Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-23
SOCIAL CENTERS
QUITE FEASIBLE
tCoatinucd From First Page.l


son Stamm. president of the Harris
burg School Board, in few appro-
pirate remarks.
From the pulpit of village church
in upper New York State, Mr.. Ward
first tried to work out his ideals of so
cial contact. AS a Presbyterian clergy
man he opened his manse to the men
of the whole community to be used as
they thought At. 1t became the Mems
Club until the social side became too
large for even its spacious rooms. His
wish was then to close the church as
a place of worship remodeling 1t into
q community center building and
sending his parishioners to worship
with the Methodists. This was pre-
vented by the rival congregation, but
still the young idealist dreamed his
dream that the blood that left the
common heart should leap to common
pulse again"
The Great Common Bond
The need for a general community
center" said Mr.. Ward, lis but the
human impulse for finding the great
common bond. The churches talk
brotherhood, but this work is acting it.
1t is is the one kind of club or gather
ing place where a fellow knows he is
always welcome and won't be asked
out when his money is gone! 1t is no
charity organization. We must get
away from that idea. We are so
prone to feel that the so-called upper
classes, you and I who have brains,
culture and refinement, must stoop
downward to the poorer ones and let
them enjoy looking at our rings while
we lift them up. The word Is not
up" but together" The actual fact
is that the poor are more social by
nature and instinct than the rich who
,k4 Ixv raFafi infNo
There is another class of people who
need the community center more than
either the rich or poor and that is
both"
The School Building
In the old Colonial days the New
England town hall was the general
meeting place for talking over and
threshing out every problem of the
community. 1t is upon this plan that
the public school buildings should be
used, in Mr.. Wards opinion, not as it
is done in New York City where the
idea was started nearly thirty years
ago bat in all that time has never be-
come really vital and alive because
controlled entirely by the school board
instead of the individual members in
the school districts. Last year
5000 lectures were given in
the New York schools and 40 build
ings opened every night in the week.
The people spend $4,000 annually
for community center work and yet
miss the spirit of it. 1t does not get
over into the hearts of the people as
1t should.
The same lack of appreciation is
felt in Philadelphia where the Holman
School League operates the community
center work with the result that only
parents of the school children, who
have a personal interest, respond.
In Chicago the work is not asso-
ciated with the school board at all
with the result that there are but II
social centers and ESQ school districts
which might have been used.
AS women naturally have a closer
supervision upon their children's stud
les and school conditions, Mr.. Ward
believes in appealing to the men first
when undertaking the establishment
of community center.
How Work Was Started
Make them understand it is not in
any way connected with school work
but the school building forms con-
venient central meeting place for dis
cussion of all subjects and for social
intercourse. When / began the work
in Rochester / went to twelve men in
the same neighborhood each with
different point of view and occupation.
talked 1t over with each one alone and
asked him to come. Then we adver-
tised a meeting for certain date in
the schoolhouse to arrange a commun-
ity association. Every voter became
member who lived in the neighbor-
hood If he attended or not. When
the night came only the twelve to
whom / had talked put in an appear
ance! But we grew and soon we
reached the point in our general dis
cussions where to Disagree agreeably"
became our motto. When you get that
far and have the ability to enjoy a
joke together, you have covered much
of the ground. Next came our young
peoples clubs and entertainments
Soon we had community centers in
20 school buildings. We made a point
of singing together, our own songs
written by our own people and sung
to popular airs. We had lectures but
they were chosen by the people and it
was not all arranged beforehand by
q man in an office downtown"
In 1910 the State Legislature of
Wisconsin passed a bill that every
School Board be obliged to provide
light, heat and janitor service in
school buildings wanted by the COM
munity for social purposes. Six other
States copied this law. Unfortunately
Pennsylvania has not been in line to
date Last year there were 10000
community center meetings held in
the otalS VI WlSCoHsln ana the state
owns 100000 feet of educational mo-
ton picture films for use in the
schools. In Milwaukee the people
voted voted 100000 year for the
equipment of their schools for COM
munity center work The Hollis
Johnson bill now pending in Washing
ton is for similar privileges for the
District of Columbia.
Most unique in the annals of com
munity center work is that of Kenosha,
Wis which Mr.. Ward described
"They had Y. M. C. A., said he, |
(which is a good thing in its way
but 1t is like an egg-not so good If 1t |
keeps on being Just an egg. This Y. |
M. c. A. hatched' First they Topped