Vol. XLV NOVEMBER, 1914 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE ROSARY PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No. 5 S AT THE SIGN OF THE CROSS By REV. J. B. O'CONNOR, O. P. |OCIAL service is the shibboleth of the times, and under its aegis many a grievous wrong, as well as much substantial kindness, is done to the worthy poor of Christ. Unfortunately, the field of social service has been seized in a large measure by the immature philanthropist, whose good intentions are not infrequently neutralized by his want of knowledge and his fatal lack of experience; or else it has fallen a prey to the statistical humanitarian who considers poverty principally in the abstract and merely from an academic point of view; to which the poor are only incidental, and useful simply as exhibits with which to bolster up theories of sociology-the objects of unwelcome investigations, cold-blooded analyses and elaborate classifications. By the former the poor are patronized, by the latter exploited. Millions of dollars in the aggregate are yearly donated by benevolent citizens for the relief and comfort of their destitute brethren; but only a relatively small portion of these vast sums is applied to the primary purpose for which they were given. It is almost axiomatic that three dollars are needed to place one dollar in operation through the medium of the majority of the highly organized charitable institutions subject to lay control. High-salaried officers, innumerable in vestigators, an army of clerks and other hangers-on, together with the up-keep of extensive and expensive offices, account for the diversion of three-fourths of the patrimony of the poor from the cause to which it was consecrated. Even the dollar that reaches its destination is as apt to be an insult as a blessing to the needy but self-respecting poor. These institutions of benevolent purpose or only sociological research, as they often are, with their elaborate and complicated machinery their bureau organization, card-index systems, voluminous reports and endless red tapeapproach their task with the same lack of human sympathy that an anatomist displays to the "subject" at the point of his scalpel, and with the same attitude. towards publicity that characterizes the activities of a press-agent. Their learned disquisitions and academic studies on poverty-its causes, phenomena and cure-may interest the economist, sociologist and historian, but will contribute precious little to the alleviation of the suffering at our door and the mitigation of the misery which chills the hearts of millions of our stricken people. It was once a recognized truth, founded on the most ancient AngloSaxon law, that a man's house was his castle. If this axiom has any force in the present era of scientifico-philan thropic activity, then the castle is anything but an impregnable one, and offers but little difficulty to the dauntless servitors of incorporated benevolence, who, often without the preliminary of a warning knock, invade its privacy to thrust their objectionable attention on those who neither invite nor welcome it. In the name of social service the unobtrusive and self-respecting poor are dragged into the glare of publicity, held up for inspection, plied with impertinent questions, quizzed in regard to their most private affairs-and all for the enrichment of the card-index and the forthcoming annual report. The professional sociologist considers that he is doing the human race a notable service when he forces himself into the most private parts of the home of some poor family, and photographs every thing in sight for the purpose of the stereopticon lecture which will expose the degradation of the poor. Recently a woman in New Jersey, whose home. had been thus invaded, attended one of these lectures and was astounded to see a picture of one of her bedrooms thrown on the canvas as a horrible example of congested and unhygienic conditions existing among the poor. The indignant woman rose in her place.and denounced the fallacy of the exhibit and the unjustifiable violation of the privacy. of her home. The audience cheered the indignant victim of the social-server and brought the lecture to a sudden. close. Personal liberty was once a phrase to conjure by in this "land of the free and the home of the brave." But that was before the doughty champion of social service entered the lists to level a lance at the enemies of posterity. Of course, it is always some one else's posterity for whom he is embattled; since, like the mule, he never has any of his own. If a thoughtless boy in mischievous mood commits some trivial offence which leads him before a dyspeptic magistrate and thence to the reformatory, the champions of social reform will see to it that he does not hand down his criminal (?) instincts to posterity, even if they have to deprive him of his constitutional rights to do so. Does a person desire to enter the state of matrimony, these vigilant champions of posterity have legislated that he or she must furnish the marriage-license bureau with a certificate to the effect that the applicant has been subjected by a physician to a most elaborate, difficult and highly expensive examination as to physical condition, and has not been found deficient in any of the essential qualities of perfect health. The Greeks and Romans attained this end much more expeditiously and effectively. They conducted the examination at birth, and immediately terminated the earthly career of the physically deficient. Not even the realm of happy, carefree childhood is spared the meddlesome and hurtful attention of the social reformer. With the slogan of "social service" on their lips they demand that the sex-unconsciousness of the children' of our public schools shall give place to the fullest possession of information. that does not belong to their age and to a knowledge that can only rob them of the charm of innocent childhood, without adding anything to the safeguards of innocence. It is an eloquent com mentary on the unwisdom of this movement that the lectures prepared for this purpose were denied the use of the United States mails. All of this is social service run wild in the hands of professional reformers, whose living it is; amateur philanthropists for whom it is the diverting fad of the moment; and mercenaries of one kind or another who exploit it to their own advantage. The striking thing about it all is that it is not Christian charity but pagan humanitarianism. It is neither conceived in, animated by, nor dedicated to the purposes of religion. It begins with the body and ends with it; and absolutely no consideration is given to the higher necessities of the soul. Fortunately, the Master's ideal of charity-the true brother-love of Christ -still dwells upon the earth, enshrined in the spirit, and served in the institutions, of Mother Church. Formed to this ideal and served in this spirit of the Saviour is the Holy Name Mission of the Bowery, founded eight years ago by the Cardinal-Archbishop of New York. In the mind of the average citizen the name "Bowery" is one of evil repute. It conjures up in the mind of the man not possessed of first-hand knowledge of New York's best-known highway, a place which is the recognized habitat of brazen vice and unfettered crime. In its unhallowed purlieus, he is quite certain, his life would be in imminent peril, even in the broad light of day. He has probably read of "The Tub of Blood," "The Alligator" and other picturesquely named dispensaries of strong drink, alleged to be the headquarters of the ruthless villains that prey upon society. From time to time he has been horrified by sensational newspaper stories of gang-fights which are supposed to be a matter of frequent occurrence along this sanguinary highway of lawlessness and crime. In his simple-minded way he is quite sure that no one lives within its crime-steeped precincts except the predaceous and murderous denizens of the underworld. Such is the evil reputation which magazine and newspaper writers and amateur sociologists have given to the poor old Bowery. But the Bowery of fact is a very different one from the Bowery of fiction. Whatever it may have been a generation ago, its character to-day may be summed up in the trite phrase, "poor but respectable." Physically considered, it is one of the main arteries of the city's down-town traffic, through which run four surface car tracks and the double track of the elevated. Also, it is one of the widest thoroughfares in New York. Across it at every block the East Side pours its teeming thousands into the Broadway business district. It is itself the Broadway of the East Side. On both sides it is lined with retail stores of every description. By night it is brilliantly lighted by the glare of the store-lights and street lamps. By day the sidewalks are crowded with people, and at no time of the night are they absolutely deserted. That crime is sometimes committed on and in the vicinity of the Bowery is undoubtedly true; but the same is equally true of every other section of New York. The Bowery is by no means a criminals' paradise. Along its course and in its vicinage dwell some of the most upright and law-abiding citizens of the metropolis. Indeed, such is the character of the overwhelming majority of those who, for one reason or another, have set up their Penates and invoked their Lares along this boulevard of the proletariat. Poor, they undoubtedly are many of them absolutely homeless but for the cheap lodging-houses where for ten or fifteen. cents they can obtain shelter for the night. But they are in no sense a criminal or a vicious class. a vicious class. Twenty-five thousand men live on the Bowery itself; and it would be a most conservative estimate to say that ninety-eight per cent |