The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-04

In the same way the city helps the
adult blind, the veterans Of the civil
war and Of the Spanish-Amcrican war.
and ii attempts 10 settle unhappy do
mestic relations before they 20 before
the courts. In each Of these cases
there must he an investigation of con-
dltions in the home to determine tae
line OF action that is to be taken.
'Ear.y in the present year the city
OF New York decided to consolidate all
these types of investigation under one
body. so as 10 prevent waste of time
and energy in investigating each type
Of need that might develop. The in
vestiSator to-day considers any prob
lem of poverty that has brought the
applicant to the city for public hep.
and various types of investigations
nave been merged into one.
This means a broader outlook on
the part of the city's official visitor.
and II means. correspondingly larger
service to the needy family: for no
longer does the visitor see merely one
type of distress, but through his IA
miliarity with other problems he
learns to view the family as "A whole
and considers an immediate applica-
ton for public help in its relation to
the who.e family problem hat is pre-
scented.
Sometimes h application may he
for the admission of a child to an
institution. when in reality hospital
care for one Of the parents would
permanently obv!ate the need of
breaking up the family by separating
from 1t one of the children.
1T is the duty OF the investigator
under the new bureau of social in-
vcstigatlon not only to prevent the
abuse of the city's institutions but to
save the family from the necessity
of having n member go to IA pub
lie institution for a short or a long
stay. The public relief officials have
had the habit of merely doing or
refusing to do the particular thing
requested Of them. The new spirit
encouraged by the staff OF social in
vestiga;ors is that the real needs
of the whole family are to be met.
The net result of this kind OF
social work among the applicants for
the city's assistance should he a les
sening of the number OF dependents
accepted for public cape and a very
great stimulus to prevent agencies en-
gagged i'm charitable work from over-
tapping each other and furnishing
duplicate relief.
Records of the dependent faml-
lies have been consolidated, making IL
possible now to analyze the problems
Of poverty presented to the city for
treatment with some hope Of getting
back to the causes hat iaduced this
poverty. In New York there are more
than 100000 applications for public
relief in the course of the year. The
obtaining OF reliable data on wages,
rent, housing conditions. working con
dltions AID other factors in this great
multitude Of people who have fallen
behind in the economic race should
lead to constructive proposals for the
prevention OF such forms of poverty
as are ~preventable. Here Is a reser-
voir cf statistical inf rmation OF great
significance that has never been
tapped.
This new plan of rendering real
social service to every applicant for
public help-not merely relitf Of a
temporary nature--is in line with social
tendencies that have been developed by
State governments as well as by mu-
inequalities within the last few years.