Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/798

 784 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

instance the secretary of the charity-organization society is also the secretary of the relief society, and in the other instance the two societies occupy the same building, issue joint appeals for money, and publish a joint annual report, while the charity- organization society does all the investigating for both societies, and writes orders for groceries which the relief society pays without question.

Of the remaining five societies that seem clearly to rely upon outside sources, four are in small cities, and all five of them have perfected arrangements by which immediate aid in emergencies will be given by relief societies upon their recommendation without reinvestigation.

Some of the societies have had valuable experiences in con- nection with relief work, and the views of some general secre- taries upon this point will be interesting.

The general secretary in Denver (population 150,000) writes :

I think we can do our work much more efficiently and satisfactorily by having an emergency fund and supplementing it by individual assistance than we could by depending upon a separate relief society, wherein there is always likelihood of a difference of opinion about cases and about methods in general.

The general secretary in Orange, N. J., writes :

Our community is small, 60,000 population ; there was no relief society, and it would have been an egregious error to have tried to organize one. We organize substitutes for relief, and when direct relief is necessary we follow one of two plans : (i) if need is temporary and limited, we use our own funds ; (2) if need is likely to be continuous or is large, we appeal to individuals or through the newspapers.

The general secretary in Portland, Ore. (population 90,000), writes :

The attempt was made in the first place, twelve years ago, to make this strictly a charity-organization society, but a few years in that direction demonstrated the necessity of combining relief work with the other. We have, I think, succeeded in doing this without giving place to the evil effects that are usually supposed to arise from such a combination. Outdoor relief has been greatly diminished, begging practically abolished, and a good degree of cooperation secured among churches, societies, and benevolent individuals. The county commissioners contemplate discontinuing outdoor