cases; their pennies grew to dollars as they earned more;
their charity developed their self-respect; they held weekly meetings
for debate, and several of them made their way through college. Funds
were supplied, also, from friends outside, who were glad to aid such a
worthy enterprise. The great need among private agencies is fuller
co-operation with one another and with public boards and institutions.
Then duplication of effort, misunderstandings, and wastefulness are
avoided, and the hope of a decline in conditions of poverty increases.

There are limits, however, to the ability of private agencies to
control the situation. There are cases where the organized community
or state must take a hand. There are lazy persons who will not support
themselves or their families; there are certain persons who are
chronically ill or dependent; there are various types of defectives
and delinquents. All these need the authority of the public agencies.
Then there are constructive activities that require the assistance and
sanction of government, like parks and playgrounds, industrial
schools, employment bureaus, the establishment and administration of
state institutions, and the enforcement of health, sanitary, and
building laws. Of course there is often inefficiency in government
management. The local almshouse needs reforming, and the overseers of
the poor should be trained experts. The organization and
superintendence of state institutions is not ideal, and building
arrangements need improvement, but there is a steady gain in the
efficiency of boards of trustees and local managers. There is a
willingness to learn from experience and a disposition to raise the
standards in all departments of administration.

291. =The Social Settlement.=--However efficient an official board may
be in the discharge of its duties, it cannot expect to call out from
the beneficiary so enthusiastic a response as can a real friend. The
best friends of the poor are their neighbors. It is well known that a
group of families in a tenement house will help one of their number
that is in specific difficulty, and that the poor give more generously
to help their own kind than do those who are more well-to-do. It was a
conviction of these principles of friendliness and neighborliness that
led to the first social settlements. Because a person lives in an
undesirable part of the city he is not necessarily a subject for
charity, and the settlement is in no sense t