public social work receives popular notice only when some scandal in connection with it arises. Why is this?

Newspaper men will tell you that it is because good work on the part of these agencies is not news. Doubtless this is true; but why is good work not news? Is it because it cannot be made news, or is it because newspaper reporters and institution officials have not had the wit to make it news? I incline to the opinion that it is because lack of proper publicity has not educated the people to an interest in good work. The human aspects of the work in these institutions has not been played up. Social workers, both public and private, but especially the public, have not been aware of the news value of the good work they do. In every one of these institutions, city, county, and state, lie hidden stories which the public would be glad to read. Newspaper reporters hitherto have not had the wit to discover them, but they are less to blame than those responsible for the institution.

Some principles of public presentation of public social work. Not being a publicity man myself I can offer only some suggestions which occur to me on the basis of chance observation: First, is it enough that the state institutions and social agencies tell, in an annual or biennial report, of the work done? It is a well-known fact that these reports often are not widely read. They are dull, uninteresting, have no appeal to the natural curiosity of mankind, and give only the bones of the state social work, unclothed with the living flesh of a human being. Who would guess, from one of these reports, the high and noble purpose that is supposed to animate these institutions? Who could surmise that back of these deadly dull reports lie tragedies of human life which novelists sometimes are wise enough to use to create a story that sells by the thousand?

To this indictment there are enough notable exceptions to make my point clear. When Harris R. Cooley was director of the Department of Charities and Correction of the City of Cleveland, the world discovered that Cleveland was engaged in a unique experiment in dealing with her paupers, her tubercular, and her misdemeanants. Beyond his formal reports, his imagination envisaged the people of Cleveland and of a hundred other similar communities in the United States. The newspapers and magazines awoke to the fact that out on those two thousand acres on which were built the house of correction, the almshouse, the tuberculosis sanitorium, and the city graveyard there were stories which made good news. Even a cemetery was not without publicity value.

Second, is it adequate reporting to the stockholders of a corporation to give them a report only once in two years concerning the work of the institutions, especially if that report is largely in the form of the business rather than of the human side of the work? Amos Butler has shown us all how the dry-asdust material of the reports of the work of a board of state charities can interest the people of a whole state. Beyond that board to which he was reporting, and who were of necessity interested in the business side of the state institutions, he saw the two or three million people of the state of Indiana who were furnishing

both the money and the human material with which they dealt. To them he reported the things in which he knew they would be interested. He put his information in such a way that they were glad to read it, and in reading it they became interested in the public social work of Indiana.

Third, should not the people of the state be told frequently of the aims of the institutions, the difficulties, both financial and human, with which those charged with their management struggle, e.g., the difficulty of running a firstclass institution with inadequately paid staffs, of getting the right kind of employees, of inspiring them to be servants of the people instead of timeservers, of securing good results with poor cooperation from public officials, from private agencies, and from popular opinion, of remolding the hopeless material with which they deal? Moreover, should they not also be told of the successes which these public institutions achieve? Here a prisoner has been paroled and has gone back to his community to fight his way back to respectability, meanwhile supporting his family and relieving the state of the expense of his care. There a degenerate family constructively handled by a public poor relief official was inspired with new ideals and brought to ultimate usefulness in the community, and again, a group of feebleminded folks who for years had furnished paupers and delinquents for the community to support and struggle with were so dealt with that the corruption of human stock was stopped, and all the train of evils incident to their degeneracy, propagating itself generation after generation, was wiped out. The Board of Administration of Ohio had the wit to see that if the people of the state knew what they were trying to do through the Bureau of Juvenile Research they would enthusiastically support it.

Fourth, would not such reporting inform and interest the people of the state, county, or city in these human problems, secure their cooperation and support, and promote better methods? A few examples show that it would. What was it that made the old township system of relief in Indiana enthusiastically supported instead of merely tolerated by the people of that state? Was it not the fact that the state board informed the people that by a few minor changes in the law and by a system of careful reports the amount spent by the townships in public outdoor relief was reduced from over $600,000 per year to less than half that amount, and the insistent presentation of the simple methods by which that result was reached? What was it that changed the apathy and indifference of the people of Westchester County, New York, to one of enthusiastic pride in their county institutions? Was it not the vision of V. Everett Macy, who saw that in his institutions and the methods employed there lay an appeal to the intelligent interest of his constituents? He told them about it. Newspaper reporters suddenly found that here was a new source of news. The world discovered that people can be interested in the technique of sound social work if it is properly presented.

Fifth, to use a commercial phrase, cannot human service be "sold" to the citizenship? Ought it not to be made understandable to the common people?

Only so can enthusiastic support be secured, and by such means alone can the people be made real partners in the high and noble purpose of making public social work contribute to social progress.

The sum of the whole business is that those in charge of public social work for the most part have failed to take the people into their confidence. The stupidity of such an attitude is well illustrated by a state board in a middle western state. When attacks were being made upon the board for certain of its policies and procedures it was urged to take the people into its confidence, tell them why it was doing so and so, invite constructive criticism, and explain the purpose of its procedure. To this urging it replied that it was charged with the responsibility of conducting the state institutions; to the legislature alone it was answerable for its work; that it did not propose to take the publicity agencies into its confidence. As a result of the personnel of that particular board was consigned to the oblivion which it justly deserved. The newspapers and other publicity agencies are not to be blamed for the attitude they have taken toward public social work. The responsibility lies squarely upon the shoulders of those in charge of the institutions.

