Evening star., 1931-06-21
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Half century ago the charity works
in Washington were scattered, and
nx:.: without coordination
Charities. and comparative inef-
fectiveness. An effort
was made to organize and systematic
these endeavors. The Star Of June 13,
1881, says:
THE movement made the other eve
ming to bring about an organization of
associated charities in this city is one
that deserves not alone the sympathy
but the active cooperation and liberal
support Of all our people. There is
great and daily increasing need Of such
an organization here. Hardly any city
in the country gives as much In pro-
portion to population for charitable
purposes as does Washington, and
probably in no city is SO much aid ex-
tended to unworthy persons. The
deserve and do not need help, and
nothing is more common than to see
children asking aims, who are noto-
riously on the highroad to vicious and
criminal lives, while others who require
and are worthy of help do not get il
because they do not themselves make
their necessities known and there Is
no other way of discovering them.
Such an organization as is proposed
working through common and
authorized head, will remedy all this
than can ordinarily be accomplished
by flve times that sum given away to
street applicants We believe the
movement to be in good and capable
hands, but, whether this be so or not
time and experience alone can deter
mine. In the meantime, there can be
no doubt about the good purpose of
such an organization, nor of the neces-
sity for its existence. 1t should. there
fore, be encouraged and strengthened.
II inefdciency or other shortcomings
ment anywhere or at any time, the
remedy can easily be applied and all
the more easily the stronger the
organization is made and the larger
the number Of persons actively in
terested In it,"
X
A few years after the panic of the
70s," which held the country in depres-
An Orgie of SION ;,ettY ior Seyersl years, hooTo
Speculation. developed, much like
that which followed
postwar depression In the last decade
The Star of June IS, 1881, thus refers
to the situation:
"The spirit of speculation is rampant
ditions of people are, more or less, in
fected by 1t, and the mania Is on-the
increase. In nine cases out OF ten,
where two or three men meet together,
the subject of stocks, their probable
rise or fall, and so forth, Is talked OF.
There are numbers of men who reg
ularly pursue the business Of encourag-
ing persons to speculate. These men
know all the points OF the market ana
their usual proposition Is 10 advise tne
uninitiated how to-. invest, under an
agreement that the profits Of the ven
ture shall be divided equally. II there
is loss. the party who furnishes the
money bears It all, Of course. In q
single hour at midday an observer can
see almost every class represented
among those who call to anxiously
watch the board. A lucky investment
by one person gives to all OF his or
her friends the speculative fever, ana
It spreads rapidly.
O0e Oh Iklo dI6uAnCAOO uSSA ~ .sASoS
who encourage speculation Is that there
Is little or no danger OF loss; that II the
stock declines o point or two one day
it will recover In, q short time IL the
investor viii hold on; that there IS so
much money in the country that win go
into stock investments and this VIII
keep the prices up. The number Of
stocks put on the board In the large
cities, particularly In New York, Is con-
stantiy increasing. The fact that many
of them are worthless does not seem
at present to receive much considers
ton. Few of them comparatively,
perhaps, have q real value. and even
lever would attract investments upon
their own merits. The day viii prob
ably come when the false bottom VIII