!I
74-24,343
HINRICHS, Donald William, 1942- SOCIAL CONTROL, SKID ROW AND TOE URBAN RESCUE MISSION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY.
The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1974 Sociology, general
University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan
0 Copyright by
Donald William Hinrichs 197^
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. SOCIAL CONTROL, SKID ROW AND THE URBAN
RESCUE MISSION1 AN EMPIRICAL STUDY
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate
School of the Ohio State University
By
Donald William Hinrichs, B.A.,A.M.
The Ohio State University 197^
Approved by Reading Committeet
Christen T. Jonassen
Simon Dinitz
Alfred C. Clarke
Adviser Department or Sociology ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It would be impossible to acknowledge by name all of those who influenced and assisted in this research. There fore, I wish to generally thank each individual who helped or supported this project in any way.
I am particularly grateful to all of those who consented to be interviewed and wish to acknowledge for special thanks the clients of Faith Mission who willingly opened up their lives so that we might better understand them.
Additionally, the contributions of several indi viduals are deserving of special recognition. Foremost,
I wish to thank Christen T. Jonassen who as teacher, adviser and research chairman, provided me a solid base for completing the research and invaluable guidance throughout the preparation of this paper and my entire graduate career. To professors Simon Dinitz and Alfred
C. Clarke I give thanks for continued support and guid ance. No finer teachers than these three have I had the pleasure of working with.
It must be said that none of this research would have been possible without the permission and cooper-
ii ation of Arthur Bayse, Executive Director of Faith
Mission. I am sincerely grateful to him for the many hours he spent answering my questions and coordinating my activities. To all of the officers and directors of
Faith Mission goes my appreciation for their approval and support.
Tc my good frxends Barbara and Jchn Bardc go my warmest and sincerest thanks for putting up with me eating, sleeping and running in and out of their apartment during the period of my research. The fact that we are still good friends after several weeks of two disserta tions being worked on under one roof is sure evidence of the strength of our friendship.
I should also like to thank Bob Maust and his wife
Ruby for their assistance in interviewing and for their hospitality during my numerous excursions to Columbus from Gettysburg while completing this project. Thanks also to Jim Delong for his interviewing assistance and other kind acts that permitted me brief respites from the research schedule.
Lastly, I wish to apologize to my daughter Terri
Patricia and my wife, Martha, for the times we could not spend together because of this project and to thank them for their tolerance, understanding and love. Without these and my wife's "nimble fingers" I seriously doubt I would
iii have completed this project so swiftly and successfully.
I promise to be a better father and husband in the future.
Because of their unselfish sacrifice, I dedicate this paper to Martha and Terri.
iv VITA
February 4, 194-2...... Born - Baltimore, Maryland
1964-...... B. A. , surama cum laude, Western Maryland College, Westminster, Maryland
1966-1968...... Graduate Assistant, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
1968...... M.A. , University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
1968-1971 ...... Instructor in Sociology, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
1971-1972...... Teaching Associate, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
1973-present...... Instructor in Sociology, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Fieldi Sociology
Studies in Urban Sociology, Professor Christen T. Jonassen
Studies in Criminology, Professor Simon Dinitz
Studies in Social Organization, Professor Alfred C. Clarke TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ii
VITA ...... v
LIST OF T A B L E S , , , . , ; . e9e , e,9 , s «e = = = = a . . j.x
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION...... 1
II. METHODOLOGY...... 10
Introduction Collection and Analysis of Data 1. Participant Observation 2. Interviewing of Mission Directors and Analysis of Results 3. Interviewing of Selected Personnel of Local Organizations, Agencies and Businesses and Analysis of Results Interviewing of Clergymen and Others Active in Faith Mission and Data Analysis 5. Interviewing of Individual Church Member "Volunteers” and Analysis of Results 6. Interviewing of Skid Row Individuals and Analysis of Data 7. Secondary Data
III. ORIGINS, NATURE AND PERSISTANCE OF SKID ROW ...... 21
Introduction Problem Skid Row in Columbus, Ohio Conclusions
vi Chapter Page IV. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF SKID ROW MEN ...... 37
Introduction Problem The Clients of Faith Mission 1. A Profile of the Clients Attending Faith Mission, July 26, 1973 2. Shelter Inhabitants, 1972 3. Transients and Residents Characterized 4. Portrait of a Mission Regular 5. Portrait of a Contemporary Hobo Conelusions V. SKID ROW AS A WAY OF L I F E ...... 92
Introduction Problem The Skid Row Subculture Re-evaluated Conelusions
VI. SOCIETAL REACTION TO AND INTERACTION WITH SKID ROW AND ITS INHABITANTS ..... 118
Introduction Problem Perception of the Mission's Clients Conelusions
VII. THE URBAN RESCUE MISSION ...... 150
Introduction Problem Faith Rescue Mission, Columbus, Ohio 1. History of Faith Mission 2. The Purpose of Faith Mission 3. The Churches and Volunteers and the Mission 4. Volunteer Attitudes Toward Faith Mission 5. The Clients and Faith Mission 6. Clergy, Clients and Conversions 7. Faith Mission and the Community; Its Usefulness and Linkages Conelusions vii Chapter Page VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 195 Limitations of the Research Summary and Discussion of Findings Significance to Sociological Theory Significance for Social Policy
APPENDIX A ...... 212
B ...... 214
C ...... 215
D ...... 218
E ...... 219
F ...... 220
G ...... 222
H ...... 224
I ...... 229
J ...... 235 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 249
viii LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Comparison of Columbus, Ohio Census Tracts 21, 34 and 40, Selected Variables, 1970...... 27
2. Offenses Known to the Police, 1972 Selected Census Tracts, Columbus, Ohio ...... 31
3. Public Intoxication, 1972, Selected Census Tracts, Columbus, O h i o ...... *,. 32
4. Clients Attending Faith Mission, July 26, 1973» By Race and S e x ...... 44
5. Clients Attending Faith Mission, July 26, 1973 By Age and Residence Status ...... 4-6
6. Reasons for Attending Faith Mission, July 26, 2973* By Residence Status ..... 4-7
7. Nights Spent at Samaritan Shelter By Last Known Address, 1972 ...... 4-9
8. Computations for Analysis of Variance of Differences in Average Length of Stay at Faith Mission, 1972, By Residence Category ...... 50
9. Number of Occasions of Shelter Use By Resident Categories, 1972 ...... 52
10. Computations for Analysis of Variance of Differences in Average Number of Occasions Spent at Faith Mission, 1972, By Residence C a t e g o r y ...... 53
ix Table Page
11. Number and Percent Distribution of Individuals Sheltered in 1972 Who Were Also Sheltered in 1971 and/or 1973* By Residence Category ...... 55
12. Age Distribution, Men Sheltered at Faith Mission, 1972, By Residence C a t e g o r y ...... 56
13. Computations for Analysis of Variance of Differences in Average Age of Men Sheltered at Faith Mission, 1972, By Residence Category ...... 57
14. Frequency of Attendance, Columbus Residents, By Age ...... 59
15. Frequency of Attendance, Ohio Residents, By Age ...... 59
16. Frequency of Attendance, Non-Ohio Residents, By Age ...... 60
17. Frequency of Attendance, Columbus Residents, By Age ...... 61
18. Frequency of Attendance, Ohio Residents, By Age ...... 61
19. Frequency of Attendance, Non-Ohio Residents, By Age ..... 62
20. Age Composition of Rescue Mission Clients, By Residence, Summer 1973 .... 63
21. Where Mission Clients Were Born and Grew U p ...... 66
22. Father's Occupation ...... 67
23. Profile of Mission Clients as Adolescents, By Residence ...... 69
24. Educational Attainment of Mission Clients, By Residence ...... 72
x Table Page
25. Age at Leaving Home, Mission Clients, By Residence ...... 7^
26. Number of Years Ever-Married Mission Clients Lived With Their Wives ...... 75
27. Marital Status, Mission Clients, By Residence ...... 98
28s Status of Relations With Relatives, Mission Clients, By Residence ...... 99
29. Drinking Classification of Rescue Mission Clients, By Residence, Summer, 1973 ......
30. Arrests for Drinking, Mission Clients, By Residence ...... 108
31. Employment Status of Mission Clients, By Residence, Summer, 1973 ......
32. What Mission Clients Said They Would Do Differently if They Had Their Lives To Live Over Again, By Residence Classification ..... 113
33. Things Mission Clients Wished For, By Residence ...... 11^
3^. Volunteer Workers in Faith Mission Program, By Type of Organization ...... 128
35. Questionnaires Distributed to and Returned by Faith Mission Volunteers, July 1973 ...... 130 36. Age Profile, Volunteers of Faith Mission ...... 132
37. Number of Times Volunteers Report Attending Mission ...... 132
38. Services Most Needed for Mission Clients According to Volunteers ...... 133
xi Table Page
39. Two Most Needed Services for Mission Clients According to Volunteers, By- Church Affiliation...... 134
40. Attitudes of Volunteers Toward Clients of Faith Mission, By Church Affiliation ...... 136
41. Volunteers' Attitudes Toward Mission's Clients as Reflected in Total Score of All Items ...... 141
42. Average Social Distance Expressed by Volunteers Toward Selected Groups of Individuals and Rank Ordering ..... 144
^3. Mean Social Distance Scores for Selected Groups ...... 146
44. Primary Purpose, Faith Mission, By Participating Organizations ...... 161
45. Reasons for Congregational Involvement in Faith Mission ...... I63
46. Clergy's Reasons Why Parishioners Volunteer for Faith Mission Program ,.. 165
47. Circumstances of First Visit to Faith Mission According to Volunteers ...... 167
48. Reasons Given by Volunteers for Going to Faith Mission on the First Visit ..... 168
49. Reasons Given by Volunteers for Regular Participation in the Mission P r o g r a m ...... 169
50. Volunteers Perception of the Adequacy of Services Provided by the Mission ...... 170
51. Attitudes of Volunteers Toward Faith Mission, By Church Affiliation ...... 172
xii Table Page
52. Volunteers' Attitudes Toward Mission as Reflected in Total Score on All I t e m s ...... 17^
53. Reasons Clients Gave for Themselves and Others Going toFaith Mission ..... 175
5^. Attitudes of Mission Clients Toward Faith Mission and Its P r o g r a m ...... 177
55. Use of Altar Calls by Worship Leader, Faith Mission 181
56. Response Rate to Altar Calls Reported by Clergy ...... 181
xiii CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The sociological concern Tor the nature of society has been manifest, in part, in a continuing emphasis on the discovery of the elements that foster or hinder societal integration, cohesion and order. Inherent in this concern is the desire to understand the nature and functioning of social control in societies with varying degrees of complexity and varying value systems. The fact that sociology as a scientific discipline emerged in the industrial era accounts for the focus on the nature of industrial society and the problems that have resulted due to the vast technological change that has taken place. William Faunce (I9681I36) cites the major problems of industrial society as those of alienation in the work setting and the "dilemma posed by the inability to maximize both freedom and control in societies dom inated by formal organizations.” Of special interest, therefore, to many sociologists, have been the "so called" social problems or deviations that result from these problems and evidence lack of societal integration, order and solidarity. Many theories have developed in
the area of deviance to account for the deviations and
to explain the consequences of the behavior for the
individuals involved and the community and society.
This paper will focus on only one such problem - that of
Skid Row and its inhabitants - and a unique institution,
the Rescue Mission, that developed to provide for these individuals and restore them to "normal" society.
Before discussing the problem noted, it is impor tant to elaborate some of the specific concerns of selected sociologists which relate to social control and societal integration. Early sociologists such as
Comte, Spencer and Marx attempted to frame adequate con ceptions of society (Olson, 1970*12). Concerning Comte,
Olson (1970i17-18) writes that he devoted "himself to working out the important transition from social thought as a 'philosophy' to sociology as a 'science* and to inquiring systematically into the nature of modern indus trial civilization."
Emile Durkheim stands foremost as one of the early sociologists concerned with societal order and integra tion. In The Division of Labor in Society Durkheim addresses himself to the relationship between the division of labor in a society and that society's solidarity.
Durkheim (1933«262) recognizes that the division of labor varies by society and proposes that more complex societies develop as their population grows in size. The division of labor, he postulated, varied in direct rela tion with the volume and density of the society. Since, according to Durkheim (1933*64), social solidarity is a "completely moral phenomenon,” he decided to study law as its visible symbol. Durkheim's analysis leads to a postulation of two types of solidarity, mechanical and organic. Organic solidarity is a product of an emerging complex division of labor and is characterized by resti- tutive law which is concerned with the restoration of rights rather than punishment as in a mechanically solidarious situation under repressive law (Timasheff,
1967i112-113). While Durkheim*s initial concern, there fore, is societal organization, disorganization and deviance are recognized. Durkheim (1933*353) writes that "Though normally the division of labor produces social solidarity, it sometimes happens that it has different, and even contrary results." Durkheim (1933*
353-395) identifies three abnormal forms of the division of labor* industrial or commercial failures, class wars, and imperfect integration due to insufficient activity to occupy time and insufficient specialization.
Durkheim recognizes that these abnormal forms of the division of labor work against solidarity. His classic study Suicide, further exemplifies his concern for and recognition of societal disorder. Additionally, in his Rules of the Sociological Method Durkheim (1938*68-69) says that crime and deviance are an integral part of all healthy societies in that the same conditions that produce the deviant and criminal allow for the innovator and genius. The general contribution of Durkheim is summarized by Olson (1970*71)*
The analyses of social order worked out by ... Durkheim point to the discovery by classic sociologists of the duplistic nature of modern, industrial society. The duplicity is to be found in the processes of society that integrate some persons into the society and culture in which they participate (social solidarity) while rejecting others, alienating them from the mainstreams of cultural values and social life (anomie).
Another early sociologist, Max Weber, was also con cerned with societal order and the regularity of human behavior. Weber (1962*59) distinguishes four character istic forms of social conduct* goal-oriented (rational), value related, affectual and traditional. In so doing he recognizes the possibility of behavioral variation, depending on one's frame of reference. One of Weber's most significant contributions relates to his analysis of the role of values in effecting social change and in determining the nature of the society. This is most poignantly elaborated in his book, The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (1958). Weber's discussion of the emergence of a work ethic in western society provides insight into a major integrating value of American society as well as a clue to a major source of conflict and disorder if the value is not attainable for all members of the society or if it becomes differ entially valued by individuals and subcultures within the society. Weber (1962163) further defines the concept of "social relationship" in terms of behavior based on the expected behavior of others and writes that "the social relationship consists entirely of the 'probability* that individuals will behave in some meaningfully deter minable way." Some of the varieties of social relations
Weber (1962185-95) deals with are communalization (af- fectual or traditional orientation), struggle (competi tion), aggregation (rational base) and corporate group
(formal authority structure).
In reading Weber it is clear that deviation from expected behavior patterns is inherent within the structure of contemporary society. His discussions of the variety of forms of social conduct and social relationships, of economic behavior based on self inter est, of the variety of bases of legitimate authority and his sociology of law clearly portray opportunities for conflict and deviation.
American sociologists have been greatly influenced by the concerns and ideas of Durkheim and Weber relative to societal order and disorder. Of particular interest in this regard are the writings of Robert Park and his colleagues and students. Park (1952*157) concerned himself with society as a "control organization," but focused on the community level in his search for under standing order and consensus. Park's (1952i13»51) specific focus was the urban community. He saw it as a microcosm of the larger society and a convenient lab oratory for studying social problems and change. Bas ically, Park (1952i157) sees societal order as occurring on two levels, the biotic and the cultural. The biotic level reveals a "web of life" of symbiotic relations1 the cultural level exhibits an order through communica tion (Park, 1952i1^5). Park (1952il7^0 writes that "By means of communication individuals share in a common experience and maintain a common life." Inherent, however, in this order is the potential or even reality of disorder and dissensus. Park (1952i175-176) notes that space and self-consciousness are obstacles to communication and thus produce social distances. The complexity of urban life leads Park (1952i7*0 to write that "The social problem is fundamentally a city problem.
It is the problem of achieving in the freedom of the city a social order and a social control equivalent to that which grew up naturally in the family, the clan, and the tribe."
It was to this problem that Park and particularly his students addressed themselves. Their analysis took the form of systematic studies of phenomena which evi denced disorder, disorganization and the failure of social control. A work of this era of particular rel evance for this study is Nels Anderson's The Hobo. It is interesting to note that Robert Park seems to view the hobo as perhaps the most deviant group in society.
Park (1952i93) views the hobo this way because such individuals lack vocation and location. Park (1952*93) writes that "permanence and progress in society" depend on individuals who are committed or "located." This, according to Park, is necessary for the maintenance of communication and societal equilibrium.
Robert Merton, a contemporary sociologist, develops many of the themes of social order and disorder noted above. One is reminded of Durkheim when Merton (1957*
121) writes that "socially deviant behavior" is just as much a product of social structure as is "conformist behavior." One of Merton's (1957*121-122) primary con cerns is an attempt to determine "how the social and cultural structure generates pressure for socially deviant behavior upon people variously located in that structure." Merton (1957*122) believes that problems of social disorder often relate to "strain, tension, contradiction, or discrepancy between the component elements of social and cultural structure." In summary, a major thrust of sociological analysis since the inception of the discipline has been a focus on societal order, cohesion and integration. Sociological theorists seem to conclude, however, that modern urban industrial society by its very nature creates both pressures toward conformity and toward deviance. The exact nature of those pressures and remedies seem to date to be elucive. Additionally, the problem of order, consensus and social control is complicated in American sooiety where such values as freedom, individualism, democracy, success, happiness and conformity exist side by side (Warren, 1972i86-88). A healthy society needs member commitment and cohesion. Yet aspects of the social structure (organization of work, bureaucratic structure, technology) alienate some members and even force others to operate outside the legitimized normative system. Additionally, certain values of the American cultural ethos (individualism and freedom) actually legitimize and permit societal members to function out side the mainstream.
Amidst these contradictory forces, the major problem seems to be how American society deals with those whom it aiianates or disenfranchises and those who, while exercising their freedom and individualism, tend to surpass the tolerance limits of the community at large.
This paper will focus on a group which seems to contain individuals some of whom have been alientated and dis
enfranchised and some of whom are simply exercising
their right to live an alternative life style. An
attempt will be made to identify the societal and
individual factors which give rise to and perpetuate
the phenomenon and to assess the community's reaction
to this life style. As part of this latter consideration,
the paper will focus on a unique institution which has
developed to deal with Skid Row inhabitants, the Rescue Mission.
Before beginning a discussion of these areas, how
ever, Chapter II will detail the methodology utilized
in the collection and analysis of data for this study. CHAPTER II
METHODOLOGY
1. Introduction
Faith Mission, 181 East Long Street, Columbus, Ohio, was chosen as the research site. The Mission was selected because of the author's previous acquaintance with it via an urban research seminar at the Ohio State University.
Preliminary research was accomplished during several weeks in April and May, 1972. The major collection of data occurred during the period June 15 to July 31, 1973,
The areas of investigation are fourfold* 1) the formal and informal structure and functioning of the Rescue
Mission, including the attitudes and insights of the directors of the Mission* 2) a description and life style profile of the men and women served by the Mission including their attitudes toward the Mission* 3) the attitudes and opinions of various community and agency leaders on the role, value and functioning of the Faith
Mission* and *0 the attitudes of the clergy and church members who serve as volunteers in the Mission's program. 10 11
2. Collection and Analysis of Data
To accomplish the tasks outlined above, a holistic approach similar to event analysis as described by
Jonassen (1968117-18) was utilized. However, for the purpose of this study, the "event" under analysis is an urban institution, the Rescue Mission= The specific techniques employed in the study include participant observation* structured interviewing of Skid Row men and women* open-ended interviewing of the members of the
Board of Directors of Faith Mission, various leaders of community organizations and agencies, and clergy of
"active" churches who participate in the Mission program* and a self-administered questionnaire for individual church members who volunteer their time at the Mission.
a. Participant Observation
The researcher for the periods April 2b to May .18,
1972 and June 15 to July 15, 1973 assumed the role of a Skid Row man. The purpose of the participant obser vation was to attempt to assess the informal structure and informal social control mechanisms of the Mission and to pinpoint norms and values that may not become evident through the structured interviewing. The participant observation also served to verify the truthfulness of data collected during formal interviewing. During the 12
April-May period the author participated in the evening worship service and ate the evening meal at the Mission.
