USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 23
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CHAPTER XIV
THE ORGANIZATION OF CHARITY
ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES- CHANGE IN OFFICIALS-SOCIAL SERVICE CLUB AND ITS WORK- AIDING THE RED CROSS-THE BUILDING OF LIN- COLN HOUSE-THE ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE-STARTING THE OPEN-AIR SCHOOL-RECORDS OF TWO YEARS-ITS OFFICIALS-FIRST "UNITED CHIARITIES" -- DAY NURSERY-THE SOUTHMAYD HOME-KING'S DAUGIITERS-BABY WELFARE STATION-THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS-DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA-SALVATION ARMY.
In Waterbury, a generation ago, everybody knew everybody else, and sick- ness or misfortune that called for more than simple neighborly help could be brought to the attention of churches, lodges or employers and speedily relieved with certainty as to the conditions to be ameliorated. But as the city grew this communal system became disorganized. For many years after the depression which began in 1893 there was no public emergency that called for relief with the exception of the South Waterbury fire, which made many families homeless. The panic of 1908 fell suddenly and brought with it the realization that the exist- ing social machinery had not grown with the community and that a systematic organization of charitable effort was necessary.
Before this, there had been a deepening social consciousness and a deepening interest in the community's living conditions which had manifested itself, espe- cially in the anti-tuberculosis work, part of a nation-wide crusade. Many good enterprises were already on foot; some of them showed a tendency at times to overlap and some means of preventing duplication of effort became necessary. Thus the Associated Charities of Waterbury was formed in 1909, largely as a result of experience and observation of conditions during the preceding year.
Lincoln House, the permanent home of the Associated Charities, has been designed for the Social Service work of the community. It was formally occu- pied during August, 1917. This splendid structure, ideal for its purpose, is the gift of a small coterie of Waterbury's most prominent citizens, who have ex- pended approximately forty-two thousand dollars in their self-imposed task of properly housing the beneficent activities of the community. It may be said to mark for permanence the great work of co-ordinated charity in Waterbury.
Of the growth of the Associated Charities since the date of its organization. and of the growth as well of the altruistic spirit that has fathered the movement, the following figures of monies raised and expended since October 1, 1900, speak in no uncertain tones :
October, 1909, to June 30, 1910 $ 3.893.52
July 1. 1910, to June 30. 19II 5.705.54
July 1, 1911, to June 30, 1912 7.578.76 July 1. 1912, to June 30, 1913. 8,097.14 July 1. 1913, to June 30, 1914. 9,618.32
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July 1, 1914, to June 30, 1915 14,462.61
July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916. 10,389.90
July 1, 1916, to June 30, 1917. 11,725.15
$71,472.94
This total does not include the money separately raised for playground work.
The Associated Charities of Waterbury began its labors of co-ordinating and directing the charitable efforts of the community on October 1, 1909, and from that date until the end of its fiscal year, June 30, 1917, it has had under careful investigation and consideration approximately forty-five hundred cases, involv- ing close to fourteen thousand individuals. This is sufficient testimony that the organization has ably carried out its important mission of supplementing the various philanthropic enterprises which prior to 1909 worked along distinct lines, in many instances duplicating and confusing the great work of helpfulness to the unfortunates in Waterbury.
Today by means of the organization, all of the city's philanthropic enterprises - district nursing, relief work, the war on tuberculosis, day nurseries, boys' and girls' clubs-are all in the field, each with its corps of willing and trained work- ers, laboring together and co-ordinated on behalf of the destitute and stricken.
The functions of the Associated Charities may be regarded as fivefold. First. Co-ordination: To stand as a clearing house for the different philanthropic agencies, that each may know what the others are doing and thus be left free to carry its own work at highest efficiency. Second. Investigation: To inquire carefully into the needs of all applicants brought to its attention and bring them at once into communication with those organizations or other forces best fitted to meet the need. Third. Relief : To see that destitution is relieved so far as it is in its power to relieve it. Fourth. Civic Action: To endeavor to trace desti- tution to its social causes and to direct its energy toward the removal of those causes, wherever this is possible. Fifth. Charities Endorsement: To investi- gate the appeals for money or other assistance which come to the people of Waterbury from other cities for alleged charitable institutions or societies wher- ever these appeals come to its notice, and to keep on file a record of the results of inquiries for the benefit of all citizens who may be aided by such information.
