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HELPERS OF BLIND NEED MORE MONEY

Report of New York Association Shows Great Work Done in Six Years.

FIGHTING AFFLICTION ITSELF

In Addition to Making Unfortunates Self-Supporting a Campaign of Prevention Is Carried On.

The sixth annual report of the New York Association for the Blind, which has just been made public, tells an interesting story of the growth of that organization in the few years of its existence and gives a good idea of what has been accomplished under its supervision for the welfare and education of the blind. With the completion of the new lighthouse, which is in course of construction, it is hoped to broaden the scope of the work. The building is at 111 East Fifty-ninth Street, almost opposite the present quarters of the association.

The ambitious work of the association has resulted in greatly increased expenses, and to the urgent need of immediate aid from the public. Winifred Holt, the Secretary, calls attention in her report, in which she says,

"The association is now half a dozen years old. Starting with a list of 1,000 names, the largest that which we could secure of the supposedly blind, with a deficit of $400 for capital, for its home, rooms in a private house, it has worked incessantly to profit by its great opportunity for service. We have listed now over 10,000 names, and our deficit has risen from hundreds to thousands.

But our assets are the work which we have accomplished, the new works and associations which we have founded or inspired by our example, and the admirable plants for which and in which our tasks are to be carried on.

"These are the Emma L. Hardy Memorial Home, known as the River Lighthouse at Cornwall: the Bourne Model Factory for Men on East Thirty-fifth Street, and the Model Settlement House and headquarters, our new lighthouse, which will be opened soon on East Fifty-ninth Street, opposite our old lighthouse.

All Sorts of Donations Needed.

"As our work is great, our needs are in proportion, and our poverty is merely a proof of our activity and the hunger with which the blind seek our help. Our work is proved, and surely now the public who can see its results should supply us with the means to let our staff of devoted men and women carry it on to greater issues.

"Sixty thousand dollars is necessary to complete the building. $40,000 to pay for the mortgages on our new lighthouse and as much as we can get annually for running expenses to push and develop the work to its best. All contributions are welcome, from your old clothes to your second-hand furniture, from a ten-cent piece to a million-dollar check. What we are able to do depends on what you give us."

Of the 10,000 blind persons who have been listed the association has succeeded in coming in contact with about 7,000, and the report gives a clear idea of what the association has done to make the lives of these happier and fit them to make their way in the world. Men and women have been trained in many trades and some have become independent as a result of this instruction.

Men in the model workhouse provided for them by the association were paid wages aggregating more than $12,000 last year. Fifty-nine men were employed in the workshop, and the proceeds received from their work by the association totaled $22,264.40. The largest item was for the manufacture of brooms, the output of the workshop for 1912 having been 52,819.

The association is also waging a campaign for the prevention of blindness, holding that perhaps one-half of the blindness could be prevented, and in the report it is stated that many students of the question feel it is not too optimistic to say that the problem of blindness is one which is diminishing steadily with time.

The opening of the Bourne workshop is referred to in the report as one of the most important steps taken by the association in its work. Of it the report says:

"This is now in full running order, and friends of the association are invited to inspect it. We make brooms and cane chairs, and are beginning to do basket work and mopmaking. But the work is only begun. The Bourne workshop is to be used as a laboratory to test our activities for blind men, so that in time only those who are defective otherwise than through blindness will need to be dependent. This may seem looking far ahead, but Miss Bourne's noble benefaction inspires high ideals, and unless we set our standards high we are not faithful stewards."

Splendid Results Among Women.

The report of the women's work is as intensely interesting. A paragraph of the report gives some idea of what is being accomplished. It reads:

"The weaving class of the lighthouse and the work in basketry have developed, and we feel confident that the things that are made by the blind can stand competition, and usually surpass in excellence similar articles made by the seeing. Draperies with as many as six different colors, woven in patterns, have been successfully turned out by the Lighthouse weavers."

Basketry, pottery, knitting, crocheting, cooking, and a dozen other occupations are taught successfully.

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Much space in the report is devoted to the work among blind children. There are included also testimonials from many prominent men and women, including President Taft.

"May the good and generous people of New York who are appealed to to support so many good causes add to their list of contributions substantial sums for the carrying forward of this great work, not of mere charity to the helpless, but of aid to the self-help of those who have the heavy burden of blindness to carry," wrote President Taft.

Joseph H. Choate was another who sent his testimonial.

"What has been done already is deserving of the support of the community ten times over for the promotion of its future usefulness," he said. "I hope the means will be placed in the hands of the association to continue its great work, and that the workers will soon have a building over their heads worthy of the great cause they represent."

Ellwood Hendrick, Chairman of the Executive Committee, in his report has this to say of the year's work:

"The past year has been one of remarkable progress. We have not only enlarged our work in a number of ways, but we have undertaken responsibilities for the future that demand even more of us. The nature of our work is general. We cannot select the blind that come to us: we must take all that come along and do our best to teach them to work. That is the great purpose of the association -- to teach the blind to work.

"It is the earnest desire of this association to work in harmony with all agencies, whether Governmental or private, that have to do with the improving of the condition of the blind."

The report includes reviews of all branches of the work and the financial statement of the association. Dr. John H. Finley, President of the College of the City of New York, is President, and the Vice Presidents are Miss Helen Keller and Dr. F. Park Lewis. The Treasurer is Thomas B. Clarke. A Finance Committee has been organized, with Joseph S. Auerbach as Chairman. The present offices and salesrooms of the association are at 118 East Fifty-ninth Street.