The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-01

stead or maligned
IF it is commendable to establish soup
kitchens and sell soup to the poor at one
cent bowl, why is it not equally COM
mendable to sell for small sum clothing
which is warm and respectable in appear
ance? If outright charity is better, why
not give away the bowls of soup?" This
is one womans argument.
On the other hand. some Of the ministers
who have witnessed these sales in their
own churches ridicule the idea of well-to-
do women gathering together the things
for which they have no further USE sell
ing them to the poor, and calling the act
Christian charity. One of these ministers
describes the articles sold as "unsanitary,
unwholesome and unsightly" He adds,
1T is bargain counter, junk shop, and
I sincerely doubt whether the church is the
place for a junk shop or a pawn shop
ut is robbing Peter to pay Paul" said
another. ''The poor pay out the money
which is in turn to go to the poor or sick
1t is even worse when such money is used
for a new carpet or to help pay for the
organ. Think of it! People with plenty of
means asking those who are too poor to
buy whole garments to wear. to help pay
for pipe organ or stained glass window.
That is what 1T amounts to-"
BAD FOR SALESWOMEN.
The effect on the young women who sell
is bad, too. They want to make a good
showing FOR their society, and they influence
buyers to purchase things that they do not
need, and to spend more than they can
afford. These young women never have
realized. or else they forget what % cents
more or less means to poor person. Here
| is an instance: An old colored man came
into one Of the sales, hoping to make the
small sum in his pocket do wonders in its
purchasing power. Nanny needed a new
| sacque and his toes were literally out of
his boots. A fun-loving, thoughtless girl
saw an opportunity for a joke and half
coaxingly, half banteringly. persuaded him
to buy an ancient silk hat, which cost him
the whole of the sum that he had brought
to invest. 1t was a passing joke to the
girl. but a source of long-lived regret to
the old man.
a manager of one of the charitable soci-
cites takes issue with the rummage sale on
the ground that they give the poor wrong
idea OF values. I'VE try to teach them the
| value of money, the value of substantial
clothing and of nourishing food. At the rum
mage sale they find silk waist, for which
they have no use, marked so cents This
| is bargain, and they buy 1t, regardless of
the fact that it is unfit for their wearing
and will do them less good than would a
washable waist which would wear longer.
| Then, too, they see things which the rich
have cast aside. which they cannot afford,
but want and 1t makes them dissatisfied
with the palmer, serviceable things which
| are fitted to their circumstances. As an
instance of this. forlorn-looking woman
at one of the sales stood hesitating be-
tween a dozen substantial soup plates and
| an upholstered chair minus one arm She
| decided upon the chair and gave for II
money which was sadly needed for the
necessities of life, and took into her home
a piece of furniture which, even in its half
wrecked condition, made all the other fur
nishings look poor and mean and filed its
| owner with discomfort.
Even worse than this, the display of
| finery is a sore temptation to poor young
girls, and instances are known in which
| they have surreptitiously changed the
marks on garments in order that bit of
rumpled inery might come within the
range of their purchasing power.
| INTERPRETERS WITH OTHER WORK.
Another argument which the charitable
organizations offer is that the regular re-
lief societies know the worthy poor and
| try to care for them. At the rummage
sales all sorts may come and buy and
| when the societies send out appeals for
needed clothing they find the usual sup
| ply cut perhaps in half because so MANY
people have contributed to rummage sales.
| D.
| the rummage sales a bonanza, and they
send in their agents to pick out the best
bargains offered, and the poor who will
eventually buy the articles from the Sec
ond hand dealer have another profit to
| cover
The doctors object to the rummage sales
on sanitary grounds. No woman would
think of handling a miscellaneous pile of
garments that have come from homes
of which she knows nothing for any other
cause than that OF the rummage sale Yet
here she sorts. tickets and piles endless
lots of clothing. all of which has been
worn, and much of which has not been
washed or subjected TO any process of
sanitation before it reaches her hands.
That it has come from a friend of the
church or society holding the sale is no
| guarantee that II Is sanitary or even clean.
/ Many "a bundle is sent in by people in no
sense interested in the society, but who are
| glad of so ready a means of Kidding them
selves of accumulated rubbish
do you think l would allow a mem
Der OF my family to have anything to do
| with such a miscellaneous accumulation
of cast off clothing?" asks a physician.
NO indeed, and neither would any one
else who understood the first principles of
| infection"
And yet, notwithstanding the array of
arguments. the women find that most of
them can be matched If not refuted, and
as not all the ministers or those in high
| authority the opposing side, they
do not intend 10 give UP the battle yet
1 nor to fly the white flag over the rummage
sale.
| Resurgam-