New Britain herald., 1915-10-14

Efficiency of the New Britain Charity, orga nization has been doubled in the past two years and during the season of 1914-1915 twenty-four diff. ferent nationalities were represented among those who appealed for and received aid from this association, ac- cording to the reports submitted at the twenty-second annual meeting held last evening.
 Miss Osborn's Report.
 The report of Miss Elsie Osborn, agent of the organization, was pre- sented to the officers as follows:
 "'Business!' cried MarIey's Ghost, to old Scrooge in Dickens Christmas Carol. Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my busi- 5ness; charity mercy, forbearance and benevolence, were all my business!.
 Objects of Organization.
 Whereas Marley's Ghost cried out in vain regret, we in the Charity or ganization are trying to make this a living principle. Surely we may claim such business when our charter ex- pressly states that the objects of this society shall be, CD to promote the welfare of the poor by social and sanitary reforms, CD to promote sys- tematic cooperation of all charitable agencies in the city of New Britain and to be a center of intercommuni- cation between them, (3) to encour- age thrift. self dependence and in dustry, and (4) to see that all cases of Restitution are promptly and prop erly relieved. With this four-fold object our aim must be positive and constructive, and our time must be spent, not in justifying, but in show ing results.
 Tn the matter of promoting vel fare through social and sanitary re- forms, our aim is prevention as we'll ~Rs alleviation. Through hearing the needs of many individuals we come to know the needs of this or that group. This leads to thorough knowledge of our own community, for which we have the necessary basis of facts. It involves the championing of sane re- form measures and enlarged appro- priations for needed state institutions Tt leads to thorough investigation of all quacks, loan sharks, clairvoyants and the like, whose operations prey upon the poor, and the reporting of all discoveries made to the proper au- thorities. We must be ever alert for the housing and sanitary conditions of those whom we visit. Usually the rents are cheap, but the ultimate cost is high enough. The lodger evil is linked with the room crowding and these two elements together are a menace to family life and decent morality.
 "As for systematic cooperation, it is well to bear in mind that our busi- ness is to procure as well as to give relief With the various charities in existence specialized for certain branches of work, how stupid it would be for us to attempt to duplicate their efforts instead of resorting to them for their specialties! The handicap for us in this city is that the town has so few of these, that the Charity organization must act in a great va
 
 ,vidually what would in a larger city be cared for by a day nursery, free dispensary, dental clinic, shelter for \ women, lodging for homeless men, fresh air fund, free employment bureau, and so on.
 'To achieve the best work in CO., operation 1t is necessary to see in terms of the whole and not in part, and there is a demand for intimate relations with police court and city officials, churches, teachers, employ CTS, health board and all the other welfare agencies of the city and state The more intimate the relations the more successful is our work in serv- ing and taking toll of each one.
 Resume of Past Year.
 we find on careful reckoning that during the year we have been in close touch with sixteen churches, fifteen agencies for the public welfare, rang ing from police and probate court tC the Boy Scouts-who rendered us splendid service at holiday time twelve societies and clubs doing wei, fare work in the community, ten paid welfare workers in factories, schools and churches, not to mention count less professional and private indi- : -viduals of whom we had some favor to ask. To recount them all is prac- tically to call the roll of the charitable resources of the city.
 "It goes without saying that a Charity organization agent would need the wisdom of Solomon to settle wisely the appalling questions o1 human welfare placed before her Since no one of us is too heavily en. dowed in this particular the only safe course is to appeal in each case tc