1200 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS When the society of North Union was dissolved in 1889, the members surviving at that time were transferred, according to their own choice, to the communities at Watervliet, near Dayton, Ohio, or Union Village, near Lebanon, Ohio. Canoes now dot the summer waters around which the busy Shakers once farmed and fabricated. Beautiful homes house a population which knows not Mother Ann. Dancers of today do not dance unto the Lord with hands stretched out and downward, that their sins may be shaken off through their fingertips. They may, like the Shakers, be dancing sometimes between two and three in the morning, but they have probably not had five or six hours of solid sleep before being invited by a friendly knock at the door to join the sin-releasing figure-marching, nor after they have returned to bed will they be obliged to arise before the crack of dawn, the men to feed the stock and the women to prepare a hearty farm breakfast before starting a long day of prayer and labor under conditions hardly realized nowadays. Life moves on, and today's conditions are different. The Shakers of North Union have become but an atmosphere and a memory. CHAPTER IX RELIGION AND PHILANTHROPY To those whose thoughts are concerned with the problem, "Is the world growing better?" a study of Cleveland's religious and philanthropic history will be enlightening, and, since the problem has universal appeal, so this chronicle is of the broadest interest. There is no intent here to provoke a discussion nor to attempt a conclusion, but rather to set forth the facts and leave the contemplation of them to the reader. In a few instances, such as the Community Fund idea, this city's experiences have been unique. But in general, it may safely be deduced that the progress of churches and philanthropies here is parallel with progress in other great American communities, and thus a conclusion may be reached from this narrative that will hold for the American people. The very first description recorded of the site of the present city of Cleveland is that of a Moravian missionary, Reverend John Heckewelder, who, with a comrade, David Zeisberger, built a small village at the spot where Tinker's Creek joins the Cuyahoga River. This was in 1786, and the village was called Pilgerruh, or Pilgrim's Rest. It was soon abandoned. A year later another churchman came in the person of Reverend Seth Hart, a member of the second colony of settlers from Connecticut. Mr. Hart held the first religious service, a funeral read in the form of the Episcopal Church, and soon afterwards he solemnized a marriage. Reverend Joseph Badger of Connecticut came in 1801, preached the first sermons in 1802, and departed with a most pessimistic opinion of the evangelical possibilities of the region. Of Newburg he reported : - 1201 - 1202 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS "No apparent piety. They seemed to glory in their infidelity." Another missionary from New England, Dr. Thomas Robbins, found the people of 1803 "loose in principles and conduct. Few of them had heard a sermon or hymn in eighteen months." One hundred and eighty years had elapsed since the forbears of Cleveland's founders had come to the New Land in search of religious liberty, a liberty which they frequently denied to others, and these years had caused their changes in men's motives. The descendants were frankly after profits. A distillery seemed to them to be the first requisite, providing them with a medium of exchange for the furs of the Indians as well as an aid to conviviality. Trading post and tavern came before school or church, and it was not until 1816 that a place of worship was established. This was Trinity Episcopal, organized in the house of Phineas Shepherd on the ninth of November. The report of Reverend Roger Searle, of Connecticut, who visited the parish regularly for the fol-lowing nine years, shows that there were thirteen families and eleven communicants in the spring of 1817. The first vestrymen and wardens were Josiah Baber, Phineas Shep-herd, Charles Taylor, James S. Clarke, Sherlock J. Andrews, Levi Sargent and John W. Allen. Reverend Joseph Badger's account of "no apparent piety" in Newburg may have induced the members of Trinity to hold their meetings there in 1820, in missionary zeal, or they may have found Cleveland's religious atmosphere even sub-zero and sought more congenial conditions in Newburg but at any rate, the experiment was a failure and the church re-turned to Cleveland two years later. The first rector, Silas C. Freeman, went East and raised one thousand dollars for a new church edifice. In 1828 the vestry incorporated, and a frame building was erected, at a cost of three thousand dol-lars. and dedicated August Twelfth, 1829. The site was at the corner of St. Clair and Seneca (now West Third) streets and the price of the land was two dollars an acre. In 1854 this site was sold for two hundred and fifty dollars per THE CITY'S LIFE - 1205 front foot, after the old frame church had been burned, and a stone church was built at the corner of Superior and