Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-03
Petition Against Discontinuance of
Police Relief Work.
MANY BUSINESS FIRMS REPRESENTED
Paper Presented to the Comris-
sioners This Morning.
BOARD WILL CONSIDER 1T

Horhlig Tor the purpose of presenting a
| Eumerously signed petition protesting
against the proposed discontinuance of the
charitable work of the police department.
Mr. Ross. in accepting the petition, said
he would lay the matter before the board
or Commissioners at the earliest cppor-
tunity.
In presenting the petition Mr. Raymond
said he was directed by the merchants VINO
suggested it's circulation to say that he
had called upon 40 business firms, and all
but five had cheerfully signed 1t. 1t was.
explained Mr.. Raymond, superfluous for
him to say that all persons who had signed
the petition did not read it through But
from their own observations of the two
systems, however. he felt safe in saying
for them that they believe the change un-
warranted, and that they are therefore
strenuously opposed to the proposed
Charge.
The Petition.
The petition was as follows:
In entering our solemn protest against
the abandonment of the custom of allow
ing the police department to temper its
stern duties by acts of charity, we, the
Undersigned business men, would respect
fully represent: We believe that the efficient
work of the police in relieving the INDECENT
has had salutary effects that should not be
lost sight of. Instead of affording addi-
tional protection to society, we are of a
frn belief that the abandonment of this
prompt and efficient system of relief Will
lead to the commission Of many crimes
t.o.. i.aNe been pre-. enteG ny IL. Besides
this, there are other considerations worthy
of notice at this time.
1T should be borne in mind that during
the winter of 1S!5-'96 the police department
distributed $500 among the INDECENT, which
in Iixylf fnn,
distribution, while the cos: to philanthropy
to have $500 distributed through the
Associated Charities was about S6UO.
1T matters not whether this $4,000 was
paid out of District funds paid by phlan-
thropy, since it was virtually that much
taken out of the mouths of the poor and
thls alone foreshadows the direful condi-
tionS that will be sprung upon the poor
through substituting the praiseworthy
methods of buecoats by what is known as
the 'peeping system Il system the agents
OF which soon become well known that
/ they are hampered in their Investigations
through being avoided by citizens at every
turn who fancy that neighbors might mis-
trust that they are applying for charitable
relief, or through fear that they might be
suspected of giving pointers about persons
who have applied for relief.
This Is a system that is looked upon by
fair-minded people everywhere unchris-
tian, cruel. numiliating, mortifying, mis-
clief-breeding and grossly inefficient a
system similar to notwithstanding organi-
Zations of other cities. which upon investi-
CATION, turned out to be scheme of shrewd
men making use of whole-sOuled, WELL
meaning and prominent citizens as MEM
bers to lend color to their charitable pre-
tensions, in working the poor with one
string, as it were. and philanthropists with
another. We do not mean by this to re-
fleet any dishonesty upon the Associated
Charities. 1t is sufficient for US to know
that their methods are costly. inefficient
and not up to the spirit of the times in aid
inc a Ivhn f..r
years, have fallen to the sorry level of
want.
The substitution of the services that
may be afforded the destitute by Mr.. Will
son and half a dozen women for the eff
cient methods of the police department.
with telephone service to all parts of the
city. mounted messengers and brassLbut-
toned agents upon every street. has Justly
aroused public indignation. We believe
that the police system of relief has been a
boon to society in the prevention of crime
a means of inspiring philanthropists to
give generously in the cold hours of want
and the only protec ton the poor had
against the iron hand of that grasping
power to which they would be doomed by
discontinuing it,
An Annual Report.
THAT organization tells us in its an
nual report for 1896 that a similar organi-
Zation in New York investigated every case
of charity that came under it for many
years and failed to find a single worthy
case, and that another found but one wor-
thy case during a period covering eleven
years. What reasonable person would be-
lieve such statements? 1t tells also about
persons leaving work to live upon charity
and about people coming from Kansas for
the same purpose. They tell us, too, that
forty-six persons gave false addresses dur
Ing the month of January but Mr.. VIII
son knows that the false addresses were
he Of f- ncSicf
threatened them with humiliating investi-
cations among their neighbors. Therefore
1t will be understood that these people are
not frauds. and that these derogatory
statements are made about the poor to
create organization stock out of them by
conveying the idea to the public that the
preponderance of frauds among them is
enormous, when, in fact they are so few
that they would not cost philanthropy under
police management one-tenth Of what 1t
costs to support that organization.
They have printed upon the cover of this
report: Though bestow all my goods to
feed the poor and have not charity, it
profteth me nothing and then they go on
to say that charity does not consist of CIV
Ing aims either in money. food or fuel, but
IN friendly visiting. Then they intimate
that 1t would be a sin akin to crime to
give anything of consequence, as it would
II. axe them feel easy in their poverty. If
tlisis charity we do not understand what
Christ meant when He said that the widow
who gave her mite had given more than
the rest. but We think He meant that there
was more real charity M the heart that
gave as freely as the widow gave her mite;
as the bluecoats who gave where they
found cold stoves and hungry, shivering
children: or the late Jim Fiske who
sent train loads Of provisions to sufferers
at the time of the great fire at Chicago,
than there Is in the millions of dollars that
annually passes through the fingers Of the
so-called charity agents.
Those Who Cry Down the Poor.
,"It would seem no less unreasonable to
look for figs upon thistle bushes than to
expect rlen who cry down the poor as
frauds to have at heart their interests,
and If they have any more pity FOR the
poor than cats have for mice may heaven
forgive our barbarism In not giving honor
where honor is due. If charity consists
of trying to get along without going pock-
ct deep. the Good Master would have re-
vealed to man how He fed the five thou
sand, besides women and children, upon
five loaves and two fishes, and 1t seems
that because they cannot do this and
spend all the poor funds upon salaries and
the like. they say that the care Of them