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N o w , w e started about fourteen or fifteen months a g o a small H o m e l e s s Bureau in N e w Y o r k City. W e have psychiatrists and we try to adjust t h e m ; w e try to see in what w a y these particular nomads can be put into useful spheres, and it is self-evident that, unless physical facilities can ac­ company this particular phase of the work, the j o b is only half done.

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I believe w e have a tremendous opportunity through the national _ o r ­ ganization to encourage not only better adjustment through psychiatrists, better facilities through stimulating the interests of our general c o m m u n ­ ities, but also through clearing houses to eliminate certain duplications. M r . Astrofsky, as the Secretary of the National Committee, will tell you what has been' accomplished during the past year by the National Committee.

LUNCHEON REPORT OF T H E N A T I O N A L

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JUNE 10,1930

TRANSIENTS T h e Open M e e t i n g of the National Committee on Transients of the N a ­ tional Conference of Jewish Social Service w a s called to order at 2 : 0 0 P. M . , at the H o t e l Statler, Boston, Mass., M r . H o w a r d S. Cullman, Chair­ man of the Committee on Transients, N e w Y o r k City, presiding. T H E C H A I R M A N : I a m in a very embarrassing position today because I believe I a m the only lay member here, and I a m simply going to give you from a lay standpoint and a very limited experience in N e w Y o r k what our particular outlook is on a situation that, in m y opinion and m y colleagues' opinion, has not received the fair and due consideration it is entitled to. T h e r e is no question, in m y opinion, that the care of the transient is probably one of the fundamental things in a humanitarian, economic p r o ­ gram. O u r daily press reports our airplane progress, administrative prob­ lems, problems of unemployment, but with all this particular treatment of modern problems, I have seen very little accomplished in the last twentyfive years insofar as the transient problem is concerned. H a v i n g fallen under the influence of E u g e n e O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms and other plays, w e like to sit back and have smug Opinions. T h e life in the country, with its boredom, has been supposedly a contributory factor. I am not con­ vinced it has been a factor. I think maladjustment has probably been much m o r e important than the particular occupation of the individual, whether in the city or the country. T h e factor that has impressed me the m o s t — I am speaking entirely from a lay standpoint—is that some of our richest philanthropists, whether of Jewish abstraction or of Gentile, have seemingly built monumental facil­ ities for convalescent care, for hospitals, for every type of care of the individual except the transient. I do not believe that N e w Y o r k is in any different position than probably Boston, Chicago or Philadelphia, but w e , in N e w Y o r k , have only the most primitive type of facilities to which w e can send transients during the most important time in the particular care that w e are trying to give them. 328

A year a g o I had the extreme pleasure of addressing the National C o n ­ ference of Jewish Social Service on a subject, which has engaged the in­ terest of the National Conference since its organization. D r . Hexter re­ viewing N e l s Anderson's book " T h e H o b o " in the Jewish Social Service Quarterly of M a y 1 9 2 4 ( p . 7 3 ) stated that the problem of Jewish itinerants called the National Conference of Jewish Social Service into existence and D r . Bogen in his "Jewish Philanthropy" ( p . 3 1 ) said:_ "This situation was one of the causes leading to the formation of the National Conference of Jewish Charities and received a good deal of consideration at the first Conference which w a s held in Chicago."

I am priviledged today to read this Report, not as m y own individual expression, but as professional secretary of the National Committee on Transients which resulted from the resolution adopted at the 1929 Conference, calling for the "appointment of a special committee to study effective means and methods for the adequate and proper care and treatment of the transient and homeless." In accordance with the above resolution, M r . Samuel Goldsmith, acting President of the National Conference f o r Jewish Social Service, asked, in the fall of 1929, Mr. Howard S. Cullman, who is Chairman of the local Committee on Homeless in N e w Y o r k to head the National Committee on Transients composed of representatives from the key cities of the country. This Committee, operated through a nucleus of its members who could meet together periodical­ ly, necessarily in N e w York, and through correspondence with the other members located in the strategic cities. I t has enlisted to date fifty community agencies into a Council

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on Transients, the members of which have participated in the development of the Committee program. The New York group of the National Committee has met regularly to develop its plan and procedure, keeping constantly in touch by correspondence with the members of other cities for suggestions, recommendations and approval of any tentative measures. In December 1929, the Committee program was finally formulated and called for (a) a National Registration System open to all communities who are interested in parti­ cipating, aimed particularly at securing some intelligible picture of the transients visiting our various cities, (b) the establishment of a series of regional clearing bureaus on an experimental basis, several of which were already in operation. (The Committee hoped to correlate these ex­ periences and determine how they could be adopted to a national program) ; (c) the publication of such material from time to time as would help in dealing with transients, viz.: periodic reports on chronic transients and any other information that the members of the Council might deem necessary. The first project, namely the National Registration System was then carefully considered by the professional members of the New York group, calling upon the other members of the National Committee regularly for sugges­ tions, modifications, advice and approval of each and every­ one of the matters considered. A regular form was adopted, giving the description of the transient and other pertinent information, to be mailed immediately after the interview to the National Office, which was, for the time being, located at the Bureau of Jewish Social Research. This form meas­ ured 5 by 8 inches in size, to allow for a standard file and was made up in pads of fifty. Two weights of paper was used. The ledger stock was to be sent to the National Of­ fice and the white bond to be used in as many duplicates as the particular agency would wish to prepare, either for its office files or for use in its particular regional sj^stem. The agency was left to order as many of the bond duplicates, as it wished to use. It was charged one cent for each slip (envelope gratis) enabling a small profit at the National Office to pay for postage and other incidentals. On the first Monday of March, the National Registration System was inaugurated into service for an experimental

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period to continue at least until the present Conference. May 10th was the date set as the closing period only in so far as the statistical analysis was concerned, so as to make available the results of the experiment to this Conference. During this period covering a week over two months, 2,347 registration slips, representing 1,863 individuals were received from the fifty community agencies in the country participating in this national program. Of the 1,863 transients, 305 were identified as registered more than once, as follows:—

