Gentlemen: I herewith submit for your information and for
any suggestions that you may have, my report as Superintendent of Public
Welfare for Alamance county from July 1st, 1919, to January 5th,
1920.
Permit me to say that on account of the very nature of the
work, much of it cannot be reported.
I have gone into the homes of sickness and sorrow and death;
into the homes of want and poverty; into the homes of white and black; into the
jail and the County Home; into the school house and the church; into the
teachers’ meetings and the Ministerial Association; into the State and County
Council Meet, and into the Interchurch World Movement of North America with
messages about the work of the County Superintendent of Public Welfare and with
helpfulness to those in need.
I attended the State and County Council Meet at Chapel Hill,
Sept. 15th-17th at my own expense. I attended the
Inter-church World Movement of North Carolina, N.C., Dec. 15th-16th
at my own expense except for railroad fair which was paid by another.
I have investigated seven cases of outside poor—three white
men and two old colored men and their wives. I recommended an increase of $1.50
per month to one of the old colored men and his paralytic wife, making a total
of $3 per month, which was allowed by the Board of County Commissioners. The
other old colored man and his wife, I recommended to the Board that they be put
upon the list of outside poor which was done and the Board allowed them $3 per
month.
We arranged to take off the list of outside poor the white
man and have him now out in the country, cared for without cost to the county.
He is a tubercular patient and we have an application in for his admission to
the State Tubercular Sanatorium. He is much improved and I am hoping to get him
some light out-door work.
Arrangements were made and his son of about 12 years was
taken to an orphanage; but the father heart wanted his boy near and so he did
not consent for him to remain. We still hope to place the boy in an orphanage
as soon as we can get the father in the Sanatorium.
The other disabled white man has been rendered assistance
without calling upon the county.
The other white person, a lad of about 17 years, an
epileptic, a serious case, I recommended that an allowance be made the family
to help them care for their afflicted son. The Board ordered an allowance of $5
per month for a short time. I wrote asking admission of this case to the
Epileptic Colony at Raleigh, N.C., but was informed that there was no room.
I visited and investigated another serious case of epilepsy
and endeavored to get the young man into the Raleigh Colony, but was informed
that there was no room and that there was a large waiting list Application is
on file for his admission.
We have handled eight cases of delinquent, neglected, or
dependent children and 62 ½ per cent have been disposed of satisfactorily or
have made gratifying progress.
We have had two other cases under advisement—one white and
one colored. The white boy ran away and the federal authorities took charge of
the colored boy. We have three cases now under consideration and they present
some difficult problems to be worked out.
We have tried to get one of these three into the Stonewall
Jackson Manual and Training School, but was informed that there was no room at
present, and the Superintendent, Mr. Boyer, says they are swamped with
applications.
We have ministered to three families who were in need. Two
during sickness and one on account of actions of parents who left their
children unprovided for at the time. This help was rendered through the Red
Cross of Burlington and the Red Cross of Graham and a Thanksgiving offering
from Burlington Graded Schools and Associated Board of Charities of Burlington
and friends.
In one of these cases the father died and nearly all the
family were sick. For this family a local purse was provided for a while and
then a trained nurse was secured for a time. Thanks are due the physicians for
their watchful and careful attention and the community for their ministering
helpfulness to the afflicted family.
This work was done without call or aid from the county.
For this work I have received from:
The Burlington Red Cross: $85.50
The Graham Red Cross: $35.50
Burlington Graded Schools: 48.22
A Friend: $1.00
Total: $115.22
Of above amt. I have paid out: $87.19
Which leaves a balance of $38.09
Which is in bank to the credit of Supt. of Public Welfare.
The other contributions made those helped came from friends
and associated Board of Charities and were made direct, and so I have no record
of the amounts contributed except in the case of one family helped which was
estimated at $150 to $175.
The names of 25 children to whom it was thought Santa Claus
might not come on Christmas Eve was given to a gentleman who met me one night
on the streets of Burlington and asked if I knew of any such in my work. He
remembered them with Christmas gifts.