As part of the June-July experience, the author, in addition to worshipping and eating at the Mission, slept in the dormitory above the Mission which is used to house transient and homeless men on a "first come - first served" basis. Several days were spent in com plete involvement in the life of the more permanent residents of Skid Row and frequent attenders at the
Mission. The activities of these days consisted of sitting and talking and walking. There was no evidence that any of the men or women with whom contact was made during all phases of the participant observation doubted or questioned the author's identity. However, the degree of interaction with these individuals varied considerably. Interaction was easiest with transients, since these men were always on the move and continually encountering new people. The more permanent residents of Columbus apparently defined the author's role as that of a transient. It took a longer period of time, there fore, for these men to take the author into their con fidence and circle of interaction. 13 b. Interviewing of Mission Directors
and Analysis of Results
A schedule was designed so that each of the members of the Board of Directors of Faith Mission could be inter viewed on an individual basis. The purpose of these interviews was to ascertain how those charged with the responsibility of overseeing the Mission perceive its function, its success and the men and women served.
The Board consists of a president and fourteen men who are "invited** to serve. The questionnaire used is in
Appendix A. Each member of the Board was interviewed in his home or at his place of business. Interviews ranged in length from forty-five minutes to one and one- half hours. Analysis of the data is descriptive, using sums and percentages where appropriate.
c. Interviewing of Selected Personnel of
Local Organizations, Agencies and
Businesses and Analysis of Results
In order to determine the direct and indirect links of Faith Mission with other community organizations, agencies and businesses and to pinpoint community knowl edge of and attitudes toward the Mission, leaders or directors of local organizations and other selected personnel were interviewed using the schedule in Appendix B. Those to he interviewed were connected with the following organizations and agencies* Columbus
Area Chamber of Commerce, Columbus City Government,
Columbus City Police Department, Columbus Metropolitan
Area Community Action Organization, Franklin County
Department of Welfare, Franklin County Health Department,
Franklin County Municipal Court, Franklin County Sheriff's
Office, Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio, Out
reach for Youth, Salvation Army and Volunteers of
America. Twenty-eight individuals from these organi
zations were interviewed. All but three were interviewed
in person with interviews lasting from fifteen minutes to one hour. Three persons were interviewed in short phone conversations. A list of the organizations and the representatives interviewed is in Appendix C. In addition, thirty-one officers and directors of the
Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and seven members of
the Columbus City Council were queried by letter. Those
to whom letters were mailed are listed in Appendix C.
Copies of the letters forwarded to the Chamber of Commerce
directors and the City councilmen are in Appendices D
and E respectively. To complete this portion of the
study, an informal survey of businesses in the vicinity
of the Mission was conducted during an afternoon. Twenty-
five employees in seventeen establishments were questioned 15 about their knowledge of and attitudes toward Faith
Mission. A list of the firms included in the survey and their location in relation to the Mission is in
Appendix F.
Analysis of the data collected in the above inter views will be presented descriptively with some use of sums and percentages.
d. Interviewing of Clergymen and Others
Active in Faith Mission and Data Analysis
The interview schedule in Appendix G was designed for interviewing the ministers of the churches active in the program at Faith Mission. Additionally, the schedule was used to guide the interviewing of individuals who regularly participate in the program by taking responsi bility for the evening worship and meal. The interview explored the following! the reasons why the church partic ipates in the program* the nature of the commitment! how easy or difficult it is to get individual members to volunteer their time* the degree of perceived success of the Mission's programj attitudes toward the clients served at the Mission* religious conversions and recommitments that sometimes occur during the Mission's worship servicej and adequacy of the Mission's program and recommended changes. A list of the clergy and their churches and 16 the other individuals interviewed is in Appendix H.
A total of 39 persons was personally interviewed. Each interview lasted an average of 45 minutes. Data analysis includes the use of sums and percents as well as general descriptive statements.
e. Interviewing of Individual Church
Member "Volunteers" and Analysis of Results
Because of the number of individual volunteers, open' ended interviewing was ruled out in favor of a self- administered structured questionnaire. The schedule was designed to determine the degree of participation of the. volunteer, his or her knowledge of the Mission's clients and the Mission's program, attitudes and per ceptions of the Mission's program and its value and attitudes and perceptions of the men and women who come to the Mission for help. A social distance scale was also included as part of the questionnaire in order to determine the attitudes of the volunteers toward the
Mission's clients relative to other "outsider" groups.
A copy of the schedule is in Appendix I. The original plan called for the distribution of the questionnaire to each volunteer who came to the Mission during July
1973* Each volunteer was to be personally greeted and asked to complete the questionnaire and return it that evening. During the first couple of days considerable resistance was offered to this procedure. The volun teers indicated that they did not have the time to complete the questionnaire due to their responsibilities in preparing and serving the evening meal. Therefore, it was decided to distribute the questionnaires in the same manner but to permit the participants to take it home and to return it by mail. Self-addressed stamped envelopes were provided for this purpose. A total of
171 questionnaires were distributed during July.
Several congregations evidenced low return rates and a letter of reminder was sent to the minister. Of the questionnaires distributed, 131 were returned, for a completion rate of 76.6 percent.
The quantitative analysis of the results includes a profile of the volunteer using sums, percentages and means in addition to associational analysis among selected variables. The chi^ is employed to test the association between religious affiliation and attitudes and opinions about the Mission and its clients. The difference of means test (t) is used to test the differences in selected social distance scores. Spearman's rank order correlation
(Rho) will test ranking of "outsider" groups by various church groups. 18
f. Interviewing of Skid Row Individuals
and Analysis of Data
In order to get a profile of the men and women on
Skid Row and their life style, interviews were completed by a trained research assistant. In all, 70 men and women were interviewed in the time period June 15 to
July 31t 1973* Each interview lasted approximately one hour. The research project was announced at the evening worship service and a notice was posted in the front window of the Mission. Men and women were asked to volun teer for the interviews and to "sign up" for a particular time slot. A two dollar inducement was offered to en courage participation. Additionally, some men were personally approached and asked to participate. The interview schedule utilized is in Appendix J. It is realized that those interviewed do not constitute a random sample. Because of the transient life style of many of the clients, no feasible way to conduct a random sample was evident. Since the focus of the study is the
Mission, those clients interviewed had to meet the criteria of having been to the Mission on at least one occasion. Because of the low number of interviews, extensive association analysis did not seem warranted.
Consequently, the data is analyzed on the basis of sums, percentages and means. This makes the data analogous to * 9 . Bogue's data and comparative presentation and analysis
of the data is presented for selected variables. Addi
tionally, two life histories are presented in detail.
These portraits represent the two major types of individu
als found at the Mission, the Columbus Resident and the
Contemporary Hobo.
Further insight into the clientele of the Mission was
provided by a survey of all men and women in attendance
at the Mission on the evening of July 26, 1973. Sixty-
five persons were handed a short questionnaire which
asked for information on sex and age of the respondent
and his reason for coming to the Mission that evening.
Sums and percents are used to analyze this data.
Further data on the Mission's clients was gathered
from registration forms that each individual who applies
for shelter is required to fill out. Data on the form
includes name, last known address, age and date sheltered.
Data was available for 763 individuals. The population
was broken into those whose last known addresses were
Columbus; Ohio but outside Columbus; and outside of Ohio.
The mean age, mean number of days sheltered and mean
number of occasions on which the Mission was utilized were
calculated for each residence group. Analysis of variance was utilized to test the difference between the means. The significance of resulting F scores was then determined. Since analysis of variance only indicates if a relationship exists, the correlation ratio E2 was calculated to get a truer measure of association. The
Chi2 was utilized to test the relationship between age and frequency of being sheltered while controlling for last known address.
g. Secondary Data
In order to place the Rescue Mission in its urban setting the census tract data for Columbus for 1970 was consulted. Selected data is presented in the next chapter. Additionally, selected statistics from the
Columbus Police Department will be presented for com parative purposes. CHAPTER III
ORIGINS, NATURE AND PERSISTANCE
OF SKID ROW
Introduction
Samuel Wallace (1965*13) provides an historical overview of the development of Skid Rows in urban com munities, noting that they are essentially a post Civil
War development. Early Skid Rows were populated by
"homeless men" - men who drifted from place to place and who had no permanent roots. Wallace (1965*9) writes that homelessness came about in the United States for the same reasons it came about in the British Isles - disaster (man made or natural), migratory nature of man's work, free choice. Prior to the emergence of the distinct ecological area in most cities known as Skid
Row, the vagrants and paupers set adrift by the above mentioned factors were truly "homeless." Most of them could find only temporary shelter in hallways, base ments, alleys of slum tenements or in selected commer cial establishments such as state beer dives (Wallace,
1965*11). 21 22
According to Wallace (1965*15), Skid Row was estab lished in the early 1870's as a result of several factors.
These factors included the followingi 1) the number of people uprooted and rendered destitute and homeless by the Civil Warj 2) immigration from abroadt and 3) the
1873 panic during which the unemployment rate rose to between JO and 4-0 percent. Wallace (1965*15) writes that
"homelessness had turned into something just short of a national way of life..." The existence of an estimated
38,000 "tramps" in the United States in 1873 and 4-5*000 in 1890 leads Wallace (1965*17) to comment that vagrancy was probably the first truly national welfare problem.
Concerning the emergence of the subcommunity of Skid Row,
Wallace (1965*17) writes. "At the turn of the Twentieth century, Skid Row, U.S.A. had come into its own. It was well-established - 104- lodging houses in New York City,
200 in Chicago... - it was flourishing."
Nels Anderson (1923*11-14-) in his classic study,
The Hobo, published in 1923, supports the existence at the time of what he calls the "stem" or "main drag."
He identifies this area as one of the two main social cen ters for the hobo, the other being the "jungle." The
"stem" is described as a segregated area close to the center of transportation and trade while the "jungle" is a shack-type camp usually located near a railroad division plant. Hobohemia (the stem) is further pictured 23 as a lodging house area* an area of flophouses where
guests sleep (“flop'*) on the floor or hare wooden hunks.
It is interesting to note that the terra "Skid Row"
evolved as the phenomenon spread across the cities of
the United States. The name was originally "Skid Road"
and described the trail in Seattle, Washington, down
which logs were skidded to the saw mill. Lumberjacks
lived along this road in a community of flophouses,
saloons, gambling halls and other institutions which
catered to the needs of the "homeless men" (Wallace, 1965*
18). Through time, many of the Skid Row areas took on
descriptive names such as "The Bowery" and "The Red Light
District." Wallace (1965*18) claims that to call the
men who inhabit Skid Row "homeless" is a misnomer dating
back to the "period before the vagrant community became
spatially fixed in a separate and specialized ecological
area of the city."
Skid Row exists today in all of the country's major
cities according to Donald Bogue (1963*17) who documented
their existence by mapping the areas in ^5 cities. Bogue
notes that one can identify Skid Row by its neighborhood
conditions, its facilities, the kinds of people and the unique social environment.
Wallace (1965*23-2^) maintains that Skid Row has
undergone considerable change since its emergence and
that the population of Skid Row is shrinking. He writes 24
that Chicago’s Skid Row is only one-fourth of its 1910
size and New York's Bowery population was less than 6,000
in 1964. Wallace (1964s25) believes that the population
should continue to decline as pensions and retirement benefits improve and as welfare policies shift the em phasis from shelter to home care. In contrast to these suppositions, Jacqueline Wiseman (19”0i4) writes that the number of Skid Row inhabitants fluctuates with "good" and "bad" times. She notes further, "but never does it wither away from lack of inhabitants." Despite the changes Wallace notes, Wiseman (1970i4) writes that "Not only has Skid Row proved tenacious as a continuing urban pattern but the area and its culture are strikingly
similar from city to city and from time period to time period."
Problem
While Bogue and others have described the nature of
Skid Row and documented its contemporary existence, the author encountered some difficulty in determining what constituted Skid Row in Columbus, Ohio and if in fact one did exist. Of some interest to this problem is that while Wallace (1965»49) writes that a religious rescue mission quickly identifies Skid Row the Rescue
Mission in Columbus, Ohio is not located in the area identified by Bogue as constituting Skid Row nor in the 25 area identified by the police as constituting Skid Row.
This poses some interesting problems relative to the nature and persistence of Skid Row, especially in one city.
Skid Row in Columbus, Ohio
Since Bogue used data from the 1950 census, com parisons of current data with his data would be of no apparent value in assessing the location of Skid Row today. Additionally, many people with whom the author talked expressed the viewpoint that Columbus indeed lacked a true Skid Row. Many of those that believed a
Skid Row was evident in Columbus did not think that the
Mission was located in it. Review of the census tract map did reveal that Faith Mission, located in tract 34, is not in the tract identified by Bogue as constituting
Skid Row. Bogue, using information from Columbus offi cials, located Skid Row in tracts 39 and 40. This area in the 1970 census is primarily census tract 40. Members of the Columbus Police Department interviewed for the present study indicated that they felt Columbus* Skid
Row was really located in the area of High Street, north of Goodale. This area primarily constitutes census tract 21. Because of these conflicting viewpoints, it was decided to compare all three census tracts - 21, 34, and 40 - using selected 1970 census data. Table 1 26 provides a summary of the data.
Several factors stand out as unique characteristics of tract 3^» the tract in which the Mission is located, when compared to tracts 21 and 40 and Columbus in general. The Mission tract is over 90 percent male, while the other tracts are similar in being nearly 50 percent male. Tract 34 contains the largest percent foreign born population (43 percent) and the largest percent nonwhite of the three tracts (11.2 percent).
This percent is substantially below the percent non white in Columbus, however. While not unique in terms of divorce and widowed status, the population of that area stands out as being "never married" with 62.2 per cent of males over 14 reporting being single. Concerning the age structure of the tracts, all three are similar but stand in contrast to the general age structure of
Columbus. The tracts are under-represented in young males under age 20 and over-represented in older males over the age of 55. It should be noted that the area designated by Bogue as Skid Row is most profound in these deviations.
Relative to educational achievement, the Mission's tract stands out in comparison to tracts 21 and 40. The median school year completed is 12,2, which is the same as that of Columbus in general but higher than the other two tracts. There is a larger proportion of high school 27 TABLE 1
COMPARISON OF COLUMBUS, OHIO CENSUS TRACTS 21, 34
AND 40, SELECTED VARIABLES, 1970
Tract 34 Tract 21 Tract 40 Columbus (Mission (Policed (Bogue*s tract) Skid Row) Skid Row)
Population size 555 2203 1342 539.469 Percent male 90.4 57.4 48.2 48.1
Percent foreign born 4.3 0.7 3.4 2.1
Percent nonwhite 11.2 0.5 5.6 18.5 Marital status (Male, 14 vears and older; Percent single 62.6 24.5 35.0 31.9 Percent married 16.6 51.5 33.9 61.1 Percent Separated (16.7) (7.2) (28.2) (2.9) Percent divorced 14. 3 13.0 17.6 4.2 Percent widowed 6.5 6.0 13.5 2.8
Age - Male (Percent distri bution) Under 20 years 18.2 29.4 9.4 40.2 20-24 12.6 9.9 7.9 11.6 25-34 13.4 17.7 9.0 14.3 35-44 13.2 10.6 11.7 10.8 45-54 15.4 10.4 15.9 9.8 55-59 7.9 4.6 8.9 3.9 60-64 7.1 6.5 8.6 65-74 8.3 7.2 19.6 U 75 years and over 3.9 3.7 9.0 1.7 28
Tract 34 Tract 21 Tract 40 Columbus
Years of schoCl completed in percent (age 25 and over) None 1.7 0.8 1.2 1.0 Elementary 30.6 42.4 32.5 21.3 High school (53.9) (33.6) (42.7) (55.6) 1-3 years 13.7 23.2 23.5 22.1 4 years 23.8 25.7 20.1 34.1 College 1-3 years 18.9 2.7 9.6 10.1 4 years 11.3 5.1 13.0 11.4 Median school years completed 12.2 9.9 11.1 12.2 Percent of civilian labor force unem ployed (male) 0.0 2.1 11.8 3.9 Unrelated individuals Mean income $4582.00 $3079.00 $3416.00 $3524.00 Percent below poverty level 28.5 53.0 38.6 36.1 Percent receiving public assist ance 0.0 1.0 12.6 10.5 Percent of all persons below poverty level 25.2 27.7 31.6 13.9 Percent receiving Social Secu rity 25.5 83.3 86.4 17.1 Housing Percent owner occupied 1.6 7.0 3.0 48.4 Percent renter occupied 92.9 80.3 90.1 46.5 Vacant year round 5*5 12.7 6.9 5.1 Percent lacking some or all plumb ing facilities 40.9 23.8 22.7 2.2 Percent lacking complete kitchen facilities 40,2 8.7 17.1 1.2 29 Tract 3^ Tract 21 Tract **0 Columbus
Same house as 1965 Percent that are 27.2 31.5 29.2 **4.0
Sourcei Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census Tract Data, Columbus, Ohio, SMSA
graduates and college attenders in tract 3^ than in the
other two.
Scrutiny of the income data reveals that the mean
income of unrelated individuals in the Mission's tract
surpasses the mean for Columbus in general and the other
two tracts. However, its 25.2 percent of persons below
the poverty level is substantially higher than the
Columbus rate of 13.9 percent, but is somewhat lower
than the rates for tracts 21 and **0.
Housing data reveals that all three tracts contain predominately renter occupied housing. The Mission tract
is the worst of the three in terms of dwellings lacking
some or all plumbing facilities (**0.9 percent) and lacking
complete kitchen facilities (**0.2 percent). Perusal of
the data reveals that, compared to Columbus as a whole,
the persons in the three tracts under discussion are more
mobile. For example, only 27.2 percent of the individuals
in the Mission's area are in the same house as they were
in 1965.
It would appear from analysis of these statistics 30
that census tracts 21, 3^» and 40 are, in many respects, similar to each other but different from Columbus as a whole. In terms of impressions and previous studies of what Skid Row populations are like, the tract in which the Mission is located qualifies best as Skid Row.
Its predominance of older, single males, living in rented
rooms without plumbing and kitchen facilities typifies
some of the characteristics of Skid Row men.
Further analysis of these census tracts in terms of
criminal behavior is appropriate. Table 2 provides an
overview of offenses known to the police in 1972.
Survey of the data reveals that the Mission’s tract has
the highest degree of criminal activity, by total, with
1.3 crimes per resident compared to 0.1 crimes per resi dent in the Police's Skid Row (tract 21) and 0.8 crimes per resident in Bogue's Skid Row (tract *K)).
Concerning the incidence of public intoxication,
Table 3 gives an overview of the data. It is evident that the Mission’s tract and the Bogue's Skid Row are similar in terms of relative cases compared to population size. However, the 2015 cases in tract Uo
is the highest absolute incidence for all census tracts.
Since the determining factor in much behavior is
the definition of the situation, it was decided to query the clients of Faith Mission on how they characterized
Skid Row. The following characteristics were mentioned 31 TABLE 2
OFFENSES KNOWN TO THE POLICE, 1972
SELECTED CENSUS TRACTS, COLUMBUS, OHIO
Tract 34 Tract 21 Tract 40 (Mission (Police's (Bogue's tract) Skid Row) Skid Row)
Total 735 326 1026 Murder 0 2 2 Rape 3 2 6 Robbery 32 22 54 Aggravated assault 15 11 21 Burglary 77 65 107 Grand larceny 177 48 234 Petty larceny 139 51 201 Auto theft 75 37 124 Total part 1 crimes 518 238 749 Total part 2 crimes 217 88 277
Population of tract 555 2203 1342
Sourcei Division of Police 1972, Annual Report, Columbus, Ohio by the percent of the men noted* presence of drunks (34.3 percent)* low status people who lack self-respect (17.1 percent)* deteriorated conditions (15*7 percent)* rough, unsafe neighborhood (10 percent)* presence of non-workers (8.6 percent)* presence of beggars (5.7 percent)* and presence of transients (5.7 percent).
