authorities or to charitable societies, the residue of the less fortunate will not appear so formidable an army. From these there ought always to be subtracted the habitual paupers and professional mendicants, and the vagrants or tramps who verge very closely upon the criminal class. At a time like this, the police and municipal authorities can render valuable service by vigorously enforcing the laws against habitual vagrants. These men ought to be promptly committed to public work-houses and held for as long a term as possible, doing hard and disagreeable labor for the benefit of the community, in payment for their food and lodging.

The elements that still remain are those for which, in all parts of the country, active measures for organized relief are now being taken. The plans that have been agreed upon are for the most part characterized by admirable judgment and based upon sound experience. The principles that underlie these plans are very simple. It is agreed that, in every possible case, work rather than money or food or clothing or fuel ought to be provided. It is agreed that in every case where alms are bestowed there should be a kindly and prompt, but also a frank and thorough, investigation into the merits of the application. In spite of all that can be done, there will undoubtedly be much heart-rending deprivation and suffering among the poor during the next few months. But, speaking broadly and generally, it may be asserted with some confidence that the means provided are likely to be sufficient to supply the most pressing needs, and that upon the whole the response of intelligence, charity and brotherly good will promises to be equal to the heavy emergency. From information received for the most part as late as the middle of December I have compiled, and herewith present, an account of what has been undertaken in a number of important cities.

I. BALTIMORE'S RELIEF ORGANIZATION.

In Baltimore on December 6 there was organized a Permanent Central Relief Committee, of the most representative character, the movement including not only the charitable societies and organizations of the city, but also the Board of Trade and all the leading mercantile associations and exchanges, as well as representatives of the police, judicial and executive branches of the local government. The charity work of Baltimore is fortunate in having the wisest and ablest counsels at its command. Baltimore has tried soup kitchens and police distribution of relief funds in former years, and has fallen back upon the sound principle that the thing to give is work, and that the giving should be done in the quietes, and least conspicuous manner possible. The following para grublis from the address issued by the Balanore Reb Exc mittee are worth quoting :

The recent business depression 1 -the number of respectable residents of them heads of families, who are c same time the number of professio here from other cities is reported by

of work. A: L Vagrant coming 1ce and others

to be far greater than usual. This is a m part by the action of neighboring cities, notably Washington, where the police stations have been closed to lodgers and a municipal wood yard opened, offering lodging in exchange for work and a bath. Last winter the privilege of sleeping in public places, herded together in dirty clothing, and the giving out of food at public places for the asking attracted vagrants here and made it easy for them to underbid the labor of our own citizens who Fad families to support. The giving out of food and money to unknown applicants at private houses also encouraged the increase of this class. The sympathy of the community was too often lavished on professional vagrants, to the exclusion of the shrinking and suffering poor, who were too feeble or too sensitive to ask alms on the street or stand in line with a rabble at public relief stations.

In view of these facts, the undersigned have associated themselves as a central relief committee, not with the idea of forming new and unnecessary charitable machinery, but to e phasize, first of all, the necessity of supporting by increased contributions the regular charitable agencies of our city, and to meet the needs of our own citizens and relieve the city of this army of vagrants by providing relief in work. With these aims in view, the committee urge the public to contribute to establish charities. If desired, the committee will convey to such associations any donation that may be offered, in such proportion that may seem best, and will render strict account through the public press of the sums received and expended.

If the city authorities will agree to purchase broken stone for use on the roads, the committee will endeavor to see that a stone-breaking yard is opened to give work to our own citizens who are in need, especially to those who have families dependent upon them. This plan has been tried with good results in Cincinnati and elsewhere.

The committee also ask public donations to a special fund for increasing the requisite facilities in providing work for the homeless, enlarging the Friendly Inn, if necessary, and establishing a branch in East Baltimore or elsewhere. With the co-operation of the public our stations may be free from vagrants and our streets from worthless beggars, and the work thus provided would relieve the charitable public of a heavy burden and the workingman of a dangerous rival, without working any unnecessary hardships on the homeless poor. Moreover, the charitable citizens of Baltimore may then be assured that more relief will be provided for deserving persons who may be in need, and that the dangers will be avoided which come from indiscriminate alms giving.

