Evening star., 1947-07-18


agement, to vote such reconsidera-
tion. This same combination then
Joined to defeat the Federation OF
Citizens Associations, the Fedora
| ton of Business Mems Associations,
and the American Federation OF
Labor, and adopted the present first
recommendation in the majority
report, which is a meaningless
whitewash, and makes no change
whatever in the present relation
ship of Chest and council, unless
as they say to more closely lnte-
CRATE it, with the Chest.
The Federation of Citizens Associ-
ations, the Federation of Business
Mems Associations and the Amer
ican Federation of Labor represent
atives felt that the Chest and coun-
Gil are too closely integrated now,
and that the result is that the coun-
Gil dominates and controls the Chest
It was our desire that the council
! be entirely separated from the Chest
and denied participation in Chest
| funds.
Our conviction as to this remedy
was strengthened by the subsequent
conduct of the council in releasing
its recent report, which was released
under much the same circumstances
as the racial relations report, In
which they recommend that all
functions of the,Chest, except rails
ing the money, be taken over by the
council. We felt that this demon
strated that closer integration OF
council and Chest would result In
the council dominating the Chest.
They have clearly indicated their
| intentions =.
Results of Community Chest Survey.
While the Community Chest ar
rangement undoubtedly constitute
the best method for raising funds
and operating community charities,
since it eliminates numerous drives
which would continually worry the
people with almost daily requests
for donations and further eliminate
the possibility Of unscrupulous per-
sons obtaining benefits from more
than one charity, it is felt that the
Community Chest organization for
this metropolitan area has gone Tar
afield of its original intention and
while it sponsors large number OF
constituent agencies that admirably
and unquestionably perform neces-
sary and deserving charity, it also
supports agencies that perform no
charity, such as is felt to be the
conception of charity" in the minds
of the average contributor, by spon-
soring agencies that operate purely
in the social field and also supports
agencies whose functions overlap or
are the responsibility of the princi-
pal government
It Is therefore believed that the
constituent agencies that make up
the Community Chest should be
limited to agencies which cater to
the community needs by furnishing
food. clothing, shelter, medicine,
disqualification and recreation, COM
bined with character building, and
to exclude from the Chest member
ship agencies purely of a social ma
ture, or those which overlap the
functions and responsibilities OF the
District government.
It is recognized that some Of the
contributing public are not willing
to even include recreation and char
acter building activities, and for this
reason the Chest functions should
be divided into two general classi-
fications:
Cd Charity
(2) Recreation and character
building.
Separate records should be main
tanned for each classification, and q
contributor should have the option
of designating his donation to either
one, or both, of the classif1cations.
There should be entirely discarded
the past policy-which was adopted
to obtain the good will of the public
of permitting a contributor to des-
ignate the agency to which his
money was to be devoted, when, as
matter of fact, such designation
had no effect on the ALLEGATION OF
funds to the agency designated. The
wishes of the contributor should be
adhered to, so that money donated
for either classification, that Is,
charity or recreation and character
building, will be strictly reserved for
that classification alone.
The greatest number of complaints
uttered against the present Com
munity Chest organization is di-
rected at the Council of Social
Agencies.
Council of Social Agencies.
The Council OF Social Agencies,
since it receives substantial funds
from the Community Chest, should
be subservient to the direction Of
the parent body, but this council,
like the proverbial tail that wags
the dog" as q matter Of fact directs
the operations of the entire Chest.
The functions Of the Council Of
Social Agencies, with the exception
of publicity, coordination of chari-
ties and the maintenance Of
social service exchange, are to a
majority extent an overlapping OF
the functions of the Family Service
Association, the Catholic Charities
and the Jewish Social Service
Agency. In addition, this
council engages in purely social
work ana sponsored the recent
racial report which caused so much
controversy.
It is felt that because Of the
duplication of effort, the domination
of the Community Chest by the
council and its activities in con-
troversial fields, this council should
be taken over by the parent body,
the Community Chest.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
Actually, under the present organ
ization of the Board Of Trustees,
the contributors to the Community
Chest have lost control of the Chest
operations, which have been taken
over by paid social workers Of the
constituent units due to the fact
that the nonpaid representatives
upon the Board of Trustees, because