Bond (now East Sixth) streets. This church was dedicated in 1855. It had a tower and nine bells. The present site at Euclid and East Twenty-second Street was purchased in 1882 and the new church was offered to the new bishop of the diocese, Right Reverend William A. Leonard, as his cathedral, in 1890. In 1830, when Cleveland had a population of 1,075, there were three churches. In 1835 the first Catholic church was organized, although many Catholic Irish came here in 1826 to work on the new Ohio Canal. There must have been close to five hundred of these, for the population of Cleveland was only one hundred and fifty in 1820 and about five hundred in 1825. Monsignor George F. Houck stated in 1909 that the influx of Catholic laborers after 1826 doubled the population within a year. When Right Reverend Edward Fenwick, first bishop of Cincinnati, was informed that so many of his people were here, he directed that the Dominican fathers, stationed in Perry County, make regular visits to Cleveland and points between here and Akron, where canal workers were to be found. The Reverend Thomas Martin made his first visit in the fall of 1826 and later came the Very Reverend Stephen T. Badin, who was the first priest ordained in the United States. Reverend John Dillon, in 1835, was the first resident pastor. He said mass in private houses, as his predecessors did, but shortly succeeded in obtaining a room known as Shakespeare Hall, at the foot of Superior Street, which was fitted up as a place of worship. The next "church" was a one-story frame cottage on the west side of East Ninth Street near Prospect. One room served as a church and the others as Father Dillon's pastoral residence. A few months later Father Dillon made a temporary church of Mechanics' Hall at the corner of Prospect and Ontario. Like Reverend Mr. Freeman, of the Episcopal Church, he found he could not find sufficient funds in Cleveland to build a new church, and went East, returning with one thousand dollars. Shortly afterwards, though, on 1206 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS October 16, 1836, at the age of twenty-nine, Father Dillon died and left his followers without a resident pastor. The Reverend H. D. Juncker came occasionally from Canton, in 1836 and 1837. In September, 1837, Reverend Patrick O'Dwyer, of Quebec, was permanently assigned here in Father Dillon's place. The next month James S. Clarke, Richard Hilliard and Edmund Clark donated two lots at the corner of Columbus and Girard streets to Bishop John Purcell, of Cincinnati, on condition that the "Roman Catholic Society of Our Lady of the Lake, of said Cleveland" should erect thereon, within four months, a suitable frame structure and hold meetings therein. The building was erected within the time specified, but not completed until October of 1839, for lack of funds. Father O'Dwyer left Cleveland in June of that year, but Bishop Purcell came from Cincinnati in September and completed the work in three weeks. He also prepared a class of children for first communion, which was administered to them in the new building by Father Henni of Cincinnati. Dedicatory ceremonies were performed June 7, 1840, by the Right Reverend Doctor de Forbin-Janson, bishop of Toul-Nancy, France. This church was popularly known as "St. Mary's on the Flats," and served Catholics in Cleveland until 1852. Reverend Peter McLaughlin was named to succeed Father O'Dwyer. It was Father McLaughlin who purchased from Thomas May four lots, fronting on Superior and Erie (East Ninth) streets, January 22, 1845, for four thousand dollars. This action engendered much feeling against Father McLaughlin, for it was felt he had been unwise in buying "in the country." Erie Street was then the easterly limit of the built-up portion of the city. Father McLaughlin finally asked the bishop to relieve him from the pastorate. He left in February, 1846, and Reverend Maurice Howard took up the work here. The following year the diocese of Cleveland was erected and the Right Reverend Louis Amadeus Rappe was consecrated bishop. A word in passing about Rappe, a few years before this Bishop Purcell had visited France, and had made pleas for THE CITY'S LIFE - 1209 missionaries to the field of the Ohio wilderness. Young Louis Rappe was one of those who responded to the call, and he had been stationed in northwestern Ohio, with his center at Maumee. It was at that time considered that Maumee would be the site of the great city, with Toledo a mere appanage thereto. Rappe's services in that district were so satisfactory, that from there he was called to the Cleveland field and made first bishop of the newly created diocese. In October, 1848, three years after Father McLaughlin's censured purchase in the country, Bishop Rappe bought three more lots from Thomas May, adjoining the first two, and built a temporary frame structure known as the Church of the Nativity. This building served as a "chapel of ease" to St. Mary's and was located east of the present Cathedral, on the site of the Episcopal residence. The present cathedral was completed in 1852, in November, whereupon the St. Mary's