THE NEED OF RESCUE WORK
“Washington is a dreadful place for a man out of work. The city having no manufactories, and all rough work, such as excavating, is let by contract to men who prefer Italians or Negroes as diggers, while stores and offices have room for only the efficient young person, so that, when from age, inefficiency or lack of political influence, people are dropped from the government service, we are often at our wit's end to provide means of subsistence for these worthy persons most anxious to labor. We have some old men whose working days are over. These are for the most part good men, for the wicked do not live out half their days. A few immigrants from northern Europe, sick men who are able to walk about, but could not work if they had it; the shoestring man, the umbrella man, the sandwich man, the men who are half insane for lack of food and enforced lack of sleep, for they have no place to sleep oftener than once a week. Then we have the criminal classes, which must be touched with the Spirit of God, or they will become the dynamite which will destroy our cities, also the men just out of prison. These are the special thought of the Mission, for unless they are made to feel that they are but temporarily sidetracked from the great highway of success, they will become an ever-increasing menace to society.
“Above all, we have the drunkard, who has lost his grip, lost family, lost place in society, lost business and has become a mass of putrid flesh, utterly abhorrent to his fellow-men. When we look at these people, whose weary eyes have looked long into unspeakable sorrow, our very souls rejoice that we have proven beyond possibility of doubt that 'the blood of Jesus Christ, His son, cleanses from all sin; that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,' for we have seen some of every class mentioned redeemed, placed back in society, among the producing power of the nation.”