The Associated Charities is in existence to study the problem of poverty in Waterbury as a whole. Its aim is to protect the community from the worst evils due to poverty and to place destitute families in a position to help themselves.
The history of its inception begins with the growing conviction in the years just prior to 1909, that a real and increasing need existed in the city for the establishment of some central office or agency to fill an evident gap in the local field of charitable effort. A number of active organizations for benevolent pur- poses were already in operation: the city department of charities, the churches, the hospitals, the day nurseries, the Industrial School, the Boys' Club, the Visiting Nurses' Association ( which does nearly all the external hospital work of the city), the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the King's Daughters, the Queen's Daughters (a group of noble women who came from France when the religious orders were suppressed), the Sunshine Society, the Salvation Army (organized in Waterbury in 1892), all were doing charitable work, but each along its own particular line and each independently of the others. As a result, there was considerable repetition of relief ; some beneficiaries were receiving assistance from several sources without the knowledge, one of the other; others, in equal or greater need, failed to receive the kind or amount of
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assistance fitted to their necessities. There was no central office from which anyone could learn whether an applicant for relief was or was not already being aided by other means. Particularly was the lack felt of some place where the busy citizen or minister of a church, besought by frequent appeals for aid, could send an applicant and know that his case would be carefully investigated and that he would be brought into touch with the agency best suited to care for him.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge at this point the appreciation that is felt for the inspiration proceeding from the heart and mind of Miss Helen E. Chase, whose time and means have always been given freely to brighten the lives of others. Circumstances prevented her from taking an active part in the organi- zation of the society and thanks are due to a few other public-spirited citizens for the initial steps. Following their deliberations and their desire to obtain the best advice on the subject, correspondence was started with the Charity Organiza- tion Society and Russell Sage Foundation in New York City, which resulted in sending to Waterbury in January, 1909, Miss Margaret F. Byington, one of the heads of the department for the extension of organized charity.
. Conferences were then held between some of the ministers of the city churches, the head workers and directors of several philanthropic organizations, and a group of business men invited for the purpose, at which Miss Byington explained the objects, principles and methods of charity organization societies. The opinion was generally expressed by those present that such a society was needed in Water- bury. As a result of these meetings, a committee of eleven persons was appointed to take charge of the formation of the proposed society. This committee, as finally constituted, consisted of representatives from eight churches, from the city government, and from the general body of business men, and included the fol- lowing persons: Chairman, John Moriarty ; secretary, Robert E. Platt; John M. Burrall, Wallace H. Camp, Terrence F. Carmody, Isidore Chase, Louis E. Fitz- simons. Charles P. Kellogg, William O'Neil, Archibald E. Rice, and J. K. Smith. Frequent meetings of this committee were held during the winter months. On February 28, 1909, a general meeting was held at which delegates from the vari- ous churches and charitable organizations were present, articles of association were signed by thirty-one persons, and a constitution and by-laws for the pro- posed society were adopted ._ A body of thirty-six directors-at-large was elected at this time and an address was given by J. B. Deacon, manager of the Associated Charities of Paterson, N. J.
The first regular meeting of the board of directors was held in City Hall Annex on April 18, 1909, when the officers and executive committee were elected who had charge of the society during its first year of active existence. A special public meeting of the society was held on May 25th, in Institute Hall, at which a revised constitution and by-laws were adopted and James Minnick, superintend- ent of the Society for Organizing Charity in Providence, R. I., spoke upon some of the broader aspects of organized charity work.
At all of the meetings of the organizing committee, and later of the execu- tive committee, much attention was devoted to the nature of the work that it was proposed to do in Waterbury, and to the question whether there should be engaged as manager of the society some resident of the place, or whether some person of experience should be secured elsewhere who had had training in this particular kind of work. The decision was in favor of engaging an experienced worker. The executive committee felt itself fortunate in securing in July, 1909, as manager of the Waterbury society, Howard L. Udell, who had just completed a year and a half as head of the Associated Charities of Pawtucket, R. I., and before that had been for three years in the Bureau of Charities in Chicago, part of the time in charge of one of the large district offices of that society.
