The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24
WHAT BECOMES OF THE WIDOWS?
By FRANCIS H. M'LEAN Association Societies Organizins Charity

Exclusive service The Survey Press Bureau)
 (Although the Russel Sage Founda-
 tion, through a special department, has been engaged for the last few years in proselytizing in order to ere
 ate organized charity societies through out the country, new association mas recently been formed for this purpose. The existing charity organization so- cieties felt that the work they were performing was so necessary for any community that a number of them band | ed together to induce all cities and
 townsto follow their lead and secure
 the same benefits their own cities have
 enjoyed. This leaves the Russell Sage
 Foundation to do the intensive work
 of education while the new society
 does the extensive work of forming
 new societies.)
 1 What becomes of the widows? is a question asked in a little circular re- gently issued by the National Associa- ton of Societies for Organizing Char ity. It is amazing to see In city after
 city, town after town, where there is | unorganiZed charity and where no one l feels the responsibility, how little it actually knows about what is hap | pening in families of widows. This ig-
 norance plainly indicates the underly- | ing neglect wherever there is no sys- | tematic means of looking after the
 welfare of this class of families Every one will agree that these cases re- | quire attention, that the widow may break down and the children may be
 scattered for lack of constant wise ad- vice and planned relief.
 l As a matter of fact, the neglect of
 the widow typifes the neglect of prac- tically every other kind of neglected | families, in cities where there is no organized effort toward helping them | to help themselves through an Asso- ciated Charities or Society for Organ 1 izlng Charity.
 1 So the societies which have been or ganized have jointed together in a na- tional organization. These societies are
 in, cities ranging in population from 500O
 to 4000,0oo. They all know that this type I of organization is required in every city,
 town and hamlet in the country, if we l are not going to develop in our smaller
 communities particularly, the genuine
 uauper class of feeble minded, sickly and
 delinquent children. You may be disin- | cined to believe this, but as a matter of fact the worst family problems that l I have run across in four years of field
 work have been run down American fam | flies in our small cities and towns, who 1 have been the victim of uninteligent | sporadic attention on the part Of kind | hearted people, but with no one to de- | velop plans for them.
 l The absence of an Associated Charities | in any town will soon come to be recog- mixed as a sign of backwardness, as a
 sign that it cared little for civic advance. | For it must be understood that in tke small cities the Associated Charities. in
 most cases, is apt to be the whole show"
 so far as so-called preventive charity is
 concerned. It is oftentmes the one to
 arouse the community in need of edu- cation and prevention of tuberculosis the value of medical inspection and the juve-
 nile court to the importance of having ordinary sanitary regulations and to the
 need of recreation opportunities for chill dren. In other words, it must outline and carry out whole social programme with | the cooperation of all the organizations
 and persons who are really interested. | The small city. unlike the larger places, | starts with it's dependent families. not with large number of social theories, as is so often the case in big cities. When you find a strong organization which reveals why dependent families are de-
 pendent you will also find almost in-
 evitaby a society which is bound event