The Social Work of the Salvation Army Part 9

[23] Apparently no definite data are obtainable regarding these men since the time of treatment.

[24] Introduction, p. 10.

[25] For instance, the president, vice-president and secretary and treasurer are all Army officers of high standing.

[26] The following extract is taken from the Salvation Army Social Gazette of February 5, 1908: "Whether the Officer of the Salvation Army takes charge of the industrial home to manage it in the interests of the concern, or whether he takes charge of the corps, the one great purpose of his whole life is to proclaim salvation to all with whom he comes in contact."

[27] See p. 36.

[28] We think that this would probably be done, even though the presence of the home in the particular locality was a great boon to the poor, and although this would be contrary to the principles of the organization, so strong is the idea which the company has of financial success. This further strengthens the idea that the movement is drifting from its original purpose of uplifting the down-fallen humanity to the purpose of perpetuating and extending itself as an economic enterprise.

[29] See "The S. A. and the Public," pp. 121 to 130.

[30] A typical industry instanced to support this objection was the manufacture of fire wood. See "The S. A. and the Public," p. 124.

[31] The criticism here of course would be that, to the extent that the army applies donations from the public to this industrial work, to that extent it has an advantage over another business enterprise and differs from it just to that extent in which it secures capital on which it need pay no interest or return. To what extent this is done, we have been unable to ascertain, but the Army is paying interest to investors who furnish money to carry on this work. This point is dealt with somewhat in the next paragraph.

[32] See "The S. A. and the Public," pp. 122 to 127. Also "The Social Relief Work of the S. A.," pp. 11 and 12.

[33] Several leading officers have stated that they never undersell paper or rags, the largest part of their business, and that the only underselling done by them is in the retail store and that this is slight. They justify themselves by the fact that the regular second-hand men are tricksters and will rob the poor of their money, in most cases carrying on a p.a.w.n shop, which the Army never does.

[34] See Seager, "Introduction to Economics," p. 234.

[35] See "Principles of Relief," p. 35.

[36] To show the difference in the grade of the men at the Industrial Homes and those at the Hotels, I have given separate tables for each.

The combined tables showing certain characteristics of the cla.s.s of men in general with which the Army deals will be found at the end of Chapter IV.

[37] This number includes all the inefficient men and the men who are steadily working in the Industrial Home.

CHAPTER II.

THE SALVATION ARMY HOTELS AND LODGING HOUSES.

In a study of environment and its effects on the lowest cla.s.ses of our great cities, the cheap lodging house affords a favorable field. Here we have crowding, unsanitary conditions, immoral atmosphere, and all the attendant evils. A good description of such lodging houses in New York City has been given by Jacob Riis, in the following words:

"In the caravansaries that line Chatham Street and the Bowery, harboring nightly a population as large as that of many a thriving town, a home-made article of tramp and thief is turned out that is attracting the increasing attention of the police, and offers a field for the missionary's labors, besides which most others seem of slight consequence"[38].

The cheap lodging houses of London and other great cities are similar in their environment and effects. This field was early entered by the Army.

It was necessary that a very low rate of cost for the individual concerned be maintained because of compet.i.tion with the lodging houses already existing, and because of the size of the prospective lodger's purse. The first experiments were tried in London. There, at first, the primary aim was to aid the needy and dest.i.tute, but later the Army entered into a compet.i.tion with the existing lodging houses and paid more attention to the element of environment. It was soon definitely proved that such a work could be carried on to advantage, that shelter amid beneficial surroundings, could be provided to those almost dest.i.tute, and that the work could be self-supporting. Since then this work has extended to nearly all the larger cities of Europe and America, but it is of greatest extent in England and the United States. Along with this growth there has been differentiation. The hotels have been graded to suit the requirements of the different cla.s.ses to which they appeal: the almost dest.i.tute cla.s.s, and those who have steady employment. Hence, besides treating of conditions common to both, we shall describe special features of two grades of both men's and women's hotels.[39]

The location for a men's hotel must be determined partly by its propinquity to the cla.s.s of men which it is seeking to attract and partly for facilities for ventilation, cleanliness and general sanitary conditions. These last features are of the greatest importance in this work. Led by the real need of the case, and working with regard to its reputation, the Army has, in this respect, shown a great advance over the general cheap lodging houses. Still, there is room for improvement in the Army hotels.[40] One great difficulty lies in the lodgers, many of whom are so habituated to uncleanliness in general, that it is with great reluctance on their part that they are induced to cleanliness.

