The Washington times., 1914-11-11

| Last wear JohG Doe, puDnc-SplTltca
citizen Of Cleveland, Ohio, having given
to one charity. found himself besieged
| with requests for s. here, for $40 there,
| for 500 for another charity. and with
an endless succession of tickets for
benefits. charity halls. and sustaining
| memberships.
John Doe gave for a while, kept little
! track OF what he gave, and concluded
before the year was half over he had
given much more than he really had
so charity lost the difference between
what John Doe thought he had given
and what he really had given, plus the
good will of John Doe.
Cleveland social workers realized this
loss. About one year ago they began
treating John Doe differently. Through
central federation of charity and
philanthropy they sent John Doee one
subscription blank, setting forth the
city's needs in charity, and guaranteed
him immunity from any more appeals
from any Of the federated agencies.
The theory vas that John Doe would
had the year before, and the saving Of
wear and tear on John Does nerves
would win his good will. a business as
set too often overlooked in charity
work
Shows 100000 Gain.
A pretty theory, critics admitted. but
a theory that would not work. Friends
OF the plan, with inward trepidation and
outward assurance. promised an in
crease of $4,000 for the first year in
CIeveland's charity budget. War times
intervened. hard times came, the cleo
to1 f.rl-
but despite all that the new plan showed
a Sl0O, 600 gain. instead Of the promised
Sc, 900 increase.
That is the story of Cleveland's un-
usual experiment in systematiZed chari-
ties. as related to social workers OF
Washington, assembled at Mrs. Chris
tiar Hemmick's home yesterday, by G.
w Williams. executive secretary OF the
rev civic council.
This John Doe, charitywise, is one
Of our most populous families. Mr..
williams asserts. And the conditions
that faced Cleveland are to be found in
most other cities. he believes. Local
conditions must affect the method by
which these conditions are met. he ad-
Elits.
of the eight years study and survey
made of Cleveland conditions, and use
the skeleton of the system introduced
there. Dayton is trying the plan, Des
Mcines is working out one. and Spring
field. Mass, has included many OF its
agencies in such an arrangement. SAID
NJ Williams
Some Surprising Facts.
Cur survey brought out some sur
prising facts. In all Cleveland, less
-han 5000 persons We're contributing
SIMS of - or more to charities. Be-
tween 1907 and 1909 there was a de-
crease OF II per cent in the number
Of contributors, though the total sum
contributed was greater
We found that fifty-fve persons
gave "a per cent of the total budget.
BY the death of four persons. had
they failed to make any provision
for philanthrophy, we would have
lost Il per cent of our revenue.
Such a condition, when reduced to
figures, was alarming. Social work
ers saw the danger of it. Hence this
new plan, which tends to broaden
the range of support, and to increase
that biggest item OF capital In phil
anthropic work, good will.
No organized service effort can he
effective without newspaper aid. Mr. |
Williams asserted. He paid tribute to
newspa pers Of Cleveland in his address
10 the settlement workers. and later to
The Times representative enlarged upon
this point. He added:
The old idea Inai the intimate ma /
lure OF much OF our social service
effort precludes publicity is the re-
suit of wrong thinking. One result
of limited and inadequate publicity !
methods is the present narrow ap- |
peal of many OF our best social agen-
Cies to contributors.
Newspaper Cooperation.
What has been accomplished in |
Cleveland would not have been pos
sible without the cooperation of the
newspapers with our publicity de-
partnlcnt. Each paper has given us
an average space of a page a week
to the exploitation Of our work. OF
course, this can he done, if intelli-
sence Is applied, without in the least i