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caite of the needy and destitute.
751
4. OTHER SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.
As already intimated in the preface to the chapter "Social Movements",
it has heen deamed advisable to present in one section a number of accounts
of social activity of very diversified types. A general survey of these
movements has been rendered in the foregoing pages, but with regard to
certain of them, a somewhat more detailed description would seem to be
justified. Hence a somewhat full treatment has been accorded below
to certain social movements which intrinsically have no intimate cohesion
with one another.
Care of the Needy and Destitute.
The oldest forms of social work are undoubtedly those that aim at.
relieving want, caring for the sick poor, and taking charge of destitute
children. A description has already been given of public poor relief and
of private charities. By means of the old age and invalidity insurance
scheme recently adopted (see article) and the expected new poor law
legislation, it may presumed that important changes will be made in these
departments.
We have previously touched upon the comprehensive measures which
have been taken on behalf of the blind, deaf-mutes, and others afflicted
with infirmities. An account has also been given of the treatment of idiots
and lunatics, as also of the present magnificent means of combatting
com-sumpiion and disablement. In another department of human suffering,
as has been shown, the fight has been taken up — in the social rescue work
for such as have sunk under vice and misfortune. And finally some
observations have been made on child protection in our own day. We
shall now, in concluding the subject, merely refer to some typical
enterprises for the care of the poor and of children, and thus indicate the
direction of modern endeavours in these respects.
The public care of children is at present managed by several different authorities
— the poor law guardians, the board for the eare of children (the morally neglected
and degenerate) and the board for the care of foster children. This dispersion of
effort has not benefited the work. It has occasioned gaps in the rendering of
aid and lessened the sense of responsibility. It may, therefore, be expected that, in
the legislation now imminent, work and responsibility for the care of children
may devolve on’ one single authority. Meanwhile, local efforts in this direction
have already appeared. For instance, a municipal bureau for the care of
children has been organized at Gothenburg, with the duty of receiving and
investigating cases of all kinds, in order to allot them to the authorities to which
they belong. Before this bureau came into being in 1912, the bureau for the
care of children of the Swedish Poor Law Reform Association, had been at work in
Stockholm for several years. This bureau, which now enjoys municipal support,
aims at procuring co-operation between all the scattered undertakings for the
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