is the rule. The father and mother with
half dozen or dozen children may come: all
WIN be ss. s riDssr Of 1904 Nav York was o,,o, .a
with with The most acute q distress u r. q, u mas has ever y, ~ known o.n
and psithoarh i tSero we're sp shoussnds OF d s.s Sity;
people who lacked sufficient food. II was soon
found out that these were not the people who
went to the soup houseR.. IL was found that
these Institutions attracted warrants TO tho city
from all parts Of the country. and In the end an
finally ended In closing them all up. and II was
thought that tho nuisance had been banished
active in the work. did not undertake to start
them the following winter. but contented itself
History has only repeated itself this year.
While II 10 true that . small number OF worthy
Der. On the otner hand the place has become
such a nuisance that formal compliant has been
%siiin 70 for s%' a r report. Ana q Ds Saas. who ISn lives II IN n sSc
neigh a.rs ,"I n,sSs has hs: this Ss..t TO say on the suSj.et;
"A m. sISSd The OF eo yil: & nino stan" I%p about !. n fas aay;
mood: They 60 about from house g hCu'. ask:
their soup. IL they don't get ,thom they abuse
the women. curse at them. and call them vile
:,rse. way and pour IL into the gutter. Fur
there. / have seen them. time and time again,
after they have finished their soup. 20 around
the neighboring saloons and drain the becr kegs
into their cans and drink the stun. They are
the lowest type OF the Bowery bum"
So much for one class that goes there. Now
as to the families. The great majority, OF peo-
pie living In that part Of town are Jews. Russian
and Polish. They are the most pious and ortho-
dox Of jews. and they will starve before they
touch anything "unclean." that is. any meat
not prepared under the supervision of the rAbbi.
Mr.. Rosenau, general manager of the United
Hebrew. Charitles. had some things to say on
this subject yesterday:
In common with all others who have studied
charity as q science" he said, believe that all
indiscriminate almsgiving 10 vicious, and moth
ing moro 30 than this soup house idea. Persons
who rail at modern methods of charity. ana
especially at Investigation Of cases. forget that
the latter has q two-fold object. The first and
lesser Is to discover the undoservtnR. The sec
ond and greater Is to lind the best kind Of relief