The Science of Charity: Seattle’s 1892 War on Beggary
Before modern social safety nets, Seattle churches pushed a 'scientific' model of charity to distinguish between the 'deserving' poor and what they termed fraudulent street mendicants.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At St. Mark's Church yesterday morning, Rev. D. C. Garrett preached on the text: 'We should remember the poor.' Mr. Garrett noted that the organization of the Associated Charities in Seattle has reached the point where a sufficient enrollment will ensure the system's success. While the plan is non-sectarian, he deemed it a duty of the churches to take an active interest. Members who subscribe $5 a year will meet at the Chamber of Commerce to elect eleven directors, who will then appoint a superintendent to keep a central record of all aid given by every charity agency in the city. Mr. Garrett argued that this would be a vast economy of time and expense, and would put a 'thorough check upon all street mendicants and fraudulent beggars.' He cited the success of the 'Elberfeld system' in Buffalo, which he claimed reduced pauperism by 50 percent through the use of 'friendly visitors' tasked with visiting poor families to teach lessons of self-help. Warning against the cost of generational poverty, he shared the story of one Ben Ishmael, whose descendants allegedly cost the state a fortune in welfare and justice system expenses. 'If we do not go to the root causes of poverty and stop the evil there, the plague will spread,' Garrett concluded.
“If all these agencies will co-operate in this bureau there will be a vast economy of time, energy and expense, and a thorough check put upon all street mendicants and fraudulent beggars.”
This 1892 push for 'scientific charity' and centralized registries mirrors modern debates in Seattle over the efficacy of private versus public intervention in the homelessness crisis, and the recurring political tension between compassion and the desire to 'check' or regulate those requesting aid.
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