The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-10
SOCIAL NEEDS DISCUSSED
Crowds Listen to Addresses by
Jacob A. Riis and Others.
National Conference of Charities
md Corrections Begins Annual
Meeting Committees Arc APP
pointed - Plans for the Sessions.

| md Corrections Begins Annual
| Meeting Committees Are APP
pointed Plans for the Sessions.
| If the opening session at Foundry NJ. f.
| 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
| pacitv 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 g" The ad-
| 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 probtefhs
/ 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 ana
] polntedness characteristic of modern
| newspaper style. His sobriquet OF the
most useful citizen was earned by the
! prominent part he took in the tenement
mol
eral years ago. He is of Danish extrac-
tion, speaks with just the slightest ac-
cent. and possesses a fund Of humor that
might well have entitled him to the
birthfight of the Emerald Isle.
Bows and what might be termed their
rights bore large part in his talk. He
plunged in with boys. About the worst
thing you Tan do with a boy, he said
lis to put him in jail. / find that the
boys club offers much better solution
of the sium 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 six years ago We had 5000 boys
in the streets of New York because there
weie no schools to which to send them.
Still they were arrested and sent to Jail
playing
The boys who have enough spirit to
play hockey are those who. under proper
management, make this country what 1t
is. / sound note of hope. / am a news
paper reporter. and do much work In Null
berry Street. And il / sound the blast of
hope you will 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
up around common which was the play
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, 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 whole man. To get him the
props tisat make character should be put
back"
The meeting last night was opened by
B. T. Janney, Chairman of the local COM
mittee. After prayer by the Rev. Luther
B. Wilson. pastor of Foundry Church,
Kiplings 'IRecessionaf' 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 gratifi-
cation felt at the advent of the delegates
and referred TO the valuable lessons which
had been gained when the conference met
here in 1855 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
reply to Commissioner Macfarlands
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. G. Smith, of st. Paul,
Mimi, in the course OF an address on
1.-The Heart of thee Matter" said that
there was too much attention paid to
what might he termed the abnormal
class" The word degenerate" he
thought, had been sadly overworked and
that while 1t was true there were alb
normal and degenerate classes, the work
to be done was rather with the misguided.
He said that there were great opportu-
mites in the coming century for the de-
ve!opment Of man. He considered the
problep. to be confronted merely one of
hope, and believed that the question of
heredity was largely one of the past,
was that of the abnormal classes.
Two sessions will he held today. one at
9:ao 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
sessions at Foundry n. Z. Church. The
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 f. Williamson
New Jersey; Homer Folks, New York;
Michel Heymann, Louisiana; Alexander
johnson, Indiana; John T. Mallalieu. Ne
braska: C. L. Stonaker. Colorado. The
Committee on Resolutions as announced
last night consists of Philip c. Garrett,
Pennsylvania; LuciIs G. Stone, Michigan,
and John w Willis. MinneapIlis.
There are. twelve Cuban delegates. They
were brought TO the conference at the
expense of the Boston delegation and on
| their return to the island will 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 will 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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