192 men registered 2 times, making for 3 8 4 slips 70

218

29

116

9

45

1

6

4

28

or 305 men registered the above number of times making for 789 slips. Identifications were established primarily by the comparison of names, aided by the information given on their registration slips. No identifications were at­ tempted at this stage of the experiment through other means, as by physical description, mother's maiden name, etc., although it is known that some transients use utterly different names in whatever agency they apply. Some in­ teresting discoveries, nevertheless, were made by our iden­ tification of the transients registered. There were several instances of brothers registered. A father and son were recognized and a husband and wife, one applying to this agency, and the other to that, and occasionally both sought relief from an agency in a third city. The next table shows the movement of transients re­ gistered by four or more agencies at the National Office and may throw some light as to what cities should be included in what particular regions. It is clear that in many cases men striking one city in­ variably hit one or more particular towns in the vicinity. Men applying to Washington agency generally come to Bal-

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timore and Philadelphia and vice versa. Similarly men coming to Memphis sooner or later get to Nashville and Louisville and vice versa. The same relationship holds true in the cities of Cincinnati, Wheeling, Pittsburgh and St. Louis with Kansas City, etc. The following tables indicate some of the characteristics of the transients who were registered with the National Office by the agencies in the country.

T A B L E No. 1 City and Date of Registration of Chronic Transients* W.

A.

Atlanta Nashville Louisville .... Phila G. H . A . Dallas Buffalo Rochester H.

Dallas Houston Denver

E . B. St. Louis

3/13 3/24 3/28 4/10

A. 3/5 3/9 3/22 4/11 4/28 5/6

4/15 4/21 4/28 4/29 ..5/1

*Editor's Note: The record of the movements of 3 7 other transients em­ bodied in the report had to be omitted here on account of lack of space.

TABLE

Under 16 16—19 20—24 25—34 35—44 45—54 55 and over N o t known

N . R . S. Reg. once 3/3-5/10/29 (1558 men) 2 101 322 515 6 1 % 314 154 114 36

No. 2—Age

ON

— 54 119 187 149 97 97 123

— 30 159 195 105 67 51

49%

—

333

***Bureau of the Committee on Homeless—1929 (640 men) 5 30 7b 147 4 0 % 119 117 146 —

**HIAS Shelter 1926 (607 men)

' ' W e l f a r e Council A u g u s t , 1927 (729 men) Under 16 16—19 20—24 25—34 35—44 45—54 55 and over Not Known

TRANSIENTS—ASTROFSKY

63%

—

* A s reported in the W e l f a r e Council Survey made in A u g u s t , 1927, of men who had applied to 17 agencies in Greater N e w Y o r k during that month.

***Annual Report of the N e w Y o r k Committees on H o m e l e s s M e n , 1929.

TABLE Marital Status

No. 3

(as reported by Transients)

Single Percentage of those registered once (1,558 men) Percentage of those registered more than once ( 3 0 5 m e n ) . Percentage of 863 Transients (total) Percentage of all men in the U . S . (Federal Census 1920) . . . .

A'larried

Widowed Divorced Separated

70.7

7.4

15.1

78.1

7.8

13.8

72.0

7.5

14.9

35.1

59.2

Not Known 6.4

5.5

5.4

Group

N . R . S. Reg. more than once 3/3-5/10/29 (305 men) 19 86 101 38 33 27 1

COMMITTEE

* * T h e number of lodgers who stayed at the H . I . A . S . in 1926, as reported in the Survey made by the Bureau of Jewish Social Research.

Buffalo Syracuse Albany J. B . Houston 3/20 Wash., D.C. . . . . 4 / 3 4/4 Baltimore Hartford . . 4/8 A . B. Cincinnati 3/18 3/20 4/10 Indianapolis .. ..4/22

3/17 4/17 4/27 .4/29

NATIONAL

67%

Total N . R . 3/3-5/10/29 (1863 men) 2 120 408 616 6 2 % 352 187 141 37

It might be expected that older men would predominate among those who require help from an agency dealing with the homeless. Judging, however, from the above figures, it is the younger element which claims the attention of free shelters and social agencies. Note that those under 35 were 6 3 % of the men sheltered at the H . I . A . S . in N e w Y o r k are non-resident, accounting for the lower percentage of the men under 35 who sought help from the agencies re­ porting to the National Office. Only about one-third of the men seeking relief at the Homeless Men's Bureau in N e w

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? t accounting for the lower percentage of its clients under 35 years of age.

In comparing the marital status of the transient with that of the male population in the United States, the result shows very material points of difference in each class in­ dicated above. In the study of M r s . Solenber°-er's "One Thousand Homeless Men" (Chicago, 1 9 0 1 - 1 9 0 3 ) , an effort was made to verify the family status reported by the men themselves and it was discovered that 8 0 % of the cases which could be followed up had given a true report.

TABLE

United

N.Y.C. *J.S.S.A. Heads of Families 1926

" B u r e a u of the Committee on Homeless, N . Y . 1929 (640 m e n )

52.1

48.3

20.9

22.6

21.7

4.9

4.9

4.9

Germany

2.4

2.6

2.5

1.

7.1

Austria-Hungary (incl. CzechoSlavia)

S.2

5.6

5.3

14.2

13.8

Roumania

2.0

4.6

2.5

7.5

4.7

11.4

—

9.7

8.2

7.1

4.5

Stated

Others

*

N.R.S. 3/3-5/10/29 (1863 m e n )

. .44.6

Not

States

N.R.S. Res. more than once 3/3-5/10/29 (305 m e n )

A s

j

r

e 9

|

o r t e d 7

i

n

t

h

e

S

u

r

v

e

y

m

a

d

e

b

y

t

h

e

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The proportion of the transients born in America is from 7 to 8 times as large as that of the heads of families under the care of a family welfare organization as the Jewish So­ cial Service Association of N e w York. T h e native born men registered two or more times are about 8 % higher than those known only once at the National Office. It is the American element therefore that wanders. Note also that the proportion of native born men coming to the at­ tention of the Homeless Men's Bureau of N e w York is about half-way between that of the transients and the heads of families under the care of a social agency, explained again by the fact that about one-third of the men coming to the attention of the Homeless Men's Bureau in N e w Y o r k are non-residents.

