Official proceedings of the annual meeting: 1923

UNIFIED PROGRAM OF SOCIAL WORK-BOOKMAN

5I7

The task of creating public opinion on a subject about which there has been at
least a vague feeling and no definitely formed opinion does not present as many difficulties as when a public opinion has already been formed and a changed public opinion
is desired. If facts and opinions do go counter to opinions already formed, especially
opinions that have been held for some time and have become a settled part of the individual's thinking, in other words, if public opinion must be changed, it can be changed
only through a very gradual accumulation of intelligent conceptions on the part of
individuals, with those desiring a changed public opinion willing to furnish facts and to
wait while evolution slowly works out the transformation desired.
Social work as a community force has not impressed itself upon the general public.
There has been recognition on the part of the public that certain charitable work must
be done. However, a Lady Bountiful point of view, with sentimental impulses largely
holding sway, has prevailed. Sentiment of course should never be divorced from social
work, it is probably still its mainspring. Yet, as social workers, we should recognize
the fact that sentiment alone cannot maintain public opinion. It must have something
more tangible to build on. There is nothing so tangible as results and, as the newer
policy in social work has been followed long enough to show the first gratifying results
ours is the duty to keep these results steadily before the people so that the wisdom of
this policy may appeal to their common sense and develop a favorable public opinion.
The policy is actually preventing, and this is clearing the way for construction. We
now have facts and figures and instances to prove the efficacy of prevention, and we
must make use of them in forming a public opinion which will enable us to enter more
effectively upon the still newer policy of construction.
The interested part of society has been separated into different camps on the question of social work. Social work has been a medium through which the rich and strong
gave of their abundance to the poor and weak. The rich who gave rarely did so as an
obligation; the poor who received, I doubt very much, were genuinely appreciative of
what had been given; the great middle class stood by, scarcely interested at all. At
the same time the sympathy of the poor for the poor has always been shown naturally
and spontaneously by the sacrifices they make for their fellows in distress; indeed, the
humanity of the poor has ever been an example for the fortunate. It is the middle class
that largely determines public opinion, and the benefactions of the rich and the example
of the poor have steadily been contributing to its education. The church unconsciously
accepted these groupings of individuals in charitable work and itself became an intermediary. As life became more complex, necessity coupled with intelligent direction
brought into being many separate and distinct agencies organized to handle this or
that sector of the social service field. The separate agencies furnished to the public
facts about social maladjustments. However, they made little impression upon the
average citizen, and cannot be said to have created a public opinion either favorable or
unfavorable to social work. In truth, as they have grown in number and have maintained a senseless but probably necessary competition for the funds with which to do
their work, a limited contributing public has begun to assume a questioning attitude
not at all favorable to their work, while the recipients of sentimental benevolence take
all they can get.
Another element that has very definitely added to the confusion has been the
activities of organizations and individuals that have militantly attacked deep-rooted
traditions in American life, organizations attempting to regulate human behavior to