Mayor Latrobe at once expressed his approval of the plan of a relief stone yard, and there is every indication that the Baltimore organization will be fully able to cope with the situation in that community.

II. HOW BOSTON APPROACHES THE

PROBLEM.

Boston, always recognized as a centre of philanthropic activity, is fully alive to the exceptional demands of the present winter. A detailed estimate in December, published as one of the Andover House tracts, places the number of Boston's unemployed at upwards of 40,000. The leaders of opinion in Boston, as in Baltimore and in other communities where

charitable work is well organized, are emphatic in assertion of the sound doctrine that relief funds should, for the most part, be intrusted to experienced and regular agencies rather than to novices devising untried schemes on false or doubtful principles. All the leading charitable organizations of Boston have united in a statement entitled "How to Relieve Distress Among the Poor this Winter." The address is a model of calmness and good sense. The following paragraphs are much to the point :

To diminish as far as possible the sufferings of the poor, more money than usual will have to be provided, and also more personal service in volunteer visiting.

The emergencies of this year will be of the same kind as in other years, only greater in number and degree. Such emergencies the various charitable societies of the city have been trained to meet by long years of experience and faithful study, but they will need efficient and increased support from the public.

It must be remembered also that the best means of averting suffering will be the continuance of legitimate employment and of all expenditure that means employment.

No society wishes to take the place of such work or of private charity. Every one knows personally of poor . people whom he wishes to help in his own way, and no doubt the number of these will be greater than usual this year; but worthy families without friends able to help them will more than ever be brought to the notice of the societies.

Hard times increase also the number of unworthy persons who ask aid. To give money or food to persons who ask it in the street, at the door, or in the business office, is worse than useless-indeed, it is generally harmful, and leads to untruthfulness and deception. The money now wasted in this way, if given for genuine need, would do much good.

The labor unions of Boston are opposed to clamor and agitation, and are taking steps to make a careful inquiry into all worthy cases, meanwhile doing everything in their power to find work for those needing it. They are endeavoring to secure from Congress the opening up of the Charlestown Navy Yard. Mayor Nathan Matthews, Jr., who has just been re-elected by a large majority, early in December called together representatives of all the charity organizations, all the labor organizations, editors of newspapers, and leading clergymen of all denominations, together with twenty or thirty prominent citizens well known for their philanthropic disposition. At a final meeting on December 18 this representative committee discussed the question of the unemployed in the Council Chamber under the presidency of Mayor Matthews, and decided upon the plan of a permanent executive committee of fifteen citizens who should receive subscriptions and take general charge of relief work. A popular subscription list was at once opened.

This general committee will work in the closest co-operation with all reputable societies and organizations. Its effect will be to secure exceptionally large sums of money, and this money, so far as possible, will be expended in providing work for those who are in most need of it. It is probable that Boston will try the plan, to some extent

resorted to elsewhere, of pushing municipal and public work under the supervision of the municipal authorities, the extra workingmen to be paid low but living wages out of the relief funds and the whole work of special relief to be so arranged and prosecuted as to enlist the harmonious co-operation of the associated charities and other existing agencies. There can be no doubt of Boston's disposition to deal adequately with the problem.

III. CINCINNATI'S ADMIRABLE ARRANGE

MENTS.

Cincinnati is fortunate in the possession of exceptionally well organized and strongly sustained associated charities under the general secretaryship of Mr. P. W. Ayres. That exceptional work would have to be done in the present season was realized early in the autumn and provision was made accordingly. Mr. Ayres furnishes us with the following statement:

The need in Cincinnati up to the present time has been admirably managed. A committee of citizens, including several leading pastors and the mayor of the city, formed a committee for supplying work. This committee decided to use the wood yard of the Associated Charities, and raised three thousand dollars for the purpose. In cases of sickness or old age, aid was sent to the home after proper examination. One-third of the above amount was raised by contributions from the churches. The Treasurer of the Associated Charities was made Treasurer of the Citizens' Committee, in order that there should be but one disbursing agent in the city.

