these boxes in use. The Glasgow The Glasgow Corporation propose to provide 500 boxes as an experiment, and the Superintendent of Parks has been asked to prepare and submit a design of a box, with an estimate of the cost. The boxes will be lent for a period of about six months annually, and a deposit of one shilling will be required before any box is sent out, to be refunded on the box being returned in good condition. While the boxes will be lent as far as possible to the residents in main thoroughfares, it is the aim of the corporation that the boxes should be put mainly where the poorest residents were, mainly where there were houses of one or two rooms.

**

Pursuant to the provisions of an act of Congress, the office of Superintendent of Charities for the District of Columbia will cease to exist on June 30, after which time the charitable affairs of the municipality will be managed by a board of charities, consisting of five residents of the District, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The board is to have charge of all institutions of a charitable or correctional and reformatory nature which are supported by appropriations of Congress. The members of the board are to receive no compensation, but may employ a secretary and any other officers necessary for the work of the board.

**

tional League against Tuberculosis, which has recently been organized in Naples.

* * *

Mr. William J. O'Brien, member of the Tenement-House Commission, who is also a delegate from the Granite Cutters' Union to the Central Federated Union, asked the Union, on June 17, to appoint a committee to draw up answers to the questions asked by the Tenement-House Commission in its circular. The request was complied with, and delegates were appointed one each from the Plasterers', Steamfitters', Hodcarriers', Theatrical Protective, Electrical Workers', Blue Stone Cutters', Machinists', and the Carpenters' unions.

* *

*

The problem of providing healthy homes for the working classes is a is seriously occupying the minds of matter of national importance, and our leading statesmen. Upon its solution depends, to an extent which may not at first sight be perceived, the future of this country; for the maintenance of the high position which England has won for herself among the nations of the world unquestionably rests upon the possession of an exuberant population, which in mental, moral, and physical qualities shall be in no way inferior to that of any other civilized people. The nation which ceases to increase must cease to exist, and in the evolution of empires dominion must rest with those which have the greatest population, and which include the smallest proportion of physical and moral cripples and derelicts. The first requirement of a state is that its citizens shall be, generally alike in mind and body, and not enspeaking, good human animals, sound feebled in either by the many injurious influences which appear to

threaten, in an increasing degree, the manhood of England. It is manifestly impossible that a population of the high standard, which is unquestionably necessary, can be reared in an atmosphere of darkness and filth, in crowded dens where the very density of inhabitants prevents the observance of the most elementary measures of cleanliness and decency. The prime necessaries of life-food and clothing-have never been so cheap and abundant as they are today, and yet shelter and the comforts of a humble home have in late years become more and more difficult to obtain. The swarming population of our towns, and in a less degree, even the thinner population of the country districts, is only too frequently herded together in a manner which must necessarily render abortive any attempts at sanitation, and, consequently, any really high standard of health. Social reforms should commence in the home, but when the home consists of two or three crowded rooms, the agencies which are at work with the view of raising civilization to higher level are frustrated; education, in the real sense of the word, is impossible; temperance can not be expected, and moral contamination is simply inevitable.-Surrey (Eng)

Mirror.

I

VOL. V.

CONTENTS.

The Summer School..

HOMER FOLKS.

Tenement Plans..

3

Address at the opening meeing of the Third Session of the Summer School in Philanthropic Work conducted by the New York Charity Organization Society. By Homer Folks, Secretary of the State Charities Aid Association :

There is a certain propriety in having some of the first words of welcome to the members of this school come from one who is actively engaged in the administration of charitable work in New York city, and is at the head of an office in which a number of persons are cmployed. I think no one appreciates more highly, or realizes more deeply the significance of this school than one whose duty it is at times to select and secure persons who are actively to engage in charitable work. The difficulty of finding persons who had the proper training and who have had some acquaintance with the subject, is something which has been nothing less than appalling.

No. 5.

We have not had such standards as have existed in all the other professions. This school seems to be the first reaching out for something like a professional standard. among those who are engaged in philanthropic work.

Of course, none of you think for a moment that you will secure from these six weeks in this Summer School, admirable as it is, the training in philanthropy that a medical student would secure, for instance, in a medical college; or that a student. of law would gain in three years in a law school. We have nothing as yet that corresponds to the great oppor-. tunities offered in those schools, but while we can not expect to gain here that thorough preparation which can be gained in a professional school of the nature I have mentioned, there are certain things which can be ob tained from this course, which are very valuable, and which, without this course, would come to the worker, only after some years of experience. The worker would be handicapded by a great many difficulties which could be obviated by such

course.

a

First, you will get a general acquaintance with the literature of the subject and the sources of information. You will find out here where to go to find out about charity; what are the best books on the subject; who the people are who have given this subject thought, and whose opinions are worth conadering, and where they are to be found.

Secondly, you will gain some idea

of the general scope of our charitable work; you will see the great divisions and branches into which the subject of charity is divided; you will see the relation of these to one another; and you will see that at heart they are all one, and that in whatever field you may be working, you need to draw inspiration and to gain wisdom from every other department of charitable work. I remember very well that that idea first came to my mind a year after I had been engaged in the administrative work of a charity office; and it came through the medium of the National Conference of Charities and Correction. At that session I saw that the great group of charities is at heart one, and that any man who works earnestly and intelligently in any department of any one of those fields is a man I should know, and the benefits of whose experience I should gain for myself.

Thirdly, you will also get an idea as to the methods of charity work and how we go about it; something of the machinery that has been elaborated. You will also be able to find out to which depart ment to which you feel most attracted, in which you are most likely to be satisfied, in and which you are most likely to be useful. Ánd this is one of the greatest advantages of this school, that even in taking a hasty survey of the entire field, you are thus able to find your place in charity work.

Fourthly, you will get some idea of the general principles which underlie, or should underlic, the administration of relief. That there are principles we can not doubt; that there is a right and a wrong way to help the poor and suffering; that mistakes can be made; that there is a rational system in it all. just as much as in medicine, or law, or theology; this we can not doubt. We have made some progress in ascertaining the underlying principles and

you will get ideas as to what a few of these are.

I suppose that most of the members of this class, and most of the other persons who are present are, or are expecting to be, engaged regularly and permanently in some form of charitable or philanthropic work, and so it is proper to say a few words with regard to philanthropy as a profession. In what way should a young person taking up chari. table work view that work? Is it simply an occupation, a means of gaining a livelihood? Or is it a profession? And if so, is it a learned profession? What is its place to be among the group of subjects and of the different sorts of knowledge to which people give their time? Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago we might have had some hesitation in answering that question. I think that now we need have none. The increasing number of college-trained people who are turning to charitable work, the establishment of this very school, and many other things prove that philanthropy is to be one of the learned professions. There is no doubt whatever that a much larger proportion of those who are engaging in charitable work of all sorts and descriptions are collegetrained people now, than was the case five or ten years ago. I remem ber very well that when I had finished Prof. Peabody's course in Ethics and Social Reform just ten years ago, and knowing that there was nothing further to be learned on the subject, I turned to active participation in that work. I thought that one could then have counted on the fingers of two hands the university men who at that time were engaged in charitable work. At this time we know that there are a great many so engaged, an increasing number every ycar. And this is true not only of those who hold the more responsible