The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-28
Who Are Its Friends ?

be placed in charge OF the Associated
Charities
Who Are Its Friends?
1t is interesting to note, since the case
of the negro Henderson brought the crit
cism of the Associated Charities out into
the open, who are the friends of the
Institution and who are its enemies. DIR.
Eaves, in his first letter, states that "in-
calculable damage has been done to the
poor who depend on the Associated Char
itios. on account of the publicity given
the Henderson case" If DR. Eaves was
as close to the poor-and the hungry and
the unfortunate and the i'll and broken
hearted and the sorrowing people of Bir-
mingham as a few sl2 a week newspaper
reporters, he would be of a different frame
of mind.
The enemies of the Associated Chari-
ties are, first, among these very unfor-
tunate people who are down and out and
have to fall back on charity; second,
among the middle classes of the citizen
ship whose bank accounts are not SO
large that they are ever called upon to
give much money to charity; and, third,
among the religious, sympathetic, Chris
tian humans who have not risen to the |
intellectual heights of Aristotle and De-
mosthenes and have yet few remaining
sparks of love and sympathy in their
| breasts. Now who are the friends of
the Associated Charities? They are, first,
the successful. prominent and wealthy
citizens of the town who are annually
called upon to give much money to char
ity by reason of their wealth, and, Sec
ond, certain class of reformers who
are trying to correct on paper the mis-
takes made by parcel of immortal flesh. |
The two classifications are general, and
individual exceptions will easily be found
to both.
Then let's ask the question: Which
| ic hn iaf fal f.if for
Was the institution organized for the
benefit of the. recipient of aims or for
the benefit of the giver of aims? Is it
conducted to give meat to the hungry,
kind words to the sorrowing, relief to
the sick. or is it conducted to relieve
the wealthy of the bother of being asked
for aims, so that when a beggar comes
into a place of BUSINESS. you can point
your finger at the Associated Charities
card hanging over your desk and get
rid of the poor devil in one minute, where
otherwise 1t might have taken 30 and
left unpleasant memories behind? If the
criticism of the institution is among the
poor and among the people who see the
most of the poor. then it surely must not
be doing any great benefit for them.
What's the answer?
The Work Is Good Work
Now then, we come down to the actual
ciated Charities under its present man
agement and present methods. 1t is a
| good work 1t is work that is neees-
| sary and a work that has for it's object
the ultimate good of mankind.
| But it is not charity.
The name of the institution should be
changed, il the management is not to be.
to the Birmingham Welfare Bureau. Or
| the McGrath Detective agency. That
| latter, however, is an unwise attempt
| at joke: for the name Welfare Bu-
| reau is suggested in all seriousness. There
| is a difference, a vast difference, between
sociology and charity. The so-caled
present Associated Charities is doing a
sociological work, which. as said before,
! is a good work. but it is being dpne
| to the exclusion of the charity end of
F.! the bargain. The same man can't do
both; they're too big a question to COM
bine.
Charities and is hungry. lae should be
given something to eat. A scientific in
vestgation should not be started as to
whether or not he is hungry and whether
or not there are any sociological rea-
sons why the mans descendants in the
| fourth generation might be immoral in
case he is now given piece of pie. That
sound ridiculous. and it is; but it isn't
any more ridiculous than some of the
things that are going on at the Associat-
ed Charities.
There are but two unfortunate and dis
tressing features to this whole contro-
versy. One is that criticism apparently
has fallen on the acting secretary of the
Associated Charities, Miss Payne, by rea-
son of Mr.. AfcGrath's absence, and the
other that such criticism of Mr. Nc
Grath as has been made should be done
through the press. First, as far as is
known. Miss Payne did nothing in the
case but what she was bound by the
rules and regulations of the office to do, |
and so 1t is only Just to state that no
criticism has been meant for her. Sec
ond, while it is unfortunate and distaste- |
ful to criticise any man through the
press, at the same time Mr.. McGrath is
a public officer in charge of public funds |
and IL he has not seen fit to take coeniz- |
ance of private criticism. much of which |
1t is known has come to his ears then
the only course remaining is public crit |
icsm.
MIR. McGrath's Figures
In Mr.. McGraths letter in answer to
the criticism made against him he en-
deavors to show how Anuch good he is
doing to the poor by citing his own fig |
ures made from his own report The We
racity of these figures is not questioned, |
but his defense would certainly have
more weight with the public had he Of
fered some other proofs Incidentally. no.
tice some of the statistics Mr.. McGrath /
cited Our homeless man department