" DEAR WOOLLCOIEE,—People ask me to appeal publicly for aid
to the Charity Organization Society. I find it necessary to refrain, save in the rarest instances, from writing directly to the Press on behalf of causes which are seeking support. But I should like to assure you, and, through you, anyone who cares to know what I think, how shallow and uninformed is the opinion that belittles the work of the Society. I have had to do for more than fifty years with what is called ` philan- thropic effort,' and with the endeavour to secure that it shall be reasonable and far-seeing, as well as warm and eager. In these decades I have learned to appraise the value of those who, like Bosanquet and Loch, faced bravely the charge of ' cold blood' and ' red tape,' and taught us the need of clear vision in our endeavours mid the ultimate fruitfulness of trained and deliberate effort. Two hundred years ago we were warned by Bishop Butler against `shortness of thought.' We need the warning still, and the Society has done much to help us. I have been not seldom among the Society's critics as regards particular acts or modes of action on which difference of Opinion was more than permissible. But I should esteem it a veritable disaster were the influence to be impaired or weakened which has meant so much and taught so much to men and women open to its lessons.—I am, yours very truly.
Previous page