Especially in the lower cla.s.s hotels is this true where the rough, brutal element finds its way. Another difficulty lies in the fact that the Army frequently takes old buildings and turns them into hotels, when they are not suitable for the purpose. A favorable tendency to overcome this, however, lies in the Army's desire to put up new buildings fitted for hotels, and this is being done in many cities.

In both the higher and the lower cla.s.s men's hotels, the general plan is to have two or three grades of sleeping apartments. The first grade is in the form of dormitories, where each dormitory will contain from ten to fifty beds in the smaller hotels, and from fifty to one hundred and even two hundred beds in the larger.[41] For a bed in one of these dormitories, 10c and 15c per night is charged in the United States, and in England 2d up. This includes the use of a locker beside the bed, with sometimes a nightgown, and sometimes a bath. The second grade of lodging is in individual rooms, part.i.tioned off, but inside rooms, for which the charge is 15c in the United States, and 4d to 6d in England. Then finally we have the third grade of lodging, which consists of individual rooms which have outside windows, and for which the price varies from 20c to 50c per night according to situation and furnishing.[42]

Sometimes the three grades of lodging are found on the same floor, a part of the floor being dormitory, and a part part.i.tioned off into rooms, the part.i.tions running up to a height of eight or nine feet. This method of part.i.tioning off the rooms is almost universal. It is cheap and to some extent sanitary, since by means of windows at either end of the building a continual current of air can be maintained all over the floor. In most of the higher cla.s.s hotels one floor is given up to dormitories and another to individual rooms, while the majority of lower cla.s.s hotels consist entirely of dormitories. Hotels are of all sizes, and run from one floor up to eight or ten.

The beds found in the Army hotels are iron, with mattresses usually covered with American cloth or some form of leather, but sometimes with strong canvas.[43] Each bed is provided with pillow, sheets, a coverlid, and sometimes an additional counterpane. The individual rooms, in addition to having better beds, contain a looking gla.s.s, a chair, a small table, and other furnishings according to the price of the room.

In most cases washing facilities are only found in the lavatory, common to the whole floor.

Comparative cleanliness is enforced at all grades of hotels. Baths are sometimes made compulsory, though often this rule cannot be rigidly enforced. Usually each floor is provided with bath tubs and shower baths. Nearly every hotel has a fumigating room, an air tight apartment filled with racks, upon which clothing is hung. If a man's appearance or clothing looks suspicious in any way, his clothes are placed in a sack with a number corresponding to the number of his bed or room, and hung in the fumigating room over night. Early the next morning his clothes will be returned to him. The dormitories and rooms themselves, every few days, receive a fumigating and cleaning. Thus, except in very rare cases, no fault can be found with the cleanliness of the Army hotels. We hardly ever visited any of them without coming into contact with the scent of fumigation, or finding some individual working with mop and broom.

The above description, except where stated differently, fits both cla.s.ses of men's hotels. The higher cla.s.s, intended for transients of the better cla.s.s of poor and for workmen with steady employment, has some distinctive features. In addition to better equipment along the line of furnishings, lavatories, etc., this cla.s.s of hotels necessarily has a better social environment than the other. For instance, there are many lower cla.s.s hotels where the reading room is dark, poorly furnished, without attractive reading matter, and where it serves as smoking room as well as reading room. While this might be improved, yet so low are the occupants that such improvement would not be appreciated.

But when we come to the higher grade hotels, we find a difference. Take, for example, the Army Hotel in the city of Cleveland, O., on the corner of Eagle and Erie Streets. This corner building was built by the Army to answer its purpose, at a cost of $100,000.00. There are no dormitories in the building. The three upper floors are given over to the hotel, which comprises 130 rooms, each room being steam heated and electric lighted, and each floor being reached by elevators. Bathing facilities and sanitary arrangements are first cla.s.s. A comfortable reading room and lounging room is provided for general use, where there are popular magazines, daily papers and writing conveniences. As another example, about the highest grade Army inst.i.tution of this cla.s.s is found in Boston, and is called "The People's Palace." It is a large, five-story, corner building, built by the Army for the purpose. In this inst.i.tution the social environment is especially emphasized. There is a reading room, a smoking room, one or more social parlors, a gymnasium with a swimming tank, and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 600. The whole building, with its 287 single rooms, besides the above advantages, is equipped with steam heat, electric service and other modern conveniences. A special fee of 25c is charged for the use of the gymnasium and swimming tank, but the other advantages are free to lodgers. In this way, it is seen that the higher cla.s.s hotels have more opportunity for a good social environment and for social work. We think that the addition of certain features, such as men's clubs, smokers, popular lectures, etc., would be of great advantage to this cla.s.s of inst.i.tutions. To overcome the difficulty of a transient population, however, would require considerable ingenuity.[44]

