The San Francisco call., 1906-06-27
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1t has always been a matter of much
concern as to what disposition may be
made of father and mother when they
have reached an age where their eff
forts have market value not COM
mensurate with the cost Of their keep.
In large number of families, owing to
the extravaganza in rearing children,
school taxes, bills for teeth regulating,
starting them in business, etc. parents
fail to provide for themselves a proper
reserve fund TO meet this contingency
and many of us are put in the posi-
ton of doing without an automobile or
Panama hat because our resources
are taxed for the care of these useless
members of the family circle. Among
primitive tribes the elders performed a
certain service in handing down the
records Of the people; they kept mental
minutes of previous meetings, so to
say, and by reciting the poetry trans
mitted to them through the generations
of the tribe they kept alive a supply
of literature that was OF value during
the winter months when the hunting
was poor. But today we have the
newspaper and the subscription edition
with onc-half the set and even
suburban lot given us outright for the
use of our name) and we find such
legends as our elders are fond of re-
peatng decidedly tiresome. DR.. Osler
of Baltimore has spoken on this sub
ject in an advanced strain, but until
his ideas are more generally adopted
some other method of dealing with this
problem must be found. OF course,
various institutions, fraternal, rei-
gious and proniscuous, have done much
to relieve the situation, but there is
always a mass of red tape to be wound,
with inquisitive questions as to family
support, etc, that renders the pro
cedure cumbersome and forces the
average man to keep his parents at
home rather than endure the annoy
ance and strain of shifting the bur
den. Nor is the Lunacy Commission
any more accommodating. Things are
looking UP along this line in San Fran
cisco. though. j. j. Haisch of the Des-
mend kitchens says there are about
six thousand old and indigent men and
women VINO will have to be cared for
in barracks indefinitely. 1T is sur
prising," he says, ito find so many old
people who have no friends or relatives
to whom to look for aid" Why this
surprise? These are stirring times
when the sharpest eye will see the best
openings in all departments of life
The proposed barracks to be built for
the aged and infirm out at the speed
way in the park are bound to be well
supplied with tenants by busy and
grateful public.
Because of A high rate of mortality
formerly observed among those using
the folding bed it has become Gus
tomary to give the purchaser of such
bed a guaranty in the shape of a
safety clutch. by the operation of
which the bed does not fold until de-
sired to do so either by the erstwhile
occupant or any one acting for him in
the matter. This respect of the busi-
ness is likely to change, at least along
the earthquake belt. for l understand
that a firm has been incorporated at
San Jose for the construction and sale
of a folding bed whose particular merit
is the result of the temblor as felt in
that city. 1t seems that the man who
is the promoter of this new company
occupied such a bed upon the fourth
floor of a San Jose building, said to
belong to ]. d. Phelan. who, however,
has no further interest In this bed
business. During the vibrations of the
building, which later collapsed, the
safety clutch of the bed by an inherent
defect, which has now been patented.
released it's warranted hold and per-
mitted the bed to close tightly. In the