New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-12-17
/ FRESH AIR WORK IN 1900.
WHAT GENEROUS GIVING ENABLED THE
TRIBUNE TO DO FOR THE POOR

MORE THAN $4,000 sPENT-soME MIsAPPRE-
TENSIONS CoRRECTED-A FEW OF
THE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDI-
VIDUALs WHO HELPED
The Tribune Fresh Air Fund offers it's annual
report this year with the pleasure which follows
the successful accomplishment Of large and diff
! cult piece OF work. The summer OF ISo the
/ twenty-fourth year of The Tribune Fresh Air
/ T4und,s existence was a success in every way.
The work of carrying out the objects OF freSn ar
charity went through without a hitcn' ana the
results were gratifying During the last
summer 7.43l of the poorest children who 1--we IN
the tenement houses of this city were sent away
TO the country for two weeks of fresh air. and the
of this work amounted to s2O,5S6 49, There
were also twenty-six day excursions up the Hud-
son River. These gave day Of rest and pleasure
the 2677O mothers and children of the
tenement districts; and thus there were in all S42u
people who were benefited by The Tribune Fresh
Air Fund i'm the summer of 1900
The reading of these figures will give good
deal of pleasure to those who understand the
nature of fresh air work. They know the good
/ that Is done in each individual case. and they
( can form some idea of what a grand total the
whole thing foots up to. But there are great
many to whom the expression fresh air work.
conveys little meaning, and TO them a few words
of explanation may be acceptable. The business
of The Tribune Fresh Air Fund Is the giving of
fresh air to the poor children Of New-York City's
/ tenement houses. AS a matter OF TACT, there are
children who live in these tenement houses who
not poor. Tie average tenement house in this
city is close and stirling. crowded and unhealth-
full. and in summer unbearably hot that disease
and death direct results. That is what the
people say who know and that is what inmates
have experienced And the people who live in
New-York's tenement houses the poorest peo-
pie the city. the people who have not the money
live elsewhere to leave the city in the heat OF
summer for even a day. 1t is the little children
~ IL
tons and they the benehciaries of The Tribune
Fresh Air Fund. They are gathered up from the
tenement houses and off to cool places In the
country for a fortnight of fresh air While they
are in the country they receive tender care and
attention and pure, wholesome food at night they
sleep in cool clean beds. and the days all
spent out of doors: and when they return to the
city they have had two healthful weeks Of such
fun ard pleasure never fell 10 their lot be-
fore. This kind of charity began twenty-four years
ago with The Tribune Fresh Air Fund 1t is still
the business of this fund. and the tremendous vol
TO which it has grown bears loyal testimony
to its worth.
The receipts and expenditures of The Tribune
Fresh Air Fund for the summer of 1900 were
follows:
RECEIPTS
Receipt Of balance from Tribune Fresh Air Fund
Receipts duly acknowledged in Tn. Tribune I7s7I 20
special contributions toward expenses OF Ashford 80
Hin 5000 %
EXPENDITURES.
Blankbooks and cards ...............-.. $3.50
wages Of advance agents in finding
waS SSs Of '9 eaFe a1eS9 at ve Y2Sc9
Miss Rno1 P b as o sn1s Phys aa9
Cosl q maintaining Ashford Hill Where
weeks special contributions not in
cuded in acknowledgements 5000, -. ABS Oh
and attendants-... ....-,e'14ss4 S.
balance s7sl Al
We. the undersigned. find. upon examination OF
the books and accounts OF The Tribune Fresh Air
during the season Of 1900 which includes balance
II 1855 40 brought over from the of 1899. and
ford Hill and that the expenses 500 53s a.
by the Rev. Willard Parsons, the manager OF
the fund, showing the balance on hand OF E7sl A.
made for the actual work OF sending the bene-
fciaries of the fund to the country. and for the
ah dTSs ar oS @ for blank books
M w e bo b 1E.SOF'
Auditing Committee
New-York Nov q. 1900
The Tribune Fresh Air Fund wishes to say en-
phatcally this year that II does send waits
10 the country In former summers and during
the last GUNNER there have been indications that
many people do understand the character OF
the children who the benefciaries OF this char
fly. Headlines Of this sort have appeared in news
papers: "A Hundred Waits from the City Here
Little Tots from the Sums Have An Outing"
''Slun Children Off For the Country; and people
have asked, Where I'm the world do you pick I'D
all those gamins?' Now. the dictionary definition
of ''waif' is follows: "A wanderer; a cast
away, stray, a homeless child" The Tribune
Fresh Air Fund respectfully urges that 1t does not
send wanderers" or "castaways" or ..strays' or
homeless children" 10 the country; nor do it's
children come from the 'sIums." And yet they are
the poorest and neediest children in New-York
City, and children need fresh air more than
they. They are the citys tenement children and
that means that they have homes Each and
every one Of them has home, and in many eases
loving parents But their homes are the poorest in
the city. perhaps in the world-the small dark
rooms Of squad tenements-and that is what
makes the children greedy of fresh air.
Before the children can go TO the country they
must be clean and free from contagious disease
and they must be certified being so by doctor
especially engaged for the purpose OF such exam-
nation. They are prepared for the examination by
the city missionaries workers, nurses and teachers
who pick out the children. These workers know
| personally every child the country by them
They know the condition the chiIdren's families
| through personal investigation and acquaintance
! and by this means they enabled to send the
right children to the country that is the children
/ from the homes of the very poor. The Tribune
/ Fresh Air Fund trusts these workers 10 do this
and the trust has seldom been misplaced During
the last the work of selecting and prepar-
| Ing the children for the country performed
by workers connected with 10 different missions
Sunday schools, dispensaries, day nurseries. etc.
scattered all the tenement districts OF the
| boroughs OF MANHATTAN and Brooklyn This num-
Der includes a few missionaries who worked as in
/ dviduals- The work involved was arduous and ex-
| acting. and those who did II worked for no other
reward than the good OF the children and the con-
seriousness of having performed a noble work OF
charity. To them is due all credit. The lnstitu-
lions. organizations and individuals through whom
] the children were collected last summer were as
| follows