The City Mission’s Public Plea: Feeding the Unemployed of 1892

J. E. Farmer, superintendent, and N. E. Ryther, secretary of the City Mission, have completed their report of the work for the month of January. The report shows that 530 men and six families have been aided, over 7,000 meals have been given away, and nearly 3,000 nights' lodgings were provided to the homeless. The past month has been a very bad one for laborers, and the demand upon the mission has been heavier than ever before. Regarding the city's unfortunates, we have looked to our own first, but have turned none away empty, giving at least a place to sleep and a breakfast to the passing stranger, debarring none except those who are tabooed by the police force from remaining in the city. The City Mission made an appeal to the honorable board of public works to grant the able-bodied men depending on us the opportunity to work on the streets for one day each week, the wages earned thereby to sustain in part the expenses of the mission, said labor being voluntarily offered by the men. The board granted our request on trial, thus giving aid to a good cause at no loss to the city. We deny the broadcast reports that we were organized for the purpose of getting votes in the coming election, or to provide a residence from which to register voters; those charges are entirely false. We intend to continue our work of trying to do the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of our city's needy ones at the least possible expense.