Later, the city authorities appropriated thirty thousand dollars for use in the parks. The Park Commissi ners employed for the most part only those who were recommended by the Citizens' Committee after the lists had been compared with the lists of the Associated Charities. Only those who were heads of families and residents were given work in the parks; all others were offered employmen at the Labor Yard. Nothing has been given away except to the sick or the aged. There has been no public soup house, which we believed would be a public nuisance. There has been comparatively little idleness, and no waste or confusion.

About one thousand men are now at work on the parks daily when the weather permits. A few hundred more work irregularly at the Labor Yard. No one suffers, and the situation seems healthy. The city authorities have cut off the usual out-door relief for the month of December, and are supported by the Citizens' Committee and others of the most intelligent men and women who are iuterested in social pr blems.

A portion of the unemployed have held daily meetings, and have made application for sums of money for their support, but have received comparatively little. The majority of the unemployed have been strongly in sympathy with the Citizens' Committee and the Associated Charities, and are so at the present time.

With the necessary additions to the number of volunteer visitors, this well unified relief system in Cincinnati seems to be capable of sufficient expansion to provide fairly well for the entire situation. Heads of families resident in Cincinnati receive work at the regular rate of one dollar a day. Single men are per

mitted to work for their meals and lodging at any time. Women are employed in a workroom making kitchen rugs and other articles.

IV. THE SITUATION IN CHICAGO.

The situation in Chicago is so exceptional, owing to the presence of some thousands of men who may be termed "stranded strangers," that various measures otherwise objectionable may find temporary justification. The soup houses and other agencies for distribution of food to able-bodied men are simply evidences of a lack of the complete organization that ought to find some way of providing these men with means for earning food and lodging. Meanwhile, for the sake of a system and a supervision, there has been organized a great central relief and charitable clearing-house association, with a managing committee of fifty men and women. The committee of fifty includes the mayor, several aldermen and other officials; a number of prominent citizens of the character of Mr. Lyman J. Gage and Mr. Cyrus McCormick; representatives of leading charitable organizations; leading members of labor unions, and others having special qualifications. The principles of this central organization are stated as follows:

The theory and object of this association are to bring into close contact every charitable organization in Chicago through the Central Bureau, and thus there will be gathered into one place specific information from all quarters of the city as the causes of want and the methods inaugurated for the relief of the suffering. It is not the object of this organization to dispense charity directly to individuals and families, but to inaugurate such methods as will secure a dispensation of aid to the suffering by organizations now existing the most economic and effective. If it accomplishes the objects at which it aims there will be brought to one central bureau full and complete information so that each charitable organization will know just what every other charitable organization is doing and the field covered by each. If it be discovered, as it probably will be, that the whole city is not adequately covered by existing organizations, it will be the purpose of the Central Bureau to encourage and develop such auxiliary organizations as may be needed to cover such districts as may be unprovided for. It is further proposed by the central organization to secure from the public such contributions of money, food and clothing as it may prefer to intrust to the Central Bureau rather than to other organizations of whose needs, purposes or methods the donors may be inadequately informed. It is not proposed to interfere with the private gifts of any persons to any one of these organizations should they desire to so make them instead of sending to the central organization, it being contemplated that all such organizations will report to the Central Bureau the items of their receipts and disbursements and the general wants of the association and work to which they stand related. In dispensing food and lodging through any agencies now existing or that may hereafter be created, the money furnished by the Central Bureau will not be used except under the condition that able-bodied men receiving food and lodging shall render the equivalent for it in work, and with that end in view work for those who are willing and able to perform it will be provided by the street cleaning bureaus in

cleaning the streets and other agencies indicating a desire to furnish employment through this bureau.

One of the problems Chicago has had to meet is the rapid influx of tramps and incorrigible idlers attracted by the large dimensions of the free soup dispensatories and the apparent prospects of an indiscriminate support of everybody asking relief. Such people, however, will be doomed to early disappointment. The municipal authorities are using strong measures to keep out of the city all such undesirable visitors, and method is being rapidly infused into the relief work. One of the greatest needs has been the provision of decent shelter for honest and respectable but unfortunate men, and the enforcement in the clearest way of distinctions between tramps, criminals and idlers on the one hand, and honest people eager for employment on the other hand.

