PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC CHARITY AND PRIVATE PHILANTHROPY IN GERMANY. 1 II.
III.
THE reform was begun in the fall of 1892 by the employ- ment of an expert. 2 This, however, had absolutely no connec- tion with the breaking out of the cholera the same fall, frequent public statements to the contrary notwithstanding. The reform and the calling of an expert had been decided upon long before the cholera broke out, although the two events were contempo- raneous. And yet the cholera did have a considerable influence upon the development of poor-relief in the succeeding years of the reform. In the first place, the epidemic showed that public relief was by no means able to meet the demands of such an emergency, thus deepening the conviction of the necessity of a reform and giving the work the benefit of favorable public sen- timent. In the seco'nd place, however, the distress created a need for speedy and more extended relief work than even a well-organized public relief could have furnished. As a result subcommittees were promptly organized in each of the smaller districts of the city, for such work as providing boiled water, provisions, clothing, and gifts of money, finding temporary homes for children, and supervising the distribution of the abun- dant stores which flowed in from all directions, even from for- eign lands. The whole of this work was under the superintend- ence of a central committee composed, besides a few leading spirits, of the chairman of the subcommittees. In spite of the mistakes made by these committees, principally at the start, they performed most extraordinary services in supplying rapid and suitable relief. A very large number of men and women
1 Concluding article. Translated for the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY by
O. E. WlELAND.
2 The writer of this paper.
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