Church was assigned to the Germans. The phrase "chapel of ease" is almost never heard today, but at a time when distances were so great, it was necessary to have scattered chapels to serve a congregation, scattered members of which could not often get to the central church to which, in districting the diocese, they were supposed to belong. Reverting, we find that the first Jewish Church was formed in 1839, only two years after the first Jewish settler, Simson Thorman, of Unsleben, Bavaria, came to Cleveland. A number of former neighbors from Unsleben followed him in the next two years and the first religious organization was formed under the name of the Israelitic Society. A burial ground was purchased in Ohio City for one hundred dollars. But there was strife in the little community which led, in 1842, to secession of some of the members, who formed the Anshe Chesed Society. The Israelitic Society worshipped in a hall on South Water Street and the Anshe Chesed Society in the Farmers' Block on Prospect Street. The two groups came together again in 1846 under the name of The Israelitic Anshe Chesed Society, the real beginning of the oldest Jewish congregation in Cleveland. As Protestants had subscribed liberally to the first Cath- 1210 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS olic Church—Father Dillon had many admirers among Protestants, and several of them came regularly to hear him preach—so Protestants helped their Jewish brethren, and Leonard Case presented to them a lot on Ohio Street ior the building of a synogague. This lot was later exchanged for the one on Eagle Street on which the first synagogue was built, at a cost of $1,500. Dissension in 1848 again appeared and resulted in the formation of the Tifereth Israel Congregation, in 1850. By 1840 the population had increased to 7,648, this decade from 1830 seeing the greatest comparative growth that Cleveland ever experienced. By 1846 the city had about twelve thousand population, with eighteen churches, including two Jewish and two Roman Catholic. By 1895 there were about three hundred churches, missions and miscellaneous religious organizations. This history has commented upon the striking upturn in many activities, financial, political and otherwise, which marked the advent of the twentieth century. Advance came simultaneously to church and philanthropic movements. That advance removes from possibility, in a work of these dimensions, any effort to enumerate, much less describe, the churches and philanthropic institutions in Cleveland at the present time. A glance at the statistics which follow will not only evidence the magnitude of such a task, but will answer, in part, the question raised at the beginning of this chapter. We may consider that the local church movement got under way after 1830 and consider these figures as the achievement of one hundred years. The latest City Directory lists not less than 689 churches. Of these 584 belong to the older order, or better known denominations. One hundred and five are grouped under the heading of "miscellaneous" and include college chapels and local places of worship. Monasteries, missions, benevolent associations, etc., bring the total to 926. Since 1900 the population of Greater Cleveland has not trebled. Religious institutions have more than trebled. These statistics have both value and interest. Following THE CITY'S LIFE - 1213 are listed the various denominations, with the number of churches in each : Baptist, one hundred and eleven; Roman Catholic, one hundred and six; Christian (Disciples of Christ), fifteen; Christian Reformed, two ; Christian Science, ten; Congregational, thirty-two ; Dutch Reformed, one; Evangelical, sixteen, of which two are Independent, and two United; Evangelical Association, seven; Evangelical Lutheran, fifty-five; Free Methodist, two ; Friends, three; Greek Orthodox, ten; Hebrew, forty-two; Hungarian Reformed, two ; Latter Day Saints (reorganized), one; Methodist Episcopal, sixty-one ; New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian), two; Polish National, two; Presbyterian, thirty-four; Protestant Episcopal, twenty-eight; Reformed Church in the United States, eleven; Reformed Episcopal, two; Seventh Day Adventist, two ; Spiritualist, four; Independent Spiritualist, seven; Unitarian, one; United Brethren in Christ, five; United Presbyterian, seven; Universalist, one. The list reveals thirty differing forms of devotion. One hundred more sects have established churches, but are less known than those above named, have small congregations, and are properly treated in a separate classification. All of the sects are monotheistic, and, with two or three exceptions, all are Christian. In addition to all these churches, the Salvation Army has sixteen stations and the Volunteers of America four. There are one monastery and twenty-three convents, ninety-three benevolent societies and one hundred benevolent institutions, fifty-six hospitals, fifteen dispensaries, three medical colleges and two medical societies. The twenty-nine social settlements belong in our category, as do also the ten temperance and philanthropic societies and the hundreds of Masonic and other orders, lodges, brotherhoods, secret societies and mutual benefit associations, inasmuch as all these are linked with the movement for social betterment. There are 584 preachers having churches, 128 Christian Science practitioners, about 1,450 physicians and surgeons and about 1,100 dentists. 