No. 4

Nativity—(Percentage Basis)

N.R.S. Reg:, once 3/3-5/10/29 (1558 m e n )

NATIONAL

u

r

e

a«

6.2

26.5

28.

28.4

29.8

12.7

13.3

6.8

of Jewish Social Research,

**Annual report of the N e w Y o r k Committee on H o m e l e s s M e n , 1929.

The above findings m a y be summarized in the following manner. ( 1 ) There is a dependent and moving Jewish pop­ ulation of sufficient proportions to require unified action on the part of the communities in this country; ( 2 ) that a significant number of the transients are chronics and in some cases habitual or professional vagrants; ( 3 ) and that their characteristics in a general w a y resemble those of the species known as hoboes or vagrants. The problem of the Jewish transient is one concerning younger men, single and about fifty percent of them native born. This undertaking has not therefore been without value in understanding the transient situation. Studies had been made of the homeless in various cities but now we are in a better position to know the transient problem as it appears either in N e w York, Chicago or Portland, Oregon, and plan for the adjustment of migratory dependent to a society that until very recent years had either ignored him or treated him by police methods. In what manner m a y this experience be of service to the communities? The Committee had expected to answer spe­ cific inquiries which might come in from community agen­ cies for information regarding registrations already made in the National office, but few such requests came in. Questionnaires were mailed to the participating agencies for suggestions as to how the material collected here could be of service to them. All expressed the opinion that the work of the National Committee ought to continue and fifteen out of sixteen agencies that had replied were

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emphatically in favor of t h e National Registration System slip for their face card or even record and m a n y of the others were willing to make the change, provided additional information was added to the slip. On the basis of the replies received from the agencies on the questionnaires sent out, conclusions drawn from other correspondence containing their expressions on the future of the Committee's work, and judging from the very ex­ perience of the National Office itself, the following program is submitted to this Conference for consideration: I. Continuance of the experiment for another year, with the National Committee on Transients responsible to the National Conference of Jewish Social Service for policies and procedure for the improved care and treatment of the transient and homeless. (a) The part time services of the Professional Secretary be continued as heretofore, responsible to the Committee for the guidance and execution of the program of operation in conformity with the Committee policy. (b) The mechanical and organization details of this ex­ periment operates as heretofore, through the Bureau of the Jewish Social Research. II. A s was stated above, the participating agencies are anxious to have the National Registration System expand into a National Confidential Exchange of information on transients. If this is created, it m u s t be clear here that any information given on a particular transient will not be for the purpose of placing him on a black list or for taking any punitive measures against him; it will rather be in the nature of a guide or understanding of the in­ dividual's problem. If that objective of the National Con­ fidential Exchange is not strictly borne in mind, its very purpose will be defeated and will only result in a national spy system, which is certainly not the intention of the Committee nor of any participating agency. If clearance is adapted, the following method of clearance is suggested: (a) The same slip as is used in the National Registration System, with the addition of "Disposition" on the face of it and on the back "Social history of Client" optional with the agency. If the agency intends to use the slip for its record or face card, it m a y duplicate its information for its office

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files, on the stiff ledger stock. On the other hand, if a more complete record is used at home, the fact and date of regis­ tration might be noted somewhere in the record, or a white bond copy filed in its case record. For regional clearance, the same slip in the white bond paper, in as many duplicates as m a y be required, is recommended. (b) The same individual should not be cleared with the National Office by any agency more than once within the year. However, when any agency desires to supplement any follow up information on a transient previously cleared by it with the National Office, it m a y do so, and such information will be attached to the original slip. (c) T h e return of information b y the National Office on a previously registered transient will be on a different form, with plans of the individual and the agency's plan and dis­ position stressed. W h e r e there are two or more previous registrations, the exchange slip will embody all of the per­ tinent information available. (d) Agencies should mail slips to the National Office im­ mediately after interview, certainly on the same day, and the National Office will clear immediately upon receipt, b y ordinary mail to cities east of the Mississippi, and b y air mail to cities west of the Mississippi. III. A number of agencies requested in their replies to the questionnaires, weekly lists of the National Office, de­ scribing chronic transients. If this is decided on, the Com­ mittee will endeavor to circularize the names, descriptions and problems of chronic transients as frequently as possible. A s pointed out before, it will do so only when such informa­ tion will help an agency establish some policy of treat­ ment for an individual transient. For example, there m i g h t be cases of men wanted b y their families, wives, parents, children,—or individuals who m a y be institutionalized in other cities,—or those suffering from unrecognizable phys­ ical or mental ills where such knowledge on the part of the agency might determine some adequate disposition of their cases. I V . Monthly Reports will be sent out to the participating agencies as heretofore, giving ( a ) the number of registra­ tions ( b ) the number of identifications and (c) the names of those identified and b y w h a t cities. V . T h e National Office expects to continue to answer specific inquiries which come in from communities for in-

