The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-05

New York, Feb. 1.-The recent publi- cation of another work on the everlast- ing problem of the poor in our great cities is interesting not only for the light 1t throws on a question, the solu- ton of which is increasing in dintcuAty each year, but also as added evidence of the existence of a class of men un- known to America a few years ago. Sociology is one of those recent addi- tions to college curricula which nave not as yet been taken very seriously py irreverent outsiders, and New Horkers derive considerable amusement from the annual visits of presumably earnest young students who inspect the slums and the "Tenderloin," carefully chape- roned by learned professors. The study of sociology, however, is not confined to lectures supplemented by tours of per sonal observation, for in many Of our crowded cities there are now groups of men who are aevoting their lives and their private means to graphing with
 the problem of the poor.
 The extent of these mems activity IS apparent after a glance at the dlrecto- rates of half "a dozen institutions. In the charitable as in the financial world the same names reappear continually and as the Wall Street man finds that the various Boards of Directors whose meetings he must attend absorb most or
 his time so the sociological expert IS in demand all day long, Time Is Tar more valuable in this country than
 money, and though the United States has long been noted for the liberality of it's charities it is only within com paratively recent years that there has come into prominence a large class of men who spend their time as well as their money in philanthropic undertak- ings.
 Perhaps the most interesting features
 of such work today in New York are the settlements and the effort to re- claim and educate the children of the
 streets. Both spring from the recogni-
 ton of the fact that spasmodic relief of
 isolated cases of sufferings has no per
 manent effect for good and is not infre- uuently productive of evil, and both are to some extent guided by the same | men, who are also closely connected
 with the Prison Association Thus,
 J. G. Phelps Stokes. reputed to be sew eral timesc a millionaire, has for a
 number of years made his home at
 the University Settlement In Riverton Street in the heart of the East Side.
 He Is a director of Hartley House. an- other settlement on the West Side, of
 the New York Juvenile Asylum, now situated on Upper Amsterdam Avenue,
 but shortly to move into It's new home
 at Dobbs Ferry. of the Prison Assoeia-
 ton, of the Association for Improving
 the Condition of the Poor, of the Child Labor Commission. of the Peoples In-
 stitute, of Tuskegee School, Booker Washington's celebrated institution in 1 Alabama, and Is Treasurer of the Ma tional Conference of Charities. MT.
 Stokes may be said also to be related
 by marriage to charitable work, for he | is the brOther-in-law of Robert Hun
 ter, who has been for years in charge
 of the University settlement and with
 his wife has recently taken a house in
 Grove Street, by no means an aristo- cratic quarter of New York.
 Another instance of the combination
 of work among children and of the
 movement for better homes for the poor
 is furnished by F. R. L. Gould. also a director of the New York Juvenile Asylum. Mir Gould. who holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was formerly connected with Johns Hopkins University. has made an ex- haustive study abroad of the housing problem. The knowledge thus ac- quired he puts in practice In this coun- try as president of the Suburban Homes Company. a corporation which as its name indicates. builds model homes