1942: Social Service, Private

This term used in this article, comprises all privately-operated, non-profitmaking institutions and agencies specifically concerned with the prevention, amelioration, care or treatment of poverty, dependency, delinquency and disease, as well as the positive promotion of socially desirable conditions.

Impact of the First Year of War.

The year after Pearl Harbor brought many changes in the field of private social work. One pleasant surprise to social agencies was the record public response to appeals for funds, upsetting gloomy predictions that steep declines in contributions would result from the considerable rises in taxes and in living costs. The increase in private giving is indicated by the fact that 619 community chests raised a record total of $103,411,123 in 1942 as compared with $90,379,099 raised for 1941.

Community chests are central fund-raising agencies that conduct a single periodical campaign, the receipts of which are divided among member private agencies in the community according to a pre-arranged budget. The trend toward combining such chests with 'war chests' (united drives for war services) continued at an accelerated pace during 1942.

Foreign War Relief.

Numerous private agencies for foreign war relief sprang up during the first two years of World War II, most of them concerned with the victims of Axis aggression. In the absence of adequate supervision and coordination, there was a great deal of duplication, waste, inefficiency arising from the mushrooming of such agencies, together with some evidences of fraudulent practice. There also developed much rivalry and friction among these agencies, and between them and home front organizations.

The complicated and confused situation caused President Roosevelt early in 1941 to appoint a Committee on War Relief Agencies, headed by Joseph E. Davies, to study and report on war-relief conditions.

On July 16, 1942, this Committee reported that nearly $100,000,000 had been raised for foreign relief, excluding Red Cross activities, since the onset of war in 1939. It further reported that the number of agencies collecting funds for foreign relief had been reduced to 300, as compared with 700 during the peak period in early 1941. It recommended further coordination and mergers among these agencies and the establishment of a central control board to accomplish these and other purposes.

Mr. Roosevelt thereupon reorganized his committee as the President's War Relief Control Board. This agency was empowered to control all fund-raising and disbursements in cash or in kind of 'charities for foreign and domestic relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and welfare arising from war-created needs in the United States or in foreign countries.' Local charitable activities of a normal and usual character, and intra-state activities other than those immediately affecting the war effort, were expressly exempted from this control, as was the American Red Cross.

In August 1942, ten major war relief agencies — including the British War Relief Society, Russian War Relief, China War Relief, the USO, Greek War Relief — jointly announced that they would seek a total budget of $75,659,000 for the ensuing year.

Developments on the Home Front.

The rapid expansion of war production and a corresponding drop in unemployment resulted in a marked decline in relief rolls among private family agencies as well as public welfare agencies. Attention was increasingly focused on war-boom areas — centers of industrial production and army cantonment sites — where acute housing, health and welfare problems resulted from the sudden influx of large numbers of workers.

Private and public agencies were beset with the question of increasing juvenile delinquency, lack of adequate day-care facilities for children of working mothers and other social problems of wartime. The division of responsibility between private and public groups for checking these conditions was much discussed, with the question of financing a paramount issue. The President's announcement toward the end of 1942 that the Work Projects Administration would be completely liquidated in the next few months aggravated the situation, since that agency had assumed responsibility for many social services, such as operation of day nurseries, that now must be taken over in part by private organizations.

Personnel.

Many private social agencies were hard hit by the loss of experienced, professional staff members to the armed forces or to war services such as the USO and the Red Cross. Increasing dependence had to be placed on the recruiting of volunteer aides to assist regular employes in conducting social services on the home front. Many agencies had to curtail their activities because of staff reduction; several had to suspend activity completely.

In addition the operation of the Selective Service Act, and particularly of the 'teen-age amendment passed by Congress in the fall of 1942, caused a sharp decline in students of social work schools.

United Service Organization.

Next to the American Red Cross, this is the largest private war service agency in the United States. Formed in February 1941, as a government-sponsored but privately operated group, the USO provides recreational and other services for men in the armed forces, and, to a lesser extent, for war workers. It consists of six member agencies — the Young Men's Christian Associations, Young Women's Christian Associations, National Catholic Community Service, Jewish Welfare Board, Salvation Army, and the National Travelers Aid Association.