1214 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS No estimate has been made of the dollars and cents volume of this business of making citizens spiritually, morally and physically better, but it seems quite safe to conclude that Cleveland spends more time and energy on moral uplift than on policing; in other words, makes more effort to prevent inclination to wrong-doing than to prevent and punish actual misdeeds. Aid to righteousness is plainly a major activity here, ranking with education, banking and commerce in volume of money and energy expended. Throughout the first century of Cleveland's experience this work was carried on with comparatively little co-ordination and cooperation of the churches and allied workers. But the twentieth century, which brought the ideas of mass production, bank consolidations, industrial mergers and chain stores, found the welfare industry awake to like opportunities, and produced two innovations of the highest importance, the Federation of Churches and the Community Fund. Reverend Don D. Tullis, executive secretary of the Federated Churches of Cleveland, says : "Church federation is probably the most significant religious movement of the twentieth century." Its expressed purpose is "the making of a religious, social and industrial survey of the city to enable the churches, especially those located in foreign-speaking communities, to bring their activities to a higher degree of efficiency." As usual the accomplishments of the Federation have far exceeded, in their scope, the vision of the founders. First reference to Church Federation is made in the 'nineties in the Social Betterment Committee of the Ministers' Union at its meeting on January Fourth, 1911, when action was taken recommending that the Union appoint a special committee on Church Federation consisting of one minister and one layman from each denomination. This committee was appointed, with Reverend T. S. McWilliams, then pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church, as chairman : Reverend N. M. Pratt, Reverend Worth M. Tippy, Reverend H. F. Stilwell, Dean Frank Du Moulin, Reverend J. H. Goldner, Reverend J. R. J. Milligan, Reverend T. C. Lawrence, Reverend W. L. Naumann, Reverend H. C. Had- THE CITY'S LIFE - 1215 ley, Reverend J. A. Huebschman and Reverend Henry Schmidt. The object was a union of Protestant churches, in which both ministers and laymen would have their responsibilities. A Federation dinner on February 13th marked the first occasion in Cleveland when clergy and laity of all Protestant denominations came together under such auspices. Final organization was completed June 12, 1911, with a constitution stating : "The object of the Federated Churches is to create and maintain an effective union of the churches of Cuyahoga County: "For purposes of comity in religious work amongst the foreign populations of the county, and in establishing mission centers and new churches; for united and aggressive action upon religious and social questions. "Any Protestant church in Cuyahoga County shall have the privilege of membership." In a speech before Federation delegates November 29, 1932, Secretary Tullis thus characterized the aims: "The close of the nineteenth century witnessed the deplorable spectacle of a Protestantism divided into practically two hundred different denominations. Here was diversity with all its resultant evils. It was to meet this situation that the call went out for the organization of the Federal Council of Churches. The motive was unity in diversity and provision for a practical way of escape from the evils of unchristian competition, the proselyting of members and open warfare between the various groups. The Federal Council is the parent of state and city Federations. "The Social foundation of federation is also of great importance. The whole order of society is builded upon this idea of a sane balance between unity on the one side and freedom on the other. Unity is necessary to government, but there must also be opportunity for individual expression, or the units will fall apart. As absolute conformity tends to death and decay, so absolute freedom tends to disorder and destruction. Society must seek the ideal balance—so must religion. The churches must not lose their lives in the 1216 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS Church, nether must the Church lose its life in the churches. It is for the realization of this demand for unity in diversity that the Federation movement was born. It is to this that the movement is committed. Federation operates upon the conviction that unity is not the result of compulsion but rather of persuasion, founded upon mutual understanding and goodwill. "The Federation movement is both a cause and an effect of the larger fellowship of