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formation regarding registrations already made in the office. Agencies and individuals seeking missing persons may take advantage of this service. VI. The material in the National Office will be continually scrutinized and studied for statistical purposes as a means of perfecting improved methods for the care and treatment of transients as well as a possible check on their vagrancy. It might also be possible to relate the volume of registration to any number of sociological questions. It will be a clear­ ing house for the distribution of information on transients, establish a greater spirit of cooperation among the various agencies and make for more adequate methods of treatment for the itinerant mendicants. VII. While the National Confidential Exchange might fur­ nish information to an agency on a chronic transient after his date of application to that office, it will not be in a posi­ tion to give advance information on that individual, except perhaps through the periodic lists of chronics previously mentioned. It is therefore highly advisable that there be established as many regional clearing bureaus as possible, mainly for that purpose. From the questionnaires, it was learned that there are four regional clearing systems in existence, to wit, (a) Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis. Portland and Duluth, (b) Jacksonville, Atlanta, Savannah and Miami (operating chiefly during the winter , (c) Cleve­ land, Toledo, Detroit, Buffalo and Erie (d) Baltimore and Philadelphia. They all operate practically in the same and following manner. When a transient applies to one agency in a city, that agency immediately notifies all other cities in that region of his application. Statistics from a few of such agencies in regional clearing systems indicate some mea­ sures of success. For example, the Jewish Social Service Bureau of Cleveland reports that out of 52 transients who had appeared in its office during the months of March and April, 22 or 44% were identified by the 1 6 0 slips of names received from the cities in this region. Similarly, Baltimore was able to identify 1 0 out of the 24 men that had appeared in that city during the month of March from the 5 0 slips received from Philadelphia in the course of that month. Portland, a member, I understand, of the oldest regional clearing system, was able to identify 1 6 out of the 8 6 men

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who applied to that agency from the 965 slips it had received from the cities in that region. Duluth questioned the value of a regional clearing bureau in spite of its success in identi­ fying individuals. On the other hand, Los Angeles, I be­ lieve it was, stated that professional vagrants are beginning to shun the offices of agencies known to be members of a regional clearing bureau. Unfortunately, only one method of regional clearance was employed, but it is hoped that new regions established might invent other means of operation, as the setting up of a central city in a region to which agencies could send in their slips. When two or more slips are received referring to the same individual that city (central) might notify the other cities in its region of the particular transient. This plan would eliminate the clogging of files in a small office. It could be put in practice in a region covering cities widely separated from each other. The National Committee on Transients trusts that more cities will band together in regions which they themselves should organize. From Table No. 2 indicating the move­ ments of chronic transients, it appears that the following sections may be joined: (a) Memphis, Nashville and Louis­ ville, (b) Des Moines, St. Louis and Kansas City, (c) Pitts­ burgh, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnatti and Indianapolis, (d) Hartford, Springfield and Boston and (e) Washington and Wilmington to be added to the Baltimore and Philadelphia region. It is hoped that cities clearing in a region will be able to furnish monthly reports to the National Office, giving (a) number of names circularized by the agency among the cities within its region, (b) the number of regional slips of transients' names received from cities within its region and (c) the number of names identified from the slips that had been received from the cities within its region. VIII. To come briefly to some policies of treatment which should be more or less standardized: (a) It is essential that the responsibility for interview­ ing and registering transients be placed upon a central office in the city, whether it be the local hachnosas orchim or the social agency and that this office delegate one member of its staff to do the entire supervision job with transients. Some cities have been able to include the Shelter as part of the equipment of the social agency; other towns have been

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successful in effecting an agreeable working relationship between both of such institutions, but there is much to be done yet in m a n y other cities, of very large size, where the one is not given to understand the objective of the second, and the other is impervious to the traditions of the first. From the point of view of our national program, unless the_ social agency and the Shelter, if it is independent of it, arrive at some clear working relationship and prevent dup­ lication of effort and opposing attitudes, our national plan will unquestionably suffer. W h e r e difficulties and misunder­ standings do exist in any city, a local committee on tran­ sients m i g h t be organized, possibly with the help of the National Committee, to centralize the attention of the com­ munity on the transient and gain a standard viewpoint on the problem. (b) The question of responsibility of a city toward a tran­ sient or non-resident, has frequently been raised. W h e r e an individual is known to be a resident of another city and his family and friends there are prepared to help him adjust, there is no doubt but that he should be returned to that city. On the other hand, if the city in whose agency he happens to make his application, has better facilities for his care, that agency should not shirk its obligation to the man but endeavor to effect his settlement right there and then. Certainly if a transient is sent home the agency of destina­ tion should be made aware of that fact and continue to work with the individual. There are transients who cannot, or for one reason or an­ other, will not give their place of legal domicile. In such cases it is only fair to expect the agency of application, pro­ vided it has moderate facilities, to assume responsibility for its clients' treatment. However, and this is offered only as suggestion, when the town is very small with utterly inade­ quate facilities even to care for its own, and the neighboring city is amply prepared to meet the problem of the particular transient, some arrangement might be established between the two places for the transient to be given transportation to the city with the better equipped agency. The above thought might be satisfactorily developed by agencies parti­ cipating in regional clearing systems, which is another rea­ son for their encouragement. It should be understood, how­ ever, that subject to any special agreements among cities, agencies participating in the general program of the N a -

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tional Committee on Transients will observe the spirit of the Transportation Rules. (c) Interior cities with old orthodox constituencies, at­ tract religious itinerant mendicants in the practice of mak­ ing week-end visits. They attend the synagogues to pray for departed souls for so much a prayer, deliver "droshes" (lectures) and pass judgment on difficulties concerning various religious customs and observations. In return, they are invited by the members of the synagogue to their homes for the Friday evening repast or to dinner following the Saturday morning services. True, some of them "possess vast knowledge in their specific field and an excellent oratorical delivery" (Bogen, p. 74) but many of the religious travelers these days who depend on the gratuities of their co-religionists are in the words of the late Dr. Bogen "rabbis who are ignorant, teachers who know nothing about teaching, and chazanim who cannot sing," (p. 7 4 ) . They consider themselves en­ titled to reduced transportation rules and an unqualified welcome by the local hachnosis orchim and usually do re­ ceive special attention. They shun the offices of case-work­ ing agencies and prefer contributions from private indi­ viduals, benevolent aid societies composed of membership from their home towns and friendly orthodox synagogues of the ghettoes. To meet the above situation, Dr. Bogen suggests that "a better organization of our synagogues, an absolute refusal to permit the traveler the use of the pulpit unless by previous engagement through a central agency, are possible ways to reduce the number who are dependent upon charity. Then the situation will be easily controlled and the traveling chazan will be considered j u s t as legitimate a proposition as the visiting theatrical troupe or the debut of the re­ nowned "Serota" (p. 7 5 ) . (d) The Professional Group of the National Committee on Transients, which meets fairly regularly in N e w Y o r k City, will be glad to serve in the capacity of consultant on the problem of the transient from the points of view of the individual's treatment and the community's method of care. I X . Until now, the cost of printing, mailing, and other in­ cidentals, have almost been met by the nominal charges placed upon the participating agencies for the national regis­ tration slips. For the next year's experiment, the following