The USO expanded its program rapidly after Pearl Harbor. On Jan. 1, 1942, it was operating 250 USO units — recreation centers, clubs, lounges, etc. By the end of the year it had 1,200 units going in 558 American cities and towns, and also in offshore and hemisphere bases such as Alaska, Hawaii, Newfoundland, the Caribbean and Brazil. USO Camp Shows had 70 professional companies touring bases and camps in this country, giving performances for service men. It also sent professional troupes to the European Theatre of Operations, and USO units are entertaining American soldiers in North Africa and Australia.

United Seamen's Service.

The year was marked by the establishment of a new national welfare agency of large proportions. The United Seamen's Service was launched in the fall of 1942 as a private organization with official government sponsorship, to provide for men of the American merchant marine the same types of service the USO affords to men in the armed forces. The USS is a war-inspired agency, resulting from a wide public recognition of the heroism of merchant seamen and their crucial work in the war effort. Unlike the USO, however, the USS is a permanent organization that will continue to serve merchant seamen after the war. Based on an initial fund of $5,000,000 raised by private contributions, the USS is establishing recreation and rest centers for merchant seamen in key American and Allied ports, together with convalescent homes for survivors of torpedoed ships, and other sea catastrophes.

Sources of Funds.

Private social agencies generally have profited from private and corporate income tax deductions for charitable gifts and contributions. One of the year's most significant developments in fund-raising was the considerable increase of direct labor union participation in community chest and war-service campaigns. This increased activity has brought hundreds of thousands of new contributors among working people into the fund-raising pool of private social agencies. It accelerates a trend already discernible some years ago.

Community chest funds were distributed mainly among family welfare agencies, homes for the aged, children's aid societies, day nurseries, children's institutions, hospital and health services, recreation and other leisure-time activities.

1941: Social Service, Private

The 'defense emergency' which turned into full-fledged war toward the end of the year dominated the private welfare field in 1941.

One of the outstanding events was the creation of the United Service Organizations for National Defense (USO) to provide recreational and cultural facilities for Army and Navy men in areas outside of military establishments. The USO consists of six member agencies — the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the National Catholic Community Service, the Jewish Welfare Board, the Salvation Army and the Travelers Aid Society. A total of $15,000,000 was raised for the USO during the national fund-raising drive conducted in 1941. The chief job of the USO is to staff recreation buildings in civilian areas for men in armed services; these buildings are usually erected with Government funds.

War Relief.

The Red Cross greatly expanded its work during 1941, first because of the desperate material needs of war-torn Europe, later because of the entrance of the United States into the war. On Dec. 10, 1941, Norman Davis, chairman of the Red Cross, reported that the organization had administered foreign war relief aggregating $56,555,000 in the 27 months of the war up to Nov. 30, 1941. Of this total, $30,250,000 represented the value of relief supplies purchased by the Government and distributed by the Red Cross abroad under a special Act of Congress.

Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Red Cross launched a $50,000,000 drive for war relief. Half of this sum was to be raised for services to the armed forces, $10,000,000 for disaster and civilian emergency relief, $5,000,000 for civilian defense services, and the rest for assistance to local chapters and administrative purposes. Enrollment in the Red Cross was estimated in December 1941, at about 14,545,000 members, representing an increase in membership of 58.3 per cent over the previous year.

Scores of private war relief agencies that sprung up after the outbreak of World War II continued their operations in behalf of the peoples of particular belligerent countries in the year 1941. According to a report issued by the U.S. State Department, a total of $46,344,900 had been collected by 327 foreign war relief agencies from the outbreak of the war in September 1939 till Nov. 30, 1941.

After Pearl Harbor, of course, those war relief organizations connected with the cause of the Axis powers ceased operation. By far the greatest amount of funds was raised by the agencies active in Britain's behalf, notably the British War Relief Society, which collected nearly $12,000,000. As the year ended, serious consideration was being given to the advisability of merging into one organization the three main drives in behalf of our principal allies — Britain, China and Soviet Russia.

The many millions of dollars poured into foreign war relief efforts did not, as many had feared, impede the flow of contributions to private agencies engaged in domestic social services. Five hundred and ninety-two community chests raised $90,426,589 for private social work for 1941, as compared with $86,297,068 for 1940 — an increase of 3.6 per cent. Reports on the progress of 343 community chest campaigns for 1942 showed that the amount raised up to Dec. 16, 1941, ran 6.4 per cent ahead of that raised for a corresponding period the previous year.