Seven individuals (10 percent) said that Columbus did not have a Skid Row since the people around weren’t
"low" enough. Of the 45 clients identified as perma- 32
TABLE 3
PUBLIC INTOXICATION, 1972,
SELECTED CENSUS TRACTS, COLUMBUS, OHIO
Tract 3^ Tract 21 Tract 40 (Mission (Police* s (Bogue's tract) Skid Row) Skid Row)
Public intoxication cases 717 558 2015
Rate per 1000 residents 1292 253 1502
Sourcei Division of Police 1972, Annual Report, Columbus, Ohio (Adults Charged)
nent residents of Columbus, 33.3 percent (15 men) said
that they were currently living on Skid Row, 55.6 per
cent (25) said they were not and 11.1 percent (five)
didn't know. Forty percent (10) of the clients who
were identified as non-Columbus residents (therefore
transients) said they were currently living on Skid
Row while 52 percent said that they weren't and eight
percent didn't know. It should be stated that all of
the transients who said they were currently living on
Skid Row were staying at the Mission on the night of
the interview.
Of continuing interest to the urban ecologist is the location of Skid Row in the community. Ernest
Burgess in attempting to describe the spatial patterning of Chicago in the 1920's, proposed the concentric zonal model of urban growth (Park and Burgess, 1967»
55-56). The area of special relevance to this study is what Burgess describes as the zone of transition, the zone surrounding the central business district.
Burgess (1967»5^-55) writes that "Within the central business district or on an adjoining street is the
'main stem' of hobohemia..." Concerning the census tracts described above, tracts 21, 3^ and 40, Bogue's
Skid Row, tract 40 and the Mission's tract, 3^» contain both parts of the central business district of Columbus and the zone of transition. Broad and High Streets mark the center of the business district. Tract bo extends from Broad Street south and includes High Street.
Tract 3^ extends from Broad Street north and includes
High Street. Both tracts, therefore, contain significant portions of the central business district. However, portions of tract 40 (east and south) and portions of tract 3^ (north and east) can be described as being characteristic of the zone of transition. Tract 21
(the Police's Skid Row) also includes a portion of High 1 Street but it is the part north of Goodale. This tract extends over the zone of transition and slightly beyond into low income residential areas and does not include any of the central business district. Reference back to Table 1 reveals that this tract clearly is the most heavily populated. On-the-spot observation of the tracts also reveals that tract 21 contains more bars and other businesses characteristic of Skid Row than tracts 3^ and *K).
Conclusions
While the existence of Skid Row in Columbus, Ohio, seems to be a matter of opinion, it is clear that an area or areas exist which meet the criteria and descriptions used by others to describe Skid Row in other cities and throughout history. Perhaps the most significant con clusion is that while Skid Row can be defined in terms of specialized institutions, condition of the neighbor hood and types of individuals, it is clear that these criteria are not shared by everyone and that there is differential perception of what in fact is the defining criteria. It is interesting that many of the Mission's clients do not view themselves as living on Skid Row.
This, of course, may serve as a defense mechanism allowing them to live with some pride and hope.
With reference to Faith Rescue Mission, it is apparent that in light of the data presented concerning the conditions that exist in census tract 3^» the
Mission is strategically located. There seems to be 35 ample evidence that tract 3^ houses a population in need of the services provided by the Mission.
Of relevance for urban ecological theory is the fact that the areas most clearly identifiable as Skid
Row in Columbus are in the zone of transition surrounding the central business district. Not only, therefore, dees Skid Rev: persist, but its location in terms of ecological areas has not changed. However, there is support for the contention that Skid Row may change its actual location if we assume that the Mission is located in Skid Row or that the Police's Skid Row is correct.
Neither area coincides with Bogue's Skid Row of twenty years ago. Recently there has been considerable spec ulation that the area in which the Mission is located will soon be razed to make way for the continuing expan sion and revitalization of the central business district.
The question then arises as to where the Mission will relocate and what will happen to Skid Row. It would seem that downtown urban revitalization may cause shifts in natural areas, but not their elimination. An interest ing area for investigation would be the effect of contem porary "urban renewal" programs on Skid Row. Of par ticular concern would be the movement of Skid Row as land use changes.
The very persistence and existence of areas identifiable as Skid Row has important implications for the author's concern with societal order and social control. The congregation of a variety of deviant in dividuals into one or more identifiable and confined areas no doubt assists the formal agencies of control in the community in keeping these people under obser vation and control. Additionally, such areas become important centers for sending and referring deviants, thus keeping them out of the formal community agency structure and out of other parts of the community.
There are problems in such segregation, however, and these will be explored in chapter V on Skid Row as a way of life. CHAPTER IV
CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF SKID ROW MEN
Introduction
In analyzing the literature on Skid Row participants, it is apparent that most authors identify the same general types of men. However, there is a tendency to select out and concentrate on specialized subtypes of men. Be fore beginning a typological analysis of Skid Row men, several general comments are in order. It is clear that there is no agreement over the use of the terra "homeless” in describing Skid Row men. Wallace believes that this term is inappropriate since Skid Row is their home. It is evident, however, that Solenberger, Anderson, and
Sutherland and Locke do not share this sentiment.
Solenberger (191*H3) simply defines a homeless man as one who has left one family group and has not yet identified with another. It is also interesting to point out the differences between a hobo, a tramp and a bum.
There is general consensus that the hobo is a migratory worker or one who works and wanders (Anderson, 1923187,
89). A tramp is one who wanders but does not work or
37 works only when it is convenient (Anderson, 1923*87,89).
A bum is one who seldom wanders and seldom works* he is a stationary non-worker who lives off begging and
"working" the system (Anderson, 1923*87,98* Sutherland and Locke, 1936*52* Bogue, 1963*61), Definitions may change slightly depending on the author's purpose.
Alice Solenberger (191^*10) presents the first and perhaps the most general and all encompassing typology of homeless men. She identifies the following types*
1) self-supporting (seasonal employment)* 2) temporarily dependent (runaways, strangers without references who can't get jobs, men who have been robbed, convalescents, victims of accidents)* 3) chronically dependent (aged, crippled, deformed, blind, deaf, insane, men addicted to drink or drugs, a few able-bodied men who are hopelessly inefficient)* b) parasitic (confirmed wanderers, tramps, criminals, imposters, confidence men, chronic beggars, local vagrants). Of special interest because of lack of supporting evidence in more recent studies, is the home less, vagrant and runaway boy (under age 20) described by Solenberger (191^*2^0-26^). Of the 1000 Skid Rowers interviewed, 117 were put in this category.
Nels Anderson (1923*89) does not spend a great deal of time on a typology of Skid Row men. However, he does identify five types, all of whom are included in Solen berger' s typology* seasonal workers, the hobo (transient 39 or occasional workers), the tramp, the bum (stationary non-workers) and the home guards who live in hobohemia and work at odd jobs. Anderson's typology is based on various combinations of migratory status and nature of work. He therefore emphasizes a slightly different aspect than does Solenberger.
Sutherland and Locke's (193^*50-^^) typological analysis of their 20,000 homeless men yields types similar to Solenberger*s and Anderson's. They, however, classify their types by occupational skill level rather than in terms of dependence (Solenberger) or migratory- work status (Anderson). The typology proposed by
Sutherland and Locke includes the following types« bums, homeguard casuals, migratory laborers, steady unskilled laborers, skilled tradesmen and white-collar workers.
Of the 20,000 men, five percent were classified as bums.
The authors describe the bum as the lowest element in hobohemia and identify three subtypes, confirmed drunk ards, "mission stiffs" (hang around missions and get food and lodging for periodic conversions) and profes sional beggars. The beggars are not really bums because they work. Home guard casuals are described as indi viduals who work at odd jobs and maintain permanent residence on the Row. Twenty percent of the sample was so identified. Another 20 percent of the sample was composed of migratory workers, They hold their jobs for a longer duration than the home guard and many normally live outside hobohemia in "foreign" settlements of the city. Steady unskilled laborers comprised 33 per cent of the group. Most worked steadily throughout their life and had made few changes in occupation or community. Seven percent of the 20,000 were described as white-collar workers. As noted, the Sutherland-
Locke typology differs from that proposed by Solenberger and Anderson. It is of course to be expected that this would be the case because of the time when the study was conducted. The authors recognize this when they divide the men into two cultural groups, hobohemians and non- hobohemians. The hobohemian group is basically the
Solenberger-Anderson group and consists of bums, home guard casuals and migratory workers. These men are de scribed as free from conventional standards, anti-reli gious, disillusioned with country, and always dependent! their headquarters are the flophouses (Sutherland and
Locke, 1936166-67). Non-hobohemians include the unskilled, skilled and white-collar types who normally live outside of Skid Row and who became dependent only recently
(Sutherland and Locke, 1936166-68).
Donald Bogue's (1963>2) typology resembles that of
Solenberger. However, instead of using a "dependence" criteria, Bogue’s types relate to the cause for depend- ffl
ency. His types include the physically disabled men
living on public assistance, elderly men living on assist
ance or pensions, destitute men without work or funds,
and bums and mission stiffs. Resource experts who were
queried by Bogue (1963*^8) listed the following types*
elderly and physically disabled, resident workingmen,
migratory workerse bums (transient and resident), crim
inals and chronic alcoholics. Bogue (1963*90-91) also
considers drinking a major source of variation and
developes a typology of drinkers which includes tee
totalers, light drinkers, moderate drinkers, heavy
drinkers and alcoholic derelicts. The typology will
be explored in the next chapter. Suffice it to say,
that much of the analysis by Bogue uses this drinking
classification as the controlling variable.
In keeping with his emphasis on Skid Row subculture,
Samuel Wallace's typology is centered on career patterns
on Skid Row. Wallace (1965*182-201) writes that in the process of subculturization, Skid;Row inhabitants under go a change in status so that they lose their "out
sider" status and assume an "insider" status. The
"insider" statuses are listed as follows* drunk, hobo, beggar, mission stiff, alcoholic and the tour direc tor. 42
Problem
While the data collected for this study could support practically all of the types of men described above except for the mission stiff and tour director, another more significant typology was suggested. It is significant because of some of the recent contentions that the "hobo" is a social type of the past. Some recent data, particularly Bogue's (1963*243) suggest that the Skid Row population is relatively stable and settled.
While Bogue does write that the Skid Row population is about twice as migratory as the general population of
Chicago as measured by state-of-birth data, he does note that most of the movement was during youth or involved one move to Chicago. Further, once men arrived on Skid
Row, few were found to leave. Bogue (1963*111) asked his sample how long they had lived on Skid Row since the last time they arrived from some other place outside
Chicago. He got the following replies* less than 10 percent said less than one month* 20.8 percent reported less than three months* 13*3 percent said three to five months* 9.8 percent had been there six to eleven months*
10 percent reported one to two years* 16.5 percent, two to five years* 10.8 percent five to ten years and 18.1 percent said ten or more years.
Based on participant observation and interviews with the directors of Faith Mission and clergy of chruches who participate in the Mission, it became evident that there were two primary types of clients. The first type is what will be called "Residents" or those who are permanent residents of Columbus. These individuals evidence little or no spatial mobility throughout the year. Their only movement would relate to weekend trips to family and friends, usually within Ohio. The other type of client is the "Transients." These individuals could also be called "contemporary hobos." In general, they are not permanent residents of Columbus. While some may remain stationary for several months, they evidence a great deal of geographic mobility. Their mobility is characterized by frequent trips of great distances. It should be noted that subtypes of these two primary types could be constructed. For example,
Residents consist of both Regular and Irregular attenders.
Regulars attend on a virtually daily basis. Irregulars utilize the Mission only at times of crisis. While the data analysis will generally be limited to comparing Res idents and Transients, some utilization of the subtype
"Mission Regular" will also be made.
The next section presents a variety of data to clarify the nature of the Mission's clients in general and the primary types of clients specifically. The Clients of Faith Mission
1. A Profile of the Clients Attending Faith Mission,
July 26, 1973
On the evening of July 26, 1973* 65 men and women were assembled in the Mission's chapel awaiting the serving of the evening meal. Table 4 provides an overview of the clients by race and sex.
TABLE 4
CLIENTS ATTENDING FAITH MISSION, JULY 26, 1973.
BY RACE AND SEX
Men Women Total
Black 10 (16.4*) 1 (25%) 11 (16.9*) White 51 (83.6*) 3 (75*) 54 (83.1*) Total 61 (100*) 4 (100*) 65 (100*)
It can be seen that the vast majority, 83.1 percent, of those attending were white as well as male (93.8*).
Participant observation at the Mission leads to the con clusion that the data in Table 4 above concerning pro portion by race and sex is not atypical. The major variable factor is the number attending. Attendance as low as 35 and as high as 69 has been observed. It is 45 generally true that attendance is lower at the beginning of the month when pension, social security and disability checks arrive. Toward the end of the month, however, more men and women find their way to the Mission as finances dwindle.
Table 5 gives the age profile of Mission clients on July 26, 1973. In addition to total age breakdown, age profiles by residents of Columbus and transients are also provided. Fifty-one (78.5 percent) reported that they were residents of Columbus while eleven (16.9 percent) indicated that they were "just passing through"
Columbus or just there temporarily. Three individuals did not want to complete the questionnaire and thus, while they are included in the sex and race profile, they are not in the age profile. It is significant to. note that while the average age of non-resident respond ents was 38.5 years, the average age of Columbus residents at the Mission was 8.5 years higher, 47.0 years. In comparing the age distribution of the clients with Bogue*s sample, it is evident that the clients appear slightly younger. For example, 35.5 percent of the clients are under age 4-0 while only 21.5 percent of Bogue's group is.
Also, while 17.5 percent of Bogue's men are 65 or over, only 10.8 percent of men at the Mission on July 26 were
65 or older. TABLE 5
CLIENTS ATTENDING FAITH MISSION, JULY 26, 1973.
BY AGE AND RESIDENCE STATUS
Age Columbus Transients Total Bogue*s Residents Data V M h* O O Total 51 11 (100%) 62 O O 100#
20-24 0 0 0 4.4 25-29 5 (9.8) 3 (27.3) 8 (12.9)
30-34 3 (5.9) 1 (9.1) 4 (6.5) 5.8
35-39 7 (13.7) 3 (27.3) 10 (16.1) 11.3
4o-44 4 (7.8) 1 (9.1) 5 (8.1) 12.4
4-5-49 5 (9.8) 0 5 (8.1) 16.2
50-5^ 6 (11.8) 2 (18.2) 8 (12.9) 13.2
55-59 6 (11.8) l (9.1) 7 (11.3) 10.9
60-64 4 (7.8) 0 4 (6.5) 8.3
65-69 4 (7.8) 0 4 (6.5) 9.3 70-74 1 (2.0) 0 1 (1.6) 8.2
No response 6 (11.8) 0 6 (9.7) ___
* Bogue, 1963i91.
Of particular interest is the motivation of the cli ents for attending the Mission. The respondents were asked to check only one single main reason for coming to the Mission on that particular evening. Despite this 47 instruction, 17 of the 62 respondents checked more than one reason. Table 6 provides an overview of the reasons given.
TABLE 6
REASONS FOR ATTENDING FAITH.MISSION, JULY 26, 1973.
BY RESIDENCE STATUS
Columbus Residents Transients
Single responses 36 9 Worship 20 5 Eat 9 2 Sleep 5 2 See friends 2 0 Kill time 0 0
Multiple responses 15 2 Worship 14 1 Eat and/or sleep 13 2 See friends 6 0
Total Worship 3^ (66.?#) 6 (54.5#) Eat and/or sleep 27 (52.9*) 6 (54.50) See friends 8 (15.70) 0 Kill time 0 0
As can be seen, 40 of the 62 respondents (64.5 per- cent) indicated that they came to the Mission to worship.
It is interesting that 66.7 percent of the Columbus residents said they came to worship. This is perhaps not surprising when one recalls from the interviews with the directors and clergy that some men use the Mission as ^8 their church. However, such a high percent professing this motivation is significant. It is puzzling that six of the eleven transients (5^*5 percent) gave this reason. One is led to speculate that they answered this way because they "thought" it was the expected answer.
The sincerity of the "worship" responses by residents is attested to by numerous written comments on the question naire. Several follow*
"To worship God for his amazing grace shown to me."
"I enjoy church as much as a place to sleep."
"To here (sic) the word of God."
"A promise to God."
2. Shelter Inhabitants, 1972
According to records made available, the Samaritan
Shelter of Faith Mission slept 763 different individuals a total of 3759 times in 1972. This averages out to 4 .93 nights per individual. The longest stay by any one indi vidual was made by a Columbus resident who slept at the
Mission 95 days in 1972. Since data were available on the last known address of each individual, a breakdown of nights spent at the shelter by last known address was possible. It was decided to group "last known address" into three categories depending on whether the address was in Columbus, outside Columbus but in Ohio, or out side of Ohio. Table 7 provides a summary of the data. 49
TABLE 7
NIGHTS SPENT AT SAMARITAN SHELTER
BY LAST KNOWN ADDRESS, 1972
Columbus Ohio Outside: Un Total Ohio known
Number of men 296 123 285 59 763 Number of nights 2202 451 938 168 3759 Average nights per man 7.44 3.67 3.29 2.85 4.93
Review of the data reveals an apparent significant difference between the average number of nights per indi vidual by resident, Columbus residents, on the average, utilized the shelter 7,44 nights in 1972 while transients, those coming into Columbus from outside of Ohio, utilized it only 3.29 days, on the average. In order to test the significance of the differences between the means an analysis of variance was completed. The null hypothesis to be tested is as follows*
H0* There is no difference between the means of the residence groups relative to nights spent at Faith Mission's shelter.
Table 8 summarizes the calculations utilized in the analysis of variance. An F ratio of 23.00 with 2 and
701 degrees of freedom will occur, according to the F distribution, less than one time in 1000 if the null hypothesis is true. Based on this, the null hypothesis TABUS 8
COMPUTATIONS FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF DIFFERENCES
IN AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY AT FAITH MISSION. 1972,
BY RESIDENCE CATEGORY
Source of Sums of Degrees of Estimate F Variance Squares Freedom of Variance
Total variance 45,543.84 N -1=703 Between groups 2804.77 k-l=2 1402.39 p? 00 Within groups 42,739.07 N -k =701 60.97 3*
is rejected and it is concluded that the differences
observed between the average nights spent at the shelter
is significant. While the F ratio is such that the null hypothesis can be rejected, such a finding may not be very significant since statistical significance is easy to obtain with a large number of cases (Blalock, 196O 1
266). To assess, therefore, a measure of association or the degree of homogeneity of the categories, the
correlation ratio E^ was calculated. An E^ of .062 was
found which means that the categories are not homogeneous and only 6.2 percent of the variance among the residence
categories is explained by the number of days men are
sheltered.
It was clear from looking over the shelter information
sheets and from participant observation, that the men who 51 sleep at the shelter often return several times through out a year for varying lengths of time. It was decided, therefore, to attempt an analysis of the number of occasions men from the different "last known address" categories utilized the shelter. The major problem in this exercise was determining the number of occasions for an individual. The sleeping pattern of each indi vidual was scrutinized and occasions were determined more or less intuitively by the author. His judgement was based on the residence of the individual, the overall pattern of shelter attendance and understanding gained from participant observation. In general, the following guidelines were used in determining an occasioni
1. An occasion is set off by significant changes in the shelter pattern. 2. In all cases, a period of consecutive nights of lodging constitutes an occasion. 3. Residents of Columbus - an occasion could be a period with two or three day gaps between nights spent at the Mission. During the nights away from the Mission, the men are probably staying with a buddy temporarily or sleeping outside. Non-Columbus residents - an occasion may include gaps in residence at the Mission of up to one week if there was a consistent pattern of irregular lodging at the Mission. Such gaps may indicate either a period of work and con comitant lodging in a hotel, but it usually means a period of nonwork and sleeping outside.