Out of what seemed at first a profitless clamor of voices rather than a businesslike programme in Chicago, there is at length visible a settling down to legitimate relief work along lines approved by experience, and under direction of those best fitted to cope with the problem in its local phases. On the drainage works, in the parks, on the streets and. in other ways, the municipal government is doing what it can to provide work at $1 per day. The churches have awakened to a keener sense of responsibility for the masses, and have come into a new and mutually advantageous contact with the labor unions and with thousands of individual workingmen between whom and the ministrations of the church there has been estrangement.

V.

EFFICIENT MEASURES AT DENVER.

The exceptional distress of 1893 was felt at Denver, Colorado, sooner than at any other large town in the country, owing chiefly to the panic which last summer attended the closing of a great number of silver mines. Denver was flooded with men out of work, and the situation was met temporarily by the maintenance for a few weeks in August of a so-called Labor Camp. The State supplied a quantity of tents, and men out of work to the number of perhaps 2,000 were given food and shelter, in a systematic way, under restrictions which were not especially enjoyed by the “bummers" and the unworthy. The plan answered well for a momentary emergency, but was very properly abandoned as soon as possible. The railroads assisted in helping 1,500 or 2,000 men to return to former homes in States east of Colorado; the municipal authorities were able to find employment for a large number of men, and the various relief agencies and charitable organizations rose to the emergency in their several ways. The associated charities, under the presidency of the Rev. Myron W. Reed, demonstrated the usefulness of their work; and the situation was thus brought under control.

The most striking and interesting feature of relief work in Denver has, however, been that which the Right Rev. A. C. Peck, an Episcopal clergyman, has carried on in connection with the Haymarket Mis

sion. This institution is primarily an inter-denominational gospel mission, among the poorest of Denver's population; but it has nobly recognized the true spirit of Christianity in giving friendly aid on the practical side of life, quite as eagerly as it gives hymns and prayers and religious admonition. The great feature of Dean Peck's work this winter is his magnificently conducted wood yard. The institution provides three excellent meals and a comfortable night's lodging for 25 cents. The charitable people of Denver purchase five-cent meal tickets and tencent lodging tickets, and give them in place of money to all applicants. The wood yard turns no man away who is willing to do the required amount of work for lodging and meals. In an average of three hours a man can earn tickets which provide him with his meals and lodging. The rest of his day is at his disposal to seek employment elsewhere. The great problem in conducting a wood yard on this plan is to find a market for the product. Dean Peck has succeeded in convincing the citizens of Denver so thoroughly as to the value of his work, that he no longer experiences any difficulty in selling at a fair price all the kindling wood, and fire wood in other sizes, that his yard is able to prepare with the labor that comes to it. Able-bodied beggars have quite disappeared from the streets of Denver as a result of this system. At the present time the number of men working in the wood yard is about 100 each day. The number of meals served in the five-cent restaurant is perhaps seven or eight hundred each day. The waiters and assistants in the restaurant receive their living and very small wages, their places being filled from the ranks of the unemployed as rapidly as they are able to find more remunerative work elsewhere.

The Tabernacle Helping Hand Institute, conducted by Mr. Thos. Uzzell, is another agency doing a great popular work. In helping the unemployed it has registered six or seven thousand persons in the past few months, and has found work for perhaps half that number. The Tabernacle also serves a useful purpose in assisting the poorest families to buy their coal at a very low price. Dean Peck informs us that with the opening of the new year there will be established under his auspices a plan by which women will be provided with an honorable chance to earn their meals and lodging. Thus the people of Denver, with the co-operation of the municipal authorities and the respectable citizens of all classes, and under the lead of such men as Dean Hart, Myron W. Reed and Thomas Uzzell, are manfully solving for their own community the problem of the unemployed.