Community Chests.

A significant trend in chest giving was the steady increase in small contributions. According to figures compiled by Community Chests and Councils, Inc., on the basis of an analysis of 118 chests, gifts under $5 were 57.3 per cent greater for 1941 than for 1940. However, nearly 60 per cent of the total amount subscribed to these chests came from gifts of $100 and over. Nearly one-fifth of the population in these 118 cities subscribed to the community chest for 1941. Three out of every four givers contributed less than $5 each, their average gift being $1.62.

Undoubtedly a factor in stimulating contributions to charitable agencies is the Federal income tax deduction allowance for such gifts up to 15 per cent of net income. No estimate is available of the total amount of contributions to private social welfare agencies, but figures published by the U.S. Department of Commerce show that in 1939 a total of $485,103,000 was deducted from income tax returns for gifts to charitable, religious and educational causes. This sum represented 2.2 per cent of net income.

Nearly 25 per cent of the funds raised in chest campaigns for 1941 went for leisure time services, while 24 per cent was allocated for family service and general dependency. Child care came next, receiving 18.7 per cent of the total, while 10.2 per cent was appropriated for the central services of community chests and councils. Health and hospital services together accounted for 20.3 per cent of the total funds. Only 1.5 per cent went toward the care of the aged, reflecting the influence of expanding public old age security programs on private activities. Since the great expansion of Federal financing of relief activities, beginning in 1933, private social work has tended to recede from the field of material relief, with a correspondingly increased interest in services such as recreation.

Income Sources.

Member agencies of chests on the whole derived only 36.9 per cent of their total income for 1941 from community chests. The rest was obtained from other sources, mainly public tax funds and payments by beneficiaries. It is significant that in 1940 nearly 70 per cent of hospital income was derived from beneficiaries who made full or part payment for services rendered. Payments from beneficiaries made up 38.9 per cent of the total income of leisure time agencies, and 27.3 per cent of the income of agencies caring for the aged.

Family Welfare.

Greatly increased employment due to the boom in war industries was reflected in a considerable falling off in applications and intake of family welfare agencies in 1941. A memorandum dated Jan. 15, 1942, on family casework statistics, compiled by Ralph G. Hurlin, shows that applications for help declined substantially in the fall of 1941 as compared with the corresponding period in 1940. Of 56 family agencies in various parts of the country, ten reported that applications in the fall of 1941 had increased by at least 5 per cent; ten showed less than 5 per cent change either way; and 36 reported declines in applications ranging from 5 to 43 per cent.

After the fateful Dec. 7, the paramount problem of private social agencies in the United States was how to gear themselves with maximum effect to the all-out war effort. In most cities, especially along the seaboards, the permanent agencies were engrossed in the task of turning at least part of their facilities to civilian defense work, while many new social agencies sprang up as volunteer rallying grounds for the duration.

1940: Social Service, Private

War Charities.

The outstanding development in the private welfare field during the past year was the rapid rise of 'war charities,' reflecting the course of the second world war in our generation. In December 1940, according to a survey conducted by the New York Herald-Tribune, there were 295 organizations engaged in war relief work in this country. About 1,500,000 men and women, it was estimated, were participating in the activities of these groups, mostly on a volunteer basis.

In May 1940, the American Red Cross launched a national campaign for a war relief fund, raising nearly $21,700,000 for this purpose by December. The United States Congress voted an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the purchase in this country and shipment abroad of agricultural, medical and other supplies 'for the relief of refugee men, women and children who have been driven from their homes or otherwise rendered destitute by hostilities or invasion.' The President was empowered to designate agencies to distribute these purchases. Many millions of dollars have been raised in cash, food, clothing and medical supplies by organizations specifically established for the relief of war victims in Europe and Asia. It has been estimated that more than fifty independent groups are soliciting contributions for Britain alone. One of the most active of the non-partisan war relief agencies is the American Friends' Service Committee. At the beginning of the year very elaborate arrangements were made for large-scale transportation and care of child refugees from war-torn countries, involving the cooperation of many private agencies in this country. Ensuing complications, however, resulted in a considerable curtailment of the original program.

