Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-25
APPEAL FOR coNsIDERxfIoN
AID ASSOCIATION FOR BLIND WANTS
SHARE OF FUNDS.
Officers Appear Before Comm ISIS Toner
mcfarland TOday-Work of the
Home Explained.

| Mrs Charlotte Emerson Main. acting
president of the Aid Association for the
Blind of the District; Mrs. Mary D. Rus
| sell-Young, chairman of the admission COM
mittee and Mrs. Alice u. Hunt, the cor
| responding secretary of the association and
| chairman of its committee on industrial
| department and workshop, called upon Dis
| trict Commissioner Mcfarland today to
ask that in the disposal OF the 5000 appro-
priated for the care, maintenance and In
struction of the blind and for the equip
ment of workshops for the blind for the
fiscal year 1901, the association be given
such consideration as is justified by its
charter, work and prospects. The ladies
based their request upon the fact that the
association was created not only for the
purpose of caring for INDECENT blind per-
sons, but also for the purpose of promoting
their employment at useful and gainful in
dustries.
The Aid Association for the Blind, Mr..
Macfarland was informed. was organized
December 8, 1897, with the object of estab-
fishing IAN Industrial home for the blind. y
April IL, 1899, the association was incorpo
rated under the laws of the District of CO.
lumbia, and the object somewhat more
specifically stated as: ITO establish nom
sectarian home for the blind of the Dfstrfc.
of Columbia, in the said District To pro-
mote the education and industrial training
of the blind, and to aid the needy, depend
ent blind and help them to become self
supporting
The Incorporation. previously only de-
layed, was made at that time to enable the
association to accept an offer from Mr..
Stilson Hutchins of home for the associa-
ton. to whom the very first appeal for
help was made in October, 1887 Mr..
Hutchins' gift was a conveyance to the
association in fee simple of premises No.
915 E street northwest, improved by four
story brick building in good condition; a
hrtc brick
or workshop in the rear and facing the al
ley.
The association was informed by Mr..
Hutchins that the house would afford ample
room for twenty or thirty inmates, and a
shop on E street where the product of their
labor could be sold, while the stable in the
rear would make suitable workshop where
broom making and chair Gaming could be
carried on.
II know" wrote Mr.. Hutchins, "of no
charity more worthy; none that appeals
more strongly to the humane and the gen
erous- minded. To teach the blind to read
and write. to assist them from youth to
manhood and woma nhood, and then to prac-
tically turn them out to starve by abandon
ing them is the acme OF cruelty"
Maj. Sylvester, the chief of police wrote:
Your association OF benevolent men and
women is an effort for their care. protection
and indoor employ ment, and / am in thor
ough sympathy with the movement and will
be pleased to act as your treasurer until
your institution, which is to include home
and workshops is inaugurated. In
order to provide for those who must leave
the streets, 1t is first necessary that your
home should be put under way and sus-
tanned"
What Has Been Done.
The home was opened last January. and
at the end of five II onths its board Of di-
rectors announces that the domestic mat
tiers are arranged satisfactorily, and a ma
iron is in charge and inmates comfortably
cared for. The Rev. II. N. Couden, chap
lain of the House of Representatives, has
been added to the board of directors, to
represent the blind, and DIR. A. w. Tancil
to represent the colored people.
although aware, said the ladies to Mr..
mcfarland to day. that great vigilance
and effort will have to be maintained to
continue these conditions the board yet
feels that it can now take up the second
part of the work and open, as suggested
by Mr.. Hutchins and Major Sylvester. the
shop. An architect, Mr.. G.. l.. Harding,
has made two sets of plans-one for alter
ing the present building for immediate use
simply a shop, with limited capacity,
and the second for the immediate erection
of a fireproof tWO-Story shop, with dor
mitories above for white and colored men
thus leaving the house for our white and
&C lored females, some of whom can also
work in the shop The board is thus able
to assure the honorable Commissioners that
1t is ready to enter into any contract they
may suggest for the furtherance of this
work. which has already met with the ap-
prevail of the preventative men and wo-
men of the District
Mr.. Macfarland assured the ladies that
he will be glad to make such recommen-
dation to his associates in the matter as
may seem best for the interests of the as
ISOLATION and those unfortunate ones for
whose benefit 1t organized