The Washington herald., 1911-09-24
SHOWS AN ALARMING INC

question is big and vital enough for any
mans money I asked Mr.. Glenn why
Sage left the whole burden Of distribut-
ing his immense estate to Mrs. Sage.
You will have to wait until you get
to heaven for an answer" he replied.
1t is conceded, however, that the
fortune accumulated with so much
thrift, industry, and sagacity could not
have gone into a wiser or more kindly
management. THE Foundation" Mr..
Glenn said, "does not attempt to re-
lieve individual or family need. Its
effort is to eradicate, so far as possi-
BILE, the cauHes of poverty and igno-
rance, rather than to relieve the suner-
ings of those who are poor or ignorant" "
Colleges wanting funds, persons
needing financial help, churches desir-
ing organs. and towns seeking free
Libraries will be turned away empty.
handed If they apply to Mrs. Sage or
Mr. Glenn. The income from the $1o,-
600. 900 given the Foundation is being
spent, Mr.. Glenn explains. for such
work as the "anti-tuberculosis cam
paign, movements for public recreation
and model tenement houses, the plac-
ing out and management of children
in institutions, the medical inspection
of schools, the extension OF charity or
ganizations, the propaganda for the
prevention of blindness, the study OF
workingmen's insurance. and the inves-
tigation of the salary-loan and chattel-
loan business in the large CITIES Of the
United States"
The Homeless Men of America.
Naturally the tramp, nearly always
poor, occasionally illiterate. is proper
subject for intelligent inquiry. The
Foundation. however, has gone further
than the tramp. 1t is also interested
in the homeless man. All tramps are
homeless, but all homeless men are not
tramps. There are said to be 10000
homeless men in Chicago every winter.
After the panic of October, 1907, word
going up and down the highways and
railroad tracks in all directions that
Chicago would supply free food and
beds TO the unemployed, $4,000 men, II
is estimated, poured into that city.
most of them remaining until spring.
AS a basis for It's research into the
causes that turn some men into timer
ant prowlers and mendicants and others
into swindlers. impostOrs. and writers
of begging letters and still others into
permanent dwellers of cheap lodging
houses. the Foundation has taken the re-
markabl study of Mrs. Alice Willard So
lenberger. In 1900 Mrs. Solenberger. then
Miss Willard. was put in charge Of the
central district of the Chicago bureau
of charities She worked for several
years in a region crowded with lodging
houses. A great throng of men and boys
came within her observation or passed
before her desk. In her study she has
taken 1000 typical cases and has classified
them as an entomologist would classify
so many bugs. Like all scientists, she
approached her task without prejudice.
Manifestly she was full Of sympathy.
even though she was conscientious in her
efforts to obtain the truth.
People living in cities, with homes of
their own and all the ordinary comforts
OF life do not realize that thousands OF
human beings are sleeping nightly out
Of DOORS n stairways. in empty barrels
and boxes. and in beds that are only fit
for beasts. II there are half million
tramps there must he double that num-
Der of homeless men and bOys-not beg
gars for most part, but seasoned work.
ers and periodical workers without fam
lily ties Minneapolis and st. Paul, for
example. near the forests and wheat
fields Of the Northwest. have a large
shifting population of men without
homes.
There are 1G5 lodging houses in Mime
apOlis where beds may be rented for so
cents apiece. In the year 1910 the aver
age number Of dodgers was $500 a night.