The Washington times., 1915-01-31
Corporations Volunteer to Dis
tribute Bundles From Char.
liable for Homeless.
WOMEN BEsIEeE KITCHENS
Mrs. Belmont Is Shocked When
Young and Old Bring Hun
My Babies to Her.

xsnetal on "bundle day." on Thursday
next.
Railroads, express companies. tels-
graph companies. the board Of educa-
tion, the police department, depart
rnsnt stores, churches, will collect the
bundles free.
President Mackey. of the Postal. sent
the company full force Of messengers
out with 10000 tags. which were de-
livered to the churches. On the COM
mittee working for the needy are Mrs.
James Speyer. Mrs. Cornelius Wander
bit, Mrs. Vincent Astor. Mrs. Cabot
Ward, and Mrs. willard Straight.
Meantime efforts are being made in
many quarters to feed the poor.
II never knew such shocking distress
existed in this city," commented Mrs.
o. H. P. Belmont. as the last poor
woman departed from the bread line
Which she established with big bag
Of food.
Ninety women. ranging in age from
twenty to seventy years, many Of them
wearing clothing that was mere shreds.
free soup Kitchen. Forty-nrst street,
when the doors opened.
Many of the women, whose husbands
had been long out Of work, or VINO
any money to support their families.
were accompanied by several children.
The youngest was baby OF eight
months, whom the mother insisted upon
feeding soup, instead of tho milk OF
fered.
Her Baby Was Starving.
He Dis starving" she said to Mrs.
Morgan, in charge Of the soup kitchen.
Milk is too thin. He needs SOUP" she
insisted. 1T is more nourishing."
Assisting Mrs. Belmont in this dis
tribution were Mrs. William Jay and
Mrs. Charles Childs.
hundred shirt waists" said Mrs. Bel
mont. when I opened the free soup
kitchen three weeks ago l didn't think
Of anything else. but such examples OF
have led us to help in other ways.
Coats Their Only Clothing.
For instance. we saw that many
Of the women came here and ate with
their coats On. They refused to take
them off, because. they said. their only
other garment was q Newspaper wrap
ping" said Mrs. Belmont. "One girl
told Us that she finally procured a Job
a. a dishwasher In a restaurant, but
whom she went to work the proprietor
demanded that she take off her coat.
He said she couldn't do good work with
It on. How could L. she said. when
had nothing else on She had been
out of work for weeks and lost this
work because she actually lacked suf-
ficient clothing to appear even in a
kitchen.
Many simllsr cases have come to
our attention, 80 We shall furnish
large number Of shirt waists this week
to the girls and women who come
here said Mrs. Belmont. Il never
dreamed that such conditions existed
OF all the cases which have come to
our attention here was that told by
four girls. who rented a little attic
room. for which they paid Is cents q
there was only room in a corner for
each girl to sit up against the wall and
sleep. They lave been existing this
way for several weeks and they said
Finally. one Of the girls got place
at $3.50 a week. and said, as she could
ahord something little better. she
would give up her corner, to a girl
IT these conditions had not come to
our attention here l should never have
believed them"
Bless Their BenefactOrs.
With tears Of gratitude streaming
down their faces. many Of the aged
women who accepted the bags Of food
yesterday from the women Of society
hu u,,lxa
and invoked blessing upon them
May God bless YOU" muttered the
helpless women. now assured Of food
and comfort over Sunday.
Mrs. Belmont was told that several
mon were standing outside the build
ing. What do they want?" she asked.
Food. I presume, replied one of the
women.
"Well." said Mrs. Belmont. I'VE are
not serving men here. There are many
bread lines for them. and, besides If
they, were to come here they soon
always do. you know she said.
I'VE are trying to patchs. up the
errors men have made" she said. I'VE
are working for suffrage. so that there
shall not be so many errors In the ru-
ture. Even in this crisis. men espe.
cially those Of the city--administration,
seem to be helpless in affording any
RELIEF. 1t only shows how much women
are needed In municipal management.
Whv don't all these city committees
that have been raising money. spend It?
Are they waiting till the winter Is over?
AZ soon as $500 was subscribed to this
work. we began spending the money.
The need Is urgent now"
New to Broadway.
Broadway's money spenders saw
how 1t feels to be desperately hungry
Past the side door of the Hotel Knick-
erbocker, one of the SWEETEST" OF New
York's hotels. filed line of 1900 rag
ged. famished creatures. They had
stood in line for two hours in near.
zero weather to get a free cup Of cof.
fee and a sandwich.
For three hours it was the bigges,
show on Broadway-a drama of striking
contrasts. Under the eyes of rich,
gowned women, protected from the Gold
by expensive furs. and men swathed tc
the neck IN heavy overccRts. the pro
ceseion Of thinly clad women end mer
surxsd slowly toward the doo''. where