believers which we now enjoy. Federation greatly strengthens the spirit of Christian unity, and the spirit of Christian unity has made the Federation movement what it is today. The Federated Churches of Greater Cleveland represents the best response thus far made by the churches of this city to the challenge for building a fellowship of believers upon these Biblical and social foundations. The local Federation is weak or strong exactly to the degree in which the cooperating churches sense this vision and support this ideal. "The Federation makes possible the common impact of the churches on the social and moral life of the community. It promotes a clearing house for all inter-church activity. It is to the church life of the city what the Chamber of Com-merce is to the business life—plus." As the Federation got under way it faced the necessity of meeting new situations, some of them quite serious, arising over differences of opinion with reference to priority of claims to new fields. In one instance three denominations desired to enter a new residence community which was able to support only one enterprise. After weeks of investigation and negotiation, the three denominations surrendered their claims to the field and agreed that it really belonged to a fourth denomination which at first had made no claim to it. In another instance, five denominations were supporting churches in one of the old residence communities that was fast filling up with a foreign population. After a survey the Federation recommended that four of the churches should remove from the field and that the fifth church should enlarge its budget to serve the entire com- THE CITY'S LIFE - 1217 munity in a larger way. Again, one of the denominational unions purchased a site in a new residential community, with the approval of the Federation. Later the city mission society of another communion bought land directly across the street and announced that it was going to build. The matter was settled by an appeal to the families in the neighborhood, whose decision was in favor of the first group, whereupon the second withdrew. A survey of 1916-17, entitled "The City and Its People," discussed the character and distribution of the various national groups. This survey has been kept up to date by commissions of subsequent years. Seven or eight large institutional churches attempt to minister to the religious, social, educational and recreational needs of their communities, directing their efforts especially to the young people. In smaller missions services are conducted in foreign languages. There are about forty of these missions directly under the denominational city mission societies and sixty that are self-supporting. Pilgrim Church, at West Fourteenth and Stark-weather Avenue, Broadway Methodist Church, Broadway and Magnet Avenue, and the Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church, at Woodland and East Forty-sixth Street, are examples of the large institutional centers. The Federation seeks to solve the problem of the old established church which is confronted with the expansion of the business district, and has successfully arranged mergers in some such cases. Late in 1913 the city was made aware of the fact that the Federation did not intend to confine itself to intra-mural affairs by its successful campaign to eliminate the segregated vice district. First a complete survey was made, not only of conditions in Cleveland but of those existing in other cities here and in Europe. Then the results were laid before Mayor Baker and his Chief of Police. These officials agreed with the findings in every respect and the district was abolished by the mayor's order, April 1, 1914. The Federation is interested in Sabbath observance, but encourages proper recreation and sports on that day, and does not urge closing of pic- 1218 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS ture shows, but rather attempts to have a voice in the determination of the kind of pictures shown. "The novel, dramatic performances, moving pictures, concerts, sports, etc., are all legitimate forms of recreation, having educational values as well," says the Federation. Discussions have been held over the questions involved in the relationships between capital and labor, so that the Church might be in position to act in event of an industrial crisis. At one meeting the topics discussed aptly illustrate the attitude of the Church toward matters ex-cathedra, in striking contrast to the attitude of former days : "Did Jesus have any definite program directly applicable to industry today?" "What place should the discussion of modern industrial conditions have in preaching?" "Should the minister seek to be an expert in industrial affairs : If he is not an expert, should he refer to them at all?" "What does the phrase 'Religion in Business' mean?" Contact is maintained by the Federation with members of the state and national legislatures, a fact which illustrates the comparison which Reverend Mr. Tullis makes between the Federation and the Chamber of Commerce. The Federation has a budget of $40,000, of which only $2,000 is raised