New-York tribune., 1915-03-21
.CHANGE
Overl7OS Social Service Agen-
cies Draw Added Power
from the Institution.

unfortunate girl with small baby applied "a a..
society for help. She claimed 20 have been r,.
ried and told Of having relatives in a si,,.'.
town. She was cared for temporarily, and thru,
the social exchange II was learned that a,o,I..
society knew her. She had been to them. ,ol1 a,
same story, and they had written TO her supno,.,
relatives, who proved to be mythical At N, d.
of application to the other society she had NJ.
toned having an aunt living in one Of The -.
urbs. The visitor from the society which wa,,,.
ing for her at the present time succeeded in lo,.
ino this aunt, and was further saved the dsl.vL /
cident to writing 20 the town where she had all
her relatives lived. The aunt was willing "a :.
ceive the unfortunate girl into her home. Will.
was a good one, and far better for the gIrl a..
an institution would have been. Thus mother ,,I
child did not have to be separated, and neither, a
them became objects Of charity or publicity
Not long ago an old lady was discovered 10 4,
very i'll in an uptown tenement She va, llyi,,
along. and had never made friends wit, n,
neighbors. visiting nurse was called ;,
the home. She reported the fact :,
the social exchange. few days later the Al,
lady had to be removed to Bellevue, where Al.
died without regaining the power of speech. Ju,,
before she passed away she made evident esor,
to tell the nurse who was caring for her sh,.
appeared TO be very important information us
her identity, but unable to make the nur.
understand. She was buried in the potters' a.N
THE EXCHANGE DOES SOME DETECTIVE
WORK AND FINDS A BANK ACCOUNT.
Later, quite by accident the story cane 10 Il,
ears of some one who knew the resources Of II.
exchange. She was able, through their Office, 70
discover the visiting nurse who had gone 10 h.p
the old lady when she was first taken ILL., From
this nurse it was learned that the patien. bad
mentioned having relatives in little town up Ii,
state. The search was carried to this town. whers
it was discovered that this woman not only had
relatives but also bank account which rer.
dered burial in the potter's field unnecessary EV.
IDENTIFY this was the information the old sdy
was vanly trying to give to the nurse In the hos
pital.
The idea of such a confidential exchange has
gripped the imaginations of social workers sll over
the country. In addition to this excha. here IN
New York similar ones are TO be found In PhIs.
delphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago and in
many other cities. The money which is used to
maintain such Office is not suotracted from the
funds which have been given with the expectation
that they would be donated directly to the poor
The social exchange is maintained out Of MONEY
given for that purpose alone, By people Who IN
derstand that while they 20 be giving to
most prosaic object, they in fact setting free
many times the amount of money they give that
may go directly to the people needing help. The
social exchange is simply part Of the business.
like methods which the benevolent public is more
and more insisting that the charitable agencies o.
the city shall adopt.