It is only rarely that the able-bodied men apply to the organization. It is, therefore, not necessary under normal conditions to aid such people in securing work. There are always, however, a considerable number of handicapped persons applying to us who arc able to engage in some vocation, but who because of their mis. fortune find it difficult to obtain employment For these there is conducted an employment bureau. Much difficulty is experienced in se curing work for such people. All of the Jewish Employment agencies were coordinated into a Placement Clearing House whose office was in the Hebrew Charities Building. Because the Federal government has established employ ment bureaus the work of these agencies is being rapidly turned over to the government bureaus.
In recent years, the spread of tuberculosis among Jews has merited the earnest attention of the society, and among its other activities the United Hebrew Charities- has been a pio neer in developing a systematic plan for caring for such tuberculous applicants in their own homes, for whom no provision could be made in existing sanatoria. The campaign thus begun has been not only a charitable but a social one, Not only have these unfortunates been given food, nourishment and medical care to aid them toward recovery, but in addition thereto, in struction has been given them in the rudiments of sanitation and in the prevention of infection. It is significant that the work of the United Hebrew Charities in this field has been fol lowed to some extent by the Committee on Tuberculosis of the Charity Organization So ciety.
In 1910, realizincr the inadequate sanatorium treatment and also the limitations under which the United Hebrew Charities labored in deal ing with tuberculous families, it entered into an arrangement with the Free Synagogue to join in an experiment with a view to deter mining what results could be accomplished with such families in their own homes, if adequate funds were afforded for their maintenance and for effective medical supervision and nurs ing. The results of that experiment were so encouraging that in 1913 the co-operation of the Montefiore Home was enlisted in an en larged experiment along the same lines, and this committee, known as the Jewish Committee on Tuberculosis, is now doing this intensive and rehabilitative work with the family of every Jewish patient admitted to local sanatoria and is spending $60,000 annually to on this work. A very interesting activity carried on by this committee is a model garment factory em ploying upward of 150 former sufferers from tuberculosis, all of them receiving union wages.
Practically none of these persons have suffered relapses.
• The name ((United Hebrew Charities* as ap plied to the New York organization is some what of a misnomer, since it does not include all the Jewish charitable agencies in the city of New York. It would be more proper to speak of it as the consolidation of all the purely relief societies which existed in New York prior to 1874. Aside from these, there are to day hospitals, orphanages, technical schools for boys and girls, trade schools, day nurseries and kindergartens, guilds for crippled children burial societies, loan societies, societies for ma ternity relief and a goodly number of smaller organizations which have been founded by the immigrants of the last 20 years. Among the most important large organizations and insti tutions in New York may be mentioned: The Mount Sinai Hospital, Lebanon Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, Montefiore Home, Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, Home for Hebrew Infants and He brew Free Loan Association. It is estimated that there are over 300 Jewish organizations and societies in the city of New York to-day, whose activities to a greater or lesser degree are directed along philanthropic lines. Practically all of the larger organizations, such as the hos pitals, etc., work in co-operation with the United Hebrew Charities. In some of the other cities in the United States, where the question of the care of the poor is not so complex as in New York, closer co-operation has gone by leaps and bounds. In cities like Philadelphia, Cin cinnati, Cleveland, Chicago and others, the in dividual societies have formed federations of charities, the purpose of the federation being to express the philanthropic impulse of the com munity in terms of greatest economy, the smallest amount of friction and the possible efficiency. In Philadelphia the federa tion is the common treasury. It acts as the common collection agency of all moneys and distributes them pro rata among the various societies and institutions, whose autonomy is not impaired by this method. In other cities, this plan with some slight variations is in force. In New York after sporadic attempts a federa tion for the support of philanthropic societies was established in 1917 numbering 91 constitu ent societies.