Table 9 gives an overview of the occasions the Mission's shelter was utilized by individuals from the different
"last known address" categories. Perusal of the data reveals a considerable difference between use of the 52
TABLE 9
NUMBER OF OCCASIONS OF SHELTER USE
BY RESIDENT CATEGORIES, 1972
Occasions Columbus Ohio Outside Unknown Total Ohio
Total 296 123 285 59 763
1 122 82 242 53 499
2 68 24 23 4 119
3 37 9 12 0 59
4 24 3 4 0 31
5 15 3 4 0 22 6 11 1 0 0 12
7 5 0 0 1 6
8 4 1 0 0 5
9 5 0 0 0 5 10 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 0 0 0 2 12 1 0 0 0 1
13 0 0 0 1 1 14- 1 0 0 0 1
Average number of occasions per indi- vidual 2.59 1.61 1.26 1.37 1.84 53 shelter by occasion for Columbus residents, 2.59 on the average, and non-Ohio residents, 1,26 occasions on the average.
It was again decided to test the difference between the means of the residence categories by use of analysis of variance. The null hypothesis to be tested isi
H q * There is no difference between the means of residence groups relative to the number of occasions spent at Faith Mission's shelter.
Table 10 summarizes the calculations utilized in the analysis of variance.
TABLE 10
COMPUTATIONS FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF
DIFFERENCES IN AVERAGE NUMBER OF OCCASIONS SPENT
AT FAITH MISSION, 1972, BY RESIDENCE CATEGORY
Source of Sums of Degrees of Estimate F Variance Squares Freedom of Variance
Total 1967.98 N -1=703 Between groups 265.73 k-l=2 132.87 5^.68 Within groups 1702.25 N-k=701 2.43
The calculated F ratio of 5^.68 with 2 and 701 degrees of freedom will occur less than one time in 1000 if the null hypothesis is correct. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and it is concluded that the observed differences are significant. A calculation of yields a figure of .135 which means that 13-5 percent of variance among the groups is explained by the number of occasions.
Since it is apparent that the Mission*s shelter is utilized frequently, it was decided to see how many of thess sheltered m 1972 had been to the Mission in 1971 and had been to the Mission in the first six months of
1973* The 1973 data was in the file along with the 1972 data. It is believed that the vast majority of the 1971 data was also in this file. Table 11 provides a summary of the findings. Analysis of the data reveals that 36.8 percent of those sheltered in 1972 were also sheltered in either 1971 or 1973 both. According to the data,
67.5 percent of those from Ohio but not Columbus and
71.2 percent of those from outside Ohio were not shel tered in 1971 or 1973. This demonstrates, in part, the temporary nature of some men's transiency and the extensive nature of other men's travels. That is, some men may come to the Mission once and return home or move on to another place and settle down. Others travel so extensively that they seldom return to the same place very frequently. It is interesting to note further that 5^ percent of Columbus residents had been sheltered in 1971 and/or 1973. This points to the conclusion that the Mission serves as a temporary refuge for Columbus TABLE 11
NUMBER AND PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF INDIVIDUALS
SHELTERED IN 1972 WHO WERE ALSO SHELTERED IN 1971
AND/OR 1973, BY RESIDENCE CATEGORY
Columbus Ohio Outside Unknown Total Ohio
Total 296 83 285 59 763 100# 100# 100# 100# 100#
Sheltered in 1971 82 27 32 5 146 but not in 1973 27.7 22.0 11.2 8.5 19.1
Sheltered in 1973 38 6 19 9 72 but not in 1971 12.8 4.9 6.7 15.3 9.^
Sheltered in both 40 7 3 63 1971 and 1973 13.5 5.7 4 .6 5.1 8.3
Not sheltered in 136 83 221 42 482 either 1971 or ^5.9 67.5 77.5 71.2 63.2 1973
residents in need.
Table 12 gives an overview of the age distribution
of the men sheltered in 1972. The median age of the men
sheltered in 1972 is 43 years with the mean age of the
total distribution being 42.5 years. Men ages 30 49
account for 56.1 percent of the total. It is interesting
to note that those under age 25 account for only 6.4 per cent of the distribution. Scrutiny of the data in Table 12 relative to the mean ages of the various residence 56
TABLE 12
AGE DISTRIBUTION, MEN SHELTERED AT FAITH
MISSION, 1972, BY RESIDENCE CATEGORY
Age Columbus Ohio Outside Unknown Total Percent Ohio Distri bution
Total 296 123 285 59 763 18-19 2 4 3 0 9 1.2 20-24 10 8 17 5 4o 5.2 25-29 19 10 30 8 67 8.8 30-34 20 16 41 5 82 10.7 43 13 45 7 108 14.2 » 57 10 46 11 124 16.3 45-49 44 24 37 9 114 14.9 50-54 38 15 34 8 95 12.5 55-59 26 8 17 3 54 7.1 60-64 22 9 8 3 42 5.5 65-6 9 7 3 0 0 10 1.3 70-74 4 0 1 0 5 0.7 75 and over 1 0 0 0 1 0.1 Unknown 3 3 6 0 12 1.6
Mean Age 44.8 41.1 40.3 42.5 years years years years
groups reveals that Columbus men are, on the average, older (44.8 years) than the other age groups (41.1 and
40.3 years). The question arises as to whether the noted difference is in fact significant. In order to answer the question, an analysis of variance was computed on the data. The following null hypothesis was testedi H0i There is no difference in the average age of various residence groups sheltered at Faith Mission in 1972.
Table 13 gives the computed data for the analysis of variance.
TABLE 13
COMPUTATIONS FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF
DIFFERENCES IN AVERAGE AGE OF MEN SHELTERED
AT FAITH MISSION, 1972, BY RESIDENCE CATEGORY
Source of Sums of Degrees of Estimate F Variance Squares Freedom of Variance
Total 67,631.33 N-l=691 Between groups 6051.73 k-l=2 3025.87 Q - Within groups 61,579.60 N-k=689 89.38
The calculated F ratio of 33.85 with 2 and 689 degrees of freedom will occur less than one time in 1000 if the null hypothesis is correct. The hypothesis is therefore rejected and it is concluded that the observed difference between the means of ages of the residence groups is significant. A calculation of the correlation ration g2 gives an E2 of .089 which means that age explains only
8.9 percent of variance among the residence categories.
It was decided to further test the relationship of various factors to being sheltered at the Mission. It has already been determined that there are significant differences in frequency of attendance by "previous residence of the individual." Columbus residents tend, on the average, to be lodged the most while those whose last known address is outside of Ohio, tend to be lodged the least, on the average. It has also been found that there are differences in the age composition of the various residence groups. To test the effect of age on the frequency of attendance for each residence group independently, a series of chi squares was calculated.
Frequency of attendance is initially broken down into the following categories* one to seven days, eight to fourteen days, fifteen to twenty-one days and twenty- two days or more. Age categories were constructed on the basis of the observed age distribution of sheltered men and include the following* 18 to 35» 36 to 42, 43 to 49 and 50 and over. The following null hypothesis is being tested for each residence group*
H0* There is no difference in frequency of being sheltered among individuals of different ages.
Tables 14, 15 and 16 provide the data breakdown for the calculations. Using the chi square table for nine degrees of freedom, it is found that none of the chi squares are significant at even the .05 level of sig nificance. The null hypothesis cannot be rejected, therefore, and it is concluded that age has no signif- cant relationship to frequency of attendance. 59 TABLE 14
FREQUENCY OF ATTENDANCE, COLUMBUS RESIDENTS,
BY AGE (N = 293)
Frequency of Age o / C ; i o h o h o f* 1-7 days 46 49 51 59 8-14 days 8 10 13 25 15-21 days 3 3 3 5 22 or more days 1 5 5 7 X 2 = 8.18 TABLE 15 FREQUENCY OF ATTENDANCE, OHIO RESIDENTS, BY AGE (N = 120) Frequency of Age Attendance 18-35 36-42 43-49 50+ 1-7 days 38 15 24 30 8-14 days 2 2 2 2 15-21 days 1 0 0 0 22 or more days 1 0 1 2 X2 = less than 1 60 TABLE 16 FREQUENCY OF ATTENDANCE, NON-OHIO RESIDENTS, BY AGE (N = 279) Frequency of Age Attendance 18-35 36-42 43-49 50+ 1-7 days 87 55 54 51 8-14 days 7 5 4 7 15-21 days 1 2 0 1 22 or more days 1 2 2 0 X 2 = less than 1 Since most of the cases fall into the one week category, it was decided to compute additional chi squares using as the attendance categories, one day, two days, three days and four to seven days. Tables 17, 18 and 19 provide this data. Again the chi square values are not significant at the .05 level of sig nificance. The null hypothesis cannot, therefore, be rejected. 61 TABLE 17 FREQUENCY OF ATTENDANCE, COLUMBUS RESIDENTS, BY AGE (N = 205) Frequency of Age Attendance 18-35 36-42 43-49 50+ 1 day 14 11 16 13 2 days 11 10 12 14 3 days 4 9 10 7 4-7 days 17 19 13 25 X2 = 6.74 TABLE 18 FREQUENCY OF ATTENDANCE, OHIO RESIDENTS, BY AGE (N = 106) Frequency of , Ase, , Attendance 18-35 36-42 43-49 50+ 1 day 16 7 14 15 2 days 10 1 1 3 3 days 8 7 ? 1 4-7 days 5 4 8 4 X 2 = 15.^8 62 TABLE 19 FREQUENCY OF ATTENDANCE, NON-OHIO RESIDENTS, BY AGE (N = 24?) Frequency of Age Attendance 18-35 36-42 43-49 50+ 1 day 44 20 30 30 2 days 24 18 8 9 3 days 10 5 5 5 4-7 days 9 12 11 7 X2 » 12.17 3. Transients and Residents Characterized In toto, 73 of the Mission's clients were inter viewed. Of these, three (4.1 percent) were white females. Because of the smallness in number of this group, they will be excluded from further data analysis. Age and Racial Convpositiont Of the 70 males, 59 were white (84.3 percent) and 11 were black (15.7 percent). The black males were, on the average, slightly younger when compared to white males, 42.2 years compared to 45.8 years. In terms of the typology established for this analysis, 45 of the 70 males (64.3 percent) are classified as Columbus Residents and 25 (35.7 percent) are Transients. Of the 45 Residents, ten (22,2 percent) are black. Only one (four percent) of the 25 Transients 6 3 is black. Table 20 provides an overview of the age composition of the clients. TABLE 20 AGE COMPOSITION OF RESCUE MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE, SUMMER 1973 Age Residents Transients Total Bogue's Data* t 0 0 0 H Total • (45) IOO.056 (25) 100.07S (70) 100.0?S 20-29 years 6.7 (3) 20.0 (5) 11.4 (8) 4.4 30-3^ years 6.7 (3) 16.0 (4) 10.0 (?) 5.8 35-39 years 11.1 (5) 12.0 (3) 11.4 (8) 11 * 3 40-44 years 13.3 (6) 12.0 (3) 12.9 (9) 12,4 45-49 years 13.3 (6) 16.0 (4) 14.3 (10) 16.2 50-54 years 22.2 (10) 24.0 (6) 22.9 (16) 13.2 55-59 years 11.1 (5) 7.1 (5) 10.9 60-64 years 6.7 (3) 4.3 (3) 8.3 65-69 (2) 2.9 (2) 9.3 70 years (2)and over 4.4 (2) 2.9 (2)and 8.2 * Bogue, 1963i91 In comparing the total data with Bogue's data from Chicago, the underrepresentation of elderly individuals, age 65 and over, but an overrepresentation of individuals in the age group 50 to 54 is evident. What is even more striking, however, is the general similarity in the age distribution of Residents and Bogue's sample, but the dissimilarity of the age distribution of the Transients from both the Residents' distribution and Bogue's. Clearly, the Transient group is younger. This is further evidenced by the fact that the average age of the Tran sients is 4-0.0 years while the average age of the Resi dents is 54.1 years. Living Arrangementsi The men interviewed were currently living in a variety of places. The Transients were generally staying at the Mission, at the Volunteers of America, or living outside (88 percent). Three men in this category who were temporarily semi-permanent were in rooming houses. Of the Mission Residents, all but seven (15.6 percent) had a room or apartment. The seven were either temporarily staying at the Mission or sleeping outside. Of the Mission Residents, 21 (46.7 percent) lived in rooming houses, and five (11.1 percent) reported living in an apartment. The others were currently living in a variety of places such as the YMCA, the Salvation Army or the Volunteers of America. Of all those living in rooming houses, hotels and the like, only 25 percent reported having private baths and only 40 percent said they had cooking facilities. In terms of the entire sample, only 12.9 percent of the men had a private bath and only 20 percent had cooking facilities available. Concerning the kinds of places they had slept in during the past year, Mission Residents generally re ported only the Mission, hotels and rooming houses although several mentioned parks and "weed patches." Transients listed a greater variety of places including any or all of the following* parks, freight trains, Missions, Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, hotels, rooming houses, grave yards, junk yards, woods and abandoned buildings. Of further interest is the fact that while 71.1 percent of the Residents did not get free lodging in the past week, only 26,7 percent of the Transients did not. However, only 26,7 percent of the Residents and none of the Transients reported no free meals. This data is not surprising in light of the infor mation concerning the unavailability of cooking facil ities for the vast majority of those interviewed. Family Background of Mission Clients* Table 21 provides a summary of where Mission clients were born and where they grew up. Of the Residents, bz.2 percent were born in Ohio. Additionally, 26.7 percent were born in two states contiguous to Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Only 31.1 percent were born in other areas. This compare to the fact that 6*4- percent of the Transients were born in states other than Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Only 12 percent of the Transients were born in Ohio and none in Columbus. Perusal of the data on the area where clients grew up reveals some differences. More Residents grew up in the cities than Transients (51.1 percent compared to 32 percent). Transients are more TABLE 21 WHERE MISSION CLIENTS WERE BORN AND GREW UP Residents Transients Total t-* o o o A. Area of Birth 45 (100.0%) 25 • 70 (100.0#) Columbus, Ohio 6 (13.3) 0 (0.0) 6 (8.6) Ohio ~1 -X"5 (28.9) 3 (12.0) 16 (22.9) West Virginia 7 (15.6) 2 (8.0) 9 (12.9) Kentucky 5 (11.1) 4 (16.0) 9 (12.9) Other states 13 (28.9) 16 (64.0) 29 (41.4) Out of the country 1 (2.2) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.4) B. Type Area Lived in While Growing Up 45 (ioo.o%) 25 (100.0#) 70 (100.0#) Farm 10 (22.2) 6 (24.0) 16 (22.9) Town 8 (17.8) 9 (36.0) 17 (24.3) City 23 (51.1) 8 (32.0) 31 (44.3) Suburb 0 (0.0) 2 (8.0) 2 (2.9) Coal camp 4 (8.9) • 0 (0.0) 4 (5.7) represented in small town life than. Residents Also, two Transients reported growing up in the suburbs of a city, no Residents did. By the same token, four Residents grew up in coal camps, while no Transients did. To shed some light on the socio-economic background of the clients, they were asked about their father's occupation. Table 22 gives a summary of the findings. While definitive conclusions are not possible, the data 67 TABLE 22 FATHER*S OCCUPATION Occupation Residents Transients Total Bogue's Data* Total 100.0# (^5) 100.0# (25) 100.0# (70) 100.0# Professional, technical 2.2 (1) 12.0 (3) 5.7 (4) k A Farmer, farm manager b.k (2) 16.0 W 8.6 (6) 20.0 Manager, of ficial, pro prietor, ex cluding farm 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 9.1 Clerical, kin dred worker 2.2 (1) 0.0 (0) 1.^ (1) 1.7 Sales worker 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 1.9 Craftsman, foreman, kin dred worker 2b A (11) 32.0 (8) 27.1 (19) 23.0 Operative, kindred worker (mine) 26.7 (12) 8.0 (2) 20.0 <1*0 18.2 Service worker 0.0 (0) 8.0 (2) 2.9 (2) 3.5 Farm laborer b A (2) 0.0 (0) 2.9 (2) 0.8 Laborer, excluding mine 22.2 (10) 12,0 (3) 18.6 (13) 11.9 Occupation not reported 13*3 (6) 12.0 (3) 12.9 (9) 5.5 ♦Bogue, 1963*333 suggest that the fathers of Transients tend to hold more skilled and prestigeous occupations when compared to the Residents. For example, 60 percent of the Tran sient's fathers held jobs described as professional, manager, and craftsman, while only 31 percent of the Resident's fathers held such jobs. Additionally, 53.3 percent of the Resident's fathers held jobs described as operative, farm laborer and laborer while 20 percent of the Transient's fathers were in such positions. In comparing the data to Bogue's, the under representa tion of client's fathers in an occupation such as farm manager is striking. This no doubt reflects the changing occupational structure of the United States. Despite the fact that Transients seem to come from slightly higher socio-economic backgrounds, percent said that their family was poor or very poor while 37.8 per cent of the Residents made this claim. Further com plicating this picture, however, is the statement by only 82.2 percent of the Residents that they had enough to eat while they were growing up. Ninety-two percent of the Transients said that they did. Mission Clients as Adolescents! Table 23 gives a profile of the Mission clients as adolescents. Most clients (87.I percent) said that they were happy. However, analysis of motivations, goals and "restlessness" reveals some striking differences between Residents and Tran- 69 TABLE 23 PROFILE OF MISSION CLIENTS AS ADOLESCENTS, BY RESIDENCE Residents Transients Total i u c l j l t t a c i i w* 0 0 0 section 45 (100.0^) 25 • 70 (100.07S A, Were you happy? Yes 40 (88.9) 21 (84.0) 61 (87.1) No 4 (8.9) 4 (16.0) 8 (11.4) No answer 1 (2.2) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.4) B. Had an occupa tional goal Yes 32 (71.1) 15 (60.0) 47 (67.1) No 11 (24.4) 10 (40.0) 21 (30.0) No answer 2 . (4.4) 0 (0 .0) 2 (2.9) C, Hard worker Yes 41 (91.1) 19 (76.0) 60 (85.7) No - tended to be easy going 3 (6.7) 6 (24.0) 9 (12.9) No answer 1 (2.2) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.4) D, Restless - wanted to be on the go Yes 22 (48.9) 16 (64.0) 38 (5^.3) No 19 (42.2) 8 (32.0) 27 (38.6) No answer 4 (8.9) 1 (4.0) 5 (7.1) E. Number of friends Had a lot of friends 26 (57.8) 15 (60.0) 41 (58.6) Only a few friends 9 (20.0) 6 (24.0) 15 (21.4) . Lone wolf 7 (15.6) 4 (16.0) 11 (15.7) No answer 3 (6.7) 0 (0 .0) 3 (^.3) 70 Residents Transients Total F. Ran with a gang Yes 10 (22.2) 7 (28.0) 17 (24.3) No 33 (73.3) 18 (72.0) 51 (72.9) No answer 2 (4.4) 0 (0.0) 2 (2.9) G. Dated, opposite sex Yes 35 (77.8) 21 (84.0) 56 (80.0) No 9 (20.0) 4 (16.0) 13 (18.6) <4 / * f. \ N c ansv;e r 1 (2 .2)(0 .0 ) X V J. .4; H. Got into trouble with the police Yes 10 (22.2) 11 (44.0) 21 (30.0) No 35 (77.8) 14 (56.0) 49 (70.0) sients. For example, while 71.1 percent of the Residents claimed to have an occupational goal while growing up, only 60 percent of the Transients so indicated. Further, only 76 percent of the Transients claimed to be hard workers while 91.1 percent of the Residents said they were hard workers. Additionally, 64 percent of the Tran sients claimed that they were restless compared to 48.9 percent of the Residents who so claimed. Referring back to the question concerning goals, it is interesting to note that of those Transients who had a goal, 86,7 percent of them aspired to a white collar type occupa tion. Only 50 percent of the Residents had a similar goal. Concerning friendships, dating and gang activity, both Residents and Transients are very similar as can be seen by scrutiny of Table 39. In summary, 58.6 per cent of all clients claimed to have a lot of friends and only 15.7 percent reported being lone wolves. Only 24.3 percent of the respondents said they ran with a gang. Further, 80 percent reported that they dated at least somewhat regularly. Relative to how they spent their spare time, the following activities were reported by the percent of men indicated* playing sports, 50 per cent; chasing girls, 14.3 percent; fishing and hunting, 11.4 •'lercent; working, 11.4 percent; drinking, 10 per cent; partying, 10 percent; going to movies, 8.6 per cent; shooting pool, 4.3 percent and reading, 2.9 percent. In addition to the differences between Transients and Residents noted above, Transients had more contact with the police than Residents during adolescent years. Forty-four percent of the Transients reported contact while only 22.2 percent of the Residents reported such contact. Reasons for contact for both groups centered primarily on fighting and drinking. Table 40 provides an overview of the educational * attainment of the Mission's clients. The greatest significant differences between the Residents and the Transients is in the number completing high school. A greater percent of the Transients are high school graduates (40 percent) than Residents (26.6 percent). 