The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-12
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
FINE ADDRESS ON WORK OF
 ORGANIZED CHARITIES.
S. Q. Preston, Local Superintendent, Spoke to Members of the Chamber Last Night-Urges sEstabIiAhmentO of Central Bureau and stoppage of Indiscrimi- nate Charity.


 Last evening the Chamber of Com
 merce previous to the summer adjourn
 ment was held last night. There was a
 very small attendance, but those pres
 ent were treated to an admirable talk
 by s. o. Preston, superintendent of the
 New Haven Organized Charities He
 spoke concerning the work of the asso-
 citation and the charitable work in gen.
 eral in the city. MT. Preston has had
 years of experience and is in conse-
 quence eXcellently equipped to speak on
 such a topic. His talk was filled with
 illustrations of the cases of every na- ture reported to and investigated by
 his organization. The subjects of the
 worthy poor the unworthy poor the beggar, the tramp and the frauds were thoroughly reviewed and the speaker also told the methods employed by the department to assist the worthy and punish the unworthy. He urged on those present that they use their influence with their friends and associates to stop the practice of giving to everyone, or a portion of those, who ask for aims or other assistance. He said the proper thine to do is to send them to the rooms of the Organized Charities where their stories will be fully and quickly 1nVes- tigated and the proper treatment prol- fered them. There Is always room In the woodward or laundry for people who are deserving, and they can secure tenn porary employment, where they can re- ceive some of the necessities of life at all times. To those from out of the city who work in the woodward or the laun- dry no money is given, but they are supplied with food and lodging for a certain length of time, while the resi- dents of the city who are temporarily in need of assistance are given work and paid money in proportion to the amount they do.
 MT. Preston stated that the greatest need at present in this city, whereby the problem of assisting the needy and avoiding the pernicious habit of helping those who do not need help. was cen- tral bureau where all complaints and reports of all societies engaged in charit- able work of any nature could make their reports. All facts obtanable should be given to those in charge at this central office, which would be un- der police surveillance, and in that way there would be no opportunity for any one going from one shelter to another and receive assistance at each. If it | were generally known that there was bureau of this kind which did nothing else but look for all suspicious charac- ters and investigate the characters and | history of all persons found soliciting | aims in the city such persons would | give the town a wide berth. At pres ent, even though number of the diff | ferent organizations of like character are working together all are not, and | until this condition prevails the problem cannot be solved. He spoke of the | many cases of fraud which come to light ' every day, where some one is soliciting | funds for one purpose and another, and gave a number of instances which have happened in the past two years. He said that he wished every citizen of ! New Haven would adopt this rule which was spoken of by a local preacher when speaking on a similar topic few days ago, "Never give to a loafer what hard working man can't afford to buy" MT. Preston said that if this rule was strictly adhered to there would be less misery and fewer people would be help less. The indiscriminate charity breeds laziness and encourages those who re-