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budget has been prepared and m a y be m e t b y a contribution from some special Research Fund or Foundation in N e w York City. T h e costs estimated are as follows: Part-time Professional Direction and Administrative Supervision $1,500. to $2,500. Full-time Clerical Worker 1,500. Printing, Stationery, Mailing etc. 1,000. $4,000. to $5,000. X . I t is planned for the National Registration System to continue in operation up to and until such time as the above program, subject to your modification and approval, will take effect. There is still doubt in the minds of many as to the possibility of developing any kind of effective plan for the care of transients in this country. T h e members of the Committee, however, are optimistic because of the excellent response by the fifty agencies who have thus far participated in its national program of transient-care. Respectfully submitted, R A L P H ASTROFSKY,

Professional Secretary. T H E C H A I R M A N : A s I understood it, the report was divided into t w o categories. O n e , a brief history of what has actually transpired at this experimental stage; and secondly, a recommendation to you to continue this experiment until such time as w e m a y have sufficient knowledge of the subject, where w e can have a well-formulated, concrete program to g o ahead with. T will, therefore, entertain a motion to either continue this organization, 'discontinue it or abide by such discussion as m a y emanate from this meeting as the particular wishes of our communities on this parti­ cular phase of the report. Unless I hear to the contrary, the Chair will understand that it is the wish of this meeting to have the National Committee serve for another year, gathering data and serving as a clearance house for the particular problem of transient care. M R . F E I N S T E I N (Philadelphia, P a . ) : I move the adoption of the report with thanks, also that the Committee be continued for another year. The

motion was seconded.

THE CHAIRMAN: cast one ballot.

Unless there is any objection I will ask the Secretary to

MR. K O D E R (Philadelphia, P a . ) : I think you should have permitted some discussion before the ballot is cast.

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T H E C H A I R M A N : I want to know first, if the Committee is going to con­ tinue. If the Committee is to continue I would like it to abide by the wishes of the people constituting this group. T h e first thing is to decide whether w e are going to continue. It has been regularly moved and seconded that the Committee continue for another year. The

motion w a s carried.

M R . K O D E R : M r . A s t r o f s k y has raised a give out any information from the national fearing there may be a development of a spy without that moral issue involved, regional changes are permissible and may not lead to spying system, w h y cannot the national office

moral issue of not desiring to office to various organizations, system. H o w e v e r , he suggests, exchanges. If regional e x ­ a question of whether there is a do likewise?

M R . A S T R O F S K Y : T h e point is this: W h e n we receive information of this kind I think w e ought to be prepared to meet it from the point of view of helping the man and not from the point of view of getting this information and using it as a blacklist might be used. I mean an agency might very well say to a transient, " W e have you on this list and that list; now y o u get out," but if an agency would receive a slip saying something about this transient, as the agency might, and if you have some more pertinent inform­ ation, I think the last agency might be in a much better position to handle the man, but I would not like to see it considered as a pure blacklist system. W h a t holds true with national registration or clearing house or national confidential exchange channels, holds true also with your regional clearing system. I t is a question merely of an attitude to be taken by the agencies. M I S S F R A N C E S T A U S S I G ( N e w Y o r k C i t y ) : I think the person w h o asked that question is under the impression that the report recommends that the National Committee do not issue information. T h a t is m y understanding and if so, it is a misapprehension. M R . R A L P H A S T R O F S K Y : T h e national clearing system will not refuse to give information. It hopes to function as a clearing system, but there is a modification there and a question of attitude. It is hoped that the agencies receiving this information will not broadcast it and will not use it as a means of putting a man on a blacklist; that is all there is to it. ARTHUR

A . ROSICHAN

(Cleveland,

O.) :

I

understand

that

I

am

to

give you some information on our Regional Clearing Bureau, which, to m y mind, has worked fairly successfully. W e have a Regional Bureau existing between Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Erie and Toledo, which is a mechanism through which w e send information on the various transients who apply to any of the offices of the participating agencies on the day they appear or on the following day. W e attempt to give as much of a personal story, and as much of the disposition of the case as possible so that the other agen­ cy may profit by our failures or successes, and that we, in turn, may profit by the information that they have upon the transient. W e have found that quite a great number of these transients are applying at agency after agency, and follow a very definite route, going from one city to another in the course of their wanderings. for

The Regional Clearing Bureau, however, is merely a physical mechanism purposes of identification of the transient, and is not, in itself, a means

