wean him away from it. Only a legitimate occupation offering the equivalent in chance and adventure will serve the purpose. Many street trades do offer an approach to this equivalent. A news-stand where the crowds are surging past may prove the means of restoring the mendicant to productive life. In the cases where age or extreme physical handicaps render self-supporting employment impossible, the mendicant must be committed to an alms-v house. Severe measures, if necessary, are justified to break up the wasteful and fraudulent practice of street begging.

The "I won't work," at least among the lower strata of society, is largely a popular superstition. I have seen very few men, not classed as mendicants, vagrant psychopaths or mental defectives, who would not work under conditions which they considered to be just. Not long ago it was generally believed that some men and women preferred unemployment, homelessness and hunger to honest labor. This opinion seems to have been definitely abandoned by thinking people. In January, 1915, 2,500 homeless de pendents were sheltered in the Municipal Lodging House of New York each night. This population was reduced within eighteen months to little more than 100 per night. The same relative reduction occurred in similar institutions throughout the country. It is very evident that the great majority of the alleged "I won't works" of three years ago secured work and are still employed. Yet this rule, like all others, is occasionally proved by its exceptions. It is sometimes found necessary to refuse the privileges of the Municipal Lodging House to men and women who will not avail themselves of honest opportunities for employment.

The charity rounder, the last of the parasitic types which I have particularized, is usually a rounder because he has never learned to do anything effectively. He follows the easiest way. When placed at some simple task within his experience and intelligence, he may serve faithfully and well over considerable periods of time. Definite training for simple tasks, followed up by careful supervision when employment is obtained, may definitely remove him from the parasitic class.

The methods of case treatment described above are crude and undeveloped. We have hardly gone further than attempts to define our problem. Among the human gains that may come from the world war, will be new and better methods for the treatment

of the homeless. For still greater gains may we hope: that out of the slaughter may come a new estimate of the value of human life; that homelessness as a condition demanded of workers in return for existence may be banished; that the right to normal living may become imbedded in the social conscience of our people.

ALCOHOL AND SOCIAL CASE WORK

BY MARY P. WHEELER,

Secretary, Clinton District, New York Charity Organization Society.

Like all other problems in social case work, the problem of the excessive use of alcohol is seldom if ever found alone. It is almost invariably bound up with other complications. Granted that either the father or the mother of a family uses alcohol, there is inevitably connected with that fact a chain of events which often brings social, physical and mental problems with them. We are frequently so engrossed with the fact that our clients use alcohol to excess that we forget to see the other problems involved; or we may see the other problems first and come to the fact of alcoholism after much time has been spent planning for the family's welfare along other lines. In our investigation in all cases we should be building up a group of facts both physical and social which when put together should forewarn of a possible hidden drink problem.

The combinations of problems in which drink is a factor which seem to occur most often are drink and immorality, drink and a mental defect or mental weakness, and drink and a physical defect. The following example illustrates the first combination:

Through failure to provide for his wife and child, Mr. D. who was obviously a drinking man, had lost a good home. The family was found living in a miserably furnished room. The investigation confirmed the story of degradation through drink. There was a painstaking period of treatment which included both institutional and home care and also the religious influence of his church. It was learned finally, instead of at the outset, that Mrs. D. was also a drinker, a secret one, and immoral. As Mr. D. had no confidence in his wife, there could of course be no real incentive for a home. The mixed problem should have been recognized at the beginning.

In the following instance we have an illustration of drink and a mental defect.

Mrs. W. talked freely of her condition and admitted she could not take alcohol without its immediately affecting her. We knew her husband earned good wages, yet we found them living in a basement, having scarcely any furniture. It developed that a sister continually tempted Mrs. W. to drink and the husband himself deliberately brought alcohol into the house. But most important, we found that Mrs. W. was worried because she "heard voices." We then took her to a mental

clinic where she was given medical attention and careful advice. Her interest was aroused in freeing herself. She insisted on staying at home, attending to her house and children. In a frank talk with her husband we made him face the fact that he had been doing a large share in dragging his family down. With everyone working together with equal knowledge of the facts and the goal to be reached, this family won out. Surely, however, this was not a simple case of a drink problem.

In the third case, Mr. X. said he drank because he felt sick all the time. We found the real trouble was tuberculosis, following years of drinking and unsteady habits. The plan of treatment was not made primarily for the man who drank. It was for the man with a communicable disease. It is indeed imperative that treatment begin with a correct diagnosis.

If it is true that the problem of alcohol is seldom if ever unattended by other complications, it follows that one can never generalize regarding the users of alcohol. The principle of individualization of treatment applies in this field as in every other field of social case work. Our plan of treatment is further complicated by the fact that the user of alcohol is often a member of a family group which must also be taken into account. Too much stress therefore cannot be laid on the importance of studying the client, of getting to know his background socially and physically. Although much may be learned from our client himself, it is often preferable to gain much information before any decisive interview with him takes place, in order that the worker may be more free at that time to begin treatment. Such information should include knowledge of whether this is his first breakdown or whether he has made and forgotten good promises before. The age of our client is another important factor. If he is young, he has no doubt taken to drinking for social reasons, or to try to prove how manly he is. If he is middle-aged, it may be the result of a social habit formed in his youth. If he is older, he may be trying to forget that he is past his best working period or he may be trying to keep himself stimulated to compete with younger men. If our client is a woman, this should be gone into even more carefully and special attention should be paid to her nervous organization.

While in most case work it is considered best to interview our client in his or her own home, in case work with the man or woman who drinks, it is usually wiser to plan for an office interview. The elements necessary to make an interview successful are privacy,

lack of interruptions, feeling of freedom, candor, openness and plenty of time. In the office the worker can better control the situation to include these desired elements and can also bring the interview to a close at the psychological moment. The atmosphere there is more conducive to coming to conclusions. The drinker, if he is a man, must feel the thrill in carrying out an agreement made in a business-like manner. His pride is aroused. He feels in a very real sense that he is chiefly responsible. Such a sense of responsibility, strengthened by simple encouragement from someone in whom the client has confidence, is one of the most potent factors in success.

A vital principle in working with individuals who drink, as in other forms of case work, is to work with the individuals in question, allowing them every opportunity to express their own opinion as to the difficulties in which we find them and helping them to make their plan for the future. Our treatment should as far as possible be based on their plan, or if we cannot accept their plan, we should make every effort to lead them to our plan so gradually and carefully that it becomes their own. The following will illustrate:

In the past we had been good friends of the G. family. We had not seen them in some time, however, till Mr. G. came in of his own accord to tell us about the days of hard drinking which had preceded his waking up to find his family literally broken up and separated. When asked his plan for the future, he shot back a reply which showed that his experience had really touched him, and that it had vitalized him into making a plan to which he had mentally committed himself. Its chief elements were change of habit, a new routine of life and the objective of a reconstructed home. His wife, broken down from overwork and worry, was in a hospital. His children had been taken by the S. P. C. C. Because he felt that the responsibility was all his, he wanted to start off immediately trying to rectify his errors. His plan was sound in every respect and we cooperated with him to the end of making it possible for him to succeed.

In the case of Mr. B., his plan included the breaking up of his own home, having his wife committed through court for a cure, having the S. P. C. C. take his children in order to bring his wife to a realization of her responsibilities and opportunities and banishing himself and his oldest son to a furnished room life until the family could be reëstablished on a firm foundation. Getting Mr. B. to put into words the long road ahead of him was perhaps the biggest possible help both to himself and to the case worker.

In making our plans for the individual who drinks, we find two possible lines of action, care at home or institutional treatment. Before we decide on either course of action, we want to have our