72 TABLE 24 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE Educational Residents Transients Total Bogue* s Attainment Data* O O r-* O O O O O O O • • • Total (45) -C& (25) (70) 100.0# No education 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 2.9 Grade school 1-4 years 2.2 (1) 4.0 (1) 2.9 (2) 14.7 5-7 years 20.0 (9) 16.0 (4) 18.6 (13) 21.5 8 years 11.1 (5) 12.0 (3) 11.4 (8) 20.5 High school 1-3 years 37.8 (17) 28.0 (7) 3^.3 (24) 21.2 4 years 15.6 (7) 32.0 (8) 21.4 (15) 13.3 College 1-3 years 11.1 (5) 4.0 (1) 8.6 (6) 4.7 4 years or more 0.0 (0) 4.0 (1) 1.4 (1 1.1 No infor mation 2.2 (1) 0.0 (0) 1.4 (1) *Bogue, 19631110 In general, then, Transients are better educated. In comparison of the total data with Bogue's, it is clear that the Mission's clients are better educated. While 31.4 percent of the clients are high school graduates, only 19.1 percent of Bogue*s group were graduated from high school. Conversely, while 59.6 percent of Bogue's sample had eight years or less of school, only 32.9 per cent of the clients had this little education. While the Transients are somewhat better educated, only 56 percent of them said they definitely enjoyed school while 77.8 percent of the Residents said they did. Conversely, 20 percent of the Transients said they dis liked school while only 6.7 percent of the Residents said they disliked school. When asked why they stopped going to school, the following reasons were givem had to go to work, 25.7 percent; lost interest, 21.4 per cent; graduated, 20 percent; family couldn't afford to stay in school, 14,3 percent; wanted to work, 12.9 percent; drafted, 5.7 percent; thrown out, 2.9 percent; illness, 1.4 percent; no response, 4.3 percent. The only major differences between Transients and Residents in reasons given related to the percent who graduated as noted above and the percent who lost interest and wanted to work. Thirty-two percent of the Transients cited "lost interest” and 15.6 percent of the Residents did. However, 17.8 percent of the Residents said they left school because they wanted to work while 4 percent of the Transients gave this reason. If, however, both of these reasons can be considered similar, lack of interest in school is similar among the two types of Mission clients. A final factor to be considered in this section is the age at which clients left home. Table 25 gives a summary of the data on age clients left home. In comparing Residents and Transients, it is clear that 74 TABLE 25 AGE AT LEAVING HOME, MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE Age Residents Transients Total Bogue's Data* Total 4-5 (100.0#) 25 (100.0#) 70 (100.0#) 100# Under 15 years 5 (11.1) 1 (4.0) 6 (8.6) 11 15-17 years 6 (13.3) 10 (4-0.0) 16 (22.9) 18 18-19 years 15 (33.3) 6 (24.0) 21 (30.0) 17 20-21 years 4 (8.9) 4 (16.0) 8 (11.4) 15 22-24- years 6 (13.3) 0 (0.0 ) 6 (8.6 12 25-29 years 0 (0.0) 1 (4.0) 1 (1.4) 12 30-34- years 2 (4-.4) 1 (4,0) 3 (4.3) 6 35 years and over 1 (2.2) 1 (4.0) 2 (2.9) 6 No infor mation 6 (13.3) 1 (4.0) 7 (10.0) 4 *Bogue, 196313^7 Transients left home at an earlier age than Residents. While only 24.4 percent of the Residents left home prior to age 18, percent of the Transients did. Similarly, only 12 percent of the Transients left home after age 21 in comparison to 19.9 percent of the Resi dents who did. Comparing ttes9 data to Bogue's, reveals that the clients left home at an earlier age. While 61.5 percent of the clients left home prior to age 20, only 4-6 percent of Bogue's sample did. 75 Marriage Historyt Table 26 gives an overview of the marriage history of the clients. TABLE 26 NUMBER OF YEARS EVER-MARRIED MISSION CLIENTS LIVED WITH THEIR WIVES Years men Residents Transients Total Bogue* s lived with Data^ their wives 0 w» 0 0 Total • (35) 100.0% (14) 100.0% (49) 1 0 0 % Less than one year 0.0 (0) 7.1 (1) 2.0 (1) 7 1 year 2.0 (1) 0.0 (0) 2.0 (1) 6 2 years 2.9 (1) 0.0 (0) 2.0 (1) 10 3_4 years 21.4 10.2 Pi P i 13 5-6 years 8.6 (3) 7.1 (1) 8.3 IS 9 7-9 years 11.4 (4) 14,4 (2) 12.2 (6) 17 10-14 years 25.7 (9) 7.1 (1) 20,4 (10) 15 15-19 years 8.6 (3) 21.4 (3) 12.2 (6) 11 20 years or more 28.6 (10) 7.1 (1) 22.4 (11) 11 No infor mation 5.7 (2) 14.4 (2) 8.3 (4) ♦Bogue, 19631366 Perusal of the table reveals that Residents evidenced longer marriages. Concerning the difference between Residents and Transients, the data show that 50 per cent of the Transients and 31*5 percent of the Resi dents lived with their wives less than ten years. ?6 Sixty-two percent of Bogue*s sample were married less than ten years. In comparing the three groups on per cent who lived with their wives two years or less, the following is found* Residents, 5.8 percent* Tran sients, 7.1 percent* Bogue's group, 23 percent. The data, then, reveal that the Mission clients lived with their wives for a longer period of time than did Segue's group and Transients lived with their spouses for less time than Residents. When married men were asked what had caused their divorce or separation, the following reasons were given by the percent of men indicated* respondent's drinking, 27.3 percent* quarrelling other than over drinking, 27.3 percent* wife unfaithful, 13.6 percent* work, travels, military service, 6.8 percent* respondent un faithful, *K5 percent* medical, ^.5 percent* no response, 15.9 percent. The only real difference between Resi dents and Transients in reasons given related to drink ing as the causative factor. While 23.3 percent of the Residents cited their drinking as causing the marriage to break up, 35.7 percent of the Transients mentioned this. This is understandable in light of the fact that there are a greater number of alcoholic derelicts among Transients than among the Residents. 4. Portrait of a Mission Regular John was born fifty-one years ago in a small mining town in West Virginia. He was one of six children. His father worked in the coal mines and John spent his childhood and adolescence in different coal camps through out West Virginia. His family was economically comfortabl and always had enough to eat. He describes his father as being "good to us" and his mother as "wonderful." John said that he did not like his father's drinking although he was not a heavy drinker. His mother did not drink. According to John, his parents got along very well and had a happy marriage. He liked both of his parents equally well, but thought his mother helped him the most while he was growing up. As an adolescent, John reports that he was happy although he did not like school. He was a hard worker, had a lot of friends, did not run in a gang, dated girls irregularly and played sports in his free time. He reports that he did not get into trouble with the police during this time. He wanted to be a truck driver when he got out of school. John completed the ninth grade in school and indicated that the only thing he 2 iked about school was some of the kids. He quit school to go to work and has not had any other training since that time. He left home at the age of 20 to join the 7 8 army. John was married once but was divorced after twelve years. He says that his drinking caused the problem. He and his wife had four children, three sons and a daughter. Both of his parents are dead and his wife, children and brother and sisters are scattered in Florida, New Mexico, California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The only relative John has seen or corresponded with in the past two years is his sister who lives in Columbus, Ohio. He has no ill feelings toward his relatives but says that they would not help him even if they knew he needed help. John has been a general laborer all of his life but reported that he did not work at all during the week preceding the interview. He did not work because of a health problem relating to the functioning of his circulatory system. John would like a steady job but doesn't think he could handle any type of work. During the past year John reported that he only worked about twelve weeks. He is currently living on welfare and claims he had a total income of about $2200 in 1972, John currently lives alone in a rooming house and has no cooking facilities or private bath. He likes it because it is clean but feels that it costs too much. During the year preceding the interview John says that he lived outside for two weeks, at the Mission for two months and the rest of the time at the rooming house. According -go shelter records, John spent 95 nights at the Mission during 1972. He stayed there more than anyone else during 1972. John indicated that the neighborhood in which he was living is okay but he dis likes the number of people who drink in groups. John would prefer to remain living in the same neighborhood but would like to live in a private room with some cooking facilities. John expresses familiarity with the term Skid Row and views it as a place where there are a lot of drunks. He considers himself as currently living on Skid Row and has lived on it for a reported one and one-half years during his lifetime. John came to Columbus in 19^5 after getting out of the service. He has been a permanent resident since that time, never having moved away. The author had the opportunity to observe John and to talk to him for several days while engaged in obser vation. As a result of this experience and the infor mation from the interview, a complete picture of a typical day for John is possible. John arises at 7 a.m. dresses and shaves and heads for the Ohio State House grounds in downtown Columbus without breakfast. John is at this place by 8*30 a.m., which was the time the author arrived. In general, the entire day centers around the corner of State ahd High Streets. Except for short walks for business or pleasure or a nap in his room in the afternoon, John sits on the concrete wall and talks with his friends or watches passers-by. Occasionally John will stretch out on the lawn of the State House and take a nap. The short trips taken during the day usually involve getting a drink of water, using the public restrooms or taking care of a personal matter. This latter situation may involve going to the welfare office for assistance or to the Salvation Army for clothes. Conversations during the day take varying forms. Those the author heard related to news of the day, "strange" occurrences or people on the streets, welfare and pension checks and discussions about one of their group who was absent but had caused some con troversy because of his behavior. There was also talk about the Mission - if they were going tonight, who would be there, and things that had occurred on a pre ceding evening. About b p.m., John and some of his friends go to a downtown Catholic Church for free sandwiches and cakes which are given out daily in con junction with a local vending machine company. The author went with the group on one occasion and witnessed this daily ritual. Women and children always went first and the author was overwhelmed by the callousness, crude language and lack of respect evidenced by the children, especially young females. Most of those receiving food took it home. However, John and several others, including the author, stood under some trees and ate the food. There was some trading of items, John commented at one point that one guy was "taking a shave." The author said, "What?" and John repeated that this guy was drinking hay rum. The drinker took periodic sips out of the plastic bottle he had in his pocket. He was quite intoxicated. All of those eating except one guy were careful not to litter. However, one fellow threw all of his trash on the ground. The others disapproved and cleaned it up, commenting that this kind of behavior "would ruin it for all of us." After this activity John usually returns to the State House or his room until 6 p.m. when he heads for the Mission. He worships, eats and returns to this room and goes to bed. It must be stated that interspersed throughout John*s day are times for private and group drinking. Other activities include occasionally playing cards, watching television and reading the paper. John never buys a paper but picks one out of the trash can at the entrance to the underground parking facilities on the State House grounds. Concerning the drinking of alcoholic beverages, John claims he is a moderate drinker who spends about ten percent of his income on liquor. He drinks wine, 82 usually in his room and alone. He has never been hospital ized for drunkenness, had delirium tremens or joined Alcoholics Anonymous. He has been arrested between ten and twenty times for public intoxication but not for any other offense, John sees himself as a "normal" and "honest" person and feels that it is not exactly hopeless to try to get ahead although he cannot say why this is true. If he could live his life over again he said he would do the following two things» (l) keep his family together; (2) stop drinking. When asked what three wishes he would make if he knew they would be granted, he responded that he wished (1) that he could stop drinking; (2) that Christ would give him the strength to be a better man; (3) that he could help others. John does not associate with women, is a democrat and believes the police do a good job in protecting the people on the street. He believes in God and feels the churches do a good job. John normally attends the Mission at least five times a week. He comes to hear the sermon, to eat and to talk to the other men. He indicated that he enjoys singing. He feels that the worship service is very good even though some speakers preach too long. The Mission is the only place where John attends religious services. He has never undergone a conversion or given a testimony during the services. 83 5. Portrait of a Contemporary Hobo Dan is 32 years old. He was born in New York City but his family moved to Gardena, California when he was two and he lived there until he left home at the age of 18 to join the armed forces. He has one brother. His father works for Firestone tires as an assembly line worker. He is also vice president of the local union. Dan's family is economically comfortable. He describes _ his father as a good man and said that he liked every thing about his mother. Dan further described his father as a heavy drinker and indicated that this was what he disliked about him. His father never served a jail sentence but was arrested for driving under the "influence," Dan describes his parents' marriage as good when he was a kid but says that it got increasingly worse through the years with more and more quarreling. They were divorced after 24 years of marriage. Dan responded that he liked his mother best and that he felt she helped him the most while he was growing up. As an adolescent, Dan.reports that he was happy, and that nothing bothered him. While attending school he pumped gas and worked as a clerk in a grocery store. He said he was not a hard worker but did what was expected. He had no special goals for the future during this time and says he was restless and on the nervous side. Dam claims he had only a few friends, did not run in a gang, and dated girls on the weekend. In his spare time he played ball. The only trouble he got into with the police was from speeding in his car. He got several tickets. Dan was graduated from high school and attended two years of college at UCLA, majoring in physical education. He quit college because he lost interest in it and got bored with the routine. Dan says that it "got old." Dan was married after he got out of the service but the marriage ended in divorce after four years. He describes the first two years of his marriage as good but then says he began to get tired of being married. He started gambling, drank more and began messing around with other women. When asked what caused the divorce, Dan replied "me." Dan and his wife had two children. Concerning his family and relatives, his wife, children, brother and father all live in Los Angeles, California. His mother still lives in Gardena, California. He saw all of these individuals two years ago when he was in California. He occasionally phones his mother or writes. He called his wife six months ago but she would not talk to him. Dan says that he loves all of his relatives but his wife. To the question concerning whether his relatives would help him if he were in trouble, he responded that he felt only his mother 85 would. Dan currently works at spot labor jobs but has worked for longer periods of time. He sold medical supplies in California for one and one-half years, worked in construction for two years in California and tended bar for ten months in Phoenix, Arizona. He says he liked the construction work the best but was fired from that job because "I didn’t show up for work and they couldn't depend on me." Dan claims he would like to settle down and have a steady job, but he never seems to be able to stop moving. In the week preceding the interview, Dan had worked three days for eight hours each day, doing spot work. Two days he unloaded trucks and boxcars and the third he worked in a factory. He earned an average of $1.70 per hour. During the past year, Dan reported that he went two or three weeks without even working one day. During the weeks that he worked, he averaged 25 hours. Dan estimated that he earned a total of $3,000 during 1972. All of this but $50 came from working. The $50 came from his mother. This is Dan's second time in Columbus. In 1968 he passed through. Tonight (the night of the interview) he will sleep at the Mission. He likes the Mission because of its free food and cheap lodging. He did not particular ly like the neighborhood in which the Mission was located because of the filth and type of people there, Dan 86 said he would not want to be out on the streets at liOO a.m. Dan expects to stay in Columbus for about two or three weeks. During the year preceding the interview, Dan reports that he slept in parks, Missions, freight trains, the Salvation Army, the Volunteers of America, hotels, rooming houses and an apartment. Dan is, by definition, a contemporary hobo - he wanders and works. Dan says he started moving in i960 when he got tired of college and decided to hitch across the country. Since 3.960, he has moved and settled and moved. He's only been on the road for three or four years throughout the last 12 years. During this period, he spent five years in Los Angeles during which time he married. A recap of Dan's travels during the past 12 months will serve to illustrate the transient nature of his life. Approximately one year ago, Dan left Wisconsin and headed for Michigan where he spent four months in Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit. He went to Syracuse, New York for three weeks. Then followed one month in Boston, two months in New York City, one and one-half months in Philadelphia and three months in Pittsburg. In all of these cities he worked at spot jobs. Dan says he left Pittsburg because he was bored and got "itchy feet." When Dan is not traveling, his days vary only according to whether he works or not. Dan arises about 6i00 a.m. He does not dress because he has slept in his clothes. His early arising is due to daylight coming to the parks, etc. and the policy of such places as the Mission and the Volunteers of America. These organizations insist that the men be out on the streets early enough to be in a competitive position for spot labor jobs. Dan does not eat breakfast but goes directly to one of the several spot labor employment agencies. If he works, he eats lunch on the job. Spot labor jobs usually average between five and eight hours a day. After work, he eats dinner at a "hamburger joint." After dinner, if he has money, he bar hops. If he does not, he goes to his room and to bed. If Dan does not work, he spends the day walking the streets and drinking. If he does not have any money he may try to sell his blood or just spend the day in the park. Dan's entire leisure activity revolves around walking and drinking. Other activities do not interest him or are unavailable to him. Dan does associate with women if the opportunity arises. He indicated that one must be cleaned up to have any chance of scoring. He does not avail himself of prostitutes but relies on meeting girls in bars, stores or on the street. Concerning the drinking of alcoholic beverages, Dan claims he is a periodic heavy drinker. The periodic nature of his drinking relates only to the availability 88 of money. He drinks whiskey, usually in a bar and usually with others. Dan said that he only had whiskey to drink on one day in the preceding week. Dan also said that he had been arrested between ten and twenty times for public intoxication. He has never been hospitalized for being drunk, never had delirium tremens and has never joined Alcoholics Anonymous. When asked about the use of drugs, Dan said that he had used marijuana about ten years ago. When Dan was asked to describe himself, he said that he was "not that bad of a guy as far as hurting anyone else." He felt he treated others well. He says that sometimes, when he reaches rock bottom, he feels it is hopeless to try to get ahead. If he had his life to live again, Dan says he would try to straighten himself out and would cut down his drinking. Asked to make three wishes, Dan asked for a "better standard of living" and a "normal life." Dan was raised in the Catholic Church and says he believes in God. However, he is not "hipped on church" and claims not to get much out of religious services, including those at missions. Dan went to Catholic school and said he "got religion up to here" (pointing to his neck). The night Dan was interviewed was his first time at Faith Mission. He said that some guy at the spot 89 labor office referred him to the Mission and he came primarily for food and lodging. He felt the evening's religious service was conducted nicely. He expressed a general appreciation and like for missions since they "provide a place for people like me to go." Conclusions The data presented in this chapter point to several important considerations. Relative to the age of Skid Row inhabitants, both Bogue's data and the data collected for this study indicate that young people are not present on Skid Row. Only nine out of 763 (1.2 percent) men sheltered in 1972 were under 20 and they reported being 18 or 19. None of those interviewed by Bogue or this writer was under 20. Skid Row today, then, is not a haven for young runaways or young people in general as it apparently was in the past. This tends to confirm the existence of youth communes or other types of set tings that draw the young who leave home. Data also reveal that Nels Anderson's (1923»137) contention that "Tramping is a man's game" is still relatively true. Few women were counted among the clients of the Mission. Those women encountered were not Transients. Concerning the clients of Faith Mission, it will be recalled that many authors have proposed elaborate typologies. While the data do not totally discount any of the typologies, a more definitive and significant typology was suggested in the author*s judgement. This typology includes a categorization of the clients in terms of being Residents of Columbus or Transients. In comparing these types on a variety of characteristics and then in comparing the client data with Bogue's data, striking differences and similarities are noted. In general, comparing Transients with Residents, Transients are younger, grew up in states further removed from Ohio, come from higher socio-economic backgrounds, are better educated and work more. The data clearly indicate that there are contemporary hobos - men who wander and work. In comparisons of data with Bogue's results, the striking similarities occur between Residents and Bogue's sample. Dissimilarities are usually found in comparisons of Transients and Bogue’s sample. It can be concluded that Bogue's study, because of its methodology, missed a significant group of Skid Row inhabitants, the Tran sients. Considering the findings in light of the concern for social control and societal integration, the typology developed has major import. It will be recalled that Robert Park viewed the hobo as perhaps the most deviant of groups because of their locomotion and lack of voca tion and commitment. Data indicate that there exists ■today a group of individuals equally mobile and equally unintegrated and unattached as Nels Anderson* s hobo and those Jesse Dees encountered in his study of flop houses. The major question becomes how to integrate a group that has no roots in the system. Compounding the concern is the problem of helping these individuals, if