Evening star., 1915-01-09

no special provision has been planned.
The municipality can do much to
steady this situation by providing sep
homelesa heaae sare St no Louis @'r reports re-
i opened municipal lodging house; Buff
| falo, a special conference with oftclals
| to close the police stations to lodgers
and to increase the right kind of ac-
/ commodation provided for them by the
! county lodging house, where there are
| baths and the individualized service
that can be rendered by social workers.
| Chicago has given recognition to the
| need of such service by adding quite
| a large staff of social workers to her
| municipal lodging house equipment,
| "All of the foregoing-public work,
| employment exchanges, decent and
disciplinary care of the homeless-are
| examples of the things the govern
| ment can do at a time like this. Ex-
| amples of public action, of sort con-
sidered unwise by relief experts, are
| burgh's mayor arranged Bundle day
and encouraged the collection of nine
teen carloads of clothing for the poor;
and Philadelphia's emphasis upon the
| tion has already been mentioned.
| But what of private effort? Con-
spicuous, as good sign of the times,
| is the circular letter of the Minneapolis
Civic and Commerce Association ask
| ing all employers, large and small. to
| do two things: (1) To consider care
| fully whether it is not possible to keep
every employe at work throushout the
! winter, and urging this as civic re-
| sponsibility; (2) To decrease work, if
| decreased output is an absolute neces-
| sty, by diminishing the number of
hours work per day rather than the a1t.
| to their membership have been made
| by commercial bodies elsewhere.
Making Odd Jobs Count.
''The United Charities of Chicago has
| had a good response to folder, which
| it has distributed, entitled. about
| That Work You Want Done" This
enumerated the kinds of odd jobs for
which it was prepared to furnish men
and women. The Memphis Associated
| Charities has posted at the various ex-
changes-the real estate, the mer-
| chants, the cotton, etc.-lists of the
men (giving age and equipment, but
no name) for whom 1t was seeking
jobs.
| "Workrooms for women were not a
feature of the relief measures of
1907-S. They have been numerous this
year, owing. in part at least, to the
fact that war relief in England had,
perforce, to take that form. In some
places the attempt has been made to
organize an employment bureau for
women, in addition to giving them the
help of the workroom. Chicago has
been markedly successful in this.
| "Private family agencies on which so
| heavy a share of the winters burden
must rest have succeeded, often. in
uniting the other social agencies of
| their several communities for joint
urging and backing of the public
measures already mentioned. This is
notably true of the charity organiza-
| tion societies, which have usually TAX
| en- the lead in such a plan of cam
! paign.
"The societies have made ready for
| the Increased demands upon them in
| three ways: BY seeking increased sup
port; by employing larger staff of
social workers; by welcoming and
using to the uttermost the services of
! socially minded volunteers. These last
are coming forward as they have never
| come before. Many are deeply stirred
| by the need of the hour, by the obvious
| need for something more than general
| measures however well planned. They
recognize in genuine neighborliness,
! democratic and whole-hearted, the
! best service of all.
| when, however, the desire to do
| something takes the form, as it has in
| some places, of starting new and tenn
| porary relief agencies, social workers
| feel that effort is duplicated and the
situation unnecessarily confused. They
| point out that he who gives his time
| and money to the Strengthening and
| extending of well established and re-
| sponsible relief work gives twice
quite as truly as he who gives
| uuicE1y"