[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sia,—It is sad
to think that the Charity Organization Society should have to appeal for support from the public, especially at a time like the present, for it seems to show that the invalu- able lesson it has been teaching us, and the work which it is doing, are not recognized as they ought to be. Many years ago Miss Octavia Hill said to me : "If you wish to help the poor you must realize that you must not give to them, but must make them give to you," which was merely a paradoxical way of saying that doles of money did no good unless some corre- sponding effort were aroused on the part of the recipients. If our Government had taken this maxim to heart in the adminis- tration of their various relief departments, there can be no doubt that the nation would be in a more healthy financial and social condition than it now is.
Every well-conducted hospital now has an almoner's depart- ment, and last week when I was talking to our excellent almoner at the Hospital for Sick Children, she said to me quite spontaneously, "1 do not know how we should get on without the C.O.S." I would urge, then, that the public should not only recognize the debt which it owes to the C.O.S., but also should insist that the principles which it inculcates and has carried into practice shall be the basis of all public relief organizations.—! am, Sir, &c., Joins SOA Albemarle Street, W. 1.
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