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to an end. Transient work, possibly because of the growing unemployment situation, and the nation-wide drifting of unskilled labor, and also because of the habitual character of certain classes of transients, has come to the point where, I think, it is necessary to evolve a set of policies which can be practiced nationally by Jewish social agencies. M r . Astrofsky's paper of last year, and the formation of the National Transient Committee, were definite steps in the direction of national action. M r . Astrofsky's paper today, has raised some questions in m y mind, which, I think, should be articulated and considered, since I believe the transient problem has g r o w n more severe in the last few months. I have no figures to substantiate this statement, except the reports of various workers with transients; and the fact that the transient case load of the Jewish Social Service Bureau of Cleveland, and the shelter and food count of the H e b r e w Shelter H o m e in that city, have been, during this past winter, at the highest peak of previous years. This may be predicated upon the stock market crash, but the prognosticators of future economic conditions predict a de­ pression for several years, and we may as well gird ourselves to meet it. _ M a y I summarize again M r . Astrofsky's findings on the w o r k of the N a ­ tional Registration C o m m i t t e e ? T h e y are only three in number. 1. T h a t there is a dependent and moving Jewish population of sufficient proportions for unified action on the part of the Jewish social agencies. T h i s is a recognized fact. 2. T h a t a significant number of the transients are chronic and in some cases habitual or professional vagrants. That, too, is an admitted fact. 3. T h a t the problem of the Jewish transient is one concerning younger men. T h i s raises some question in m y mind. I s not one of our problems, the problem of the older man w h o has been on the road for some years and w h o is a consistent and habitual customer of the social agency? It is very interesting to get the view point of the habitual transient of ten or fifteen years standing on the road. H i s w o r k habits are confined to a minimum. W h e n he reaches the community v/here there are no Jews, out of necessity he goes to w o r k ; but only long enough to make railroad fare to the next Jewish community. I have gotten to know several of these habitual "trombinics" rather well, and have found out that they know more social workers than I do, and possibly more than I ever wdll. O n e of them once said to me, "I've been on the road for fifteen years, and I'll probably never get off. Y o u know that I'm not lying when I tell you that I don't need to come here. I can g o out on the 'schule' and make enough to keep myself, or I can g o out on the 'stem' and 'mooch'." W h e n I asked him w h y he came to the offices of the federations and social agencies, he an­ swered that if he^ could get a few days' shelter, he has that much more time to spend in the city and go around to levy his tribute. H e told me as well, that if he were in m y shoes, he would "boot" out 9 0 % of the men w h o came to the office, since the care of the social agency is contributing to their de­ pendency. _ W h a t responsibility shall the Jewish agency take for the care of a man like this? Shall we permit him to roam the country, receiving free food and shelter from the agencies throughout the country, knowing all the time that money is practically being thrown out, or shall we definitely take a stand that this type of vagrant should be discouraged from coming to the social agency by harsh but justified treatment? W e all know men w h o come to the agency year after year for a few nights' shelter, who m a y have some physical problem, and whose habit pat-

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terns have become grooved to the point where the social worker knows that his or her time is being wasted. I am not speaking at this time of men definitely deserving of institutional care because of a definite psychosis or neurosis. I have in mind the case of one, J. S., who admits that he is a confirmed transient of fifteen years standing, and who pleaded that he be given shelter in Cleveland and an opportunity to work. This man is thirtyfour years old, and appeared in three of the cities of the Regional Clearing Bureau before coming to our office. Merely as an experiment, he was sent to the Shelter H o m e , and a j o b secured for him at a road house, pay­ ing $60. a month and maintenance. H e had also the possibility of securing a steady j o b with the same proprietor at the end of six mouths. A f t e r be­ ing interviewed, he was definitely satisfactory. T h e day after he was sup­ posed to have come to work, the employer telephoned me that he had not shown u p ; and I have neither seen nor heard of him since that time. E v e r y social worker knows of instances such as this, and I the question: F r o m the agency's standpoint, is intensive w o r k men worthwhile? H a v e w e the time to devote to intensive w o r k men? Is it not preferable to turn these men down flatly and censure of the c o m m u n i t y ?

ask again with such with these meet the

W e must consider also that the community is being educated to the num­ ber of transients applying for "ndovah," to give less and less. I know that the synagogues would be delighted to have fewer applicants at the afternoon and evening services. Proof positive of this is the fact that the "wages" or contributions received from the "schuls" have decreased from dollars to half dollars, and then to quarters and dimes. In the small town of Elyria near Cleveland, which used to be good for two dollars to a good Jewish bum, the tribute exacted has been reduced to twenty-five cents, and a man must put up a good story for that amount. I am not advocating the lethal chamber for these old timers; but I am advocating a policy of negative resistance and community education which will serve the purpose as well. In Cleveland we have a fairly well oriented community committee on transients, representing practically every phase of the Jewish community. These men meet on call to consider the community problem of the transient and to consider ways and means of working" it out so that the transient will not exact too much from the community. T h r o u g h these men, the organ­ izations which they represent and the members of those organizations have been educated to a realization that the voluntary and philanthropic giving of dimes, quarters, and half-dollars is often a bar to the restoration of selfrespect ; and that frequently the giving of the voluntary dole causes more harm than good. W h e n the community becomes tired of having these habitual wanderers coming to their doors day after day and year after year for money, it is time as well for the social service agency to adopt a definite policy and at­ tempt to weed out habitual transients, forcing them to change their mode of living. A f t e r all, a man's stomach is a barometer of his ability to resist work, and if the stomachs of these men are not well filled, they may be more easily led into seeing the error of their ways and remedying these errors themselves. W e have, as well, the problem of the younger Jewish boy to face. I am thinking of the case of the two brothers M r . A s t r o f s k y has mentioned, both applying at the Jewish Social Service Bureau in Cleveland, about a month apart, and the second told me the story of the first and the younger.

