Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/818

804 Society of Buffalo, by which the destitute in specific districts are cared for by the churches to which these districts are assigned.

5. Because it is the voluntary revival of a plan which was successful when compulsory, viz., in the established churches of England and Scotland.

6. Because in many places individual parishes are now carrying on special work in this way, in addition to their ministry to those who support them, e.g., Grace Episcopal Church, New York, and whenever coöperation is instituted, this individual work can be continued in boundary and coördinated with outside agencies without disturbance. Given, then, a block or two blocks to be the special geographical area assigned a coöperating church, what is the coöperative duty and what the special duty of that church? The special duty will vary according to the traditions and social attitudes of the denominations and churches concerned; the coöperative duty will vary in the cities of the land and in different sections of the same city, but the following concerns of a coöperative parish system in New York city may serve for guidance elsewhere:

1. Acquaintance on the part of the church with the sanitary condition of the dwellings in assigned blocks. In one block recently canvassed in New York city, containing 3,580 people, there are only fifty-nine dwellings. As work is at present carried on in New York, no altruistic agency entering any of these dwellings has an accurate idea concerning them. A pastor who visits people on the first floor, where the air is vitiated by street odors, may think the house unsanitary, and libel the dwelling by this hastily formed conclusion. A pastor who visits on the fifth floor may think the house healthy, and over-compliment the sanitary condition. When, however, a church’s visitor goes through a whole dwelling, from the first floor to the fifth, an accurate estimate of its condition can be made, and, in the coöperative parish plan in New York, is to be made. All dwellings that are below the legal standard are to be listed, and the coöperating churches, through someone appointed in the matter, will communicate directly with the board of health when the law is violated.