Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-09
vor a modification of the Volstead
law to permit light wines and
beers?" do you favor the repeal
of the eighteenth amendment"
CLEVELAND N CHARITY

he VI VI N~iCNCIdIlu OHlO
1 is unique in many ways. Evel
since the time of Tom Johnson, it:
remarkable mayor, it has been quicl
to try out municipal schemes thai
promises better results. It ha:
lately adopted business methods ir
its charity that show remarkable
results. 1t spent last year for char
ity the enormous sum of $3,750,000
and it cost only half of M pc,
cent to collect and administer it
Cleveland has a population Of
about a million souls, and it guar
antees that no person in the city
will 60 hungry OF cold OF naked il
they are not too proud to make
| their wants known, and second that
none of its citizens will be both
cred by solicitations for charitable
purposes the year if they will sub
scribe to one community charity
fund. We learn from the Christian
Science Monitor, which comments
at length on the Cleveland plan of
dispensing charity, that Cleveland
has 10 institutions supported by
the community fund. Each institu-
ton receives a check on the first
of every month to cover its ex-
pe~nditures. Before this system was
| adopted, when each institution col
lected its own funds, it is said to
have cost all the way from IS to 40
per cent to make the collections,
and financial worries constituted
an additional burden. During the
past year, however, says the Mont
tor, the charity institutions got
o9H cents out of every dollar COL
1ected. and the fund itself earned
between $4,000 and $1,000 in in
terest. It goes without saying,
then. that the community fund,
with its business methods, is ap-
proved by those who give as we'll
as by those who receive Its boun-
ties. The money is raised by as
sessing every business concern and
every individual about whom an
estimate can be obtained. Thus
banks were assessed last year SOL
900. and every penny of it was paid.
Industrial concerns likewise were
assessed, and they paid even when
they were losing money. Work
ingmen in the plants were assessed
one or two days pay, and last year
they subscribed S6s0,ooo, of which
81 per cent was collected. This
wear, in the face of adversely and
much unemployment, the working
people of Cleveland have again sub
scribed S650,O0O, and workmen with
Jobs readily agreed to double their
subscriptions when the community
fund guaranteed to provide food,
heat and clothing for those who
were on of work and penniless.
The knowledge which the COM
mittee is striving to drive home to
the people of Cleveland is that
every citizen, no matter whether he
is a day laborer or a bank president,
has some responsibility for the well
fare of his city, according to his
means. And so, out of its past ex-
perience, the committee is evolving
larger plans for the future. The
population of Cleveland is approx
mately 1000, 600. 1t is estimated
that 100000 should be able to give
something for charity and welfare
work. From a survey it has made
the committee has divided these
quarter of a million citizens into
the following classes: 100000 who
can give 10 cents a week, $4,000
about 20 cents, $4,000 about 80
cents, lO,OUp dUOut TO ASiilo, iO,OOo
about so cents, and five groups Of
5000 each able to give 81, So, 81,
Sc, $40, respectively. If that plan
is put into operation next year,
Mr.. Charles E. Adams, chairman
of the community fund, believes
that the Cleveland Community
Fund will have over $1,000 900 for
charity and welfare work without
any serious drain upon the incomes
of its contributors.
OF course, the community plan
of giving to charity is not original,
though Cleveland has perhaps car
ried it out more thoroughly and
completely than most cities. Many
cities have adopted the community
chest plan, both for charity giving
and public spirit enterprises. 1t
grew up during the war when the
country was flooded with collec
tors for all sorts of charitable en-
terprises, a few of which we're not
worthy of support, because most of