Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-04
SOCIAL WORK
.Bv H. Addington Bruce

HROM one point of view it is most admir-
! II able, from another most deplorable, that
- one of our principal industries, and con.
| tinually becoming more important, is what is
| known to those engaged in 1t as social work.
1t is admirable because the increasing ac-
| tiyity in social work-"::he salvage and repair
service of community Housekeeping -teStlfeS
to an increasing huma1itarinism 1t is de-
plorable because the evident great need for
social work can only mean that society is not
vet nearly so enlightened and we'll organized as
it ought to be-.
If it were really enlightened and we'll or
ganzed we should not witness as we do, the
spectacle of great national wealth with an
APPALLING background of misery, vice, crime,
and preventable disease We should not see
multitudes so hopeleSsy handicapped that
armies of paid and unpaid workers have to
labor ceaselesSy in their behalf and for the
safety of the communities wherein they dwell.
Consider for moment this partial list of
the agencies and institutions now sharing in the
manifold tasks of social work:
Churches, charitable societies, hospitals, san
atoriums, dispenSareS, psychological clinics,
educational clinics, classification clinics, hos
pitaT schools, institutions for the insane and
feeble minded, homes for the aged poor, homes
for orphans and deserted children, institutions
for the blind and deaf, law courts. penal in
situations, reform schools.
Besides which, not merely does social work
involve labor for unfortunate and aberrant in
divdualS; it often-nay, more than not-in-
wolves effort for whole families. AS pointed
out by Edward T. DeVine, in his Social Work,
recent and mos: comprehensive survey of this
lanentably necessary phase of human activity
"By whatever name they may be called, the
most essential agencies of social work ARE
those which seek to- conserve family life, to
strengthen or supplement the home, to pro-
vide the income necessary to family life when
Eself-support for any reason fails, to instruct
mothers when necessary in the proper care OF
their children TO discover, and if possible. re-
move destructive influenceS-Such as over
crowdi1g, filth, sweated labor in the home,
strong drink, infectious disease, excessively
long hours at work-which interfere with nor
NAL family life.''
And in this passage, be it noted, Mr.. Devins
indirectly touches on two chief causes OF the
urgency for social work-ignorance aad greed.
If only education were really made universal
and if only society could be brought to ap-
preciate that life is meant for something
nobler than a. scramble for wealth, social work
would soon be infinitely less needed than 1t
is today.
II may, in fact, be splauSbly, argued that
society is involuntary committing suicide by
it's continued TOLERANCE of conditions which
make existence so dire thing to masses ct
men and women and little children.
Certainly at all events the course of wisdom,
so far as insuring the safety and progress OF
society is concerned, does not consist in
perpetual augmenting of relief work. 1t con-
sists, rather, in honest endeavor TO devise ways
and means for making such work Increasingly
necessary.
To this endeavor our lawmakers and our
Judges, our economists and our industrial lead
ers, our administrative officials and our pub
licists, may we'll give their best thought. The
social system clearly needs far-reaching bet
terfnent if civilization itself is to endure.
copyright 1922, by the Associated News.
paperS)