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The Associated Charities of Waterbury opened its office in the Cowell-Guil- foile Building, on October 1, 1909, under the direction of Mr. Udell.
In the very first nine months of its history, the nature of its work was made clear. It provided hospital care in 15 cases and it referred patients in 42 in- stances to the Anti-Tuberculosis League, and in 26 instances to the Visiting Nurses' Association.
Of the 64 cases of unemployment which were brought to it during the nine months ending July 1, 1910, not a few were the result of either intemperance or inefficiency. Thirty applications for help were traced directly to intemperance, 28 to old age, 21 to accidents, 19 to death of the bread-winner or some older member of the family, II to grave mental defects, 7 to poverty and illness attrib- utable directly to immorality, 4 to the bread-winner being imprisoned, several to desertion, and 51 to the power of self-support having been destroyed or seri- ously impaired by the habit of promicuous begging.
During this initial period the Associated Charities was asked to give or with- hold its endorsement in six instances where outside persons solicited funds in Waterbury for alleged charitable institutions. Two of these were pretended uni- versities in the South. Most careful inquiries could not, however, discover any- thing resembling a university in either of the places. In one there were few, if any, students, and the man who posed as president evidently reaped considerable profit out of northern philanthropists, desirous of helping the cause of education among the colored race. The other was declared by persons having knowledge of the situation, to be inefficient to the last degree. The organization was also called upon by out-of-town societies and institutions to make investigations in twenty-three instances.
The keynote of the second year's labor of the Associated Charities was sounded at the annual and mid-winter meetings of its board of directors. The first of these was addressed by Dr. Hastings H. Hart, of the Russell Sage Foun- dation, on the general subject of "Child-Helping." The speaker compared at length the advantages of home and institutional care for children and showed the incomparable superiority of home life as a means of fitting a boy or girl for ulti- mate citizenship. At the second meeting, Judges Clark, of Hartford, and Math- ewson, of New Haven, told of the splendid work done in each of these cities by a woman probation officer, in visiting the homes of neglected or incorrigible chil- dren, guiding them and their parents toward better living. As a result of their representations, the meeting placed itself on record as urging the desirability of appointing a woman probation officer in Waterbury. After a thorough investiga- tion of the qualifications of various candidates, the choice fell upon Miss Lillian Greenwood, of Philadelphia, whose services in Waterbury began September I, IQII.
During the summer of 1911, the South Main Street playground was opened through the efforts of the Associated Charities, and Miss Sadie Bleistift, a teacher in one of the New York public schools and an experienced worker in the recre- ation centers of that city, was engaged as play-leader, entering on her services July Ist and continuing until August 31st. During that time her capability and resourcefulness was the wonder of all who saw her. An attractive feature was the folk-dancing, in which the girls took part with great enthusiasm, while the younger ones had their time and talent absorbed by the study of one of Mrs. John Shotwell's charming playlets.
The regretted and unexpected departure in May. 1912, of the manager, How- ard L. Udell, to a position of larger responsibility and remuneration as head of the Associated Charities in Detroit, Mich., called attention to the affairs of the
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Waterbury society in a way that his quiet but effective work might not otherwise have done. As his successor, the executive committee secured Eugene Kerner, of Newark, N. J., who came highly recommended after two years' experience in the Organized Charities of Chicago, fourteen months as head of the Ohio Valley district of the Associated Charities of Pittsburgh, and two years as organizer of the state-wide anti-tuberculosis campaign in Kentucky.
An interesting event in the record for the year 1912 was the incorporation of the society under the general laws of the state, regulating the formation of volun- tary associations without capital stock.
Some further evidence of the helpful work of the Associated Charities among the destitute and stricken was brought out in the manager's report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912. Among the 588 families applying to the society in the year 191I-1912 there were found 275 persons suffering from bodily or mental defects of long standing and not susceptible to immediate cure. Seventy-one of these were victims of tuberculosis, 14 suffering from defective sight, II were feeble minded, there were 7 paralytics, there were 6 epileptics, 6 insane, 6 who suffered from chronic heart trouble, 5 deaf mutes, 5 suffering from rheumatism, 4 handicapped with chronic kidney trouble, 4 totally blind, 3 with deformed feet, 3 affected with serious venereal trouble, 3 with spinal difficulty, 2 with Bright's disease, broken back, infantile paralysis, deformed hand, cancer, loss of an arm, loss of a hand, mental backwardness, loss of a leg, and defective speech. In addi- tion to these there were 8 families having tubercular history, 6 in which tubercu- losis was suspected, and 91 cases of alcoholism.