Along the line of religious environment we find the hotels differ a great deal. In London there seems to be a strong influence of this kind, most of the hotels of both cla.s.ses holding gospel meetings frequently.

For instance, at the Quaker Street Elevator Home, which is partly a hotel and partly an industrial home, meetings are held nearly every night with good attendance, and at the Burne Street Hotel well attended meetings are held every night except Wednesdays and Sat.u.r.days, these nights being given over to the men for washing their clothes. But in the United States we find, as a rule, that the Salvation Army hotels are run with very little religious influence. In a few cases, meetings are held regularly, but more often no provision is made for them. Meetings are generally in progress somewhere in the neighborhood at the regular Army corps, and the men are left to attend these meetings if they wish.

Generally they are willing to take advantage of the hotel, but do not care for the sentimental form of religion preached by the Army. Hence, in most of the hotels, we find the religious influence limited to the texts on the walls, and to the att.i.tude of the employees, who are not always Salvationists or converted men.

Some hotels of both cla.s.ses are fitted with a kitchen and lunch counter.

This is nearly always the case in London, where the hotels have a counter, over which the food is sold, and then taken to a seat by the purchaser. In several cases the counter is divided so that it opens into different rooms, and there are two grades of prices, the lower price being paid for food somewhat damaged and stale.[45]

We need not dwell long on the subject of the women's hotels, as that does not form an important part of the Army's work. The women's hotels, even more than the men's, have tended to fall into two cla.s.ses. There is a great difference between the hotel for women who are almost dest.i.tute, and the hotel for respectable working girls, who have positions as clerks and stenographers, and who happen to have no home of their own. A typical hotel of the former cla.s.s is situated near the Dearborn Street Railway Depot in Chicago. It consists of three floors, and has accommodation for fifty girls or women. The woman officer in charge lives here herself, and seeks to have an environment as homelike as possible. She states, however, that occasionally the women come in noisily and are troublesome. There is a great difference between one woman and another, and she wishes she had one floor with better accommodation than the rest for the better element among them. The price paid per bed at this hotel is 10 cents. A good example of this cla.s.s of hotel in England, is the one situated on Hanbury Street, Whitechapel, London, where there are three floors, two upper floors given over to dormitories containing 276 beds in all, and the ground floor containing a dining room, kitchen, small hall, and office. Here, women are turned away quite often because of lack of room. 2d. is charged for a bed, and for food a scale of prices, such as tea, 1/2d.--soup, 1/2d.--bread, 1/2d.--etc. There are nine officers working here, and nine other workers, six of the latter receiving 3s. per week, and three receiving 1s. per week.

With the higher cla.s.s hotels for women, the Army has not had much success. This is easily understood, as the respectable girl does not like to be connected with a hotel run by an organization which is prominent for its slum and rescue work. These hotels charge a higher rate for rooms and are situated in a good quarter of the city.[46] They are frequented by shop girls, bookkeepers, clerks and stenographers.

Apparently, no great religious pressure is brought to bear on the girls and women, but this would probably depend on the officer in charge.

The growth of the Hotel Department of the Army's work, like that of the Industrial Department, has, of recent years, been great. Soon after the publication in 1890 of General Booth's book, "Darkest England," the hotel work was started in England, and its progress has been rapid. In the United States at first the work did not make much headway. When Commander Booth-Tucker came to take charge in 1896, there were three small men's hotels situated in the cities of Buffalo, San Francisco, and Seattle. At the present time, nearly every large city in England and the United States has one or more of these hotels, the latter country having 71 men's hotels and 4 women's hotels, with a total accommodation of 8,688. The tendency now is toward fewer of the lower cla.s.s hotels, and more of the higher cla.s.s; in other words, toward fewer hotels where beds can be had for 10c and 15c, and more where they will cost 20c and 25c. The Army gives as its reason for this the fact that the cheaper hotel cannot be maintained in a wholesome manner and be self-supporting.[47] Similar to the Industrial Department in its management, the Hotel Department has its divisions, its graded officers with their various responsibilities, and its head officer in charge at the national headquarters. In the United States, however, unlike the Industrial Department, the Hotel Department has no separate financial company, in the form of a corporation, behind it. In some instances, deserving men are given bed tickets and meal tickets free, by officers detailed for the purpose, and, to that extent the hotels are a charity.

