The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-02-08
10000 Hungry Children.

i NO OF lIhh6N kh"b AtAS WV
the parents OF the children supplied free
shall know Of the charitable feature OF the
scheme.
10000 Hungry Children.
"I make my estimate" he said, first. on
the number of evictions in New York ;
second, en- the number OF families that are
actually In distress In New York, and, third,
on the number Of employed'm men and women
here.
son the basis OF those figures. I cant see
how there can be less than 10000 children
who frequently go to school hungry.
1.-THE proposal which I should make or
practically the seme scheme that exists in
Paris and other European cities. There are
In all cities q great many widows and
whose hours OF labor interfere with prepar.
ing meals for the children. There are a great
many other cases where The mother Is III, IN
the hospital perhaps. Now, the wages In q
the parents can't afford TO have a caretaker
come In n cook for the children. "
No Class Distinction.
II would suggest that a committee Of the
Board Of Education. re!ing With men IKE
Sdciety Mr.. Allen, OF the Society for the
Improvement of the Condition of the Poor,
and Mr.. Breeze, "of the Children's Aid
Society, sbould provide for the investigation
vi LILO SoEOb ~ Ill ~ w ~
upderfed, and tickets should be given Ia
them free SO long as the distress In the family
continues. II the same tickets we're used fol
the classics OF children who paid and those
who didn't pay, there would be no class
distinction between the children, and even
the children themselves would not know
which were receiving meals free, for the
plan proposes to furnish the tickets TO the
'Tbis plan OF feeding children In the
schools is In operation now In many OF the
large cities OF Europe. In 1887. these being the
last available statistics, 100000 meals were
Paris alone, and about 40'per cent Of these
meals were paid for by. parents.
Successful in England. B..
IT have had twelve yeafA' experience ip
charitable and relief work, and I consider
this the most harmless form of relief that car
be given. In the oase OF children with
drunken or disreputable parents there is nc
other way Of helping the child unless It, it
taken away and put In an institution and
unless there is some form Of active cruelty
this ia rarely done. Children are %chronically
npderfed, and the only way 10 save them Is
20 iced them at school and give them q chance
10 develop physically and mentally In such 9
way as TO be able to overcome the poverty In
which they find themselves.
"The head master OF Saffron Hill School, In
England, who has studied the operation o.
The plan for ten years, says that 1t has been
the children there. One of the remarkable
features which be reports Is that many
parents, whose children have been fed In
times OF industrial depre sion, have later
paid back TO the school the cost OF all the free
meals furnished. ....-
City Should Pay.
"You Will recall hat It was maintained In
the days when free public schools were being
established that 1t would destroy the indie
pendence Of the parents. 1t was argued that
parents should be responsible for the educa.
ton OF their children. It was said that II
they we're not held responsible they would
lose interest In their children and be pauper
tied. More or less Of this same feeling
existing when Fairgrounds and public parks
baths and various other things were under
taken for the benefit Of the children. Free
school BOOKS were bitterly opposed on the
same grounds. a."
"However, this plan does not look TO the
wholesale giving OF gratuitous meals. They
should be paid for whenever 1t Ia possible
Only in cases Of actual need and distress
should the ehildren'b be fed free."< i.
And at the public expenseT
Eyes i think so. The cost would not bt
great, and under the direction OF The city
many objections would be overcome"