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The younger left home two years ago for the first time because he could not find work. After a six months' trip, he came back to the community of his residence, and then he would not find work. He loafed for almost a year, and has been practically all over the country, never neglecting the social agency in the city in which he happened to land. Three agencies that I know of, have offered to return him to his home, but he has refused this service. In one agency, he agreed to return, but left before verification of his residence could be accomplished. Upon his first trip, he stopped in a shelter home, met one of the older and more practiced transients, learned how easily money could be secured, and from that time on kept applying at social agencies for shelter, during which time he went to synagogues and individuals to secure money to keep him on his way. Which would have accomplished more in tins situation for the boy's re­ turn: a diplomatic case work approach, pointing out the error of his ways, or a flat refusal of assistance and a threat of entorcing the vagrancy statutes to make him get out of town? There is no question that the second would have been better for the community, and it might have been better for the boy. After all, the purpose of treatment for tnis lad is to enable him td return to his residence, where the agency could make an adequate social examination of him and attempt to treat his problem. If a boy, such as this, knows that he will no be supported by federation agencies all over the country, he has no recourse but to return home. I still am not speaking of the wanderer with definite psychopathic or psy­ chotic tendencies, making him a justifiable institutional case. _ I am speak­ ing of the younger man with probable psychopathic tendencies which can only be intensified by a life of wandering. Where should the program of readjustment begin? Should we adopt a philosophy which will enable this lad to continue his wandering and eventually become a public charge? There are many instances of boys who have been returned home to re­ appear in the same community a year later. I am thinking now of a boy from New York City, not yet twenty-five, who has been in Cleveland three times in the last three years. To date he is a physical wreck. Six years ago (I learned his story from the boy himself), he went out on an adventure tour, became stranded, "played" a few social agencies, and finally was re­ turned home by one of them. A year later the same thing happened. The third year the social agency refused to return him, but gave him food and shelter. Today the lad is a confirmed vagrant. His parents have become reconciled to his life of wandering, and so has he. Would it not have been better, if, on his second trip, he would have been refused aid definitely? There is a possibility that the privation he would have had to endure might have prevented him from becoming what he is today. I have very carefully read the program submitted by Mr. Astrofsky, and I note that his first suggestion is a continuance of the National Registration System. Such continuance will undoubtedly serve to emphasize again the need for central action and exchange of information. I have no doubt that the statistics tabulated by Mr. Astrofsky will be proved truer as time goes on; but I feel there is an immediate need for action. I have an alternate suggestion to make which, I think, may, from the standpoint of expediency, be as practical. Since the problem is national, and there is a national registration system already in effect, can there not be a national central clearing bureau set up at some central point, under the supervision of a capable professional worker, for the purpose of carry­ ing on the work started by the National Registration System?

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The procedure I would suggest to be almost the same as that of the National Registration Committee, except in the return of information. Im­ mediately upon the receipt of the clearing sheet or slip, the central agency would send to the city reporting all available information on the individual, so that it might gauge its treatment accordingly, and be prepared to ad­ minister treatment. The city reporting, after receipt of the Central Clear­ ing Bureau's report, would, after the treatment had been completed, or after the transient had left, send in a follow-up clearing to be added to the files of the Central Clearing Bureau so that other cities might reap the benefit of the first city's experience. The Central Clearing Bureau would serve then, as a confidential guide and advisor for information purposes and sug­ gested treatment of the transient. To make a national registration system of greater value from the point of view of the agency's time and the amount o f information available. I be­ lieve that a change in the form of the clearing slip to a clearing sheet is advisable. We, of the Cleveland agency, have found that through personal stories coupled with marked characteristics o identification, we have been able to recognize as many transients as we have through the names given. _ The adoption of a clearing sheet instead of a slip for national registra­ tion purposes would prevent the duplication necessary in the agency's mak­ ing out a separate face sheet to be sent in to the central bureau. In Cleve­ land, the mimeographed regional clearing sheets have been adopted as the face sheet on all transient records. We think that it would take much less time on the part of both the worker and the clerical staff to make a dup­ licate of the face sheet to be sent to the national registration offices than to make out a national clearing slip and then a separate regional clearing sheet. f

I would advocate then, the adoption of a uniform face sheet for transient records in all Jewish social agencies, the same to be a replica of the clear­ ing sheet used in the National Registration Bureau. Each agency could mimeograph a year's supply of these sheets in a short time and at much less expense than a separate national registration blank. The clearing sheet should be the same size as the ordinary face sheet of a case record, and should serve the same purposes: thereby saving duplication and the pur­ chase of a new set of files. I am grieved to say that we have no files in our office to fit the National Registration slips now being used. The circularization of lists of chronic transients is most helpful in the treatment plans for these men. For example, if X. applies at three agencies in the South during the month of January, and his name and record are circularized among the constituent organizations o f Central Clearing Bu­ reau at the end of that month, together with the treatment received, then if the transient should apply at a northern office, as is probable, judging by Mr. Astrofsky's list of applications, the agency would be prepared at the time of his application to meet him and have some basis for the understand­ ing of his problem. Mr. Astrofsky has suggested some policies of treatment which should be more or less standardized. I am afraid that the patriarchal arrangement of which he speaks, the maintenance of a Shelter Home by the orthodox community, is something we should become reconciled to. With proper methods of education, the supposed evil can be turned into a blessing. The City Committee on Transients, which he mentioned, is an excellent sug­ gestion, and, as I have explained before, has worked out very well in Cleve­ land. The mendicants of whom he spoke, the "meshulachin" and "magidim"

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are a problem, I believe, with which no social agency can hope to cope until a firm national organization is perfected. T h e s e I would leave to the spe­ cial dispensation of the Divine Providence under whose care they seem to travel. I have never yet heard of a "meshulach" being hurt or killed by a street car or automobile, and most of them cannot speak English, and seem unable to find their way around. Y e t the L o r d knows that they find their way around sufficiently to be able to send enough money home to marry off their daughters and still have enough for a very fine living in the old country. T h e r e is one other alternate suggestion I would like to make. M r . Astrof­ sky has presented very clearly the need for a distinct and definite policy of placing _ the responsibility of care for the individual transient on the city of application. H o w e v e r , there are many cases where such responsibility would w o r k a hardship. T h e small community has adequate justification quite frequently for feeling that its facilities for treatment of the non-resi­ dent are inadequate, and that intensive w o r k with most of them would w o r k a hardship. O n the other hand, a definite iron hand policy toward non-residents is quite out of the question, regardless of the size of the community. T h e ad­ mission that there is a definite parasitical element among transients does not preclude the fact that there are many maladjusted, but still retaining character enough to readjust. W i t h a central clearing bureau, serving small and large cities alike, the social worker in a small town will have a guide for selection of the timber to be rebuilt. In disputatious cases, involving questions on responsibility for transient treatment^ I would suggest settlement by a committee to be appointed of five transient workers and an executive recruited from different sections of the_country, and acting in a similar capacity to the Committee on T r a n s ­ portation. I have a case in mind which I would very definitely like to argue before a court of last resort such as this.