Another outcome of the war situation has been the expansion of youth-serving activities in connection with the national defense program. The Selective Service Act of September 1940, contemplating the compulsory military training of millions of young men, brought in its wake the problem of providing recreational, health and welfare services for the trainees in camps throughout the United States. To coordinate this work, a Recreational and Welfare Section has been established in the War Department's Division of Morale. A number of private agencies are taking an active role in planning and putting into execution various social services at training camps and at Army and Navy bases. Another question that will undoubtedly require concentrated attention as the program gains momentum involves the welfare needs of families of draftees, but this problem had not reached noticeable proportions by the end of 1940.

Normal Social Services.

Trends in normal activities of private social agencies generally followed the lines observed during the preceding year. The development of the Federal social security program, greatly enlarging the scope and extent of public welfare, continues to exert a strong influence on the course of voluntary social service. Private organizations are giving greater attention to non-material services outside the public welfare domain, with increased use of those techniques of dealing with individuals and family situations that come under the generic term, social case work.

Social Service Through Community Chests.

The tendency toward centralization and coordination of the fund-raising and administrative functions of private social work continues. The chief medium for central financing is the community chest, a cooperative agency that carries on annual community-wide campaigns for its affiliated health and welfare organizations. All but four cities of over 100,000 population had community chests in 1940. But while the chest idea has achieved wide acceptance, especially in urban areas, many organizations, large and small, continue to depend on independent fund-raising campaigns.

A total of $86,186,466 for private social service was raised by 552 community chests for 1940,* as compared with $82,071,697 raised by 523 chests for 1939 and $101,377,537 by 397 chests for the peak year of 1932. One-third of the total for 1940 was accounted for by the ten largest chests in the country, which raised sums ranging from $1,806,510 to $4,674,724. An increase of 3.5 per cent over the 1939 total was registered in 1940 by the 523 chests which conducted campaigns for both years.

* Funds budgeted for 1940 were raised during the previous year.

According to statistics compiled by Community Chests and Councils, nineteen out of every hundred people in 124 cities subscribed to the community chest for 1940, an increase of 8.4 per cent over 1939. Fourteen of these nineteen givers contributed sums of less than $5 each. The proportion of those contributing less than $25 has increased steadily during the last decade, reflecting the widening circle of lower-income groups giving to chests. More than one-half of the increase for 1940 represented gifts under $25, while 28.5 per cent of the increase came from contributions under $5.

Sources and Disposition of Income of Private Social Agencies.

Contrary to a widespread impression, the major part of the income of private social agencies generally is derived not from voluntary gifts, but from public tax funds, fees paid by clients and other sources. An analysis covering member agencies of chests in 104 cities reveals that 35.7 per cent of their total income for 1940 came from the community chest, 7.9 per cent from public tax funds, 38.4 per cent from clients, and 18 per cent from other sources. Full or part payment by beneficiaries for services rendered accounted for nearly two-thirds of total hospital income, two-fifths of leisure-time agency income, over one-fourth of the income of agencies caring for the aged, and one-fifth of income for health services other than hospital care. Child-caring agencies affiliated with chests received 17 per cent of their total income from tax subsidies, while the same source accounted for 11.5 per cent of hospital income.

Nearly 25 per cent of the 1940 community chest funds was allocated for family service and general dependency, 24.2 per cent for leisure-time activities, 18.3 per cent for child care, 10.4 per cent for the Community Chest and Council, 20 per cent for hospital and health services, 1.5 per cent for care of the aged, and 1 per cent for miscellaneous services. A significant trend is reflected in the sharp decline in private expenditures for the care of the aged since the extensive federal and state programs for old age security went into effect. In contrast, there has been a steady rise in voluntary expenditures for leisure-time services.

Public and Private Social Work.

As previously indicated, the tremendous expansion of public relief in recent years has caused private social agencies to place increasing emphasis on non-material services. Estimates based on an analysis of trends in 116 urban areas of the United States show that in 1929 nearly 25 per cent of aggregate relief funds came from private sources, which accounted for 29 per cent in the peak year of 1931, and less than 1 per cent during the past three years. Of a total of $814,815,341 expended for public and private assistance (including earnings under the Work Projects Administration) in these 116 urban areas from January to September 1940, only $7,828,088 came from private funds; in 1939 private sources accounted for $10,741,088 of an aggregate total of $1,273,294,901. Other data indicate that the proportion of private funds in total relief expenditures is even lower in rural areas.

