South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-05-14
The Striking Social
Experiment Where
by One Minister has
Met the Problem of
the Empty Pew by
Seeing that Everyone
In His Congregation
Gets a 10"
By the ReU. William I. Shdttuck.
Pastor of Morgin Memorial Church, Boston

BIZ the ReU. William I. Shattuck.
Pastor of Morgan Memorial Church, Boston.
TIVE Morgan Memorial is church that
finds a job for any of It's members
= who may be in need of it. 1t does
great deal more than that; 1t provides
church. industrial plant, home, clubhouse
and store all in one.
The Morgan Memorial does not help
merely those who seek its help. 1t goes into
The highways and byways searching for those
whom it may be able to assist. The economic
and industrial features and the social side
of its work are important, but the religious
md is never lost to sight. And the co-ordi-
nation of these various efforts has been car
ned out so we'll that sixty-ive per cent OF the
human derelcts whom 1t tries to lift out OF
misery and sin make good unequivOcally.
The foundation of the Churchs financial
structure is an incOnsplcuous obJect-a
brown coffee sack costing twenty-five cents.
Before the war they cost six. Seventy-tive
thousand of these bags constitute the Nor
gan Memorials main source of income.
They are distributed in homes throughout
Greater Boston and elsewhere. About $4,000
Of them are In Boston and suburban homes,
the rest outside, in all parts of New England.
throw into them anything that IS no longer
serviCeable; shoes, old clothing, rags, any
thing that ism t worth keeping.
When the bag is full the church business
office Is notified by telephone or post card,
and trucks go out from the church daily to
bring In the filed bags The trucks are oper-
ated on a schedule carefully worked out
Some suburbs must be visited daily, but
weekly or semi-nonthly trips suffice for
others However, the trucks are kept busy
and the bags are collected without delay
of more than few days at the most. Where
bags are placed outside the city, the Morgan
Memorial pays the freight but about half the
persons with whom the bags are placed are
glad to undertake this expense themselves
There are then fifty or more bags of old
clothes turned in to the church every day.
Promptly on arrival the goods are thoroughly
disinfected, before they are taken out of the
bags Then the sorting begins; unreasonable
goods are held over until more favorable
times. There are in the store room now hun
dreds of trunks filed with Summer clothing
that will be brought TO light when the warm
weather comes
The seasOnable material if it is in fairly
good condition. is priced at once and sent to
one of the church s seven stores-one IN the
group of church buildings, and the other six
scattered through the suburbs. If a hat or
coat cannot be sold in one store it is sent to
another. and before it goes the rounds it is
pretty certain TO find purchaser. Every
thing that comes in the bags Is given out
right 70 the church. so whatever income IS
derived from the sale of the goods is clear.
Articles that are not Immediately Saable
comprise. of course. by far the greater part
of the material. If it is practically nothing
more than rags, the cotton and wool are
separated and the fabric is used in making
rugs.
Goods no longer of value in their present
form, however, are transformed into remark
able creations BY some of the Morgan Mem
Drial workers. Old shoes are made new in
the cobbler shop, mems and women s suits
and coats are cut down to make dresses and
coats for little girls and kniexerbockers for