New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-15
is CHARITY FUTILE?
Mrs. Amos Pinchot Corrects Her
Statement of Josephine Shaw
LowelPs Views.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: May l ask you to give me space
to correct a misstatement of mine as
to Josephine Shaw Lowell's attitude
toward charity? said, in an interview
published in The Tribune on November
26, that after devoting her whole life
to philanthropy she came to see "the
futility of all charity work, and so
she stopped" The fact is, which |
had not known, that up to her last i'll
ness she worked as a member of the
executive committee of the Charity Or
ganization Society and also on the Cor
lears district committee of the c. o. S.
and regularly attended the meetings Of
each Of these committees. She consid-
cred all charity inadequate, but not,
as | said, futile. | think | can show
clearly her attitude toward both labor
and charity by quoting from some Of
her writings.
In 1889. when she began to take up
work for the emancipation of labor,
she wrote Il quote from a private let
ter published in "The Philanthropic
Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell" by
W. K. Stewart, at p. 1851: Give hum
drcd thousand wage earners in this
city, 100000 of them women and 10000
of these working under dreadful condi-
lions and for starvation wages. That
is more vital than the $4,000 depend
ents, counting the children. If the
working people had all they ought to
have. we should not have the paupers
and criminals. It is better to save
them before they go under than to
spend your life fishing them out when
thew are half drowned and taking care
of them afterward, Exactly what
can do | do not know, but | want the
time to try, and as my term ON the
State Board of Charities is up now,
had to seize the opportunity to leave
the board"
In another letter, written also in
1859, she says: THE interests OF the
working people are of paramount i'm
portance simply because they are the
majority of the whole people, and the
indifference and ignorance and harsh
ness felt and expressed against them
by so many good people is simply aw-
full to me, and | must try TO help them,
If ] can, and leave the broken down
paupers to others"
But she felt charity was necessary
until labor conditions should be
changed. The following quotations
taken from her article entitled "The
True Aim of Charity Organization So
cieties," published in "The Forum" for
June, 1896, show her position in regard
to charity and will, hope, correct the
wrong impression | gave: "The aim Of
a charity organization society should
be to get people 20 do far more in
every way for those in distress than
they have ever thought of doing. Il
should teach them that people ought
to give more time, thought and money
than they are in the habit of giving"
And earlier in the same article she
says: 'Another mistake is made in
taking a negative position; in telling
people not 20 give carolessly and self
ishly, instead of telling them that they
must give carefully and thoughtfully;
in constantly saying don't instead of
do The societies thereby expose
themselves TO the charge Of telling peo-
pie that they must not help the poor,
when their one object is to help the
poor and to make other people help
them. GERTRUDE NJ. PINCHOT.
New York, Dec. 8, 1914.