The times., 1901-05-10
SOCIAL NEEDS DISCUSSED
Crowds Listen to Addresses by
Jacob A. Riis and Others.

/ National Conference of Charities
! and Corrections begins Annual
Meeting Committees Are APP
pointed Plans for the Sessions.
/ If the opening session at Foundry NJ. e.
/ Church last night was a fair criterion the
people of Washington will find much OF
extreme interest in the meetings of the
National Conference of Charities and Cor
rections this week. OF six hundred dele
gates who will attend the sessions during
| the next six days a large proportion was
present at the opening meeting last night,
| and with many people of Washington
made such a large audience that the ca
! pacity of the church was taxed. The
| problems which confront enthusiastic
workers in philanthropic affairs were not
discussed last night save in a general
way There was no shop talk Ihe al
| dresses delivered took for the most part
a rather perspective view OF those mat
! ters most of moment to members of the
! conference.
! Jacob A. Riis, of New York. author of
! ..How the Other Half Lives" and whom
! Theodore Roosevelt has described as the
most useful citizen of New York, talked
/ for over an hour on the general line OF
| action which should be followed for the
! solution of the vexatious social problems
Of today Mr. Riis is a newspaper man
| police reporter on the New York sun
! His work brings him into contact with
| the most unfortunate of all poor-the
poor of a great city. His talk last night
was delivered with the conciseness and
! pointedness characteristic of modern
| newspaper style His sobriqust of the
most useful citizen was earned by the
prominent part he took in the tenement
reform movement in the metropolis sew
eral years ago. He is of Danish eXtrac-
ton, speaks with just the slightest ac-
cent. and possesses a fund of humor that
might well have entitled him to the
birthright of the Emerald Isle.
BOYS and what might be termed their
rights bore a large part in his talk. lie
plunged in with boys About the worst
thing you can do with a boy" he said,
lis to put him in jail. l find that the
boys club offers a much better solution
of the slum problems than the police
mans club. There is great miSunder-
standing among us who are trying to
grapple with this delicate problem We
need a baptism of common sense About
five or six years ago we had $1,000 boys
in the streets of New York because there
were no schools to which to send them.
Still they were arrested and sent to Jail
for playing truaut from school
The boys who have enough spirit to
play hockey are those who, under proper
management, make this country what it
is. l sound a note of hope. i am a news
paper reporter, and do much work in Null
berry Street. And if ! sound the blast of
hope you viii know the dawn is near, es-
pecially if il comes from Mulberry Street
The stalwart New England character
which you so greatly admire was built
u No.
ground for all the children of the village
The boy of the slums plays in the gutter
and about all he learns from the play
his normal occupation, is to get arrested
No home, no play, and you knock from
under the boy of the slums the two prin-
cipal props of character. The only plot
of grass that the boy Of the slurns sees is
one which he is chased off of. When he
gets strong he takes by force what was
before denied him, and there arises the
gang. To have whole man you must be-
gin with a whole man. To get him the
props that make character should be put
back
The meeting last night was opened by
B. r. Janney, Chairman of the local com
mittee. After prayer by the Rev. Luther
=. Wilson. pastor of Foundry Church,
Kiplings ''RecessionaT' was sung by
Charles F. Hall Then Mr.. Janney intro
duCed Commissioner Macfarland, who, on
behalf of the Board of District Commits
sioners, welcomed the conference to the
city. He expressed the general gratiii-
cation felt at the advent OF the delegates
and referred to the valuable lessons which
had been gained when the conference met
here in 1885. He said that the various
charitable institutions of the District were
the outgrowth of the conference. and eX-
pressed the opinion that Washington
would gain much from the conference
during the coming week.
1t was expected that Secretary Gage
would extend greetings on behalf of the
President. but he was unable to be pres
ent A letter from President Mckinley
was read expressing regret that absence
from the city prevented his attendance.
John NJ. Glenn, of Baltimore President
of the conference, was introduced, after
a solo by Miss Anna Belle Carpenter. and
presented Alexander Johnson of Indiana,
whose brief remarks took the nature of
a reply to Commissioner Macfarland's
welcome. Mr.. Glenn then spoke briefly re-
garding the sessions of the conference
which he stated would be open to the
public. He thanked the local committee
for its efficient work in preparing matters
for the coming of the delegates. He said
he felt that all should get a proper per-
spective on the work which they had in
hand.
The Rev. S. C. Smith, of st. Paul
Mimi. in the course of an address on
THE Heart of thee Matter said that
there was too much attention paid to
what might be termed the abnormal
class. The word degenerate" he
thought. had been sadly overworked and
that while it was true there were alb
normal and degenerate classes, the work
10 De QDHe Nab TalleF .WIln lte IGlSEulueQ
He said that there We're great opportu-
mites in the coming century for the de-
Velopment of man. He considered the
problem to be confronted merely one of
hope. and believed that the question Of
heredity was largely one of the past as
was that of the abnormal classes.
Two sessions will he held today, one at
$3.50 o. clock and one at o'clock this even
ing. The morning sessions throughout
the meeting of the conference will be held
at Columbian University and the evening
Dr. =
topics at both sessions today will bear
upon the subject Of neglected children"
The headquarters of the conference are
at the Ebbitt House.
The Committee on Organization for the
conference of 1902 was appointed, as fol-
lows Charles r. Henderson. Illinois,
Chairman; Mrs. Emily +. Williamson
New Jersey; Homer Folks New York
Michel Heymann, Louisiana; Alexander
Johnson, Indiana: John l. Mallalieu, Ne
braska; c. l.. Stonaker, Colorado. The
Committee on Resolutions as announced
last night consists of Philip G. Garrett
Pennsylvania; Lucius G, Stone, Michigan
and John w. Willis. MINNEAPOLIS.
There are twelve Cuban delegates. They
were brought to the conference at the
expense Of the Boston delegation and
their return to the island viii apply the
lessons they learn TO charitable and cor
rectiVe problems there.
On Monday next the delegates win make
an excursion by trolley TO Arlington and
then to Alexandria where luncheon will
be served On Tuesday there win be an
excursion to River View and Mount Yer
non by boat. with a dinner of planked
shad at the former place.
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