There were 22 instances of sex immorality, 6 families with children in the reform school, 6 addicted to the habitual use of drugs, 6 truant children, 5 incor- rigibles, 4 persons with simply a police record, 4 others who had served time in the penitentiary. 3 privately known to be dishonest, 3 merely irresponsible. 2 sex degenerates, and 2 deserting mothers.
In the summer of 1912, Waterbury possessed four public playgrounds in addi- tion to the two conducted respectively by the Waterbury Industrial School and the Associated Charities.
What the Associated Charities has been able to do in the interest of housing reform in Waterbury has been, as yet, only tentative. Through the efforts of the society a committee of the State Conference was enabled to authorize an investi- gation of the housing conditions of the city. The services of Dr. Carol Aranovici, formerly with the Bureau of Municipal Research in New York and later at Prov- idence, were secured by this committee. Under his direction, an investigation was conducted which covered 1,000 tenement houses in Waterbury and the result of this survey was presented in a series of graphic stereopticon pictures at the second meeting of the State Conference on the evening of Sunday, April 14, 1912.
An interesting feature of the activities of 1912 was the organizing of the Social Service Club, to which all persons having rendered some service to any one of the city's philanthropic organizations are eligible. It meets one evening each month, from October to May. Its program consists of a dinner, followed by an address from some specialist in social work on his own-chosen line, con- cluding with a general discussion. This club has for its object, chiefly the promo- tion of acquaintance and good-fellowship among the active workers in the chari- table field, and secondarily to provide an intellectual stimulus that can not fail to be a source of added strength for the tasks of the day.
It was in the fiscal years ended June 30, 1914, and June 30, 1915, respectively, that the Associated Charities had its greatest tasks. During the winter of 1914
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it rendered some kind of useful service to 775 families, comprising 3,434 individ- uals, of whom 1,892 were children under fourteen years of age. Twenty-four nationalities were represented. This number does not include hundreds of home- less men who applied for assistance.
It met the unusual conditions of hundreds of unemployed by providing 882 days of emergency employment for all able-bodied men with families. It paid these men daily in the form of cash, food, fuel or rent as seemed best for each particular case. There was spent in this way $1,335.45. It kept the men in good physical condition and preserved their independence and self-respect. To the splendid success of this scheme much credit is due to the city street department, which furnished the teams, tools and foremen for the work.
It created sewing for a large number of women who were the bread-winners for the family. The sum of $1,373.08 was spent in this way for labor and mate- rial. These women turned out 3,800 garments, 2,521 of which were sent to the Red Cross and Belgian Relief, and the remainder were used locally.
It secured the co-operation of citizens, who provided days work for the unem- ployed and paid them in cash.
With the return of prosperity came a new problem for the Associated Chari- ties,-that of providing for those hard hit by the high cost of living. In its report for the year ended June 30, 1916, the manager says: "There are many families with a large number of children who are worse off now than before our prosperity began. We spent $4,415.53 in the form of material relief in giving needed aid to these families.
"No able-bodied and mentally normal men have applied to the Associated Charities during the entire year. Only sick, old and physically handicapped are asking for help now. The present demand for able-bodied men only makes their case more pitiful.
"Material relief without careful personal service is not enough for these fami- lies. Where there is illness, careful attention must be given to insure proper med- ical care. The well members must be given adequate income so that they may be kept well.
"Where defective eyes are formed, a competent oculist is consulted and glasses purchased. Where children have improper clothing and shoes for school, the parents must be persuaded (in some cases forced) to buy them, or if upon inves- tigation they are found unable to buy these articles, they must be provided for them.
"With the relief goes the care and plan for the future, which is the only thing that really makes relief worth while. To give a man food one day and not sufficient thought and service with it to know what will become of him the next day will secure no benefit for him. The Associated Charities aims to remove as far as possible the cause of poverty, thus making the need for relief less neces- sary."
