Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-19

| cation. For a free experimental sample write
direct to the Emergency Laboratories. SO West
| Twenty fifth street. New York city.
| will be watched with intense interest by
all who are engaged in similar philan-
! throp endeavors.
Plans of the Association.
| One of the gentlemen who has been
active in the movement described the
plans of the association to me as fol-
lows:
THE building will be situated at La
Fayette street and Bond street. 1t will
not be mere soup and lodging house.
but a workshop as well. and he who
does not work shall not >eat. This is
merely to take care of the worthy men
| who are willing and industrious. The
| home, therefore will not appeal to the
professional vagrant.
The influx of professional loafers into
the city has staggered the charity or
CARNATIONS. BY thousands they have
been trooping into New York in the be-
guess right. and by playing on the sym
pathies of credulous people these cold
days they live we'll. 1t is difficult to
discriminate between man genuinely
This will be the purpose of the proposed
| home. big workshop will keep the
men busy throughout the day. There will
be furniture repair shop. as that Is
| work any man can do under the direction
| of skilled foreman
New York Is capable of caring for
| Its unemployed. but 1t must be done in
thoroughly practical way. Charity lodg-
ing houses are theoretically good. but
| they are often imposed upon. Men live
| there in warmth and comfort. and sell
dom try to look for work. BY making
thu men work on the premises the new
| workshop-home will separate the earnest
| men from the drones.
| Through a combination of trade con-
ditions there have never before been so
many homeless and suffering men and
boys in the city, I should say there are
10000. Perhaps $500 are in straits
the ones who should be befriended in
practical way. This should be a self
sustaining charity through the profits ac-
cruing through the furniture repairing. No
man who enters his name need feel any
humiliation. as he may be sure he is earn
ing his lodging and food"
Bread Line Maintained.
What is known as the bread line' at
| The Bowery Mission at No. 80 the
Bowery, is usually abandoned at this sea-
son of the year, but. owing to the large
number Of men out of employment, it
is still being maintained, and regularly
at midnight half a loaf of bread and a
large tin cup full Of coffee is handed out
to motley throng of humanity. who
form a procession regularly and wait for
hours In line. The Bowery Mission is
a famous place. 1t has been conducted
by church people for many years. and
has done q great deal of good. 1t is
located in one of the worst centers of
vice in the entire world. surrounded by
lrumshops. dancehouses. ten-cent lodging
houses, pawnshops and cheap restaurants.
which are patronized by the lowest class
es of humanity In this great city
| The bread line has its regular as we'll
as casual patrons. They come from all
parts of New York. from over Brooklyn
brioge. from Harlem. from the docks
from: the Chinese quarter. from the Ghetto
and from wherever vice poverty and
vagrancy prevail. Many of the patrons
are professional tramps. panhandlers,
| thieves. pickpockets. yeggmen and ordi-
narv Migrants. lodging house loafers. run
away boys. broken down sports, dissolute
drunkards, diseased and dying creatures
| and all classes of criminals, with a mix
ture of honest men. who are out of work
and are compelled to take advantage of
this opportunity to satisfy the pangs of
hunger.
| How many men In the bread line are
honest workmen is question that no.
body can answer but it Is fair to as
sumo that the increase during the past
winter and this spring Is owing to the
discharge of thousands of workmen from
| manufacturing establishments up and
down both sides Of New York. Per-
haps an even larger number are ordinary
labOrers who have drifted back to this
| city from various places in the country
where they have been engaged in railway
construction and other lines of employ
ment and have been discharged. because
such enterprises have been suspended or
abandoned.
Half Are Honest Workmen.
An inspector of one of the charitable
societies who has been investigating ap-
peals for relief for many years and is
familiar with all kinds of frauds and i'm
pastures tells me that he believes that at
least one-half of the men in the bread line
are honest workmen out Of employment
who have no other way to get food. But
the other half are idle. vicious tramps
and yeggmen, who will not work unless
compelled to. and drift to New York dur
ing the winter season because they can
find food and lodging here more easily
than out in the country. When the warm
spring months open be says. they leave
the city and return to the road.
1t would be cruel to withhold any aid
| that may be afforded to the worthy men
In the bread line and it is equally wrong
to encourage worthless tramps and yegg-
! professional charity workers in this city
has not been able to devise method by
which the good may be distinguished from
the bad and the worthy from the I'M
worthy. The Salvation Army people who
| take care of several thousand hungry.
wretched mortals every day. never give
even a crumb of bread or a cup Of coffee
| without some form of compensation.
Every man who occupies bunk in their
lodging house has to pay for it by labor
and that rule has become SO well under
stood that lazy tramps do not go to their
relief agencies. But the people at the
| Bowery Mission ask no questions They
are entirely impartial and they pass out
bread and coffee to every one who ap-
plies