Waterbury Democrat., 1902-01-04
BOARD OF CHARITIES.
New Organization Will Find Work to
 Do Immediately.

| Do Immediately.
 l Of all the boards to be named Mon- day night none will have to act more promptly than the board of charities. It is probable that the members of that board will be called together Tuesday morning to take action regarding the | appointment of a superintendent of 1 town poor so that the work of looking out for the wants of needy families may be continued without interruption. It would not pay to shut down for d day or two in that department, espec- ially at this time when people who want assistance in the shape of coal, clothing and some thing to eat cannot afford to wait. The public don't care who the members of the board will be so long as they are good men.
 Although business is good in most of the shops, still things are at a standstill with outdoor operations and ill consequence many find it impossible to earn dollar and people who have nothing ahead have no alternative but town aid. Some may say that every family ought to have something laid by to tide them over this kind of weather It is easy to say this, but an entirely different matter to do il, especially for those who rarely ever earn more than $1.5O day and we had so many rainy days last year that out door laborers lost good deal of time and had about all they could do to make ends meet while thNr jobs last ed. The rainfall during 1901 amount ed to 66.5S, the highest ill fifteen years. We had 129 rainy days and whe1f all this is taken into consideration it must be plain to everybody who has any knowledge of the wants of house where there are several small children the fix | man must be in who has noth- ing to look to but what he can earn digging or shoveling wherever he could get chance for fifteen cents an hour. The situation is even worse with wid- ows and women who have shiftless husbands, who have, no one to give | them q helping hand. Men who have families and are earning good wages themselves right along and putting their money to good use have all they can do to pay their honest debts, for it is q notorious fact that the price of
 everything in the stores is high, and when people who are fortunate enough
 to have steady work and fair health
 find that they have all they can do to
 keep the wolf from the door, no one
 should wonder at hearing that folks
 who are out of employment and who
 do not command big pay when they are
 employed are in straitened circum- stances just now.
 1t is hard to conceive of any harder fate than to wake up one of these
 mornings when the thermometer has
 it's nose several degrees below the
 freezing point and realize that you
 have a wife and few helpless chil-
 dren looking to you for the necessities
 of life and find yourself lacking the means to give them anything like what
 you know they stand in need of. Ii
 is a question if citizens who have
 more than they require for them,
 selves and those who are dependent
 upon them are justified in holding on
 to it while so many of Gods creatures
 are hungry, cold and almost naked.
 But it is fair to assume that Mayor
 Kilduff is fully aware of the demands
 that will be made upon the new board i of charities and will surround himself
 with men on that board who will be l lcompetent to give him such assistance
 as he may need in dealing with all
 cases of want that may come to their
 notice.