Evening star., 1921-03-13

| by the committee on Fairgrounds OF
! the Associated Charities. Cuno RI
Rudolph. now the president of tn"
, Associated Charities, with MIR. Weller.
! planned the first public playground
! of the District OF Columbia. The
! Playground Association, which, under
James e West. now chief scout
! executive of the Boy Scouts of Amer
ica, was instrumental in the estab-
/ lishment of the municipal playground
! department of the District govern
! ment, was the successor of the com
| mittee on Fairgrounds of the Asso
| ciated Charities.
Organized White Plague Fight.
1T was in 1903 that the Associated
Charities organized it's committee for
the prevention of consumption This
committee opened the first specialized
| tuberculosis dispensary in the Dis
trict of Columbia, and was succeeded
in 1908 by the present Association for
the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the
District of Columbia. The work of
this association in promoting preyen-
tive health legislation in the District
OF Columbia, IN educational prop
aganda and more recently in the in
PRODUCTION of the modern health
crusade into the public schools and
the establishment of nutrition clinics
for underweIght school children is
well known.
The District of Columbia owes it's
non-support law to the work Of d
volunteer of the Associated Charities,
William II. Baldwin. who, as d mem
Der of one of the District conferences $
OF the society. came to see how large
a part non-support and desertion play
in promoting poverty and distress.
From study of the laws of all the
states on this subject, the results of
which study Mr.. Baldwin published
in book form. he prepared and was
largely instrumental in securing the
adoption of what has come to be re-
garded as a model non-support law.
This has been copied in other states
and has been recommended by the
conference of state commissioners on
uniform state laws for general adop-
ton.
NOn-Support Law Great Help.
Under the non-support law of the
District of Columbia men have paid
in court orders for the support of
their families during recent years a
total of more than 100000. The eco
nomic value Of this contribution in re-
lieving charitable agencies from do
ing for the wife and children what
the man should do. speaks for itself.
But hardly second in Importance is
the moral effect of the statute under
Wnlcn many men VINO nave QeSertcQ
their families and disappea red from the
District have been brought back and
given their choice of contributing an
amount fixed by the court or of going
to the workhouse at OccoQuan. The
choice usually results in the man pre-
ferring to pledge a stated sum to his
wife and children. In case he refuses
so cents day from his earnings at
! Occoquan are paid over to his family.
ut was in 1911 that the Associated
Charities petitioned the Commission
ers of the District of Columbia to
name charities Endorsement COM
! mittee. to consist of representatives
from the civic bodies of the District,
with one or two members at large.
1t was my pleasure to serve as the
first chairman of the committee. so
appointed by the Commissioners. hav-
ing been named by the Board of
Trade as it's representative. The work
of this committee has served a useful
purpose in bringing to the attention
of contributors those charities of the
city which are efficiently organized
and are serving useful purpose.
Under the leadership Of Miss Mabel
T. Boardman, while a Commissioner of
the District. the personnel of the COM
mittee has been increased to include
representatives not only from the Board
of Trade. Chamber of Commerce and
Merchants and Manufacturers Assoc;a-
tions, but the City, Rotary and kiwanis
clubs, the Women's City and the Twen-
tieth Century clubs. 1t is to be hoped
that with this broad representation