The Washington herald., 1913-04-27
Washington Expert Makes
Address Before Southern
Sociological Congress.
TALKS ON EFFICIENCY
Other Workers from Capital Are in
Attendance at Convention
In South.

economic conditions in the South, con-
vened here Friday and also had an in
teresting session today. Those attending
from Washington are Miss Julia Lathrop.
chief of the Children's Bureau; A. j. Nc
Kelway, or the National Child Labor
Committee; DR.. Thomas Jess Jones, OF
the Bureau of Education; w. II. Whitta-
ker. superintendent of Occoquan work
house: Jesse Lawson, and Walter 5.
Ufford secretary Of the Associated Char
tiles and Association for the Prevention
of tuberculosis.
At last nights session Walter S.
JIfford general secretary of the Associ-
ated Charities, of Washington, ID. C.,
spoke upon TESTS of Efficiency as APP
piled to Societies for organizing
Charity" He said, in part
Efficiency is watchword OF the age.
In manufacture efficiency expresses itself
in the demand for scientific management;
| i'm education for vocational training; in
| a agriculture for intensive farming. In PM
| lanthropy for prevention.
The question to be answered is much
/ the same in the field of philanthropy as
| in that of manufacture, education, ana
agriculture, namely, What of the prod
uct-not only quantitatively, but qualita-
| lively" Are our schools fitting for lie
and citizenship? Is agriculture keeping
pace with the increase of MOUTHS to be
| fed? Is our philanthropy decreasing pow
| erty pauperism, and crime? How may
we tell? Only by a careful analysis OF
aims and methods, as well as accom-
| plishments.'
Chief Aim of Charity.
MI Ufford defined the chief aim of or
ganized charity as the habilitation OF
| families in distress.
| Organized charity must be prepared TO
meet all tests. We must stand Tor the
integrity of the home Poverty must not
! be permitted to separate widowed
mothers and their children.
The deserted wife problem is compli-
Gated by the criminal act of the deserter.
| The man has still TO be reckoned with.
The community should not be expected
! to take over the mans responsibility
| without a protest. Every effort must be
| made to locate the deserter and to obllge
| him to do his duty. If when found he
still refuses to support his wife and chill
dren. let him be put at hard labor and
his surplus earnings be given to his fam
! lily"
| In speaking of families in which the
wage-earner has tuberculosis Mr.. u
/ ford claimed that preventable sickness
and accident occasioned a vast amount
of poverty While societies are attempt
| ing to devise legislation which shall re-
duce the volume of restitution from pre-
| ventable causes, they must minister TO
| their victims. Here, too the efficiency
| test must be rgidly applied. What OF
the preduct?' Sympathy for the victim
| of tuberculosis must not blind the social
worker to her duty to his children. Tu-
berculosis is a communicable disease
| like smallpox and scarlet fever
Mr. Ufford declared that with the
| "sinele women with children lies a
great opportunity for constructive work
He said: The protection and develop
ment of the newborn infant should be
! the primary concern. This protection
can be best given by the mother, and
in keeping the mother and child together
| the mother is redeemed, while the lie
| of the child is saved
Right Vocation for, Man.
"Still another group to be considered.
said the speaker, lis that of married
couples with children Many families
are constantly on the border line of de-
pendence, chiefly because of lack of earn
| ing mower on the part of the breadwinner
| If the root of the trouble is primarily
| economic and lies in the kind OF JOB
father than in the kind of man, the So
| luton would seem to he in finding the
man better job or an all-the-year-round
occupation. II the trouble is with the
man rather than in the job, then he must
be given some sort of elementary vo-
| cational training He should be tested
| by some vocational expert to learn what
! he is good for. Work in which he Is
| found least inefficient should be sought
| for him
| The last group treated by Mr.. Unord
was that of The Homeless Man. In
| Speaking of this group he said: Inc
homeless man of one city is frequently
the deserving husband of another city.
An efficient society for organizing char
ity will get the man back to his home.
A common experience is that the man
first need is medical examination and
hospital or institutional care. The strong
| arm of the law is needed to compel him
| to undergo physical examination, ana
| there should he humane vagrancy laws
that will send such men to a farm
colony for training and treatment, rather
than to Jail. They should be detained in
such institutions until they cease to be-
come anti-social and are pronounced
physically and mentally At to take their
place in the competitive field of indus
try
legislation Also Needed.
In conclusion Mr.. Ufford said that
while the chief aim OF societies for
1
| family in distress, no social worker is
satisfied to overlook or leave undisturbed
the economic, social, or man-made causes
which have plunged the family below
the line of self-respecting independence.
A test Of the efficiency of such So
ciety is in the promotion of such changes
In the industrial structure through So
cial legislation that man-made poverty
lshall ultimately disappear. Among the
things to be championed in the interest
of prospective citizenship are the elimi-
nation Of the feeble-minded and danger
ously unfit by adequate segregation; vo-
cational training for our boys and girls;
the teaching of social hygiene: the broad
ening of our school curriculum to in
clude physical examination of children
careful record keeping of body growth
and DEVELOPMENT, and expert physical
training; follow-up work in the home
through the school nurse and visiting
housekeeper: the use of the school as a
Ineighborhood and recreation center; wise
direction of the play and sport instinct
and the development of the altruistic
injunction, DO a good turn every day.
All these are in the interest of the chill
dren who in ten or fifteen years from
now are to be wage-earners and citi-
zenssN The final test of efficiency of a
socissv1 for organizing charity is in the
thof