While the extent of private relief is almost negligible when compared with public relief, the granting of material aid still plays an important though declining role in the private family welfare field. According to statistics compiled by Ralph G. Hurlin based on a sampling of sixty voluntary family welfare agencies, about 38 per cent of the active cases carried by these agencies in October 1940, were relief cases, as compared with a ratio of 40 per cent in 1939 and 48 per cent in 1937.

Mergers of Private Agencies.

Manifestations of a tendency toward consolidation of services on the part of certain voluntary organizations have been observed with increasing interest. The Family Welfare Association of America, with 209 member agencies, reports six mergers in 1940 affecting its members. Three private family organizations consolidated with children's agencies, two united with other family agencies, and one with a travelers' aid society. One of the most important mergers of the year took place in January when four Jewish child-caring agencies in New York City — the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, the Jewish Children's Clearing House and Fellowship House — united under the new name, New York Association for Jewish Children, now the largest voluntary agency for dependent children in the United States. In view of the interest displayed in the question of the effect of mergers on the income of agencies, it may be noted that the Community Service Society of New York City, largest private family welfare organization in the country and the product of the consolidation of two prominent agencies in 1939, received a higher total of contributions during its first fiscal year than the combined total of the two agencies before the merger took place.

Child Welfare.

In the care of dependent, neglected and delinquent children outside their own homes, there has been a growing trend toward increased utilization of foster home services and a corresponding decline in institutional care. This tendency has been particularly pronounced in the Jewish welfare field, wherein the proportion of children in foster homes increased from 44.4 to 61.3 per cent between 1929 and 1939, inclusive, while that of children in institutions declined from 53.8 to 31.7 per cent in the same period.* Two Jewish child-caring institutions closed their doors in 1939, bringing to seven the number closed since 1929.

* A small percentage of the children under care were neither in institutions nor foster homes.

According to statistics compiled by the United States Children's Bureau, 594 agencies in 39 urban areas reported a total of 63,289 dependent and neglected children under care away from home in September 1940. Of this total, 72 public agencies were caring for 21,783 children, while 522 private agencies in the same communities had 41,506 children under care. Of the children under public care, 3,234 were in institutions and 18,549 were in foster homes; 22,427 of the children under private care were in institutions and 19,079 were in foster homes. (See also CHILD WELFARE.)

1939: Social Service, Private

No satisfactory definition of private social work has yet appeared. As discussed in this article, the term comprises all privately-operated, non-profitmaking institutions and agencies specifically concerned with the prevention, amelioration, care or treatment of dependency, delinquency, defect, disease and other human ills, and the positive promotion of socially desirable conditions. While all these agencies are supported in whole or in part by private funds, many derive a large part (and some even a major part) of their income from public tax sources.

The year 1939 saw a continuation of trends that have profoundly influenced the field of private social work during the past decade. The Great Depression has been a major conditioning factor in the field. Its impact on the public conscience, resulting in the acceptance of public responsibility for wide areas of social welfare which had previously been considered the domain of private philanthropy, necessitated a reorientation of the latter. Sharp contraction of private resources also influenced the development of this field. On the other hand, certain outstanding trends in private social work antedated the depression in their origin. Chief among these are the tendencies toward centralization and coordination of activities, especially as reflected in the financing and administration of private social agencies.

Central Financing Organizations.

In urban areas of 25,000 population or over, the most widely used method of central financing is the community chest, a cooperative organization that carries on centralized fund campaigns each year for its affiliated health and welfare agencies. There were over 518 chests in 1939; of cities with populations of 100,000 or over, only five had no chest.

Community chests operate on the principle that it is more economical and expedient to raise funds for private social service by concerted and intensive community-wide drives than by uncoordinated campaigns of individual agencies. Funds thus raised are distributed among the member agencies according to a prearranged budget. Most chests are nonsectarian or inter-sectarian in makeup. The chest idea is by no means universally accepted, and many organizations, large and small, continue to carry on independent campaigns for funds.