such help is deemed necessary, when they seldom settle very long in any one place. The stability or mobility of Skid Row inhabitants is only part of the picture, however. The existence of a Skid Row subculture is a significant part of any consideration of social control. The next chapter will look at this aspect of Skid Row. CHAPTER V SKID ROW AS A WAY OP LIFE Introduction Wiseman’s comment that Skid Rows are similar from city to city and time to time leads to the speculation that despite changes in the size and nature of the Skid Row population, men and women who find themselves on Skid Row become involved in a unique way of life, an urban subculture. Samuel Wallace's overriding thesis in his manuscript is that Skid Row is a way of life with its own institutions, socialization, status order, special language and tradition. In his writing, Wallace contrasts this way of life with the pre-Skid Row life style described as the homeless-vagrant-hobohemian way of life. It must be noted that Wallace (1965il^3) disagrees with those who call contemporary Skid Row men "homeless." He maintains that they are not homeless because Skid Row is their home. Other writers, however, include the adjective "homeless" in describing the conditions of the Skid Row life style. For example, Bogue (1963*2) describes Skid Row men as sharing three conditions, homelessness, poverty and acute 92 93 personal problems. Despite the lack of agreement on the "homeless” nature of Skid Row men, it is certain that in terms of the more common definition of what it means to have a "home," Skid Row men are "homeless.” Wallace (1965«1^6-148) acknowledges this when writing that the Skid Rower is isolated from his family and kin, friends, employments political life- participation in society's legal institutions and the marriage relationship. Wallace (1965*160) writes additionally that "Skid rowers adjust to their deviance as well as to their isolation by developing one set of attitudes for the insider and another set for the outsider." Another aspect of the subculture of Skid Row is described by Anderson (1923*55-56) as the "game" of getting by. Since one is judged by the methods he uses, there is a great deal of satisfaction from playing the game well. The primary means of getting by include odd jobs 1 peddling small articles* street faking (peddling to crowds)* "putting over" (old and new forms of graft)* "working" the folks at home* "white collar" begging (exploiting one's membership in organizations such as labor unions or the armed services)* "jack-rolling*" and borrowing or begging (Anderson, 1923*^0-52). Sara Harris (1956*139) identifies tolerance as an important norm in Skid Row as well as drinking, Harris (1956*57) writes that "the majority of men along Skid 94 Row, U.S.A., drink heavily because heavy drinking is the pattern of their world." Wallace identifies the status of drunk as the core status on Skid Row. Related to this aspect of life, Wallace (1965191093) notes that drunks provide the main menace to life, property and the maintenance of order on Skid Row. This is the major source of violence in an otherwise relativelv non-violent community. Another aspect of the subculture is the argot that has developed. Space does not permit an overview of the special language developed by Skid Rowers. However, lists of the argot can be found in Wallace's book (1965) and in an article by Susan Castellano (1973). Since drinking is a major aspect of Skid Row life, it is not surprising that many terms have been developed by Skid Rowers cen tering on ways to obtain alcoholic beverages, or as Spradley (1972i343-349) puts it, "ways to make a jug." Spradley lists over thirty-five terms related to this activity. Several examples are "spot jobbing," "making the mission," "meeting a live one," "making the blood bank," and "hustling a queer." After initial exposure to Skid Row and some degree of regular participation in its way of life, Wallace (19651164) postulates a third stage through which Skid Rowers go. This stage evidences a conformity to the Skid Row values and a rejection of society's values. In other words, the Skid Row subculture is accepted by the resident; he becomes socialized into the unique way of life described above. It was decided to use the term "subculturization" to describe the process whereby a man becomes immersed in the Skid Row way of life. This process initially appeared in the literature under the name of "shelterization" and was introduced by Edwin Sutherland and Harvey Locke (193611*14) in their 1936 study of twenty thousand homeless men in Chicago. Jesse Dees (19^8*126) in his book Flophouse also elaborates the process identified by Sutherland and Locke. When the individual first makes contact with the shelter (or Skid Row in general), Dees describes his outlook as one of optimism. He is usually dissatisfied with his lot and believes that he will soon get work and thus his shel ter stay will only be temporary. Dees (19**8i126) writes that "he feels aloof from all those 'bums* in there, and that he would commit suicide before he would sink to such a level.” As time passes, however, and things do not get better, optimism fades into pessimism. Additionally, regimentation of life leads to personality disintegration. The general result of shelterization is described by Sutherland and Locke (1936*1^6) as follows; "He shows a tendency to lose all sense of personal responsibility for getting out of the shelter; to become insensible to the element of time; to lose ambition, pride, self respect, and confidence..." Sutherland and Locke (19361 14-7) elaborate further on the specific aspects of shelter ization. These include* adjustment to food and regi mentation, psychological changes in attitudes and adjust ments to the general shelter situation. Psychological changes include an adoption of a dependence role, change in work attitudes, adoption of common emotional attitudes, adoption of collective ideas and deterioration toward the level of a "bum." Relative to emotional changes, Suther land and Locke (1936*156-158) describe the Skid Rower as becoming more distrustful, discouraged, apathetic, hope less and frustrated. His deterioration to the level of bum includes a loss of desire to work and concomitant cessation of job hunting, begging, dirty and tattered clothing and general poor personal appearance (Sutherland and Locke, 1936*150-1511 Dees, 19^8*133). Problem The existence of a Skid Row subculture has important implications for social control. If a subculture does exist and individuals are socialized into it, it is reasonable to assume that the norms of the subculture will become important determinants of behavior for par ticipating members and societal control mechanisms will have less impact (Cohen, 1970*103* Irwin, 1970*109-110). Additionally, the existence of a subculture, according to Arnold (1970i115-117) indicates the existence of a number of individuals sharing a similar status. There fore, the continuing analysis and verification of a Skid Row subculture is significant. Additionally, while the current research did support some of the con tentions noted above relative to the Skid Row subculture, other findings contradicted stated conclusions. For example, while the author did encounter subcultural argot such as "taking a shave" (for drinking bayrum) and "tailor made" (for prepackaged cigarettes) the sig nificance of drinking in the subculture was not clearly supported. Following is selected data bearing on some of the elements identified above as integrally character istic of the Skid Row subculture (isolationism, drinking, apathy, hopelessness, loss of desire to work, for example). The Skid Row Subculture Re-evaluated The contention that Skid Row inhabitants are gener ally isolated from normal society and their family and therefore are "homeless," receives support in the data collected for this study. Table 27 provides data on the marriage status of Mission clients. The major difference between Transients and Residents lies in the percent of each who never married. Forty-four per cent of the Transients and only 22.2 percent of the Residents reported being single. In comparing the 98 TABLE 27 MARITAL STATUS, MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE Marital Residents Transients Total Bogue's Status Data* Total 100,0% <^5) 100. o fo (25) 100.0 fo (70) 100.0% Single (never married) 22.2 (10) 44.0 (11) 30.0 (21) 43.1 Separated 24.4 (11) 16.0 w 21.4 (15) 15.9 Divorced 42.2 (19) 40.0 (10) 41.4 (29) 28.4 Widowed 8.9 (4) 0.0 (0) 5.7 (4) 10.4 Married 2.2 (1) 0.0 (0) 1.4 (1) 0.0 No infor mation 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 0.0 (0) 2.2 ♦Bogue, 19631108 findings to Bogue's data, the Transients, in terms of per cent single, approximate Bogue's findings (43.1 percent of Bogue's group was single). With relevance to the aspect of isolation, it is of significance that only 1.*+ percent of the clients are presently married. All the rest are unattached. To determine the status of relations of clients with their relatives, a series of questions were asked that attempted to ascertain knowledge of relatives where abouts, relationships with them and feelings toward them. Table 28 provides an overview of the data collected. Of the total sample, 53.1 percent of the 99 TABLE 28 STATUS OF RELATIONS WITH RELATIVES, MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE Residents Transients Total A. Knows what children are doing Total 35 (100.0%) 14 (100.0%) 49 (100.0%) Yes 18 (51.4) 8 (57.1) 26 (53.1) No 12 (34.3) 5 (35.7) 17 (34.7) No information 5 (14.3) 1 (7.1) 6 (12.2) B. Location of living blood relatives % % Columbus 21 (46.7) 3 (12.0) 24 (34.3) Have written or visited within last 2 years (16) (76.2) (3) (100.0) (19) (79.2) Ohio but not Columbus 18 (40.0) 9 (36.0) 27 (38.6) Have written or visited within CD m last 2 years (14) (77.8) (7) ^3 (21) (77.8) Other states 34 (75.6) 19 (76.0) 53 (75.7) Have written or visited within last 2 years (14) (41.2) (16) (84.2) (30) (56.6) C. Feelings to ward relatives Total 45 (100.0%) 25 (100.0%) 70 (100.0%) Good feelings 23 (51.1) 15 (60.0) 38 (54.3) Neutral feelings 11 (24.4) 9 (36.0) 20 (28.6) Bad feelings 7 (15.6) 1 (4.0) 8 (U.4) No response 4 (8.9) 0 (0 .0 ) 4 (5.7) D. Relatives would aid respondent in time of need Total 45 (100.0%) 25 (100.0%) 70 (100.0%) 100 Residents Transients Total Yes 29 (6k A) 22 (88.0) 51 (72.9) No 10 (22.2) 2 (8.0) 12 (17.1) Don't know 6 (13.3) 1 (4.0) 7 (10.0) clients know with some degree of accuracy what their children are doing. There is little difference between Residents and Transients in this regard. Scrutiny of Part B of Table 28 reveals that 46.7 percent of the Res idents have blood relatives in Columbus, while only 12 percent of the Transients do. What is perhaps more surprising is the fact that of those Residents who have relatives in Columbus, only 76.2 percent of them have had contact with them in the past two years. It is also interesting, but not surprising, that 84.2 percent of the Transients who have relatives in states other than Ohio have had contact with them. The contact reported was a visit, not correspondence. It is perhaps surprising that 41.2 percent of the Residents have had contact with relatives in other states in the past two years. For the younger men, the contact usually involved a visit. For older men it was usually a letter. Concerning feelings toward their relatives, Tran sients in general expressed more positive feelings, with 60 percent reporting good feelings and 36 percent re porting "neutral" feelings. This contrasts to 51.1 101 percent of the Residents who reported good feelings and 24.4 percent who indicated neutral feelings. This general attitude is further reflected in the response to the question on whether relatives would provide aid in times of need. While only 64.4 percent of the Resi dents said yes, 88 percent of the Transients said yes. In general, it can be seen that Residents are some what more alienated and removed from their relatives than are the Transients. Another indication of subcultural existence is the extent and meaning of friendships among Skid Row men. Data reveal that Transients and Residents differ in terms of friendships and the network of interpersonal relations. While 68.9 percent of the Residents (31 of 45) indicated that they had close friends among the clients, only 4o percent (ten of 25) of the Transients so indicated. The average number of close friends for Residents is ten while for Transients it is four. These results are not surprising considering the mobility and short term residence of Transients. When those without friends were asked why they had no friends, 80 percent (12 of 15) responded that they had not been in town long enough. The fact that ten of the Transients had "close” friends is indicative of the rapidity with which those cut off from the rest of society are able to make friends with those in similar circumstances. It is interesting to note that of the 14 Residents who did not have friends, four said that while they had no friends they had many "associates." These four were all young blacks and defined associates as those with whom one could talk and from whom one could borrow. This relationship seems very similar to the "neighbor" relationship described by Keller (1968122-26). When asked if their friends differed from the other clients, 41.9 percent of the Residents who reported having close friends said no and 30 percent of the Transients said no. For those reporting differ ences, the most frequently mentioned differences in cluded the following! don't drink as much (34.1 percent mentioned)} are more settled (17.1 percent)} are more congenial (14.6 percent)} and are workers (14,6 percent). Transients mentioned the "more settled" and "more con genial" characteristics more than the Residents. This probably relates to the fact that since, at least at Faith Mission, Residents outnumber Transients, the latter group makes friends more frequently with the "settled" Residents simply because of the opportunity factor. Transients would probably be more quickly drawn to more congenial individuals since friendship in a short term residence setting is at best difficult. Further specula tion on the basis of such limited data would be unwarrant ed. To get some idea about how the clients felt about other clients, a series of questions was asked concerning what each individual liked and disliked about other clients and how many friends he had among the other clients. All but 20 percent (14 men) expressed some like for the other clients. The most frequently men tioned "likes" included congeniality and friendliness (32.9 percent mentioned)! similarity to oneself (15.7 percent)1 generosity and sharing (12,9 percent)! will ingness to leave one alone (5.7 percent)! and honesty (4.3 percent). Prominent dislikes included drinking (mentioned by 22.9 percent of the men)! belligerence (8.6 percent)! noisiness and rowdiness (8.6 percent)! laziness (5.7 percent)! coarse language (4.3 percent)! and racial mixture (4.3 percent). Twenty-four indi viduals (34.3 percent) did not respond. The categories used in categorizing responses are similar to Bogue's (19631145-146). In general, the men in the current study did not mention likes and dislikes to the extent Bogue's sample did. For example, while 8.6 percent of this group said clients "will help you out,” 20 percent of Bogue's sample mentioned it. Similarly, while 22.9 percent of the clients expressed a dislike for drinking, 63 percent of Bogue's sample expressed a similar dislike. The difference between Residents and Transients were too minute to discuss. If friendships and attitudes toward others is lOJf indicative of a subculture, it must be concluded that a subculture does exist, although it seems to be stronger among Residents than Transients. As noted above, drinking is considered as the core status and normative imperative in the Skid Row culture. Data presented by Bogue and data gathered in this re search, however, do not offer overwhelming support for this contention. In order to classify the Mission's clients in terms of their drinking, criteria similar to that developed by Bogue (1963190-91) were utilized. The typology and criteria followi Teetotaler - a person who says he never drinks and for whom there is no evidence to controvert his claim, including the observations of the interviewer. Light drinker - a person who says he is a light drinker and who spends less than 15 percent of his income on drinking, and who drank less than 3 pints of whisky (or equivalent) during the week preceding the interview. Also included are persons who say they are moderate drinkers, but who drank less than 2 pints during the preceding week and spend not more than 10 percent of their income on drinking. Moderate drinker - a person who says he is a moderate drinker and who spends between 15 and 35 percent of his income on drinking and who drank more than 5 pints of whisky (or equivalent) during the week pre ceding the interview. Also included are men who call themselves "light drinkers" but who spend 20 to *K) percent of their income on drinking, men who call themselves "heavy drinkers" but who spend less than 20 percent of their income on drinking and drank less than 5 pints in the preceding week, or periodic drinkers whose spells of drinking are spaced 3 or more months apart and who spend less than 35 percent of their income on drinks. Heavy drinker - a person who says he is a heavy drink er and who spends 2 5 percent or more of his income on drinking or who drank 6 or more pints of whisky (or equivalent) during the week preceding the interview* 105 or who says he is a "light" or "moderate" drinker hut spends 40 percent of his income on drinking and drank more than 5 pints of whisky (or equivalent) in the week preceding the interview. Alcoholic derelict - a long-time heavy drinker who has sacrificed almost everything for drinking. These men qualify as heavy drinkers (as defined above) and, in addition, have been arrested at least 10 times for drunkenness (including once in the last 6 months), and who also are characterized by one of the follow ing (a) a health condition attributed to prolonged drinking, (b) D.T.'s one or more times, (c) 65 per cent or more of their income spent on drinking, or (d) hospitalized one or more times as a result of drunkenness. If there was no record of jail or arrests, a heavy drinker was classified as an alco holic derelict if he had 2 or more of the conditions listed above that did not refer to the same episode of drunkenness. Table 29 gives an overview of the clients using Bogue's drinking classification. The major differences between Residents and Transients are in the areas of heavy drinking and alcoholic derelicts. While 15.6 percent of the Residents are heavy drinkers, only k.O percent of the Transients are. However, 28,0 percent of the Transients are alcoholic derelicts and only 11.1 percent of the Residents are. In comparing the data with Bogue's results, the Resident's drinking classification distribution is more similar to Bogue's sample than is the Transient's. The major variation between the Residents and Bogue’s group is in the greater prevalence of light drinkers and slightly smaller percents in each of the other categories. The difference between the Transients and Bogue's group is similar to that described above for Transients and Residents. When asked about 106 TABLE 29 DRINKING CLASSIFICATION OF RESCUE MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE* SUMMER, 1973 Drinking Residents Transients Total Bogue's Classifi Data* cation Total 100.05? (45) 100.05? (25) 100.05? (70) 100.05? Teetotaler 11.1 (5) 12.0 (3) 11.4 (8) 14.8 Light drinker 40.0 (18) 36.0 (9) 38.6 (27) 28.4 Moderate drinker 22.2 (10) 20.0 (5) 21.4 (15) 24.4 Heavy drinker 15.6 (7) 4.0 (1) 11.4 (8) 19.9 Alcoholic derelict 11.1 (5) 28.0 (7) 17.1 (12) 12.6 ♦Bogue, 1963«92 participation in Alcoholic Anonymous programs, 35.6 per cent of the Residents (16 men) and 32 percent of the Transients (8 men) said they had participated. While 45.8 percent of the 24 men who had contact said that the program had helped them, only one was currently a non-drinker. The effects of AA were, then, only momen tary. Most of the men who had indicated contact with such programs admitted that the contact was generally only casual and that they had not given more than one or two weeks to it. Over half of those who had had some contact with AA programs had been to more than 107 one program. Clients when asked why they thought others drank gave the following reasonsi to escape reality and present problems, 51.^ percent mentioned! addiction, 18.6 per cent! for recreation, 18.6 percent! for companionship and to be sociable, 2.9 percent. Twenty percent said they didn’t know why they drank. When asked why they drank, the 62 drinkers responded as followsi to escape reality, 38.7 percent! for recreation, 35.5 percent! for companionship, 29.0 percent! guilt feelings for failure, 8.1 percent! addiction, 6.5 percent! family background, 4.8 percent! don't know, 11.3 percent. It is interesting that what they attribute to others, they are less willing to attribute to themselves. This is demonstrated by the fact that more men say they drink for recreation and companionship rather than to escape. Yet in describing others, they heavily emphasize escape and not recreation. Table 30 provides an overview of arrests of clients for public intoxication. No significant differences between Residents and Transients is evident. What is significant is the fact that only 21.4 percent of the sample has never been arrested and 15.7 percent have been arrested over 30 times each. The policy of the police in Columbus to arrest public intoxicants is evident in the data. 108 TABLE 30 ARRESTS FOR DRINKING, MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE Number of Residents Transients Total Arrests Total 45 (100.095) 25 (100.0?$) 70 (100.0?