Omaha daily bee., 1914-12-08

OMAHA, Dec. Ito the Editor of The
Bee: Inasmuch as I am about to leave
Omaha, and as my work has not been
generally understood. should like to say
a few words to friends and to the public
in general.
When 1 first came TO Omaha there was
an Associated Charities In name, but not
In fact. Such being the case. I had to
correct many false impressions and also
to allay antagonism which had Justly
arisen, For the first year efforts 10 bring
the public to tho right point OF view oc-
cuped much time. l preferred TO do this
by interesting small groups OF people at
time, who were interested In one and
another family. and again by explaining
things to people individually.
The most important thing seemed to be
To put In strong foundations and to lay
a solid basis for future action. There
had been plenty Of platform speaking in
connection with the organization, and
numbers of out-of-town speakers had
poured In ideas and suggestions. But what
seemed to be needed most was solid work
and a systematic basis for 1t. This meant
that the vast volume OF detail which
passed through our office in the course
OF year must be reduced 10 law and
order.
To reduce things TO system was a diff
cult task because the work OF n charities
office is about the hardest kind OF work
to systematic. l have not been able to
please everyone who has referred cases
OF want. Had tried to do 30 I should
have met with the fate of the man In
Aesop's fable OF THE Man. the Boy and
the ASS" could only do what thought
was right with the resources 1 had to
work with. Ny task was that OF making
patch one inch in diameter cover a rent
two inches in diameter was trying to
do the impossible. Mr.. springborn OF
Cleveland, o., who spoke at our state
conference last April, a man who Is an
expert in social work, stated that for the
population we had 10 deal with In our
two cities the Associated Charities should
have a budget OF $4,000. We had been
endeavorlng TO do the work with about
half OF that amount
Further, there can be no real Associated
Charities without an advisory committee
II Is part OF the necessary machinery. II
should fiji the function OF interpreter
between the office and the public. And,
secondly, 1t should be responsible for just
decisions In problematic cases. i estab-
llshed such a committee and Il has been
running successfully for two years. We
have had an average attendance OF twelve
20 fifteen regularly once a week. We
have reached a point where the different
organizations understand and appreciate
each other and enjoy friendliness. But
we have not yet begun to do that for
which the committee was intended. We
had but brought ourselves into position
10 do good work. We had done but little
more than TO get our roots into the
ground.
/ believe that every charitable organl-
cation and every institution should have
specific work, Sometimes of necessity
there Is an overlapping, but In the main
they should have different functions and
the work OF each should be oo-ordinated.
Institutions such as the hospitals Child
Saving Institute, City Mission, Old Peo-
Pies Home, etc, are static in the system
OF social work, just as the brain and liver
and heart in the human body. The Visit
Ing Nurse association. the juvenile court
and the Associated Charities are the cir
culatOry system and should be constantly
IN communication with and connect up
the work OF the different institutions. II
the work OF any organization or institu-
ton Is weakened the whole system is
impaired and the city suffers.
l believe that system in charity work is
absolutely essential In order TO have sys-
tenn in charity work II Is necessary 70
keep records. just as lawyer or a
physician or university or a school
board keeps records OF their respective
clientage These are not open TO the
public. No one has access TO them except
the workers in the office, OF those who
wish to see them for the purpose OF legit-
innate inquiry Workers In an Associated
Charities office change once in while
and much valuable information is lost
unless 1t Is recorded IN a permanent form.