Philanthropy

The magnitude of philanthropic expenditure in recent years is vastly greater than ever before recorded. In 1926 the British Government distributed, in maintaining its public social service in England and Wales, a total of 1313,000,00o, of which about L80,000,000 was derived from sums received from contributions from or levies on individuals and companies. In addition to this huge sum—over one-third of the gross income of the British Gov ernment--other contributions of large amounts were made to re ligious, educational and charitable organizations. In Great Britain in 1927 there were recorded 35 private bequests of 40,000 and upwards, the average bequest in this group being £105,000.

In the United States the private donations for philanthropic (including religious) uses estimated at approximately $1,719,000, 000 for 1921 rose to $2,330,600,000 for 1928, the average exceed ing $2,000,000,000 per year. While the greater number and bulk of all American donations go to religious bodies, charitable organizations and hospitals, as they do likewise in Great Britain, the chief recipients of the largest bequests are universities and colleges. Of 34o major benefactions made in 1928, averaging over $500,000 each, 57% of the total amount went to institutions of higher education. In consequence of the tendency to give gener ously to higher education, there were in the United States in 1929 about loo colleges and universities whose endowments were $2,000,000 or more each; the total endowment of this group exceeded $875,000,000.

Further indicative of the trend of recent American contribu tions to philanthropic purposes, aside from the major objects mentioned above, there were in 1927 donations for the institu tional care of children, $94,300,000; for the institutional care of the aged, $64,400,000; for negro education, $30,900,000; for schol arships for needy children, $19,300,000; for public health nursing, $11,800,000; for medical research, $13,000,000; for health edu cation, $6,500,000; for play and recreation, $19,300,000, and for the fine arts, $25,700,00o. There were also donations for relief in foreign lands, including Armenia and the Near East, China, Russia, Poland, Austria, Ireland and other countries, amounting to $214,500,000.

The United States.

Philanthropic endeavour in America dif fers from that of other countries in its greater variety and in the larger proportion undertaken through private initiative as com pared with that carried on by the State, while that performed directly under religious auspices is much less. Moreover, as little poverty exists and there is no pauper class, welfare work is con ducted in a more confident spirit, with the expectation of making social relief ultimately needless. Again, all forms of public and private relief, including the care of the sick, defective, insane, criminal or indigent, are more and more thought of as parts of a complicated but interrelated system, to be planned for and admin istered as such. There is also the American readiness to discard old methods, mechanisms and plants and to install new and better devised ones.

The emphasis on prevention has greatly stimulated research into social conditions, and several heavily endowed foundations, as the Russell Sage, the Rockefeller and the Carnegie, include research as a special function. The results of surveys made by research insti tutions have stimulated the older social service organizations to undertake a greatly widened range of constructive activities and rehabilitations instead of simple relief. Training schools for social workers have been established, and training courses in social work are offered by colleges and universities.

The trend toward prevention is seen also in the changed methods of handling criminals. Reformation, not merely retribu tion or punishment, has become generally emphasized in the treatment of adult as well as juvenile offenders. Such features as probation, indeterminate sentence, special courts for children and specialized treatment for women and children, which were novel ties at the beginning of the 20th century, now characterize the penal and correctional systems of most States.

A noteworthy development is seen in the growing co-ordination of social agencies, the mutual exchange of records and informa tion, and wide-spread co-operation in formulating working plans and programmes. An important outcome of this co-operation has been the founding of financial federations, which have become a basic feature of social welfare work in many American cities. The Jewish charities were the first to inaugurate this plan suc cessfully, but in 1921 some 3o important cities had adopted this method of raising a community chest or community fund, and subsequently the plan became widely prevalent. In 1929 about 35o urban communities were using it.

There has also been a marked tendency toward increased de pendence upon government in the field of social welfare. Boards of health have extended their control over infectious diseases. established clinics and maintained nurses and physicians to visit and give instruction to the poor in their homes. Public schools have added physicians, nurses, dentists and psychiatrists to their regular staffs. In more than three-fourths of the States there is an organized bureau of child welfare, and in most of the States there is some provision for the payment of widows' pensions or mothers' allowances. The Federal Government has granted financial aid for vocational education; the Department of Agriculture has done social work in rural communities, and a children's bureau is main tained by the Department of Labor.

Industrial welfare work, largely a development of the first quarter of the century, beginning in many instances with the in stallation of a rest room, lunch room and first-aid appliances in mercantile and industrial establishments, has expanded to include gymnasiums, playgrounds, medical counsel and care, summer camps, company stores, mutual benefit societies; in fact, practi cally everything that may promote the well-being and efficiency of the workers and promote co-operation and good-will between the employers and the employed. (J. Ros.)