The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-24
NEW YORK TOPICS
GOSSIP AND CURRENT COMMENT
FROM THE METROPOLIS.

The Charity Organizations of the
Big Town Didn't Do Well in 1870:
Because of the Various Wall
street SIumps. but the :. p. G. A
Not Only Paid Its Current Ex-
penses. but Lifted Its Mortgage as
WeII-SpeculntiOns to the
Causes. with What Is UndoubtedIS
One of the Real Reasons-HavC
New Workers More sympathy for
Dogs and Cats Than for Their
Fellow Human Beings.
New York. Jan. 23.-It was stated in
cidentany in the newspapers the other
day that whereas the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had
done very we'll last year, had paid its
way easily and lifted a mortgage on its
building beside, all, or nearly all, the
great charitable organizations of the
city had run behind
The deficit in the funds Of the chart
fable societies is not due, their mana
gers say, to any falling off in benevo-
lent impulses on the part of the towns
citizens. but to their cash shortage
arising from Wall Street slumps. The
charity society folk do not explain,
though, how it is that the Wall Street
sumps did not disastrously affect the
income of the Cruelty to Animals So
ciety.
Anomalous. isn't it, that the people
should be willing to give more freely
for the alienation of the suffering of
horses. dogs and cats than for the re-
lief of their fellow human beings?
The anomaly might be explained by
the assumption that there is a larger
portion of women among the support
ers of the Cruelty" society than
among the supporters of the charities
which is probably true-and that the
women with money were not nearly so
hard hit as the men who possess the
same commodity in quantities.
One reason for the prosperity of the
Cruelty" society was explained to the
writer this morning, with some heat,
by an enthusiastic dog fancier, as fol-
lows:
THE Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals has prosperered
amazingly under the organization of
Greater New York. Much to the in
dignatiOn and grief of the mass Of
dog owners, some years ago a state
law gave the society the right to col
lect the annual dog tax in the city.
The first thing that many of the dwell
ers jim the wilderness and frontier
hamlets knew of the fact that they had
been made New Workers. was when
they received notice THAI the society
would be pleased to receive that tax.
Naturally there was a terrible howl.
People who had lived on farms all
their lives and had never dreamed of
paying a license for a watch dog, were
sickened by the CHASTITY idea of sub
scribing involuntarily to the funds of
the Cruelty Society. To add to the
bitterness of feeling. the society, acct
dentally or otherwise, developed the
habit of sending the legal notice to
dog owners in January and February,
with the threat of prosecution If they
cid not pay up at once. Now, the dog
license is good only for one year, and
that year begins on May l. So the
society's demand, coming in January
and February, meant that the unhappy
dog owner would have to pay a years
tax for less than three months and
then pay the tax over again on the
first dav of May.
of course, this may not be done on
purpose; but the financial effect has
been very pretty for the society
1T is no deep pleasure to a lover of
his kind to listen to the various def
nitions that the raVing suburban resi-
dents of New York give to the initials
IS. P. c. A"
There are no more interesting insti-
tutions in New York that the big CEN
trial charity organzations-the Society
for Improving the Condition of the
Poor the Charity Organization Soci-
ETY., the United Hebrew Charities and
the Mission of the Immaculate Con-
ception.
The Charity Organization Is q big
charitable clearing house and con-
trolling board combined. with a lot of
subsidiary and partially subsidiary
cieties in some degree connected with
it. and does not deal directly with the
needy at all. This is reserved, so far
as the general poverty stricken pub
lie is concerned. for the organization
with the many-joined name, the Soci-
ETY. for Improving the Condition of the
Poor, and scores of smaller societies.
The United Hebrew Charities and
the Mission of the Immaculate Con-
ception combine actual relief with
functions somewhat like those of the
Charity Organization Society, so far
as their own people are concerned,
but all the societies work together
most admirably. The whole make
what is probably the finest charitable
course, it has its defects.
The underlying scheme of the whole
combine" is similar to the plan
adopted in many other cities. The
Charity Organization keeps a corps OF
investigators constantly at work
looking up cases of alleged restitution.
Such cases as are reported upon IA
vorably are helped by the other socie-
ties-cases declared frauds or other
wise unworthy are not. The main de-
fects of the system are that sometimes
the lack of morals or some other pc
culiarity of a really needy person acts
uniustly as a bar to relief which ought
10 he forthcoming. and, frequently. the
delay of the investigation puts OFF help
longer than it should.
These defects are offset by the fact
that undoubtedly the investigators
have nipped in the bud many ingen-
ious schemes for grating" on the
charitable impulses of the community,
thus saving many thousands of dol
lars annually for the really deserving,
that would have gone to the fraudu-
lent otherwise: besides, the investi-
gators have found many cases of des-
titution that, without their work.
work. would not have come to light
because of the pride of the destitute.
The most interesting feature of the
whole thing, however, is the remark
able path to practical sociological
study and investigation opened up by
the system.