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In a limited experience in hospitalization work, w e have had the same problem on ambulance service. O u r ambulances answer cases and it is dif­ ficult to decide whether the man is drunk or is a concussion case. A very ingenious superintendent suggested that the internes smell their breath in deciding whether the men are drunk or are concussion cases. T h e next time the ambulance was called out and found the man lying on the street, the interne smelled his breath; it was very strong and the applicant was left on the street. T h a t particular individual happened to be drunk and happened to have a fractured skull at the same time, and I feel that among panhandlers very often the same thing is true. Speaking as Chairman of the National Committee, while we do not want grafters or petty larcenies, I am all for taking a man's word that he needs money, that he needs shelter. Afterwards if w e see that he is not a deservingcase, turn him loose. I think, however, that our problem is the 7 0 or 8 0 % needy and not the 2 0 % that probably are grafters. M R . A R T H U R J . L E V Y (Providence, R . I . ) : I would like to just make this suggestion from the point of view of a Board member. It may be perhaps premature, but might not the Committee consider sometime during the next year the relationship between the organized agency and the unorganized forces in the community and to advise respective communities about cooper­ ation, about the experience of one community or another in getting the co­ operation? A s I understand it, the transient problem is one wherein the friction be­ tween unorganized forces and the organized agency comes to the fore. N o w might this national committee not advise us in respective cities about how we can get people together and might we not also add this: either national or local publicity directed to the synagogues and aid societies and so on, by which they may be acquainted with the necessity of centralizing consideration of the transient? I suggest that as a possibility.

It m a y be presumptuous of me to urge immediate national action, but a problem which caused the formation of the National Conference, it seems to me, should by this time have been partly worked out. T h e adjustment of the transient is as necessary as that of the individual member of the family since these men present a problem which, although not as intricate and finely tangled, is more annoying and burdensome. Let us call a spade a spade. T h e romanticism of the vagrant is, in most cases, a myth. H i s stories are interesting because he has spent years of time on them for the purpose of enlisting the sympathetic aid of the "hard boiled'' transient worker. W e must realize, I believe, that harshness at times is justified, and is as much of a treatment technique as is a s y m ­ pathetic and diplomatic case w o r k approach; and I think that we can all proceed accordingly.

T H E C H A I R M A N : I think your suggestion an excellent one fundamentally, with one exception on which I am not clear. Suppose there is an agency in a particular community that is persona non grata with the accredited Jewish agency in the city. W o n ' t we get into friction and difficulties clearing with that agency if they do not clear with that agency in that city?

T H E C H A I R M A N : W e are very grateful to M r . Rosichan, whose report, I assume, will be fully discussed in detail by the National Committee. I must just say this, that w e have not tried an ambitious program. W e have a budget of $ 4 , 0 0 0 a year. W e do not know where we are going to get the $ 4 , 0 0 0 as yet. W e would like to do more, but it is very difficult with a limited budget or at least w d t h t h e budget we have appropriated for ourselves.

R A B E I L E O N F R A M (Detroit, M i c h . ) : W h a t would be the proper pro­ cedure to bring the problem of the transient to the attention and to get the cooperation of the Conference of A m e r i c a n Rabbis, the United Synagogue and this organization? It seems to be absolutely necessary.

I feel that the weeding out of the panhandlers from the needy cases is going to be a difficult problem at best, and speaking quite personally and not for the committee, I would rather treat a few too many panhandlers and grafters than possibly turn down some of the worthy cases.

M R . L E V Y : I do not mean to suggest clearing at all. I mean simply pub­ licity. I think the great difficulty in most cases with the unorganized forces is lack of information, and I say might this national committee not consider ways and means of spreading that information with respect to these na­ tional forces in connection with transients? THE

CHAIRMAN :

I think it is part of their j o b to do it.

D R . K O H S ( B r o o k l y n , N . Y . ) : W e have a national committee that has been meeting with the large national synagogue associations with regard to the problems of philanthropy in small communities. W e expect to have a meeting of that group shortly and if it is desired here and it is the feeling of the group that it be done, we can have through that committee on the small

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communities this matter brought up before the United Synagogue, the U n i o n of A m e r i c a n H e b r e w Congregations and other groups asking them to make public the w o r k done by this National Registration Service and get­ ting their cooperation in notifying their synagogues with regard to the facil­ ities available in their cities and urging the cooperation of the synagogue groups in working through their local agencies in this matter. M i s s L A N D M A N ( N e w Y o r k C i t y ) : Y o u have overlooked just one thing and that is the small community where there is no recognized social agency and whose main problem in social service is the transient. T h e y have no conception of what to do with the transient when he comes there. The question was asked, "Should w e let the transient go from the big city and not let the Federation do anything for h i m ? " W h e r e does he g o ? H e goes to the small town where there is no organized agency and he goes from door to door where he is made perfectly welcome. T o me that is a tremen­ dous problem, because I have been to these small communities day after day and I find that the hospitality that the very small town gives to the transient is something that aggravates the problem and should be taken into con­ sideration. M R . R O S I C H A N : T h e r e is an answer to this problem, I think, and the larger communities can use it to advantage. W e have about forty miles away from Cleveland a community of about 30,000 which has no organized Jewish social agency and which has no associated charities, but merely a Red Cross. T h e Jewish portion of this community gets $1,500 a year from the community chest of this city, and this money is spent on the care of transients. T h e R e d Cross of that city have asked our Bureau to send in a worker to explain to the Jewish community of that city about transient care and just how the community should handle these transients and send them on to Cleveland for intensive care. W e are planning to send this worker down. The

meeting adjourned at 3 :00 P. M .

B U S I N E S S

S E S S I O N