The chronicle=news., 1914-12-10

Ivy VI tusts. tOWdTuS DetteTnleut.
Many correspondents who were un-
able to report actual Improvement
insist upon the prevailing note of
confidence which ia In marked con-
trast TO the .hesitancy and uncer-
tainty of Il month ago. Though the
trend is unnuestionab!y upward
there still remain areas and line.
OF business in which conditions con-
tinue unfavGrable.
BY far the most gloomy view is
that taken by nearly all the charity
New York City re-
ports applications for relief 45 per
cent more numerous than a year ago.
while in smaller places such organ
'izations. find their work. increased
from 20-per cent to 100 per cent over
last year. Aside from the fact that
the beginning Of winter trings added
burdens to these relief agencies. they
are almost unanimous In reporting
an abnormally large Unemployment
A careful study OF these IMPORTS,
together with those OF trade unions,
state declarations of labor. mayors of
cities and provident loan societies.
emphasizes the fact that we shall be
confronted this winter by a stun
tion which will demand extraordin-
airy philanthropir efforts. Victims of
the war, less direct and less dramat-
ic perhaps than those Of foreign ma
tions. are to be found by thousands
in this country. Because of the pub
lies generous zeal to help the for
|eigner. societies which for years have
been fighting distress n our midst
find themselves in this emergency
with lamentnbly shortened funds to
meet greatly increased duties.
hut 1t must be understood that
charity organizations dea, with those
whose economic position is most pre-
carious. The period of usiness de-
preston has already been of such
long standing that the small reserves
OF the poorer workmen have been de-
pleted. 1t is not when depression
and unemployment first make them
selves evident that charity organiza-
lions are besieged for hep. 1t is af-
ter men have long been out of work.
Only after men have endured months
of unemployment and every other re-
source has failed are the charity or
CARNATIONS overwhelmed with appli-
cations. Therefore. business may
have been picking up tor several
weeks or even months and the char
ity reports would not indicate it. 1t
requires time for financial recovery
to be reflected in factory payrolls.
But it is highly significant that in
the many gloomy letters from char
ity officials, and the hardly more
cheerful reports of trade union au-
Ithorities, there is no note of actual
despair. and no advotac" of untried
Experiments to relieve poverty. A
few cities are entering upon addi-
tional public works to give employ
Iment. But the wild demands so often
heard in certain quarters last August
for all manner of governmental ex-
periments to relieve every element
that was injured by the war seems to
find no response among responsible
Spokesman of labor or the charitable
and philanthropic agencies.
That the ordinary healing process
es of financial and industrial recu-
oeration will in time do its work is
the general opinion. Even in Phila-
delphia, where according to one ALL
thority manufacturing is only so per
cent normal. the Society for Organ
lizing Charity says: ''There-is a most
noticeable change in the feeling and
spirit of the business men The first
shock of the war has passed. Stabil-
Iity of mind has been established,
adoption to changed conditions is
going on, and business men are
hopeful of marked Improvement
within three months.
| Next to charity organizations.
railroads are the most pesslmistic
Several of the great manufacturing
associations insist that an increase
In freight rates would do more fol-