through assessments against member churches, the balance being voluntary contribution by individuals. The work of the Federation is set forth here at some length not to over-emphasize the importance of this particular union, but rather because the work of the Federation typifies the work of the modern church, whether Catholic, Protestant or Hebrew. Not only has the Church expanded its sympathies amazingly far beyond its ancient cloister, but it has joined the Rotary Clubs, trade associations, Chambers of Commerce, labor unions and the rest of the many groupings which characterize modern activity, groupings which subordinate petty rivalries to the advancement of a common cause. THE CITY'S LIFE - 1219 There is much beauty in this examination of the city's moral progress, and much encouragement to the man who has become wearied by the stress of the years following October of 1929. One good that has appeared out of this chaos is the realization that poverty does not forfeit a man's rights to equal brotherhood. It is not pleasant to recall that the first public charity in Cleveland was popularly known as the "ragged" school—though that was a common enough expres-sion in New England communities for such a venture—and that the unfortunate little inmates were set apart from pupils of the private schools to such an extent that there was open enmity between them. From a public school for poor children, maintained largely by private subscriptions, the institution became a dispensary for food and clothing and was finally taken over, in 1855, by the City Council as a "City Industrial School." The old Champlain schoolhouse was used for this purpose. Later the work was assumed by the Children's Aid Society and supported by subscription. There were no legal means, in village days, for the care of the poor from public funds ; but after the city was incorporated, a home unfortunately called "poorhouse" was established in the rear of the Erie Street Cemetery, facing what is now East Fourteenth Street. In 1849 the state legislature empowered the city to locate "A poorhouse and hospital for the poor and infirm," and a tax was levied for the buildings and maintenance as well as for outdoor relief. The main building of the city infirmary was completed in 1855 at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. Forty inmates were received, and by 1860 there were two hundred and forty, necessitating a large addition in 1862. Two three-story wings were built for the insane patients in 1870 and two more added in 1885. This institution was also used as a house of correction for children under sixteen, "there to be kept or apprenticed out until they arrive at the age of eighteen years." Today boys are sent to the Boys' Farm at Hudson, Ohio, purchased in 1903, where there are cows and horses, cottages and a gymnasium, all the appurtenances of a private school. The "poorhouse" has given place to the Warrensville Farm 1220 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS Colony, the heritage left by Reverend Harris R. Cooley, Welfare Director in Mayor Tom L. Johnson's cabinet. The first purchase of land for this purpose was also made about the same time land was bought for the Hudson Boys' Farm. Warrensville combines the functions of a house of correction, replacing the old Woodland Avenue "workhouse" both in name and method, with the functions of a hospital and a home for the aged besides. Men and women work in the sunlight at Warrensville, unconfined and much of the time unguarded. Yet Warrensville and Hudson are but fifty years distant from the convict ships of England with their balls and chains, and not much further removed, in years, from our own stocks and whipping posts. On February 6, 1854, a committee of five men set about formulating a plan for the organization of a Young Men's Christian Association. These five were S. H. Mather, Presbyterian ; Loren Prentiss, Baptist; L. M. H. Battey, Congregationalist; E. W. Roby, Episcopalian ; E. F. Young, Methodist. There were sixty names in the charter membership when the constitution was adopted on February 28. The rooms were then in Spangler's Block, on the southeast corner of Superior and what is now East Third Street. The first association building was the gift of James F. Clarke, erected in 1870-1, and stood on the north side of the Public Square. The rapid growth of the Y. M. C. A. compelled many changes in quarters after that, first to a five-story building at Euclid and East Fourth Street in 1880, then to the structure on the southeast corner of Prospect and East Ninth Street which was first occupied in 1891, and finally to the present headquarters at Prospect and East Twenty-second Street, with its adjacent and scattered branches. The Young Women's Christian Association was organized October 20, 1868, and presented with a home in Walnut Street a year later, by Stillman Witt. The next year Joseph Perkins donated a house on Perry Street to be used as a retreat for unfortunate women. Perkins built another home in 1872 on ground donated by Leonard Case, and Amasa Stone, in 1876, built a home for aged women on East Forty-Sixth THE