$) Never arrested 10 (22.2) 5 (20.0) 15 (21.4) 1-5 times 9 (20.0) 2 (8.0) 11 (15.7) 5-10 times 12 (26.7) 4 (16.0) 16 (22.9) 10-20 times 5 (11.1) 5 (20.0) 10 (14.3) 20-30 times 2 (4.4) 2 (8.0) 4 (5.7) 30 or more times 7 (15.6) 4 (16.0) 11 (15.7) No response 0 (0 .0) 3 (12.0) 3 (4.3) Another area of interest is the attitudes of the clients concerning work, themselves and a variety of other topics. Table 31 provides an overview of the employment status of the Mission's clients at the time of the interview. The differences in employment status between Residents and Transients seem slight, although 68 percent of the Transients were employed compared to 55.6 percent of the Residents. It is not surprising that all of the Transients who were employed had spot jobs while 48.9 percent of the Residents had spot jobs and 6.7 percent (three individuals) had steady work. Survey of the table does reveal significant differences between the work status of the Mission clients and 109 TABLE 31 EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF MISSION CLIENTS, BY RESIDENCE, SUMMER, 1973 Residents Transients Total Bogue's Data* Total 100.072 (45) 100.072 (25) 100.072 (70) 100.072 Employed 55.6 (25) 68.0 (17) 60.0 (42) 39.8 Steady job 6.7 (3) 0.0 (0) 4.3 (3) 21.9 Spot jobs 48.9 (22) 68.0 (17) 55.7 (39) 17.9 Unemployed 8.9 (4) 8.0 (2) 8.6 (6) 23.4 Did not care to work 0.0 (0) 4.0 (1) 1.4 (1) 9.0 Could not work - ill, jail, etc. 15.6 (7) 16.0 (4) 15.7 (11) 6.1 Not in labor force 20.0 (9) 4.0 (1) 14.3 (10) 21.7 ♦Bogue, 1963i173 Bogue's sample. For example, while 60 percent of the clients were employed, only 39.8 percent of Bogue's sample was. Of this 39.8 percent, 21.9 percent were employed at steady work while only 4.3 percent of the clients were. It is also interesting to note that while 21.7 percent of Bogue's sample was not in the labor force, only 14.3 percent of the clients were not. This could be accounted for by the fact that Bogue's sample was selected on the basis of living units and he may have contacted a more stable population 110 than the Mission clients who were all "walking, active, volunteers" in this study. While only one individual (1,4- percent) in the Mission indicated that he did not care to work, nine percent of Bogue's sample so indicated. In terras of type of work preferred, the vast majority of those interviewed expressed a desire for steady employ ment. Of the Mission Residents, 91.1 percent said they preferred steady work. This compares to 88 percent of the Transients who indicated the same. In Bogue's sample, 90.1 percent said they wanted steady work (I9631I92). Despite this response, only 60 percent of the Residents and 84 percent of the Transients felt that they could handle such steady work. The others cited health problems as the reason they could not work steadily. Of the entire sample, 87.1 percent (86.7 percent of the Residents and 88 percent of the Transients) said that they would accept free job training. The desire for steady work is not difficult to understand when it is found that those Resi dents who were employed in spot jobs in the week preced ing the interview worked only 3.2 days on the average and only seven hours on an average day. Transients worked only 2.9 days, on the average, in the preceding week. Couple this with the hourly wage of $1,80, on the average, and the small income of these men is evident. While there is evidence to indicate that these men want to work and do work, it is clear that they do not Ill have steady jobs. Whether this is due to their inability to find such work or lack of desire because of sub cultural values is difficult to assess. To determine how clients viewed themselves and felt about their life in general, a series of questions was asked. When Mission clients were asked to describe themselves, they responded most frequently with the followingj a likeable, friendly person (52.9 percent mentioned); a normal, average person (34.3 percent); a good person (24.3 percent); a working man earning his own way (8.6 percent); and a victim of poor luck (5.7 percent). Only 10.0 percent responded with negative conceptions, 7.1 percent saying they were alcoholics and 2.9 percent saying they had inferior abilities. Only 2.9 percent of the sample did not respond. Consistent with these positive self-conceptions, were the responses concerning their attitude toward getting ahead. Eighty percent of the Transients and 75.6 percent of the Residents said that they did not feel it was hopeless to try to get ahead. This gives a rate of 77.1 percent for the entire sample compared to a rate of 85 percent found by Bogue, Twelve percent of the Transients and 15.6 percent of the Residents said that they felt it was hopeless to try. Ten percent of Bogue's sample reported this same feeling compared to 14.3 percent for the clients. A total of 8.6 percent of 112 the clients indicated that they didn't know. When asked why they felt the way they did, most of those having hope said that it was never too late. The hopeless responded that they had experienced hard times and that they had tried and had made no progress. Table 32 provides a summary of the responses to a question about what the client would do differently if he had his life to live over. It is interesting that 17.1 percent of the respondents would do nothing differ ently and an additional 15.7 percent don't know what they would do differently. This indicates that close "to 33 percent of the men have little insight into the factors causing their current life situation. Resi dents are worse off in this regard as ^2.2 percent of them responded as noted while only 16 percent of the Transients did. It is also noteworthy that a greater percent of Transients as compared to Residents would control their drinking, work harder and get more edu cation. These changes seem to reflect the differences in socio-economic background noted earlier between Resi dents and Transients. Clients were also asked to make three wishes that they would like to come true. Table 33 gives a summary of the responses. Of some interest is the fact that 31.^ percent of the men expressed a wish to return to an earlier situation with his family of orientation or pro- 113 TABLE 32 WHAT MISSION CLIENTS SAID THEY WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY IF THEY HAD THEIR LIVES TO LIVE OVER AGAIN, BY RESIDENCE CLASSIFICATION Response Residents Transients Total Bogue's Data* % % % % Would not do any thing differently 22.2 (10) 8.0 (2) 17.1 (12) 15 Would control drinking 17.8 (8) 28.0 (7) 21.4 (15) 25 Would not marry 6.7 (3) 0.0 (0) 4.3 (3) 5 Would work harder 4.4 (2) 20.0 (5) 10.0 (7) 8 Would marry or try to make my mar riage a success 4.4 (2) 16.0 (4) 8.6 (6) 18 Would take a dif ferent job n . i (5) 4.0 (1) 8.6 (6) 12 Would save my o o money 4.4 (2) • (0) 2.9 (2) 12 Would try to get more education 8.9 (4) 24.0 (6) 14.3 (10) 26 Would be more religious 4.4 (2) 12.0 (3) 7.1 (5) 7 Would never have left home 6.7 (3) 0.0 (0) 4.3 (3) •m Would do everything differently 8.9 (4) 0.0 (0) 5.7 (4) 3 Wouldn't be on road 0.0 (0 ) 12.0 (3) 4.3 (3) Don't know what would do 20.0 (9) 8.0 (2) 15.7 (11) 7 ♦Bogue, 1963*397 oreation. Only 20 percent of Bogue's sample wished similarly. It is interesting that only 5.7 percent of 114 TABLE 33 THINGS MISSION CLIENTS WISHED FOR, BY RESIDENCE Wishes Residents Transients Total Bogue's Data* * % * "A To be able to con trol drinking 2.2 (1) 12.0 (3) 5.7 (4) 00 For marriage, a happy home 6.7 (3) 24.0 (6) 12.9 (9) 17 For a job 24.4 (U) 16.0 (4) 21.4 (15) 34 For health, better health 28.9 (13) 20.0 (5) 25.7 (18) 25 Contact with neighbors and friends 6.7 (3) 4.0 (1) 5.7 (4) 7 Happiness, contentment 6.7 (3) 20.0 (5) 11.4 (8) 8 Money, material wealth 22.2 (10) 48.0 (12) 31.4 (22) 26 A better place to live 4.4 (2) 20.0 (5) 10.0 (7) 17 To be more religious 20.0 (9) 4.0 (1) 14.3 (10) 7 To be reunited with wife and children 17.8 (8) 16.0 (4) 17.1 (12) 14 Wishes person now dead could be brought back 15.6 (7) 12.0 (3) 14.3 (10) 6 Wishes he was a better person 11.1 (5) 16.0 (4) 12.9 (9) Makes a frivolous wish 4.4 (2) 0.0 (0) 2.9 (2) 11 Man refuses to make t wish or can't 17.8 (8) 4.0 (1) 11.4 (8) 7 *Bogue, 1963095 115 the men wished to be able to control their drinking while 21.4 percent said they would control their drinking if they could live life over (See Table 32). These two responses seem inconsistent but may reflect some under lying feeling that if one could start over he would change, but based on the current situation, there are other more practical things to look for. In this regard, it is not surprising that yi.h percent of the men wanted money and material things and 10 percent wanted a better place to live. It should also be noted that 25.7 percent of the men wished for better health, with a greater per cent of Residents than Transients so wishing. Conclusions Data collected by Bogue in Chicago and data collected in this study tend to offer both support and refutation of a Skid Row subculture. It does seem that the clients of the Mission are "homeless” in the sense that they are not attached to the traditional family institution. In this sense they are isolated from normal society. By the same token, the Residents, at least, have close friendships among the other clients. Such a situation should give rise to a subculture. As noted in the intro duction to this section, there is distinctive argot associated with the way of life of the clients. There is, then, support for a Skid Row subculture. 116 However, other evidence tends to call into question some of the subculture values espoused by Harris, Ander son and Wallace. For example, the conclusion that drinking is a core status and a significant norm on Skid Row is not supported by the quantitative or quali tative data. Also, the contentions that Skid Row men have no hope, don't work and have negative self-con ceptions is not supported. While there may be a sub culture that offers support to "homeless" men,the exact nature of this subculture is not clear. If the data is accurate, the subculture's values do not compel with drawal from expected societal behavior. Additionally, the clients of the Mission do not seem to be beyond the reach of help. It must be stated, however, that the data do indicate some difference between Transients and Residents, with the Transients tending to be more positive in general. In terms, then, of societal integration and control, the data offer several insights. It does seem to be true that there is a Skid Row subculture. Its exact nature, however, is unclear. It might be that, through support and its own cohesion, the subculture may integrate certain individuals into a deviant life style and thus threaten societal integration and make the job of helping institutions more difficult. Conversely, the subculture may act only to help those whom society has alienated and disenfranchised by providing some support and some feeling of belonging. If the data is correct, the latter seems to be most accurate. Again, however, it must be stated that Residents tend to be slightly more prone than Transients in having attitudes like those described as characteristic of Skid Row inhabitants. If this is true, the job of helping institutions should be easier. It would not be necessary to reverse a pattern of sub- culturized values, but only offer assistance to those who really want things differently. One possibility, however, still exists. That is, that all of the positive attitudes which are expressed may be only a "lie" in the sense that they are expressed but not really felt. If this is true, the Skid Row subculture is so strong that the reversal of life styles for these men is practically impossible regardless of the assistance offered. It should also be stated that even if this is not true, and there is no support for it, some men no doubt find the way of life on Skid Row to their liking. This, how ever, would not indicate the existence of a strong negative subculture, but only that the anonymity and isolation of this way of life is appealing to these individuals. CHAPTER VI SOCIETAL REACTION TO AND INTERACTION WITH SKID ROW AND ITS INHABITANTS Introduction As noted in the introduction to this paper, the students of Robert Park were interested in studying the numerous forms of disorganization that were manifest in a variety of "social problems" in Chicago. Bell (19?1«2) in his recent work, Social Deviance, recaps the sociological approach to deviance and social problems and notes that the Chicago School evidenced the initial trend away from the study of social problems oriented by a concern for social change to the study of social problems as sociological problems. Bell (1971«2-3) writes that the 1930's and 19^0 *s were characterized by a shift away from the study of social problems to a systematic analysis of "social and cultural sources of deviant behavior." By 1950 the traditional approach to the study of social problems (atheoretical or social disorganization theory and ameliorative motive) had lost the interest of sociologists (Bell, 1971i3-*0. 118 119 Bell writes that "In the 1950's and 1960's there devel oped in American sociology a rapidly increasing interest in the study of deviancy. To a great extent this new interest was due to a dissatisfaction with the previous definitions of social problems and the attempts to explain those phenomena." Bell (1971*6-8) indicates that sociology in this recent period has made several major contributions to the study of deviancy. These contributions include the followingt 1) recognition that deviance in some cases has a long history and has in some instances become very systematic and patternedj 2) consideration of the fact that deviance involves an interactional process between the one who commits a deviant act and the society or his community! and 3) emphasis on research which is scien tific rather than value laden. With reference to point number two, the interaction process, Becker (1963131) notes in a discussion of the deviant career process that being caught and publicly labeled as a deviant is "one of the most crucial steps in the process of building a stable pattern of deviant behavior..." Not only however, is there the initial response to an act of deviancy and public labeling as noted by Becker, but there is sub sequent interaction which is colored by the deviant act, the assigned label and the frames of reference of those interacting. Becker (1963*15) stresses the unique 120 relationships possible when he defines "outsiders" as "those people who are judged by others to be deviant and thus to stand outside the circle of 'normal* members of the group." Labeling one an outsider is significant for all future interactions. As Goffman (196312) notes, society establishes means of categorizing persons and providing them with social identities. This makes social inter course relatively easy because people can be dealt with without special attention or thought. Goffman (19631 2- 5) explains that what usually happens is that we stigmatize an individual based on some evidence that he possesses an attribute that makes him different. The individual thus becomes tainted. As a result, society begins to discriminate against him in a variety of ways and this effectively reduces his life chances. The end result is that a stigma-theory develops and a number of imperfections are imputed to the individual on the basis of the original imperfection. In short, the individual becomes stereotyped. Additionally, Dinitz, Dynes and Clark (1969*12) write that while deviance represents a form of "unde sirable difference," the difference can be viewed in various ways, depending on the normative frame of reference of the individual. They (Dinitz, et. al., 1969*13) postulate five types of deviants* freak 121 (midget, fat person, mentally retarded)j criminal (murderer, addict)i sick (psychotic); sinful (sinner, apostate, heretic); and alienated (bum, tramp, hippie, bohemian). The major contribution here is that the stigmatizing and stereotyping may vary depending on the frame of reference. This will be of some interest in the current research because of the coming together in one place, the Rescue Mission, of an alienated group, as described above, and the church and church people whose frame of reference is religious ideologies. In order to assess the results of stereotyping, Emory Bogardus (1933*265-271) introduced social science to the Social Distance Scale, a device developed to measure the degree of acceptance or closeness individuals are willing to extend to a variety of deviant and/or minority groups. Problem In terms of social control, the interactionist perspective described above has important implications. Labeling and stereotyping should serve to increase the social distance between the labeled and the labelers. This can only serve to further increase the isolation and alienation of an "outsider" group. Also, the frame of reference against which the deviance is assessed will determine the nature of the assistance offered. It is reasonable to assume, however, that help based on inaccurate stereotypes and a questionable normative reference cannot be effective. This becomes particularly relevant when it is considered that the Rescue Mission's avowed purpose is to preach the word of God and to "rescue" souls. This automatically defines the problem and the solution in religious terms. How pervasive this ideology is and how effective it is are questions that will be addressed in this chapter and the next. In the long run, the success of society's efforts at helping "outsiders" no doubt rests on the accuracy of society's understanding of the deviant group. The lack of understanding can only lead to ineffectual programs. The data to be presented in this chapter will speak to some of the crucial issues raised by interaction theorists. Specifically, these issues include stereo typing and social distance. The question is how those who deal with the Mission's clients perceive them and their needs and how closely they are willing to associate with such individuals. These considerations will hope fully provide some evidence on the effect of interaction based on a "helping relationship" on stereotypes and social distance. 123 Perception of the Mission’s Clients There are two main groups of individuals who have contact with the clients at the Mission, the officers and directors of the Mission and the clergy and church volunteers who provide the worship and evening meal on a rotating "basis. Those comprising these groups, then, will constitute the sample from which data will be presented. The two main purposes for querying the officers and directors about the clients of Faith Mission were to see if they had stereotyped the men in any consistent way and to gain insight into the individuals attending the Mission from men who should have had considerable contact with the men. One director provided no answer. The substance of the comments by each of the others follows I 1) a lot intelligent? broken families? got on wrong track? men respond to concern? many trying to make it? 90 percent honest? most willing to do for themselves? 20 percent regular attenders, 80 percent transients? some older men can't help themselves. 2) dropouts - guys who couldn't make it? guys who don't want to make it? for 25 men this is their church, their home base. 3) large number of habitual drinkers on the bum? used to be a lot of transients. 4) cover gamut? young people just starting down hill? majority derelicts? have wandered so long have become callous? will eat anything, sleep 12 4 anywhere* no respect for dietary or sanitary rules* 50-50 regulars and transients. 5) lost* hopeless* existing* allergic to work (lazy)* loveable. 6) hard core regulars* way of life* some occasional productive work* all drink* transients - Appala- cian whites really down and blacks that have no other place to go. 7) all different* two types, drifters and alcoholics* all have one thing in common, have dropped out of human race in sense of achievement* not very motivated* make it hour by hour* one-third or more regulars. 8) we are all alike* none of us is better than another* different environments caused different traits to develop. 9) one-half old, disabled men with little money* can't go to organized church; non-permanent, some regular alcoholics, transients (boomers)* 50 percent travel 'cause of wanderlustj 50 per cent alcoholics* 50 percent regulars. 10) can't characterize - some don't drink or smoke* some very high level* 20-30 percent drink exces sively* 65 percent regular at Mission. 11) old pensioners* 25 percent regulars* largest percent feel like have been rejected from society* do things their own way* live day to day. 12) most drink* not all alcoholics* show respect during service* 30-35 percent regulars. 13) one-half are regulars* people who perceive that world has walked off and left them* some have very positive self images* some just plain losers. 1*0 never hostile toward me* respond to orders, all drink wine* "know their place"j more stiffening (arrogance) on side of blacks than 3 or ^ years ago* 60 percent of blacks and ko percent of whites feel world owes them a living* 15 percent tran sients. 