Official proceedings of the annual meeting: 1929

498

CHARLES C. STILLMAN

All this concerned a city of less than I50,000 population.
Thus, the social work.melange in the larger American cities need
not hide its head in shame when compared with the proverbial
Chinese puzzle. For spice, interest, and excitement, it makes a
Mexican revolution look like an amount of money that represents
the exact sum of twenty cents and ten cents.
Now, suppose a social work prestidigitator could place all the
activities, items of service, and personalities into a dicebox and
throw-what would be the chance of securing a satisfactory combination, or how many times would he have to throw in order to
secure harmony and efficiency in the pattern? As I recall it, the
record of the argument about the Iliad was not enriched with a
statement of the answer thereto. So my analogy, as all analogies
inevitably do, fails at the critical point. One need not pose as a
cynic, however, to drop the passing statement that here and there
is an American city whose social problems appear to have been
solved (God save the mark!) by an unholy alliance of legerdemain and gambling. We need less shuffling and more selection.
Any card player recognizes the existence and influence of
luck. He knows also that fortuity is no match for skill. Social
work activities are not cards to be shuffled and dealt in a game
with Mistress Luck. They are the raw material (very raw, sometimes) for a community building program. And skill is essential.
Two factors may be noted: first, the source of the skill; second, the application of the skill. Stated otherwise, this means the
shaping of programs and their accomplishment, a formula and a
method. Stated in the language of Walter W. Pettit,2....
The worker in addition to understanding how to organize, shall
be efficient also in the field of the service required."
First, about the font of wisdom, the reservoir of ideas. Wisdom may lie in the multitude. "In the multitude of counselors
there is wisdom." That bit of ancient lore has its counterpart in
the proverb: Vox populi, vox dei.
During a period of reorganization of social agencies, a study
being made by a group of representative citizens, the question
a Proceedings National Council of Social Work (1925), p. 682.