The New International Encyclopædia/Folks, Homer

FOLKS, fōks, (1867&mdash;). An American sociologist, born in Hanover, Mich. He was educated at Albion College (Mich.) and at Harvard, where he graduated in 1890. From 1890 to 1893 he was secretary of the Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania, and from 1893 to 1902 secretary of the New York State Charities Aid Association. He was elected to the New York City Board of Alderman as an Anti Tammany member in 1897 and 1898, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the State Assembly in 1899. In the spring of 1900 he went to Cuba to assist the United States military authorities in reorganizing the public charities of the island. In 1901 he became secretary of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, and in January, 1902, was appointed by Mayor Seth Low Commissioner of Charities for New York City. His literary work includes the editing of the Charities Review, and the publication of numerous reports and magazine articles, and a book entitled The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Children (1902).