STREET-CORNER CHARITY

With the arrival of winter, the problem of street-corner begging reappears, owing to the prolongation of the depression. While it is true that many of the applicants are eminently worthy of aid, the willy-nilly giving of dimes by college students offers no substantial solution of the problem of relief and only encourages an already intolerable situation.

In the past, the streets of Cambridge have been comparatively free from those perennial pests of West Street and Atlantic Avenue, the slouched-hat individuals who edge up and ask for a "nickel for a cup of coffee." But within the past few years, the liberality of college men has so encouraged begging on street corners that it has become a veritable racket. Indeed, careful investigation has disclosed that in some cases the men have not only asked out a bare existences, but were so contented with the results of their solicitations that they had no desire to go back to regular work again.

Effective charity in possible only where regular organizations make careful investigations of the individual cases and then dispense aid in such a way as to mitigate suffering yet discourage indolence. Already in Cambridge there are many charitable organizations supported largely by free contributions or by the gifts of such groups as the Harvard Student Council. The student who desires to make any contributions to charity should devote his attention to these associations. If he continues to hand out times to glibbeggars, he will only add to the growing number of social parasites.