Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/799

 CHARITY-ORGANIZATION AND RELIEF SOCIETIES 785

relief and have followed our example in requiring work from able-bodied persons asking relief. The situation is not all that could be desired, but improves from year to year.

The general secretary in Worcester, Mass, (population 100,- ooo), writes:

I was trained to believe that the associated charities should never give relief, and came to this city to take up the work " firm in the faith." I found the society giving relief and thought it not wise to make changes until I knew local conditions. After five years' careful study I have come to the following conclusions: (i) We must have some general relief work. (2) It is not wise to run the risk and incur the expense of a separate society for the avowed purpose of giving relief. (3) If aid must be given, the motive for which it is given and the result to the recipients are the points to be considered, and not merely the method by which it is dispensed.

The difference in the attitude of mind toward the subject of relief between some which report themselves in the non-relief- giving class and those which do not is seen in a comparison of the societies in New York and Chicago. New York during the pre- ceding year received and expended a large sum of money as intermediary, and also distributed through its agents several thousand dollars of a special relief fund which was placed in its hands ; and when urgent need was found which could not well be supplied from the regular sources organized by the society, the agents were authorized to expend money from their own purses, which was refunded by the society from some source. None of this money was considered as a part of the funds of the society.

The society in Chicago did almost exactly the same thing. It also collected and expended a considerable sum as inter- mediary, and likewise expended a special relief fund which was placed in its hands; and its agents expended money in emergencies until other sources could be reached. But all of this money was considered as a part of the funds of the society and made up the aggregate of the amount reported as expended for relief. The main difference between the methods of the two societies seems to be a matter of bookkeeping. If comparisons were to be care- fully made between many other societies of the two classes, the differences would be found to consist largely of arbitrary classifi- cation.