CITY'S LIFE - 1221 Street which was turned over to the Y. W. C. A. for management. Eliza Wallace Jennings added to the group seven and one-half acres of land on Detroit Avenue in 1884, and a home for incurables was dedicated there in 1888. The Association was first organized as the Women's Christian Association, the present title being assumed in 1893 when headquarters were moved to Euclid Avenue from the Penn Block. The present headquarters, at Prospect and East Eighteenth Street were first occupied in 1908. The work of these two institutions, like Hiram House, Goodrich House, Alta House and others, was described thus by Flora Stone Mather when she handed a deed to the trustees of Goodrich House : "to provide for the social, spiritual and material betterment of the neighborhood." Their long list of services and equipment includes gymnasium and public baths, kindergarten, industrial clubs and classes, manual training, social and educational classes for adults, musical training, public laundry, library and playground. Fresh air camps, employment bureaus and clubs of many varieties are among their activities. The scope of their usefulness is so broad that it cannot be readily defined, as was shown in the performances of the Y. M. C. A. in the World war, when it covered the camps and prisons of all the warring nations, impartially with recreation and health facilities. Churches, social settlements, missions, welfare societies —the line which marks the limits of their various provinces is very thin and dim. Churches have their bread lines in distressful times, while sermons are preached in social settlement houses. Women volunteers are busy in a Lakewood church, making clothes out of donated material for any who are in need, and no questions are asked about creeds when the needy apply. There can be no difference of opinion concerning the spread of applied religion, although there was plenty of room for argument as to its efficiency before the birth of this momentous twentieth century of ours. In 1900 we have noted some three hundred religious and charitable associations, increased to nine hundred and twenty-six in 1932. The churches worship under about one 1222 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS hundred and thirty varying creeds. Jealousies and intolerance among creeds and charities groups are present today as in 1900 but less bitter, and with one exception, the Community Fund. THE COMMUNITY FUND Now, for a period of eight days in each year, in the month of November, creeds and sects are forgotten, while the unified citizenry of Cleveland present a common GOOD, regardless of what name or character they may attribute to that Deity during the other three hundred and fifty-seven days. No civic respectable approaches the Cleveland Community Fund in sheer power of uplift, of inspiration and encouragement. In the beginning, in 1900, the Chamber of Commerce created a Committee on Benevolent Associations to regulate charitable solicitations of funds. Increased demands of a growing population, which was then 381,768, had multiplied the welfare societies and produced duplication of effort. A very complete description of the city's early philanthropies is presented in Samuel Orth's "History of Cleveland" which shows the evolution of the movement culminating in the formation of the Associated Charities in May, 1900. This was a private charity, and one of many such, but it was the nearest approach to the community effort realized by the Community Fund. The chief complaint heard against the Associated Charities and kindred organizations was lack of efficiency, the fault which has led to combinations in financial and commercial institutions. In many instances the costs of raising funds and of operation consumed nearly all of the money subscribed. In other cases there were outright abuses, by some agencies, of public confidence. The chief objective of the Chamber of Commerce Committee on Benevolent Associations was to regulate solicitations, which it did, to a degree, by making investigation of the various organizations and issuing cards to those deemed worthy of support. This eliminated many of the careless and incapable associations. It led, also, in 1913, to the formation of the Cleveland THE CITY'S LIFE - 1223 Federation for Charity and Philanthropy, a grouping of fifty-five welfare agencies. The Federation solicited contributions and distributed them to member agencies, although these were permitted to raise additional funds to balance needs as approved annually by the federation. The Welfare Federation of Cleveland was organized as a successor in 1917, further to obtain cooperative action, central planning, co-ordination and budgetary procedure. It remained for the World war, however, to reveal, through its local emergencies, the way to a solution of the charities problem, in so far as organization is concerned. The Cleveland War Council, the Mayor's Committee which organization was in charge of all civic war activities, conducted the first united campaign for contributions on behalf of war needs in June, 1918. Operating needs of local welfare agencies were