Nor does the work of helpfulness end here. There is the task also of the Visiting Housekeeper, who is working with scores of families monthly.
As secretary of the Committee on Civilian Relief of the local Red Cross Chap- ter, the manager of the Associated Charities had charge of the investigations and disbursements of the fund for dependent families of soldiers called to the Mex- ican border in 1916, in the Army service. The workers of the Associated Chari- ties at all times give freely of their services to kindred social service work, such the the Red Cross work, Christmas Seal Campaign, Social Service Club, and others.
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917, the unusual growth and develop-
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Inent of the Red Cross work, due to the war, has tested the energies of the Asso- ciated Charities. Its Red Cross Civilian Relief work has also gone on along the lines of the Mexican mobilization period.
Its regular work of assistance for the poor and the sick has been looked after with the expert skill which has given the Associated Charities of Waterbury a title to the gratitude of the community.
The officers of the organization at present are: John P. Elton, president ; Darragh DeLancey, vice president; Edwin C. Northrop, treasurer; Robert E. Platt, secretary ; Eugene Kerner, manager; executive committee, Mrs. J. Hobart Bronson, Mrs. Arthur R. Kimball, Miss Alice Kingsbury, W. S. Jones, Dr. D. B. Deming, Charles P. Kellogg, Walter D. Makepeace, and Mrs. H. L. Wade.
The directors-at-large elected in 1917 were: Mrs. J. Hobart Bronson, Rev. F. D. Buckley, Rev. Robert E. Brown, Mrs. W. H. Camp, T. F. Carmody, Miss Helen E. Chase, Isidore Chase, N. Combellack, Darragh DeLancey, Dr. A. Bed- ford-Deming, Dr. D. B. Deming, John P. Elton, Mrs. John P. Elton, Dr. F. J. Erbe, George A. Goss, Mrs. K. D. Hamilton, H. G. Hoadley, Mrs. C. A. Jackson, William S. Jones, Mrs. A. R. Kimball, Miss Alice Kingsbury, W. D. Makepeace, Julius Maltby, Dr. James L. Moriarty, John Moriarty, Edwin C. Northrop, William O'Neil, Miss Katherine L. Peck, Robert E. Platt, Rev. H. B. Sloat, Mrs. Archer J. Smith, Cornelius Tracy, Mrs. H. L. Wade, Jay H. Hart.
THE ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE OF WATERBURY
Waterbury's Anti-Tuberculosis League was officially organized February 16, 1908. During the nine years of its existence, it has a record of upwards of one hundred and seventy thousand visits to houses in which advice or service was needed. It has taken out of Waterbury and placed into sanitarium or into health- ful country surroundings approximately four thousand patients, who thus ceased to be a menace to family and friends. Outdoor sleeping accommodations have been provided in several hundred cases. Caretakers have been supplied in many instances ; milk, food, and medicine have been distributed where needed. The open air school, now a part of Waterbury's school system, was inaugurated. The children's clinic has done incalculable good.
These results, thus briefly summarized, give the objects that underlie the organization of the Waterbury Anti-Tuberculosis League.
It was at a meeting, not well attended, in the early days of 1908, that the first steps were taken to create the league. At this meeting an address was delivered by John F. Gunshanan, of Hartford, and the plan of organization was outlined by the men and women who have been continuously at its helm. These were Arthur R. Kimball, still the president of the league; Dr. Thomas J. Kilmartin, secretary throughout its history, and Dr. Elizabeth C. Spencer, of its early execu- tive committee and now an honorary member.
The plan of organization embodied the election of delegates by the various fraternal societies to represent them on a central committee. This central com- mittee, consisting of 156 delegates, met and elected the customary officers and an executive committee of fifteen, who were empowered to carry on the active work. The executive committee organized immediately and proceeded to adopt consti- tution and by-laws. It was early decided that the dispensary system of reaching and aiding those afflicted was the one best suited for Waterbury and contributions were solicited from the various societies that had sent delegates. Societies re- sponded in amounts ranging from five to one hundred dollars, and in a very short time $1,310.59 was raised in this way. Private contributions brought the
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