Closely allied to the community chest principle, but differing from it in several important respects, are the Chicago Community Fund and the Greater New York Fund. These central financing organizations, both of which are nonsectarian, accept no individual donations, but instead restrict their campaigns to business and employee groups. No degree of budgetary control or supervision is exercised over member agencies, which are permitted to carry on their own campaigns for contributions, with the provision that they shall not again solicit from groups that have already contributed to the central fund. In its 1939 campaign the Greater New York Fund raised nearly $3,400,000 up to September 30 of that year, to be distributed among its approximately 400 participating agencies.

Other organized methods of financing private social work include charity balls, benefits and parties, tag-day and membership drives, and special newspaper appeals, such as the New York Times' 'Hundred Neediest Cases.' Federated bodies of Jewish or Catholic social agencies carry on joint financing campaigns in many communities. Every year a nation-wide Mobilization for Human Needs is conducted on behalf of 35 national private social agencies, as a means of reinforcing local campaigns. Outstanding examples of direct fund-raising drives by national organizations are the annual roll call of the American National Red Cross and the Christmas seal campaign of the National Tuberculosis Association.

Contributions to Community Chests.

It is impossible to present an estimate of the total amount raised annually for all private social work, but community chest figures give us some indications of current trends. A total of $82,808,793 was raised by 518 chests of 1939 (Funds budgeted for 1939 were raised during the previous year.). This amount represents a decline of about one million dollars from that raised for 1938 by 480 chests. One-third of the 1939 total was accounted for by the ten largest chests, which raised sums ranging from $1,800,000 to $4,500,000. The peak year for community chest drives was 1932, when a total of $101,377,537 was raised. This year marked the last desperate effort of private philanthropy to maintain major responsibility for unemployment relief necessitated by the great depression.

An analysis of contributions for 1939 in 125 cities made by the Community Chests and Councils, Inc., shows that seventeen out of every hundred persons in these cities subscribed to the local chest. Thirteen of the seventeen contributors gave less than $5, averaging $1.61. It is significant that the percentage of givers of amounts of $25 and less has been steadily increasing in recent years. An important factor influencing the extent of contributions is the income tax exemption on gifts to private charitable enterprise.

It is likely that taxes on wages and payrolls in connection with the social security program will have some effect on voluntary contributions to welfare agencies, although no marked influence is discernible as yet.

Sources and Disposition of Income.

Besides voluntary gifts and bequests, the income of private social work is derived from tax funds and fees paid by clients. It has been estimated that member agencies of community chests in 1938 received 37.8 per cent of their total income from the chest, 36.1 per cent from fees charged to clients, 8.1 per cent from public tax funds, and 18 per cent from miscellaneous sources, including income from endowments. Hospitals and leisure-time agencies derived a large proportion of their income from fees paid by clients, such payments accounting for 64.5 per cent of hospital income and nearly 40 per cent of the funds of leisure-time services. Child-caring agencies derived about 25 per cent of their income from beneficiaries, and 16.5 from tax funds. Tax funds account for nearly 20 per cent of the income sources of hospital and other health services. There are two types of public subsidies to private agencies: per capita payments on the basis of services rendered, and lump-sum subsidies. A joint committee of health and welfare officials recently stated its preference for the former over the latter type of public payment.

As for the distribution of community chest funds for 1939 statistics covering 96 cities which raised nearly half the grand chest total indicate that about one-fourth of the total amount was allocated for family service and general dependency, 23.7 per cent for leisure-time activities, 18.4 per cent for the care of children, a little more than 20 per cent for hospitals and other health services, 2.9 per cent for delinquency, 1.6 per cent for care of the aged, and 10.1 per cent for the Chest and Council. Private expenditures for the care of the aged have declined sharply of late, due in large measure to the extensive public programs for old age security. On the other hand, an upward trend in support of leisure-time services has been noted since 1933.

Central Planning.

Central financing, as illustrated by the chest idea, represents one major aspect of the trend toward coordination in private social work. Central planning, as represented by councils of social agencies, reflects another. In a number of communities the chest and council are combined in one organization; in others they are separate and independent entities. While financing must inevitably have some effect on policy-making, it is still a disputed question whether the community is best served by having both financing and planning functions vested in a single agency.

The council idea is an old one, but only in recent years has it been put into effective operation in a large number of communities. It represents a distinct departure from the time-worn custom of social agencies to act independently and even in competition with one another. The ideal methodology of the council includes a broad study of community needs and an analysis of the available and potential resources for meeting them, from which a community program is carefully worked out with the aim of obtaining a maximum degree of cooperation and efficiency from each member agency. Duplication and competition is eliminated or minimized wherever possible.