included as war needs. This first campaign set out for a quota of $6,000,000, and realized $10,150,000. In 1919, after war ceased, the Cleveland Community Fund was formed to succeed the War Council as the central financing body for the annual maintenance needs of the Welfare Federation of Cleveland, Federation of Jewish Charities (later the Jewish Welfare Federation) and certain welfare needs not local, such as Red Cross. The Fund now includes in its budget all leading Catholic, Protestant and Jewish philanthropic agencies and non-sectarian institutions, while the members of all creeds and races in Greater Cleveland, numbering 1,200,000 recognize its claims for their annual contributions. A statement of the Fund's methods is furnished by Kenneth Sturges, General Manager in 1932 : "The Community Fund is governed by a Council of forty members, including representatives of the Welfare and Jewish Federations, the Chamber of Commerce, City Administration, and contributing public. The Council controls all appropriations from the fund's treasury. Regular meetings are held bi-monthly, with provision for special meetings when needed. "The goal of each annual campaign is the sum of the 1224 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS amounts budgeted by the Fund Council to each member welfare agency for the ensuing calendar year. However, budget estimates published at campaign time do not commit the Fund to make corresponding appropriations, as it reserves the right to change the allowances in accordance with changing needs and conditions. In practice, the budget estimates are generally closely followed in making appropriations. "The Community Fund's annual eight-day campaign is the local event of first importance at the time, and is so treated by the three leading newspapers. The volunteer campaign organization includes thousands of persons in every walk of life, the city's most prominent citizens participating actively year after year. "The campaign organization comprises four divisions soliciting pledges, and the publicity division, with numerous subordinate units. Each soliciting division has its appro-priate field of prospective contributors as follows : Division A—Large individual and corporate donors and, in general, persons contributing $25 or more. This division has about 550 solicitors, many being. local financial or industrial leaders. Industrial Division solicits wage-earning and small-salaried employees of all local places of employment usually employing twenty-five or more persons. An employee committee in each such company makes the canvass for pledges. Metropolitan Division is organized in over twenty-five neighborhood units for local solicitation of residents or occupants of business places not reached by either Division A or Industrial Division. The average Metropolitan contribution is $11.10. The division normally enrolls about 3,600 solicitors, each being assigned a definite area and carded prospects for solicitation. Schools Division obtains Fund contributions from school children, teachers, and other enrolled employees of all local public, parochial, and private schools. "Throughout the year following each campaign the Community Fund provides for the billing and collection of peri- THE CITY'S LIFE - 1225 odic pledge installments; conducts a continuous program of publicity, with occasional projects featuring specific welfare topics; maintains a service for inquiries and complaints relative to social agencies, examines and takes action upon applications for appropriations; studies the improvement of cam-paign methods; develops new sources of giving, in connec-tion with search for new prospects and revision of files; and makes preparation for the next annual campaign. "In fourteen campaigns, 1919 to 1930 inclusive, the Community Fund raised a total of $62,000,000, representing 5,500,000 gifts. The Community Fund's more than one hun-dred local member organizations include seventeen hospitals, twenty children's homes and child-caring agencies, nine homes for aged, ten social settlements, three agencies for the handicapped. The Associated Charities and Jewish Social Service Bureau, Fund member agencies in the family relief field, are carrying a high percentage of the local unemployment relief burden, tax funds for relief purposes being granted them by public officials to supplement contribution resources. "Total 1932 operating income of Community Fund local member agencies is about $14,000,000, of which the Community Fund expects to supply about $5,200,000, the balance comprising agencies' direct income from endowments and earnings (fees from hospital patients, room rentals, etc.). "The Cleveland Community Fund is the largest of its kind in the world and was among the first to be organized, following the success of wartime victory chests in many cities during 1918." The campaign of 1932 proved to be the severest test the Fund has undergone, with needs at their highest and re-sources at their lowest. The results may be considered as representing the greatest triumph of all. The following brief table summarizes the figures for the last three years :