CITY'S UNEMPLOYED
TO HAVE NEW HOME.
HELPING HAND INSTITUTE AC-
QUIRES ADKINS HOTEL.
With Aid of Four Story Building
1,000 Men Can Be Cared For --
Plenty of Light, Baths --
Has Disinfecting Room.
NEW QUARTERS AT FOURTH AND WYANDOTTE STREETS.
With the acquisition of the old Adkins hotel at the southeast corner of Fourth and Wyandotte streets, the Helping Hand Institute has solved the problem of taking care of the city's unemployed. Carpenters are now at work overhauling the four-story structure and by the beginning of cold weather it is believed that the building will be ready for occupancy.
With the old building at 408 Main street, where the main offices are located, the Helping Hand institute will be prepared to take care of more than 600 men without the least crowding. In extremely cold weather little difficulty will be experienced in caring for 1,000 men.
PRESENT HOME OF THE INSTITUTE.
But the new building will have many features not possessed by the old quarters on Main street. Plenty of light, the best of ventilation, high ceilings, a laundry, shower baths and disinfecting room will make it very little inferior to the municipal lodging house in New York city. On the north side of the building are forty-one windows which makes the light and ventilation problem easy.
INSTALLING SHOWER BATHS.
But the main feature is the shower baths and disinfecting room. On the lower floor the plumbers are at work installing baths that will accommodate twenty-five men at one time. No one will be allowed to go to bed without first taking a bath and allowing his clothes to be placed in the disinfecting room, where they will remain over night. The laundry in the basement will keep the linen clean and eventually save the institution hundreds of dollars. Particular care will be exercised in guarding against tuberculosis. Before the year is over it is hoped that a physician will examine every man who applies for a bed.
Without doubt Kansas City will have as good a system for taking care of her unemployed as any municipality in the country. It is true that many of the large cities in the East, particularly New York and Philadelphia, have larger municipal lodging houses but they suffer disadvantages. In most cities bread lines are formed and the man without employment does not feel obliged to work for a night's lodging. In Kansas City, however, the city and county have made the Helping Hand an official charity institution.
WORK IS PROVIDED.
Men are not allowed to sleep in saloons or in other public places where the conditions are not sanitary. There is no other avenue for the unemployed man but to go to the Helping Hand institute, where he is given a chance to work for his meals and lodging. The mere fact that he must work keeps the professional "moocher" from making his headquarters in Kansas City.
The credit for the acquisition of the Adkins building belongs mainly to William Volker, one of the directors of the institute. Mr. Volker clearly recognized the need of more room for the institute, and believing that the employment system is the best, he used his influence in getting the building. E. T. Brigham, superintendent of the Helping Hand, is directing the work.