VI. THE PLAN IN VOGUE AT LYNN.

Much attention, especially throughout New England, has been attracted to what is known as the Lynn, Mass., plan of relief. The Lynn relief system was put into operation by a citizens' committee early in October. The following statement explains the lines upon which the work was undertaken :

The Lynn Citizens' Labor Bureau commenced operations on the second day of October. It was initiated by

a meeting of citizens held at the Board of Trade Rooms to consider the increased applications for work from citizens who had hitherto been self-supporting. It was resolved to deal with the situation through the existing organizations, simply adding to the Associated Charities a Department of Labor, the work to be done on the city streets and parks, and to be paid for by a citizens' subscription. In order to avoid the well-known and serious perils of all attempts at special emergency relief,-such as calling in throngs of the workless from other cities, disturbing the regular lines of labor, encouraging imposition, and stimulating a profuse and chaotic private relief,—it was resoved to proceed under the following rules: 1. No public call for money, and no advertising of the bureau through the papers; subscriptions to be secured by personal solicitation, and the work advertised only through the churches and relief societies, and by the spectacle of the men at work. 2. No work given except to actual citizens of Lynn, in extreme need, and having no other friends, helpers, or resources ;-these facts ascertained by thorough domiciliary investigation in every case. No rumors to be heeded, no guess work to be relied upon, nothing to be done in the dark; actual knowledge to be the only basis of help. The results of investigation to be placed at the service of relief-giving societies and individuals. 3. A half-day's work for a dollar, and work arranged so as to enable each man to earn an average of three dollars a week, this wage supplemented in cases of extreme need. Five or six weeks after the work had been begun the following report was made as to the success cf the plan :

So far the system has prevented absolute destitution. the influx of the needy from other cities, the storming of the City Treasury, much misapplication of charity and much loss of self-respect. The thorough investigation has been of the highest value-locating the quarters where the pinch of need is greatest, forestalling the astonishing activity and impudence of the charity impostors, bringing to the notice of the benevolent some cases of pecuniary hardship which a little good management relieves, uncovering many preventable causes of distress, and enabling the relief-giving societies and individuals to intelligently and effectively succor the destitute.

It had been found possible to obtain by subscription a sufficient amount of money; and the thorough organization and sound principles adhered to have given the charitable workers of Lynn a sense of adequate mastery of the situation.

VII. PHILADELPHIA'S PROVISION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.

Philadelphia is world-famed as a city of homes of high average comfort, of little poverty, and of systematic and well-directed benevolence. Just now, however, it is estimated that there are 40,000 persons out of employment in that city who are usually at work in some wage-earning capacity. The following statement prepared for us by Dr. James W. Walk, general secretary of the Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, is a valuable résumé both of the regular and of the exceptional means employed in Philadelphia for the relief of those in need:

Endeavoring to give a succinct idea of the present extraordinary distress in the City of Philadelphia, and of

the means taken for its relief, I will present the subject under four captions.

1. The normal status of poverty in Philadelphia; 2, the crisis; 3, relief through ordinary channels; 4, relief through extraordinary channels.

NORMAL STATUS OF POVERTY IN PHILADELPHIA.

Philadelphia has enjoyed great prosperity for a number of years.

Pauperism has not increased in proportion to the growth of the population, and indeed it is probable t' at the permanent dependent class has to some extent diminished.

There is no outdoor poor relief given by the city except free medical attendance. Although there are a great number of hospitals, dispensaries and asylums of various kinds, there are but few benevolent corporations devoted to the relief of the poor in their homes. The outdoor poor are practically cared for by the Society for Organizing Charity, which, in Philadelphia, has this special feature different from such societies in most cities-viz., that in addition to the functions usually performed by associated charities, this society carries on a large relief work. The Protestant Episcopal Church supports a City Mission, whose relief work is of importance, and the other churches do some charitable work, but generally in a small way.

THE CRISIS.