I have visited the County Home four times; inspected and
reported as per score card on file; inquired into the matter of food and its
preparation; saw it in preparation and when ready to serve and reported to the
Board of Charities and Public Welfare.
I have endeavored to arrange work for the son of an
afflicted widow and inquired into the treatment and condition of a young
motherless girl whose treatment and surroundings were said not to be good.
We have helped an old man who is poor and partly disabled to
find food and shelter for his wayward daughter.
I wrote to eight families and saw one about getting their
deaf children in the Institution for the Deaf.
I wrote to three families and saw one that the 1918 census
showed as having blind children.
Total number of children that are deaf, dumb, blind or
partially so, is 16. The records are imperfect and correct information is
difficult to get.
We hope to make this part of the work a hundred per cent at
an early date.
I reported to Commissioner Beasly on county prisoners Oct.7th,
1919, as follows:
Number of prisoners in the county Oct. 1st, 1919:
--On the chain gang, white, none; colored, 3; total, 3.
--In jail, white, none; colored, 3; total, 3.
I have visited a home in which there was a returned soldier
said to be shell-shocked and mentally unbalanced. I endeavored to get him in
the United States Institution for such. The matter is now in the hands of Dist.
Supervisor for North Carolina Surgeon Geo. S. Pitcher.
I have visited the jail seven times in the interest of
parties imprisoned.
Oct. 11th, I attended teachers’ meeting, white,
and spoke about compulsory school attendance. On Oct. 25th, I
conducted teachers’ meeting, colored, and spoke about compulsory school
attendance.
I have visited eight schools in the interest of compulsory
school attendance and called to see seven families or individuals and written
quite a number of letters.
Four parties have appeared before the Juvenile Judge and
petitioned the Court regarding their inability to comply with the compulsory
school law requiring them to send or keep their children between the ages of 8
and 14 in school. They made affidavit and the Court recommended what it judged
to be a just and lawful allowance to keep their children in school.
I have looked up a number of age records for Federal
authorities. I have inspected two schools to make report on Community Interest.
I have inspected three cotton mills, four hosiery mills and one coffin company
and made report.
I have attended the Ministerial Association of Burlington in
the interest of Public Welfare work. In company with another minister and a
number of ladies we went before the commissioners asking as far as in their
power lay they prohibit carnivals and all such performances in Alamance county.
The petition was granted.
We plan to erect a Chapel by private subscription at the
County Home for religious services.
We are planning to organize a County Ministerial
Association. A tentative organization has already been effected.
We plan to take up at an early date a Public Health Service
Campaign for High School boys approximately between the ages of 14 and 19 by
means of addresses and an exhibit entitled “Keeping Fit,” prepared and put out
by the “United States Public Health Service.”
In closing, I wish to thank the Board of Charities and
Public Welfare, Col. Eugene Holt, Mr. J. Harvey White and Miss Eula Dixon for
their hearty support.
I wish in grateful acknowledgement to express my thanks to
the Piedmont Trust Co.; the Alamance Bank & Trust Co.; the First National
Bank of Burlington; the Alamance Insurance & Real Estate Co.; the Standard
Realty & Security Co.; the Central Loan & Trust Co.; the First Savings
Bank of Burlington, and to the individuals thereof who made the Public Welfare
Dinner, given Oct. 3rd, 1919, possible, and financed the same; and
all others who have in any way aided in the Public Welfare work.
We thank Col. Eugene Holt for a phonograph for the County
Home; and to Miss Nell G. Furguson, Welfare Worker for Travora Manufacturing
Co., we express our appreciation for help rendered in the Welfare work.
The work is a great and good work—but very difficult—and I
earnestly entreat the hearty cooperation of everyone interested in the uplift
of humanity, for we cannot tell the good done nor estimate that which may be
done.
Respectfully submitted, this the 5th day of
January, 1920.
P.H. Fleming
County Superintendent,
Public Welfare, Alamance County, N.C.
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