This is done with due discretion and does not make an appreciable difference. The amount of charity indulged in by the Army in this way is, however, probably responsible for the fact that in 1907, there was a loss to the Army in this department of $4,500.00, not a very large amount, considering the number of hotels concerned.

Coming to the value of the Army hotels from the point of view of the social economist, care must be taken to discriminate between their commercial and their philanthropic aspects. The public has a mistaken idea of the work carried on by this branch of the Army. Many people have an idea that thousands of homeless, starving men and women are nightly taken care of in these Army hotels. Putting aside the question whether such would be good relief policy or not, the statement itself is not true. In a majority of cases the man or woman in order to gain admittance must have the price, and in many instances, that price will also admit them to the regular cheap lodging house outside of the Army.

We are not finding fault with the system of charging, since from the point of view of true relief, provided that bona-fide, dest.i.tute cases are not left without help, the price should be required, as it would be a great evil to throw open the hotels to the crowds of regular beggars and social parasites who constantly throng any inst.i.tution supposed to be charitable; but since the Army hotel movement claims to be a self-supporting business, it is not to be regarded as different from any other lodging business, except in those points in which it excels the other. With this caution we believe that we still can distinguish two lines along which credit is to be given the Army. The first is the environment which the Army has created for its guests. It is not necessary here to show what a great factor environment is in this case, but simply to emphasize its importance. From our description of the Army hotel, it is seen that, with certain exceptions, the Army maintains cleanliness, cheerfulness, and a homelike atmosphere around its lodging houses.[48] In this important respect then, the Army hotel is to be commended. Secondly, the Army has indirectly, by its compet.i.tion with the ordinary cheap lodging houses, led them to adopt improvement for purely commercial reasons. If a man has only ten cents, he is going to invest that ten cents to the best advantage, and the old time lodging houses have found it necessary to improve their conditions in order to meet the compet.i.tion of the Army. For this too, credit is to be given the latter. In addition the compet.i.tion reacts on the Army and tends to make it keep up its own standard.

In order more clearly to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cheap lodging houses, whether Army hotels or not, it would be well here to consider objections to their existence. Three objections have been raised to all cheap lodging houses in general.

1. That they herd together a low cla.s.s of vagrants and vicious characters.

2. That their cheapness lowers the standard of living.

3. That they encourage the youth of the country to come to the city and live in comparative idleness.[49]

No one who has looked into the matter has any doubt about the accuracy of the first objection. One glance at the faces of a group of men in the smoking room of any such hotel reveals many of the low, b.e.s.t.i.a.l, criminal type; many victims of dissipation and many who have acquired a dislike for work of any sort. This harboring of the vicious element is also true of the Army hotels of the lower cla.s.s, but it is in company with this element that we find the men for whom more or less can be done.[50]

The second objection must be considered more carefully. To repeat the definition of the standard of living which was discussed in connection with the Industrial Department, it is the scale or measure of comfort and satisfaction, which a person or community of persons, regards as indispensable to happiness. Now the question is whether these cheap lodging houses lower this standard; whether their existence results in a tendency to live with less effort and less ambition, and thus renders men and women less productive and less proficient. This question must be separated into a question regarding the community as a whole, and a question regarding the individual. As regards the standard of living of any single community, the answer would be that the standard is not appreciably lowered by this hotel system, since the occupants are mostly single men wandering around, and the standard of living of the community is more concerned with the maintenance of homes in its midst, than of transients. This, however, brings in the further question as to whether the cheap living made possible by the lodging houses leads to the breaking up of homes, since if it does so, it would bear decidedly on the standard of living. We would answer this second question in the negative, because life in the cheap hotel is not such a desirable thing as to lead to the breaking up of homes. A man has already left home and is already reduced in circ.u.mstances, before the fact of such cheap living as the hotels and cheap restaurants of the Bowery in New York, or of Whitechapel in London, ever comes to him as an advantage. But, on the other hand, when it comes to the individual concerned, we think that the standard is lowered and that in many cases the objection holds good. For instance, take a man with a regular trade, say bricklaying or carpentering. He is thrown out of work and gradually drifts down to the cheap hotel. For months, possibly, he strives in vain to get work at his trade. He exists, however, by means of odd jobs picked up at random; he becomes shiftless; the life which consists of so much "hanging around"

