The New York herald., 1921-01-09
CITY ASYLUMS HURT
BY CHARITY DRIVES
Dependent Men and Women
Victims of Lack Of Finan-
cial Aid.
GRAVE CRISIS FACED
Protestant Institutions Are in
Worst Shape, COler
Reports.
GRAVE CRISIS FACET

AS result of numerous charity drives
and the failure of the public to properly
provide for the charitable institutions
of the metropolis many of these asylums
for the citys dependent men, women
and children are facing the gravest
financial crisis in their history, said
Bird 5. Coler. Commissioner of the De-
partment of Public Welfare. in making
public Yesterday the deficits reported to
him. He announced that the Protestant
institutions were in a most serious con-
dition as a result of inadequate finan-
cial support The total deficit of these
institutions alone. he said. amounted to
more than $234,000. Although the Cath
olic and Jewish institutions were also
in need of additional funds it was the
institutions conducted by the Protestants
that were suffering most. He added
MANY of the charitable institutions
of the city which are affiliated with the
Department OF Public Welfare and re-
ceve an annual appropriation for the
care of the dependents committed TO
them by the department are sadly in
need of immediate financial assistance.
Money is needed at once to continue The
religious. moral and physical education
of the thousands of children committed
to their care. AT a time like this, when
hard times is knocking at our own doors
we need all the money that the city can
afford TO spend on charity work. Mr..
Hoover's ambition to take care of the
children in Europe. clothe and feed them.
&c, is very praiseworthy, but it seems
to me that charity begins in our own
country. We have need of great
amount of money in our child caring in
stitutions in this great city, and / think
it would be advisable to see that they
are provided for before we go into for
eign lands with our charity money"
Commissioner Coler told specifically
the institutions that had reported the
low state of their finances to him. He
said that much OF the money that might
ordinarily have been given to these in
stitutions by chartably inclined folk
had gone to the insistent men and wom-
en- who have conducted the recent pro-
fessional charity drives in New York.
This situation coupled with the fact that
the arrivalsof "hard times resulted in
retrenching on the part of the public
who annually give to the support of the
charitable institutions is cause of the
meagre resources of these institutions.
The institutions in need of immediate
assistance in financial way and the
amount of their individual deficit is as
follows: Brooklyn Children's Aid So
ciety, $4,000; Brooklyn Industrial
School and Home for Destitute Children.
$4,000: Leake and Watts Orphan
Home. $4,000: Hope Farm. $4,000;
Colored Orphan Asylum. $1,000; Indus
trial School Association, E. D., $4,000 ;
New York Nursery and Childrens Hos
pital. 1927, 900; Children's Village. S10,-
600; Society for the Aid of Frlendless
Women and Children. $4,000. In all
this represents a need of S234.000 this
year If these institutions are to carry
their work forward in the same efficient
manner that they have done in the past
Protestants. Catholics and Jews are
called upon to make up this deficit