New Britain herald., 1920-12-09
MONTHLY REPORT
 OF CHARITY WORK
Miss Beale Relates to Directors
 What Has Been Done in City

The directors of the New Britain Charity Organization at their monthly meeting last evening approved of a revision of the bylaws through which tho board will change it's meeting nights from monthly to quarterly af- fairs. Miss Helen kcmpton, who is New England representative of the American Association of Family So- cial Workers attended the meeting after having spent the day in look gng over the local system. She ex- pressed herself as being well pleased with the acC omp plishments of the New Britain orgsa n zation.
 Miss Cora NJ. Bcale, agent of the ocal association, presented her report, which wgs as follows:
 Agents Report, November. 1920.
 'o the Directors of The New Britain
 Charity Organization:
 How often we read an interesting m headed with these preliminary
 4rds, twenty-five years ago" Just
 out that time a report from the sharity Organization agent reads, We try to make employment the basis of relief. With the supply of laborers greater than the demand, this tx difficult The agent of twenty five years ago cited the case of a widow asking for food. Her wages were thirty cents n day for a five hour day as the factory was on short time Her rent was s3 a month. She is not so different from the widow of today. On the basis of n wage earner's weekly wage being equal to the monthly rent, the widow we deal with now has just as hard n time when working steadily to make her weekly income of a possible s16- S22 wage cover a rent varying from sl5 to $50. Hours Of labor are short ening; the pay envelope is shrinking: cold weather is near; coal is still going up: rents remain the same; even with food prices somewhat low CT and clothing slightly decreasing in cost. the balance is far from even and the children and babies suffer in con- . sequence. When a cutting must be made in the family budget, the : mother finds the only way she knows IS to diminish the food supply. The mother loses strength. the babies be- come undernourished and fraiI. and | the school children less resistive to disease.
 One paragraph Of twenty-five years ago has very familiar sound. "Our speClui neeu IS TOT cnlldFen'S cloth ing" Month after month. year after year. VIC echo that plea for the chil- dren of our fatherless families. Cloth. ing was provided in thirty-five in. stances during November. The mum. ber of such are greater today be. cause of the large addition of widows since the 1918 epidemic. Until sev. eral more years have elapsed and the older children grow to working ago the help must come undiminished and oft repeated.
 | The Charity Organization is aidine q number of deserted wives and is rather inclined to agree with the agent of a quarter Of century ago who advocated the whipping post foI deserting husbands and wife beat. CTS. He thought, "a jail sentence wa: too good for such brutes.'' While the wage earner Is temporarily re- moved from society and loses hi' freedom. he is warmly housed ana fed. Tn his family all income cease. and unless some organization he. 1 friends them. they go cold and hun. gry. We look forward with longing to the day when Connecticut will SC, fit to force a man tc labor in jai with the knowledge that a part a