"
Of all forms of indiscriminate almsgiving, that is the most offensive
and most worthless, and they knew it, or they would not have sent
me a wheedling invitation to come and inspect their "relief work,"
offering to have a carriage take me around. I sent word back that
I should certainly look into the soup, but that I should go on foot
to it. Roosevelt and I made the inspection together. We questioned
the tramps in line, and learned from their own lips that they had
come from out of town to take it easy in a city where a man did
not have to work to live. We followed the pails that were carried
away from the "relief station" by children, their contents sometimes
to figure afterwards as "free lunch" in the saloon where they had
been exchanged for beer; and, knowing the facts, we denounced the
thing as a nuisance. The paper printed testimonials from Commissioners
Parker and Grant, who certified from Mulberry Street, which they
had not left, that the soup was a noble Christian charity, and so
thought it evened things up, I suppose. I noticed, however, that
the soup ran out soon after, and I hope we have seen the last of
it.
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