and loafing, decreases his efficiency, and, in this way, his standard is lowered. At the same time his character is affected, and even if no worse development takes place, he loses ambition, and that lowers his standard. Hence, in conclusion, we would say that the objection that the hotel movement of the Army leads to a lowering of a standard of living has no place as regards the community, but is sustained as regards individuals.

The third objection that the country youth are induced by this cheap living to leave for the city is not a strong one and needs but short notice. Some of the most successful men of our cities come from the country, but very few of the lower and pauper cla.s.ses. This has been shown by the investigations of Mr. Fox in England, and by our own investigations in the United States.[51]

The consideration of these objections leads us to a closer examination of the cla.s.s of men frequenting the hotels of the Army. The men's work being so much larger, let us look at the occupants of the men's hotels.

Here we must separate the comparatively few hotels of the higher cla.s.s, which, charging higher prices and harboring the working man, have a different environment from the others. In these, the higher cla.s.s, we see a compet.i.tion with the ordinary boarding and lodging houses which single men frequent, a compet.i.tion which, owing to the more healthful social environment of the Army hotel, is to be welcomed and approved of as a preventive of vice and degradation. The latter is often the result of crowded, uncleanly, workingmen's lodgings, which drive their occupants to the saloon. But the majority of the Army hotels are filled with the lowest cla.s.s of men, out of any steady employment. This cla.s.s is composed for the most part and under present conditions, of men who are almost helpless cases.[52] Conditions can be conceived which would result in the betterment of a certain percentage of these, but a large number would always be hopeless. Many have been given their chances and have thrown them away; some have had no chances, and some could not use them if they had. Many are physical and moral wrecks. In their faces you see no ambition. They simply exist as do animals. For such, except in unusual cases, there is no remedy. Do all you can for them, and they will slide back again; give them work, and if they are willing to take it at all, they soon lose their positions. Some belong to the pseudo-social cla.s.s and are mere parasites feeding on society. Others are anti-social, bitter and criminal.[53]

These men are not those with which the Army is successful, in its industrial inst.i.tutions, although many of them have been tried. They secure their ten cents or fifteen cents for a bed in a cheap hotel by any means which comes along. They form a cla.s.s, which especially in the older countries of Europe and increasingly in the new world, presents a problem that is the great puzzle of the statesman and the social economist alike.

The present tendency of the Army already mentioned to have fewer of the lower cla.s.s, cheap hotels and more of the higher cla.s.s brings up some important considerations. There are three points which come up for particular notice here. First, as has already been stated, the present tendency of the Army is to have fewer of the lower cla.s.s or cheap hotels and more of the higher cla.s.s. One reason for this is that, although the Army's compet.i.tion has in many instances forced the ordinary cheap hotels to better their equipment, still, in the long run, the Army cannot successfully compete with the ordinary low cla.s.s hotel and maintain an equally good or better environment, without having its hotel work subsidized by the public. The men whom we have just described do not appreciate better surroundings sufficiently to pay fifteen cents for a bed at the Army hotel, when they can get one for ten cents at another place around the corner. Secondly, as the Army extends its work, there is the ever present tendency of any organization to become an end in itself. Hence the Army tends to forsake its field of the lower cla.s.s for the field of the working cla.s.s for financial reasons. If it can carry on a hotel which appeals to a higher cla.s.s of working men who are willing to pay $1.50 upwards per week for a separated room such as has been described, they may do better financially than with a dormitory whose beds are held at ten cents. This second point of consideration leads us to a third, and that is, what is to become of this lower cla.s.s of vagrants and unemployables. This discussion hardly comes in the scope of this book, but we might suggest in pa.s.sing that the cheap, lower cla.s.s of hotels with which the Army has entered into compet.i.tion should not be allowed to continue as at present. In case of the failure to provide compet.i.tion, the city itself should provide a successful compet.i.tion under good environment, or should take measures for the segregation of the vicious elements of the population from the merely weak, aged and unfortunate.[54]