Evening star., 1933-09-03
Roosevelt to Open Confer
ence on National Pro-
gram. :
Meeting IS SCHEDULED
AT WHITE HOUSE FRIDAY
Clarion Call to Support Commu'
nifty Chests to Be Sounded
for All Cities.

national recovery program, President
Roosevelt will open at the White House
Friday morning two-day conference
called to consider the part social work
must play in the war to overcome the
effects of the depression
Called by Newton D. Baker, chairman
Of the 1888 Mobilization for Human
Needs, the conference. sponsored by "a
cooperating national social agencies,
will bring to Washington this week ex-
ecutives of the business world and
leaders in social service from every
State
Mrs Franklin D. Roosevelt will take
zation conference. A new feature of
the conference will be the attendance
, of members Of the National Womens
Committee and its State and COM
munity leaders. Mrs. Roosevelt. as
chairman of the committee, is planning,
for the Fall months. the largest ma
tional women's crusade for the support
Of community welfare services ever un-
dertaken in the United States. Ways
! of making the campaign successful will
be discussed at the conference.
In opening the conference, President
Roosevelt will speak on THE Citizens S
Responsibility for Human Needs. "
Chairman Baker will respond to the
Presidents message In behalf OF the
National Citizens Committee of the
Mobilization. Mrs. Roosevelt also is
one of the speakers on the conference
program.
Chests Part Stressed.
Next Fridays meeting is expected to
have an important bearing on the COM
ing Community Chest campaign in
Washington as well as similar cam
paigns In all parts of the United States.
It Is designed to place squarely before
the Nation as a whole the part that
private philanthropy must play in the
National Recovery act and to point out
the many needs that are not met by
Government appropriation.
Prominent among the leaders in their
respective fields who are to discuss mat
tiers before the conference are John
Stewart Bryan, publisher Of the News
Leader, Richmond. Va, and president of
Inc; Harry L. Hopkins, Federal Relief
Administration; Judge Morgan j.
OBrien Of New York City and Vance
c. Mccormick, Harrisburg, Pa, news
paper publisher, former chairman of
the Democratic National Committee.
Other speakers include John B. Daw-
son. secretary Of the New Haven, Conn,
Community Chest; Mrs. Guy w. Mallon
Of Cincinnati, a member Of the 1888
Women's Crusade; Mortimer F1eisch-
acher, San Francisco banker; Miss Ruth
w. Hill. executive secretary. National
Women's Committee; Frederic w.
Smith. president, Welfare Federation,
Newark. N. j.; j. W. Fesler. chairman
of the Indianapolis Budget Committee,
and Arch Mandel. executive secretary
Of the Dayton, Ohio, Community Chest.
Demand Perpetual.
The conference will discuss such gen.
eral subjects as The Relationship Of
Federal Relief to Local Welfare Re-
sponsibility,'' The Responsibility of
Human Needs in a Recovery Program
and The Womens Crusade Move
ment"
Chairman Baker, in announcing the
conference program, declared social
work was required before the depression
and will be needed throughout the years
to come. despite the fact Federal, State
and municipal governments have as
sumed at this time "a per cent of the
relief work. To think there is nothing
left to be done in community service,
|
and has no basis in fact"
The Community Chests g. Councils,
Inc. Of which Allen T. Burns is ex-
ecutive director, is acting as the ad-
mlnistrative agent for the mobilization.
In his announcement of the confer
ence and its problems, Chairman Baker
said:
There seems to be a great deal of
confusion in the minds of many as to
the part social work has to play in
the present recovery program. Relief
and welfare services are far from
synonymous terms and yet to thousands
OF people may mean one and the same
thing.
Attitude "Dangerous."
1T IS perhaps natural, therefore, that,
with this lack of clarity in our public
thinking, many should feel that the
assumption of 81 per cent Of the re-
Lief work by Federal, State and NUM-
clpal governments means that the pri-
vate citizen has been left with no COM
mun1ty service to perform. This line
OF thought Is extremely dangerous at
TINS particular time, and has no basis
in fact
Relief work, vital as it is, means
mere sustenance. Welfare work sup
pienentS this program by supplying
counsel and courage to those who are
IN distress; hospital and nursing care
Tor the needy sick; homes for little
children left without the protection of
their natural guardians; care for the
aged for whom no other means of sup
port Is possible; recreation and guidance
centers for boys and girls where leisure
hours may be profitably spent, and
other neighborly services necessary in
our present scheme of civilization.
Social work was required before the
depression, and will be needed through
out the years to come in the United
States. It is of vital importance now
in the reconstruction period through
which we are passing. In every Amer
ican community there are human needs
which must be met. To make known
these needs is the purpose Of the 1888
mobilization. It Is hoped that the con-
ference in Washington will help to clar-
ify public thinking on welfare problems
and point the way for individual COM
munity action in meeting these prob
lems"