Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-02

thousands Of washingtonians who give
little or nothing to charity, for they ar
not in touch with It's possibilities, ano
what is given comes spasmodically
often in disproportion.
There are also many overworked busl-
ness men and capitalists who are poster
ed to distraction by the persistent I'M
all signs in Railways, mo solicitors
permitted" How can business man.
ayers lay aside their crowding duties 10
their businesses to investigate the
, claims and arguments OF UNKNOWN
callers? If they did try to investigate.
what a duplication and waste OF enorS
that would involve for 10 or 100 or 1,OoO
big Business" men!
In spite Of all sincerity. how can the
managers of the several charitable or
CARNATIONS. get the true perspective OF
the importance of their own particular
appeal, compared with the other %
varieties? The result is that compeu-
ton, which is the life of trade, is the
! death of love. What Is meat for one
| is poison for another"
1t is a much abused practice to ex-
| plot a "cause" by selling tickets TO
balls and entertainments, and allocatlng
| a part of the proceeds to the treasury
of the cause-usually about % TO AZ
per cent to the charity, the rest to ex-
penses and profits of the exploiters. No
beneficiary of the Community Chest
will be permitted to continue that prac-
tice. All beneficiaries will be first in
vestigated, and the ALLEGATION OF funds
will be in accord with what has been
| found wisely used in the past, or what
| is approved upon presentation OF OBJ
| jects to be supported. The peddling OF
hy-by-night magazines" to help some
cause, or the pose of some disabled
veteran" will be checked. Common
sense will be utilized ais the great reg
ulator of charity. Causes" will be
sanely appraised.
| In 1920 a church of no great fame
undertook to raise funds in group Of
Midwest States for local purpose, and
when inquiry was made as to the total
that was to be gathered. the answer
was, "Seventy-five millions" Prior to
the World War, there were scarcely any
enterprises of charity with visions OF
81 900 900, yet, according to the Satur-
day Evening Post, in 1920 there was
| so per cent more money actually con-
tributed to charity than the entire bill
| lion -dollar capitalization of the Steel
Corporation. We think mainly in mil
lions.
| In a book. sympathy and System in
| Giving" written by Mr.. Elwood Street,
| the experienced manager of the Com
mus1ity Chest now functioning here, the
author says:
This increase in the magnitude Of
charity has been matched by an in
crease in the importance of humani-
tartan considerations in the minds Of
| great numbers of people.
"Religion-Catholic. Protestant and
| Jewish-has been imbued with new
social spirit. Nor is this grow
ing feeling Of responsibility Of the indi-
vidual to render human service re-
stricted to religious authority only"
While it has been stressed that under
this systematic Community Chest plan
the overhead cost is reduced to from ~
| to s per cent. in place Of IS to 40 per
cent, the author, Mr.. Street, comments
as follows:
THE food. fuel, clothing and shelter
provided by the charities are much like
| the pills a doctor gives. Both are to
provide relief for abnormal conditions.
just as one pays his doctor. not- for
his pills. but for his skill in diagnosing
the causes of the disease and in re-
moving them, so one Snoulu expect q
charitable society to find its highest
usefulness. not in providing material
relief but in finding and removing
the causes which hold down family"
* X
Certain facts regarding the Com
munity Chest must be emphasized:
!. The plan is not an untried expert
ment, nor 'red-tape theory" It has
been In operation since 1912. and Is
today used in 80 cities throughout
America. It works.
2. 1t does not displace any existing
charity organizations in their essential
functions, but simply does the collect
ing of FUNDS for them all and turns
over the allocated amounts. quarterly
or as needed, to the societies: II does
not disburse dollar of charity itself.
1t enables charity organizations to be
fully charitable.
(copyright, 1929. by Paul v. CollnsJ