The financial stringency and industrial stagnation of the summer were felt in the scarcity of employment, particularly for the workers in textile industries, upon which so large a part of the population of this city depend for support; but no marked increase in applications for aid was observed until the latter part of September. Then the local offices of the Society for Organizing Charity had many more applications for aid than usual. Little public attention, however, was called to the matter, until one of the newspapers began the publication of a series of sensational articles and opened a subscription to supply soup and bread to the poor of the Kensington district, where many of the large textile manufacturers are located. This led to widespread public interest in the matter and a number of relief societies were formed among the working people of the mill districts, which appealed for aid in a variety of ways. During the month of October the number of the unemployed steadily increased, and upon November 1 a conservative estimate placed the total of individuals-men, women and children-out of work, who were usually employed at this season, at 40,000. Of course, the number in distress was very much less than this, as a large majority of these people were thrifty and had made

accu

ulations during prosperous times, upon which they now depend for subsistence; but there was a residuum of real and positive need. The situation since November 1 has grown steadily worse. It is not probable that the number of the unemployed has increased, indeed, some manufacturers have partially resumed operations; but a great many families have now exhausted their slender reserve resources and are dependent on public aid, and the cold season has emphasized the distress in many ways, particularly in the need for fuel.

RELIEF THROUGH ORDINARY CHANNELS.

The Society for Organizing Charity has continued to operate upon its well established plan, but has increased its official force and has appealed for additional funds for the relief of the unemployed. This society ordinarily expends, in all departments of its work, about $50,000 annually. It is probable that the extraordinary distress of the closing quarter of the present year will increase this

amount for 1893 to about $60,000, the additional $10,000 being accounted for almost entirely by direct relief work. The Protestant Episcopal City Mission and other associations, of less extended operation, would show a similar percentage of increased expenditures.

EXTRAORDINARY MEANS OF RELIEF.

During October, as has been referred to, there were a number of aid societies formed among the workingmen of the mill districts, and they collected considerable quantities of material for relief, mostly provisions given in kind. The amount of money they received was inconsiderable. Early in November they had nearly all disbanded. It is probable that $12,000 will cover the total value of the relief dispensed by these associations. They were badly organized, and most of them were not in the hands of well known or responsible persons. The public became convinced early in November that these ephemeral relief societies were wholly inadequate to deal with the distress, and general public sentiment called into the field the "Citizens' Relief Committee." This organization had existed for some years, devoting itself to securing funds in Philadelphia for distressed communities, such as the sufferers from the Russian famine and from pestilence and floods in the Mississippi Valley. Previous to the present emergency it had never dispensed money in this city itself. The committee, under the chairmanship of the mayor, took charge of the relief work early in November, and has made large appropriations to the Kensington district, and smaller amounts to other localities where the unemployed are most numerous. The funds have been derived entirely from benevolent gifts. When it undertook the work the committee had some money on hand, as a surplus from previous collections, and this has been added to until the total reached about $16,000, although no general appeal to the public has as yet been made. The committee, in the six weeks of its operation, has expended $15,000 for relief work, giving on an average about $4 per week to a family of seven or eight members. The relief is dispensed by orders on provision dealers, only the less expensive articles of subsistence being provided. It is estimated that $60,000 to $80,000 additional money will be required to provide for the distressed in this city until the opening of the spring. Some heart-rending cases of destitution have been reported in the newspapers; but, upon investigation, most of these have been found exaggerated. It is not likely that any one has suffered starvation in this city; but it is very evident that the distress is widespread and severe. It may be added that the municipal institutions, the Almshouse and House of Correction, which ordinarily have an aggregate population of 3,500, have now 800 additional inmates, or a .otal of 4,300, a d that the wayfarers' lodges, where homeless people are sheltered and fed, are crowded to the utmost of their capacity.

From Mr. Robert McWade of the Philadelphia Public Ledger we have also received a very interesting statement of the work done by the Citizens' Permanent Relief Committee, of which he is a leading officer for life. Organized some fifteen years ago, the committee has dispensed relief in different parts of the world to the amount of about two million dollars.

VIII. RELIEF WORK IN ST. LOUIS.

Mr. William F. Saunders, the private secretary of Mayor Walbridge of St. Louis, provides us with the following information as to the provisions which had