The records opened during the year were as follows:

(a) Of the 6,388 cases not previously recorded in the Registration Bureau, 3,092 were under the care of the Charity Organization Society and 3,296 were reported by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

(b) Of the 144 cases previously recorded (but not known since May 1, 1890, until the present application), 76 were cared for by the Charity Organization Society and 68 by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

(c) 5,353 5,353 cases were reopened which had been known since May 1, 1890. Of these cases the Charity Organization Society cared for 2,081, and the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, 3,272.

(d) The number of cases reopened during the year (not counting duplicates) was 4,464. Of this number, 1,749 were under the care of the Charity Organization Society, and 2,715 under the care of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

(e) The total number of cases recorded or reopened 1899-1900, was 11,885.

In the above year, 4,996 new cases were investigated, and 942 cases which had been known previously, making a total of 5,938 cases investigated.

Since May 1, 1890, this bureau has recorded a total of 62,427 new families.

From a report of the treasurer of the Park Avenue Laundry for the year ending June 30, 1900, it is learned that the business for the year amounted to $7,663.61. The Laundry has now been removed to the Industrial Building of the Society, 516 West Twenty-eighth street.

**

*

The Sorosis Club held its first meeting for the autumn on October I, at the Astor Library, in the Waldorf-Astoria. At this meeting about one hundred women were present. The subject of charity and philanthropy was discussed with much interest. Mrs. Charles H. Dennison is the president of this association.

Office of

GENERAL EMPLOYMENT AND INFORMATION

246 Fifth Avenue

Miss Wild will supply the best of servants only; giv ing her personal attention to the investigation of reerences: housekeepers, governesses; shoppers and chaperons also supplied; houses opened and closed, autumn and spring.

HENRY ARDEN,

JAPANESE ART OBJECTS, NOVELTIES IN SILKS FOR LADIES' USE, SILK CREPES AND GRASS LINENS, PILLOW COVERS, ETC.,

38 WEST 22D STREET.

VOL. V.

CONTENTS.

United Hebrew Charities

REPORT OF LEE K. FRANKEL, MANAGER,

Tenement-House Reform.

I

1899-1900.

6

EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF THE MANAGER

FOR THE YEAR 1899-1900.

The most noticeable feature of the fiscal year ending September 30, 1900, is the increase in the number of applicants who applied at our office for assistance. Our records show that 5,566 applicants applied for the first time, an increase of 1,024 over the previous year. Of recurrent cases the records show a total of 24,692, an increase of 5,970 over the previous year.

A study of the new applications furnishes evidence to explain the increase in the number of this class of applicants. In the year 18981899 only twenty-four per cent had been in the United States less than one year, while fifty-eight per cent had been here over five years. In the year 1899-1900 this proportion has increased to thirty-seven per cent who have been in the United States less than one year and decreased to forty-eight per cent who have been

No. 21.

here over five years. If these figures. are taken together with the immigration statistics for the year, it will be apparent that the increase in the number of new applicants is largely due to the extraordinary increase in the number of immigrants. In the year 1898-1899, 29,088 Jewish immigrants arrived at the Barge Office. In the past year, 53,687 of our co-religionists have landed at this port.

It is more difficult to explain the cause of the increase of 5,970 in the recurrent applications. There has been no special distress during the past year; the winter has not been over severe, nor have industrial con-ditions been of such a kind as to

bring the poverty-stricken to our doors in such numbers. If one possible cause stands out more prominently than another, it is that of sickness. Not sickness of the acute, but of the chronic order. Illness that is due primarily to the unsanitary conditions in which our beneficiaries live; disease that is a resultant of the tenement and of the peculiar indoor vocations whereby so many of our dependents endeavor to earn a livelihood; occupation and surroundings which sap the vitality of the wage-earners and bring their families month after month as petitioners for relief.

EMPLOYMENT BUREAU,

The employment bureau, as heretofore, continues to make a satisfactory showing and to demonstrate the necessity of such a bureau as an adjunct to the work of our relief

bureau. Under the system adopted last year, careful investigation is made to ascertain whether our applicants secure the positions to which they are sent, and for this reason the percentage of persons for whom employment was secured is lower than in preceding years. It gives, however, an accurate statement of the efficacy of this important department of our work. Eight thousand nine hundred and sixty men, women, and children applied to us during the past year for positions, an increase of 1,193 over the preceding year. Of these 3,538 have been in the United States less than one year, 1,232 from one to five years, and 4,290 over five years. Work was obtained for 4,176, or over forty-six per cent of the entire number. If it be remembered forty per cent of our applicants have been in the United States less than one

year and hence have but slight acquaintance with our language and customs, the showing made is a very good one. During the past six months the industrial situation has not improved, and at present positions for both skilled and unskilled labor are at a premium. This is indicated by the fact that while last year 5,387 applications for workmen were received from employers, but 4,283 were received this year.

THE WORKROOM.

During the past year the board. of directors authorized the establishment of a workroom for unskilled women. This innovation was along the lines of the policy of progressive philanthropy, which believes that prevention is better than cure. Since the workroom was opened on December 1, ninety-six women and five men have been given employment. Of these women twenty-six were deserted, twelve were women with sick husbands, forty-one were widows, fifteen were women whose

husbands were unemployed and two had husbands in prison. Sixteen of these women, owing to their approaching confinement, could not readily have earned a livelihood in any other manner. Of the above, eight are now working on knee pants, twenty-eight as finishers, four as seamstresses, five as buttonhole sewers, five as ticket sewers, six are working on boys' blouses and three

on aprons.

TRANSPORTATION.

During the year 351 persons were granted transportation to Europe as compared with the total of 241 who were sent back last year. Five hundred and sixty-two were granted transportation to points in the interior as compared with 634 who were sent to various parts of the United States in the year 1899. Of those who were returned to Europe the great majority were individuals who had become incapacitated and who would have become charges on the community had they remained. here. Under the circumstances it was deemed advisable to return them to their relatives on the other side. Of those transported to the interior 155 were sent to Colorado. These were nearly all cases of consumptives who were sent there with the hope that they might recover their health. In no case, however, was transportation granted unless the applicant demonstrated that he had sufficient means to enable him to support himself while in Colorado, or that he had friends there who were prepared to take care of him. The report of the treasurer will show that whereas $11,554-71 were expended for transportation, $6,922.52 were received on this account from those to whom tickets were granted.

AUXILIARY SOCIETY.

The Auxiliary Society has opened its branch office at 227 East Broad