Public and Private Social Work.

The unprecedented expansion of public welfare since 1933 has profoundly affected the course of private social work in several respects, as previously noted. The continual growth of Federal and state Social security programs has greatly reduced the need for private social work in certain fields in which it formerly played an important and even dominant role. This trend has been reflected most sharply, of course, in the field of general relief. Statistics based on a study of 116 urban areas show that in 1929 nearly 25 per cent of relief funds came from private sources; in 1931 it reached a peak of 29 per cent; in 1939 private funds accounted for considerably less than 1 per cent of total expenditures for relief. In July, 1939, more than $101,000,000 was expended in these 116 urban areas for public assistance and earnings from WPA-operated projects, as compared with only $768,422 expended by private agencies for relief, representing .8 per cent of the total outlay. The contribution of private agencies to the total relief bill has remained substantially under 1 per cent for several years. In rural districts, according to statistics gathered by the Social Security Board, the ratio of private to public funds for relief is much less than in urban districts.

As public welfare has pushed onward along the frontiers of material aid, private social work has concentrated increasing attention on the development of non-material services. Private agencies are tending to accept the theory that the supplying of basic economic needs is essentially a governmental problem. Generally more flexible than public welfare bodies, private social agencies have proved of great benefit as experimental laboratories, initiating many programs that were later taken over as permanent activities of public agencies. The better private agencies also may be credited with maintaining and improving standards of social welfare, both public and private.

While non-material services are receiving more emphasis in private social work, relief-giving still constitutes an essential though declining part of its activities, especially in the area of family welfare. Statistics covering 59 sample private family welfare agencies, compiled by Ralph G. Hurlin of the Russell Sage Foundation, show that relief cases constituted about 39 per cent of the total number of their active cases in September 1939. This figure compares with a ratio of 48 per cent in 1936 and 1937, and 40 per cent in 1938. The extent of material relief granted by private agencies is naturally conditioned by the public assistance program prevailing in the community.

Family welfare agencies have continued the exploitation of the social case work process in meeting the problems of their clients. It is interesting to note, however, that the highly individualized approach to social unadjustment, in which the individual client was regarded as the unit of treatment, is now giving way to a return to the old principle of the family as the proper unit of the case worker's attention.

Coordination of Private Social Work.

The general trend toward coordination of private effort was reflected in the family welfare field in 1939 by agency mergers that took place in Greenwich and Stamford, Connecticut, Peoria, Illinois, St. Paul, Minnesota, Elmira, New York, and New York City. Most of the recent mergers in private social work have been between family welfare and child-caring agencies.

One of the most significant events of 1939 was the consolidation of the two largest family welfare agencies in the country — the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and the Charity Organization Society in New York City. Established in 1843 and 1882, respectively, the two organizations were merged into the present Community Service Society, with a combined capital fund of about $28,000,000. Expenditures of both agencies in the year before the merger aggregated more than $2,700,000.

The consolidation was preceded by a long and careful survey of the activities of both agencies within the community framework. It was found that the two organizations — which had espoused markedly similar aims from the very beginning — had been drawing closer together in attitudes and activities in late years, that they were duplicating each other's work at some points, and that the community would be more effectively served through a consolidated society. The final report of the New York A.I.C.P. contains a significant commentary on contemporary trends in private social work:

'There is a growing feeling that there are now such a large number of differentiated and specialized social service organizations that the whole field of social work suffers; that, in the community's organized efforts to deal with its problems, a pattern of service has developed which by its very complexity obstructs their usefulness. It is growing more difficult not only for individuals to act alone but for individuals in small groups to act separately. Team work, organization, planning together, must increasingly be the order of the day.'

The outcome of the consolidation of these giant agencies will be watched with interest.

The desirability of large-scale mergers in private social work, especially with respect to fund-raising aspects, has been questioned. Some observers incline to the belief that financial contributions are more easily obtained in behalf of special services (such as aid to needy children, the aged, etc.) than for general services. A substantially similar issue is being debated in the public welfare field by the proponents of 'categorical' relief as opposed to 'general' relief. Any survey of present trends in private social work would have to take into consideration the tremendous developments in public social security programs during recent years.