Methods of popular publicity.-Space and time will not permit me to do more than suggest certain methods of popular publicity. First, I have already hinted that the newspapers are hungry for the right kind of stories concerning the work of the public institutions. In them will be found willing cooperators in the task of educating the public. When institutions are governed by individual bodies of managers, those managers and the superintendents should see to it that constantly, out of their large experience, go to the publicity channels stories which will be read. Sometimes these stories will deal with the financial aspects. Even such stories can be made interesting. As the institution develops new methods and tries new experiments the newspapers should be used to tell the public about them. The tragedies with which they deal can be so discussed that the individual will be protected but the public informed. Consider the interest which would be elicited by a story telling how, out of a thousand people received into a state hospital for the insane, even two hundred had been so treated that they were back in their homes and families, better able to meet the responsibilities of life; how the new psychopathic ward had received so many people in a given time who had voluntarily come with their mental difficulties, and had been straightened out and sent home, trained to a program of mental hygiene which would prevent ultimate breakdown. Even the sordid tales of a jail might be made the vehicle of bringing home to a community the importance of a better treatment of the drunks, prostitutes, hobos, and other somewhat hopeless classes.

Where the state institutions are administered by a state board, or supervised by them, could not such a body, through the newspapers, educate the people of a whole state to a proper attitude toward these unfortunate people? It could, as shown by the work of the Indiana Board of Charities, the Massa

chusetts Board of Charities, and by a few of the boards of control. Some of the private agencies also have shown that they appreciate the importance of interesting publicity. In Wisconsin the state anti-tuberculosis association has shown remarkable insight into the possibilities of interesting the people in the one problem of curing and preventing tuberculosis. Its little Crusader goes into the homes and upon the desks of thousands of people throughout the state. Its stories sent out to the newspapers of the state are printed in hundreds of communities. As a result, in a dozen years the death-rate in Wisconsin from tuberculosis has fallen to one of the lowest in the United States, and the interest of the people of the state is shown by the increasing support given the organization. Second, newspaper publicity should be supplemented by popular addresses by members of the state board, by chaplains and wardens of reformatories and prisons, by superintendents of the various institutions, and representatives of the state commissions and boards. Occasionally one hears of a chaplain of a prison who has made the work of his prison known through the state. The work of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, for example, would have been impossible had not its members taken an active interest in presenting on every possible occasion the work of that important body. Occasionally a judge has found that his spoken words before various groups have strengthened his hands. With our highly organized society of the present day, parent-teacher associations, women's clubs, service clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Gyro, etc., are hungry for the message of a man who knows how to tell them of the important work which they are doing. Parole work has lagged in some of our cities, and probation work has gone limping because there has been no one to explain the importance of these devices in language which would interest and inform.

Third, exhibits have been woefully neglected by our public social work as a method of popular publicity. Consider the number of meetings which are held by all kinds of organizations in a given state in a year. Most of the states have state fairs, many of the counties have county fairs. The state teachers meet in a gathering once a year at least. Congresses of mothers, state parent-teacher associations, state federations of women's clubs, state conferences of social work, etc., all offer opportunities on a state-wide basis for the presentation of the work of our public agencies. The same is true of county and city meetings. All these meetings have been woefully neglected by public social work. Not only do they provide platforms for addresses, but usually they will welcome an exhibit which in visual form will provide the means of acquainting those who attend with the work of public school agencies.

In Wisconsin, each year when the legislature is in session, the superintendent of the institution for the blind brings to Madison not only a large exhibit of the handiwork of the inmates of that institution, and sets it up in the corridor outside the legislative halls, but brings also a number of the pupils and puts them to work where the legislators cannot fail to see them. This has created a very remarkable interest and a support for this institution. While such a method

cannot be used for all the state institutions, modifications of it could be used. As a matter of fact, in all these ways public social work must keep its constituents acquainted with what it is doing. If they neglect this important function they are only inviting the indifference which is now too largely their portion.

WORK FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN IN OHIO

Gardner Lattimer, Member, Executive Committee, and Chairman,
Legislative Committee, Ohio Society for Crippled Children,
Columbus

The Ohio Society for Crippled Children was organized at Elyria, Ohio, May 8, 1919. Edgar F. Allen, of Elyria, was the moving spirit in the organization, and was its first president. He is now president of the International Society for Crippled Children, and remains as president emeritus of the Ohio Society. To him, more than to any other one factor, belongs the credit for whatever results may have been obtained in Ohio.

About eighteen years ago Mr. Allen retired from business with the idea of dedicating the balance of his life to the service of his less fortunate fellows. He first devoted himself to securing much-needed hospital facilities for Elyria. While he was engaged in this undertaking, and about the time the hospital was getting into operation, he became interested in the subject of the crippled child. Since then he has been devoting practically his entire time to this work, from which he has received no financial return, and for which he has spent much of his own money. The earnestness of his purpose and his ability as an organizer have overcome obstacles and discouragements which would have spelled failure to one of less courage and tenacity of purpose.

Active membership in the Ohio Society for Crippled Children has been limited to Ohio Rotarians. This policy has been followed deliberately, not because Ohio Rotarians have any exalted idea of their own fitness for this work, but because it is believed that a relatively small, but rather closely knit, organization of business and professional men can be better depended upon than could a more loosely organized group.

It is easier to raise money from a membership of this sort, and, when it comes to legislation, influence can be more effectively brought to bear by such a group which is not open to the charge of being in the uplift business, and is supposed to represent, in a rather definite sense, the business man and the larger taxpayer who so often opposes, or at least fails to support, welfare legislation.

In 1921 this society, in cooperation with the Ohio Institute, the Ohio State Medical Association, the Ohio Public Health Association, and other interested organizations and individuals helped to secure the legislation by which the three state departments of welfare, health, and education are given responsibility for the care, cure, and education of crippled children in Ohio.