The Washington times., 1904-01-31

know that thousands of dollars
~ or its equivalent is given to
charity every year by the Washington
stores. In fact. the majority of the
population has never given a thought
to the subject.
Why should it? Neither proprietor nor
manager OF any OF the stores has ever
tried to advertise the beneficences OF
the firm or permitted anyone else to
do Il for him and the beneflciaries, it
seems. usually accept donations as a
matter of course. as not meriting any
particular mention. Not more than
three out of every ten donations sent
in answer TO imploring letters or per-
sonai appeals are ever acknowledged
by return thank you"
From information gained at some Of
the oldest stores in the city IL appears
that the donation habit is an old one,
and one that is hard TO break. Incl
dentsny Il was learned. too. that an ef-
fort is being made in some quarters TO
put stop to It altogether.
AS a means to this end one we'll
known firm tried not long ago the
heroic measure OF sending printed cir
cular TO every person whose name was
on its books. which set forth that. no
more donations would be given out by
that particular firm to any person or
cause whatever. Did that stop the de-
mand for donations? Not at all.
Had No Effect.
When the fair season opened begging
letters came pouring In as much as
ever. the writer expressing a delightful
confidence that an exception to the rule
would be made in her favor. So far.
however the firm has remained infexi-
BILE.
Moreover. there are some establish
ments In the city which have followed
this example, but all told. they are so
few as merely to emphasize the fact,
that stores I'm general. big or little, are
a prey for the donation seekers.
In most of them the power 10 pass
on all such applications and decide how
much or how little shall be given Is
vested I'm the head superintendent, and
although he wouldn't admit such
thing for the world. it seems apparent
that he would be willing to resign this
power to another at any moment. Said
one OF these busy men yesterday TO
Times reporter:
During the three winter months the
demands for donations sent by mail
average one hundred a day. Besides
these written requests we have on an
average of twenty-five calls n day from
ladies who are after the same thing.
All Sorts Of Reasons.
'An sorts of reasons are advanced
why we should favor one or another
application-the writer has dealt with
the firm fifteen. twenty or fifty years,
or she used to go to school with my
wife or some member OF the firm, OF
she has sent us from time to time
many customers. and so on.
'.Of course, we never waste time to
point out no one would patronize this
store unless she got her moneys worth
every time for the reason that IL would
80 no good. and, in fact, would giv'
offense. On the contrary. we accept
the inevitable. and in twenty out OF
twenty-five cases give the asked for do
ration.
"Oh yesi Almost every applicant tells
Us exactly just what she would like
Not long ago. for example, we had
fifteen applications from just as many
ladies. all of whom were interested in
a certain fair that was TO be given for
a worthy charity out of town. and
every one OF whom is a customer here
Each wanted a different article.
Twelve Out of Fifteen.
But. Of course, you couldn't give
fifteen donations to one fair?" said the
reporter.
We'll. we sent twelve. Most Of the
applications we get say just what sori
of donation the writer wants, and will
few exceptions none is undulv modest
We are frequently asked for an Upright