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Method of Dispensing Relief. -- It is the practice of the committee to give assistance, wherever practicable, in the form of a weekly allowance for a given number of weeks, according to the necessities of the case, the sum allowed being deposited in a saving's bank, as a check upon imprudence, loss, or theft. In addition to this systematic relief, the secretary is empowered to grant discretionary aid in cases of immediate necessity where the routine of system would be too slow in relieving suffering. An agent is employed to whom application is made and who is in attendance at his office, No. 56 Merchants' Exchange, every day.

Title of Claimants. -- There is no exact rule laid down as to the class of persons entitled to relief from this fund, other than that indicated in the purpose of the fund as stated at the organization of the committee of one hundred. But Mr. Greene, the agent, being also agent of another fund (the Boston Soldiers' Fund), (6) and administering both trusts in the same office, is in the habit of observing a general distinction, by which this fund is distributed chiefly to the widows of soldiers killed, or who have died in service, and their families; and to wounded and disabled soldiers who have been discharged from service.

Results. -- The results of the management of this fund from its establishment to July 1, 1863, I have set forth in the accompanying tables, so far as I could obtain them from the various statements and reports of the secretary and the treasurer. I have recorded whatever facts I could glean, without reference altogether to their bearing upon this special investigation which I have undertaken, but with reference, also, to any other questions which may arise upon kindred topics, being convinced that the most insignificant statistics may assist in obtaining valuable inferences.

There are two or three points in this account of the Massachusetts Soldiers' Fund to which I would ask attention:

1. Disproportion of Claims made upon the Fund to the number of the Class embraced in its provisions. -- In reference to the number of cases relieved at the end of the first quarter, only one case had received assistance -- that of a soldier wounded in Baltimore on the 19th April. The relief afforded consisted in starting him in the way of selling newspapers. Few applied in the next quarter, and no doubt this was owing in part to the expressed intention of the committee to hold the fund somewhat as a reserve fund. But it was not intended to refuse the class embraced in its provisions, and the managers of the fund took pains to have this fact publicly known, and yet, at the close of the first year only eighty-six had made application, notwithstanding, as the secretary adds in his report, "great efforts were made to increase the knowledge of the society." Again, at the close of the fifth quarter, the secretary reports: "We have assisted every one who furnished evidence of a case within the rules prescribed by the founders of the fund; and though during the last three months the number of such persons is nearly as large as in the whole of the previous year, the applications for relief have been singularly limited. As I said on a former occasion (he adds), we have taken unwearied pains to acquaint those who dispense the various public and private charities of the Commonwealth, of the existence and objects of this organization." At the close of the sixth quarter, he notes that "the number of applicants is constantly increasing as the existence and objects of the fund become known." He complains, again, at the close of the seventh quarter, of the scarcity of applicants, and in the report just made for the quarter ending July 1, 1863, he remarks, "applications for aid actually diminish, though casualties of war are constantly increasing."

Decrease in number of applications and in average amount of relief required. -- These statements of the secretary are borne out by a reference to the facts which I have set down in the abstract. It will be observed, too, that the average relief afforded to individuals declines in three successive quarters from $30 04 to $18 90, and then to $15 20. This can hardly be explained on the ground of difference in seasons, since the first three months of the year bring, I suppose, as much suffering as the last three months, and yet there is a difference in the average of relief of $11 14 to the individual, in favor of the former quarter. Mr. Sabine, the secretary, draws the inference from the disproportion of the calls upon the fund to the present number of sick and wounded soldiers, and to the number of soldiers' widows in destitute circumstances, that relief from other sources continues to be in a good measure at least commensurate with pecuniary needs. But however we may account for it, the fact remains that a society having at their disposal a large fund, not extremely limited in its provisions, nor resting under any bad repute, are not able, though taking great pains to inform the public mind, to find enough claimants for their bounty, while the number of recipients constantly diminishes, as well as the average amount of relief required by each. But I shall return to this subject hereafter in connexion with other societies.