The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-17
PREVENTIVE PHILANTHROPY.

In the good work of the world woman
is always felt, ana rarely heard. For the
volumes of sound proceeding from the
men who devote any thought to social
problems there is not a single word heard
from the women similarly engaged. It is
the woman's function to act; the man 5,
too often, to talk, and do little but talk
Hence woman on public undertakings Of
any kind rarely has the power of making
herself understood through words alone
An address was recently delivered by
a philanthropic woman of New York,
however, which does not sustain this view
Indeed, it showed its author to be not only
q practical worker in social undertakings,
but deep thinker, thoroughly qualified to
give the most forcible expression to her
views. The lady is Mrs. Frederick Ma
than, and the subject of her address was
preventive Philanthropy Rather Than
Ameliorative Charity"
All who have ever been in touch with
the existing charity movement in the cit
les understand how readily the whole
movement takes on the purely statistical
and formal character. Even the best Of
those who administer our public charities
find themselves engaged in a continual
round of investigation and examination,
with the necessity imposed on them of
compiling figures relating to their work
which rarely, if ever, possess any sfgnif-
canoe whatever. The distress is present
The purpose-the immediate and pressing
purpose-is to remedy it. Few men ever
are in position to follow out both phases
Of the philanthropic movement the one
which relieves and the one which pre-
vents.
Mrs. Nathan sets infinitely more store
on the preventive side of philanthrop.c
effort than she does on the preventive
Indeed, in her address she seems to have
been Of the settled conviction that organ
lied charity has a decided tendency to
breed poverty and mendicancy. The fol-
lowing passage from the address referred
to will illustrate her drift of thought:
methods to prevent vice crime, distress,
disease and poverty than to foster or per-
nit conditions which lead to these evils
and then squander fortune to he p
straighten out just a little of the crooked
ness. Such charity reminds one Cf the So
called charitable manufactu. er who re-
duced the wages Of his employees because
he needed the money to make his annual
gifts for ben= =ffcent pu poses. Sometimes
| think that instead of being so proud of
our charitable institutions we ought to
hang our heads in shame of the need of
them"
The conditions which render the exist
ence of great organizations of charity
necessary are increasing rather than dl-
minishing. Social life in the big cities
tends to offer opportunities to the improv-
ident, the lazy and the dishonest to Sc
cure their livings without work Thou
sands of such parasites prey on organized
charity. 1t has always been so, and it al
ways will be So The best work being
done for humanity today is being done by
those who are trying to bring into exist
ence better sanitary and social surround
irgs for the poor. To wipe out a single
disease-producing condition is worth more
in the domain of charity than the expendi-
ture of thousands of dollars in relieving
individual want. The work of relief is
never-ending. 1t goes on and will go on
as long as men and women are weak and
foolish, and are brought into the world
and maintained in it by those responsible
for their existence without any serious
thought of providing them with an ade-
| quate means of securing a self-respect-
ing livelihood.
The women who are going into the ten
ements of the cities, hunting out the
sweat shop destroying the unsanitary
conditions which have been attendant on
the old residence buildings; who are train
ing the young girls, the children of the
poor, in the household arts, and enabling
| them to make a better living than they
would did they not have little prelim-
mary training, are those who are doing
the great charitable work Of the world.
Mrs. Nathan is right We ought to be
ashamed of our charity bodies, of our
| jails, our police, our entire disciplinary
and relief machinery In fact, until we
do get good heal4hful dislike and con-
tempt for all these things running through
our veins we can never be said to be en-
gagged in effective charitable undertak-
| ings.