125 15) variedf biggest majority! marriage problem - drink - divorce - habitual drinking (lose sense of values)i 50 percent are regulars. It is fair to say that this was a difficult question for the respondents to answer. While they did provide some characterization of the clients, most pointed out that the men were not all alike. The most prevalently mention ed characteristic (noted by eight of the 16) was that the men were drinkers. There were twelve different negative characteristics of the men presented including the following! derelicts, hopeless, little motivation, don’t want to make it, societal dropouts, drinkers and "just existing." These twelve images were mentioned 21 times. There were ten neutral or positive images mentioned a total of 13 times. These characteristics include love able, honest, trying to make it, transient, feel rejected and don't know how to make it. When asked what needs the men had, the following were mentioned by the percent of respondents indicated! economic, 50 percent! Christ, 50 percenti some one interested in them, 12.5 percent! friendship, 6.3 per cent! health, 6.3 percent. Four respondents provided no insight. Concerning how the Mission functions for its clients or why the men attend, the following reasons were given by the percent of officers and directors noted* for material goods, 50 percent! for worship, 25 percent; for fellowship, 18.8 percent; for what they can get out of it, 12.5 percent. Those mentioning "worship" as the reason went on to explain that they believed the Mission served as a church for the "regulars," and that these men simply did not feel comfortable or were not accepted in one of the established downtown congregations. Further, when asked if the men attend the worship service for the religious experience, eleven respondents (68.8 per cent) said that only a minority do while four others (25 percent) said that the regulars do. Only one believed that a majority attended to worship. It can be said then, that the officers and directors of Faith Mission perceive that only a certain percentage of the Mission's clients come to the Mission to worship. It was clear that transients are not so perceived. A final question posed related to how appreciative of the services pro vided the men and women who come to the Mission seemed to be. Seven respondents of the 16 (^3-8 percent) said that they believed a majority were appreciative, while an additional three (18.8 percent) said that only the regulars were. Another five (3I .3 percent) felt a minority were and one commented that it didn’t make any difference if they were appreciative or not. While perception of the men varies a great deal, there is a definite perceptual difference of regulars and transients. In general, the regular attenders are viewed as attending for worship or other sincere reasons 127 and as being appreciative of the services provided. Transients are generally viewed as attending for material goods only and as being unappreciative. As noted earlier, the worship and evening meal at Faith Mission are provided primarily by churches in the Columbus metropolitan area. In addition to particiapting churches however, there is one organ ization involved, the Columbus Christian Lay Fellowship. This is a group of business and professional men who meet weekly for lunch and Bible study. Five individuals also sponsor an evening each month but represent no specific organization. A list of all the churches and the representative interviewed is in Appendix G. Table Jk gives a summary of the number and variety of churches and individuals interviewed. Thirty-six (92.3 percent) of those interviewed said that they thought the Mission served a useful function for the clients. Specifically, they indicated that the following needs were meti physical. 48.7 per cent mentioned* spiritual, 28.2 percent* Christian fellowship, 12.8 percent. One individual said the Mission did not serve a useful function and that it wasn't a success story. It was specifically mentioned that the Mission was not good for the regulars since it made them too dependent. TABLE 3^ VOLUNTEER WORKERS IN FAITH MISSION PROGRAM, BY TYPE OF ORGANIZATION Total 39 Churches 33 American Lutheran 20 Mennonite 8 Baptist 3 Alliance 1 Church of God 1 Christian Lay Fellowship 1 Individuals 5 To assess the perception of the clients more com pletely, additional questions on their needs were posed. Thirty-eight (97.^ percent) commented that the men and women needed the religious worship service while one did not comment. Of these 38, six had some question as to the nature of the worship experience, feeling that probably there was a better way. V/hen asked if the clients got anything out of the worship service, only seven (17.9 percent) gave an unqualified yes. An addi tional 21 (53.8 percent) said that a certain group, the regulars, got something. Four respondents said that it varied by presentation and three (7.7 percent) said they did not know. When asked about the clients' need 129 for food and clothing, 26 (66.7 percent) said that they needed it and an additional five (12.8 percent) said that a majority needed it. Four others (10.3 percent) believed that some needed it and two said they did not know. Two did not respond. Of the 26 indicating the clients needed the material goods, seven (26.9 percent) expressed the belief that they needed it because they spent their money elsewhere, many spending it on alcohol. When asked if they felt the men and women appreciated the services provided, ten (25.6 percent) said yes, eight (20.5 percent) said a majority do, 16 (*KL.O per cent) said some do, three (7.7 percent) indicated they didn't know and there were two no responses. The volunteers who give their time and money to Faith Mission are a vital part of the ongoing program of the Mission. Their attitudes and opinions are, there fore, crucial to this study. Table 35 gives a summary of questionnaires distributed to and returned by the volunteers. The sample then, for this analysis consists of 131 volunteers, 52.6 percent of whom belong to American Lutheran churches, 25.1 percent who belong to the Mennonite churches and 22.3 percent who belong to a variety of other churches such as the Alliance church, the Baptist church and other similar churches. For the purpose of some of the analysis data will be TABLE 35 QUESTIONNAIRES DISTRIBUTED TO AND RETURNED BY FAITH MISSION'S VOLUNTEERS, JULY 1973 Distributed Re- Percent turned Returned Total i?i 131 76.6 American Lutheran Church Volunteers 84 69 82.1 Mennonites 46 33 71.7 Others (Alliance, Baptist, Misc.) 41 29 70.1 presented separately for the American Lutheran Churches (here after referred to as ALC) and all other churches and/or individuals. This will allow for some compar isons. The basis for this division into two groups relates to theology, interpretations of the Bible and evangelism emphasis. Comments by the representatives interviewed and the author's observation and discussion leads to the conclusion that such a division is proper and significant. In general, the American Lutheran Churches are more liberal theologically than the others noted above. They do not hold to a literal interpre tation of the Bible and are less evangelistic. The other churches and individuals are very evangelistic, 131 theologically conservative and hold to a literal inter pretation of the Bible. Whether this division is sig nificant in fact will be known after the data are presented and analyzed. Before completing the analysis, however, some description of the volunteers seems to be in order. Of the 131 respondents, 53.^ percent are female and *f4.2 percent male. Table 36 gives an age profile of the volunteers. It can be seen that most of the volunteers fall in the 30 to 50 age group. However, all ages are represented. It should be noted that those falling in the under 20 age groups are primarily Mennonite. The Ambassadors for Christ, a youth group of several Men nonite churches comes to the Mission once a month. The average age of all volunteers is 35 years. Table 37 provides a summary of the number of times those inter viewed had been to the Mission. Perusal of the data reveal that the volunteers do return to the Mission after their first visit. It is interesting that 50.5 percent of the sample had been to the Mission over five times. The volunteers, therefore, if the sample accurately reflects their composition, are generally a group that is vitally interested and involved in the Mission's program. Their responses, then, should pro vide considerable insight concerning the effects of 132 TABLE 36 AGE PROFILE, VOLUNTEERS OF FAITH MISSION Age Category in Number of Percent Years Volunteers Distribution Total 131 100.0 4 A •* ii 8.4 16-19 12 9.2 20-29 16 12.2 30-39 19 14.5 1*0-49 27 20.6 50-59 23 17.6 60-64 9 6.9 65 and over 4 3.1 No response 10 7.6 TABLE 37 NUMBER OF TIMES VOLUNTEERS REPORT ATTENDING MISSION Number of Times Volunteers Percent Reporting Distribution Total 131 100.0 1 24 18.3 2-5 38 29.0 6-10 24 18.3 11-14 12 9.1 15-19 9 6.8 20-24 7 5.3 25 or more 14 10.6 No response 3 2.2 133 interaction in a helping situation. The volunteers were asked to rank the services provided by the Mission in terms of what they felt the clients needed the most. Table 38 is a summary of the services and the number of individuals ranking each service as the most important or second most important^ Table 38 SERVICES MOST NEEDED FOR MISSION CLIENTS ACCORDING TO VOLUNTEERS Service Number Percent Number Percent Ranking Distri- Ranking Distri As Most bution As Second bution Important Most Important Total 131 100.0 119 100.0 Food 37 28.2 ^5 37.8 Gospel 81 61.8 18 15.1 Clothing 0 0.0 if 3.^ Fellowship 6 if.6 13 10.9 Shelter 0 0.0 10 8. if Counseling 1 0.8 26 21.8 Alcohol rehabili tation 1 0.8 3 2.5 No response 5 3.8 - - Scrutiny of the Table reveals that the two primary services needed, according to the volunteers, is the 134 word of God (Gospel) and food. Clearly, however, the Gospel is considered most important, as 61.8 percent of the volunteers cited it. Only 28.2 percent indicated food as the most important need. Table 39 provides a breakdown of these two top ranked needs by church affiliation. TABLE 39 TWO MOST NEEDED SERVICES FOR MISSION CLIENTS ACCORDING TO VOLUNTEERS , BY CHURCH AFFILIATION Services Church Number Ranking First and Affiliation Percent of Total Gospel Food All Others Total Total 81 (61.8) 37 (28.2) 13 (9.9) 131 (100.0) ALC 29 (42.0) 32 (46.4) 8 (11.6) 69 (100.0) Others 52 (83.9) 5 (8.1) 5 (8.1) 62 (100.0) Perusal of the Table seems to indicate a real difference between the ALC volunteers and those from the Mennonite, Baptist, Alliance and similar churches (others). While only 42 percent of the ALC volunteers indicated that hearing the Gospel was the most important need, 83.9 135 percent of the "others” said it was most important. Similarly, while 46.4 percent of ALC volunteers said that food was most significant, only 8.1 percent of the others said this. To determine if the difference cited is significant, a chi square was computed using the data in Table 39, The null hypothesis being tested isi H0i There is no difference between volunteers of the American Lutheran church and volunteers from all other churches on the perception of the service most needed by Mission clients. A chi square of 26.63 with three degrees of freedom was obtained. This value is significant at the .001 level of significance and thus the null hypothesis can be rejected and it can be concluded that the two groups of volunteers do perceive the needs of the clients differently. Nineteen statements about the clients of Faith Mis sion were provided and respondents were asked to agree or disagree with each. Answers have been coded to reflect either a negative or positive attitude toward the clients depending on whether the respondent agreed or disagreed with the specific statement. In some cases, therefore, agreeing with a statement would reflect a negative opinion of the clients. Table 40 gives the statement and the percentage distribution of positive and negative responses for each statement by church category. TABLE 40 ATTITUDES OF VOLUNTEERS TOWARD CLIENTS OF FAITH MISSION, BY CHURCH AFFILIATION* Statement Percent Distribution Positive Negative Don't Attitude Attitude Know 15. They need the food pro vided for them. ALC 92.7 1.4 5.7 Others 88.7 0.0 11.7 16. They all drink alco holic beverages.* ALC 34.7 11.5 53.6 Others 38.7 6.4 54.8 17. They have no friends.* ALC 37.6 11.5 50.7 Others 45.1 11.2 43.5 18. The religious worship service at the Mission is meaningful to them. ALC 59.4 4.3 36.2 Others 61.2 6.4 32.2 19. They are basically lazy.* ALC 52.1 7.2 40.5 Others 38.7 11.2 50.0 20. They do not work because they can't work or can't find work. ALC 37.6 21.7 40.5 Others 16.1 29.0 54.8 21. They would come to the worship service even if no food or clothing was provided. ALC 8.6 37.6 53.6 Others 11.2 50.0 38.7 137 Positive Negative Don't Attitude Attitude Know 22. They have little hope for the future.* ALC 24.6 39.1 36.2 Others 20.9 56.4 22.5 23. There is no life style worse than the life style of these individuals.* ALC 47.8 28.9 23.1 Others 48.3 27.4 24.1 24. They are all alcoholics.* ALC 43.4 5.7 50.7 Others 50.0 6.4 43.5 26. Those individuals who experience a conversion or recommit themselves during the worship service are sincere and this expe rience is significant to them from that time on. ALC 39.I 8.6 52.1 Others 24.1 12.9 62.9 27. They have no meaningful relationships with other people.* ALC 37.6 14.4 47.8 Others 22.5 22.5 54.8 28. The life style of these individuals makes them sinners in the sight of God.* ALC 56.5 24.6 18.8 Others .46.7 43.5 9.6 29. They appreciate the food and clothing provided for them. ALC 86.9 1.4 11.5 Others 77.4 3.2 19.3 Positive Negative Don't Attitude Attitude Know 30. They attempt to help them selves as much as possible by seeking work, counseling, etc ALC 15.9 20.2 63.7 Others 9.6 33.8 56.4 31. The men and women who come to the Mission can be helped. ALC 85.5 1.4 13.0 Others 91.9 0.0 8.0 32. They have the right to live the type of lives they want to live without interference from others. ALC 37.6 42.0 20.2 Others 36.3 54.6 12.9 33* They have little pride in their personal appearance.* ALC 47.8 30.4 21.7 Others 17.7 61.2 20.9 34. They appreciate the time people like me give to help them. ALC 75.3 2.8 21.7 Others 69.3 3.2 27.4 * Statements marked with an * indicate those where agreeing with the statement was a negative attitude. In all other cases, agreeing reflected a positive attitude. While scrutiny of the Table reveals that ALC volun teers seem in general to have more positive images of the clients than non-ALC volunteers, no clear trend is evident. It is safe to conclude that while some indi viduals no doubt stereotype the clients in a negative manner, there is no overwhelming evidence to suggest wide spread negative perceptions of the clients on the part of volunteers. This is generally supported by the fact that in most cases, positive attitudes exceed negative attitudes. Also, rather than guess, many simply responded that they didn't know if the statement was true or not. There are. however, some exceptions to these generaliza tions that should be noted. For example, statement 21, "They would come to the worship service even if no food was provided," was disagreed with by 50 percent of the "other" volunteers and 37.6 percent of the ALC volunteers. Similarly, statement 22 about the clients having no hope for the future was agreed with by 39.1 percent of the ALC respondents and 56.^ percent of the "others." State ment 32 about the clients having the right to live their own lives without interference was disagreed with by UrZ percent of the ALC volunteers and 5^.6 percent of the "others." It is interesting that 61.2 percent of the non-ALC volunteers agreed with statement 33 that the clients have little pride in their personal appearance. While some men were very dirty, the vast majority, based on participant observation, did what they could with what they had. The author was impressed with the extent of clean shaves and combed hair that was observed. The dirtiest men were clearly those who had been out working all day. 140 It is also worthy to note the most poignant positive attitudes. The vast majority of all volunteers clearly feel that the clients need the food and are not just milking the Mission (statement 15). Also a majority of volunteers, just about 60 percent of each church group, believe the worship service has meaning for the clients (statement 18). A large majority of the respondents also feel that the men appreciate what is provided (statement 29). Of significance is the fact that 85.5 percent of the ALC volunteers and 91.9 per cent of the "others" believe that the clients can be helped. Statement 25 was not included in the Table because the author could not decide whether agreeing or dis agreeing was the positive attitude. Statement 25 reads "They need the word of God in their lives." It is felt that one could argue the case either way. It was also felt that no one would disagree since all of the volun teers were connected to a religious group. This was, in fact, borne out as 97.1 percent of the ALC volunteers and 93.5 percent of the "others" agreed that the clients needed the word. The others indicated that they didn't know. While the percentage distribution is similar for each church group on many questions, there are some differences noted. To determine if these differences 14-1 were real, a chi square was computed for the total numerical score received by individuals. In scoring, "don't know" was given a "0" while "strongly agree" or "strongly disagree" was given a "1" or a "4-" depending on which was the positive attitude. Similarly, "agree" and "disagree" responses were given either a "2" or a "3.” The null hypothesis to be tested is« Hoi There is no difference between church groups in attitudes toward the clients of Faith Mission. Table 4-1 contains the data used to calculate the chi square. TABLE 4-1 VOLUNTEERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD MISSION'S CLIENTS AS REFLECTED IN TOTAL SCORE ON ALL ITEMS (N = 131) Church Total Score Affiliation 0-19 20-38 39-57 58-76 Total Total 11 72 4-7 1 131 ALC 6 35 27 1 69 Others 5 37 20 0 62 X 2 = 1.82 ( p > .05) Based on the computed test statistic the null hypothesis cannot be rejected and it is concluded that there is no significant difference between the church groups. 142 Another part of the volunteer questionnaire was a social distance exercise in which the respondents were asked to indicate the closest degree of relationship they would have with a variety of groups of individuals. It is interesting to note at the outset that 15.9 per cent of the ALC respondents and 27.4 percent of the respondents from the "other" churches did not fill out the social distance chart. This was a substantially higher no response rate than on any other portion of " the questionnaire. Concerning the respondents from "other" congregations, it should be stated that the greatest number of no responses came from Mennonites as contrasted with Baptists, Alliance members and others. Perusal of the questionnaire revealed that the younger the age of the Mennonite, the more likely he or she was to complete the exercise. Those Mennonites who did respond can be contrasted, however, to all other non respondents. The latter group simply left the page blank. Mennonite non-respondents, however, usually wrote a short note stating that they would accept all of these individuals if they would accept Christ. In addition to this comment or in lieu of it, a Bible passage was sometimes cited. Following is a sampling of some of the comments (comments appear as written by the volunteer)i 143 I want to say as a Christian God through me Praying for these people will change the violent sinner. Get your Bible and read - Matt, - 25th chapter and the 3 6 verse. When I said I would accept in my school, church, etc. I mean I would accept them but not their ways. Would accept them to be of help to them and to be a witness of the love of Christ. I would not prefer any association with any of the below mentioned unless there would be a possibility of winning them for Christ. I could only accept thes for what they are jlf they are willing to respond to help and advice. This is my Christian duty to do so. Sin is sin and I would rather not see any of it in our country! Table 42 contains a list of the groups, the average social distance toward each broken down by church affil iation and the rank ordering of the groups based on the social distance scores. A recap of the social distance categories followsi 1 Might marry or accept as a close friend 2 Might have as a close friend 3 Would accept as a next door neighbor 4 Would accept in my school, church, and so on 5 Would accept in my community, but would have no contact 6 Would accept as a resident of my country but not my community 7 Would not accept at all, even as a resident in my country It can be seen that the social distance scores for ALC respondents ranged from 2.13 (intellectuals) to 4,18 for marijuana smokers. For the non-ALC respondents the scores ranged from 2.51 (intellectuals) to 4.40 for homosexuals. In all cases but two, the average social distance score 144 TABLE 42 AVERAGE SOCIAL DISTANCE EXPRESSED BY VOLUNTEERS TOWARD SELECTED GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS AND RANK ORDERING Groups Average Social Rank Distance ALC Others ALC Others Abortion, women who have had an 2.16 2.82 2 5 Adulterers 3-49 4. 32 12 15 Alcoholics 2.65 3.33 5 7 Atheists 3.09 3.43 8.5 8 Clients of Mission 3.09 2.79 8.5 3 Drug addicts 3.80 4.05 13.5 12 Gamblers 2.98 3.86 7 11 Hippies 2.96 3.14 6 6 Homosexuals 3.80 4.4o 13.5 16 Intellectuals 2.13 2.51 1 1 Marijuana smokers 4.18 4.12 16 13 Ex-mental patients 2.39 2.69 3 2 Political radicals 3.37 3.73 11 10 Ex-prisoners 2.46 2.80 4 4 Prostitutes 4.04 4.17 15 14 Skid Row inhabitants 3.35 3.62 10 9 for ALC respondents is lower than that for non-ALC re- spondents. The two exceptions are marijuana smokers, where the scores are very close (4.18 and 4.12) and clients of Faith Mission. For the latter group, ALC respondents had an average score of 3.09 and non-AlC respondents had a score of 2.79. Additionally, in the ranking of scores for the two church groups, the 1^5 clients of the Mission rank 8.5 for ALC volunteers and 3.0 for non-ALC respondents. These figures cannot be denied, but the question is whether the differences noted are real. It was decided to test the difference between the mean social distance scores for clients by the difference of means test (t). The null hypothesis isi H0i There is no difference in the mean social distance scores for clients between ALC and non-ALC volunteers. Computation yields a t = I.07. With 97 degrees of freedom the probability of this number is considerably greater than .01. The null hypotheses cannot be rejected and the observed difference is not significant. To determine the significance of the rank cal culated for clients, Spearman's rank order correlation (Rho) was computed for the entire sample. The null hypothesis tested isi H0 * There is no difference in the rank ordering of social distance scores between ALC and non- ALC volunteers. The result was a Rho = .87. This indicates a strong correlation between the two groups of volunteers in their overall ranking of groups since a perfect correlation is 1.00. The null hypothesis cannot be rejected. Three of the groups for whom social distance was sought were placed on the chart in an attempt to 146 determine if volunteers would perceive them as similar or different. These groups were alcoholics, Faith Mission clients and Skid Row inhabitants. In terms of a stereotype viewpoint missions deal with Skid Row individuals and these individuals are alcoholics. Table 43 recaps the social distance scores for these groups. TABLE 43 MEAN SOCIAL DISTANCE SCORES FOR SELECTED GROUPS Groups ALC Volunteers Non-ALC Volunteers Alcoholics 2.65 3.33 Mission clients 3.09 2.79 Skid Row inhabitants 3.35 3.62 While all of these scores are very close, some differ ences can be surmised. ALC and non-ALC volunteers seem to distinguish alcoholics from the clients and Skid Row inhabitants, although non-ALC volunteers* mean social distance scores for alcoholics and Skid Row inhabitants are closer than are ALC volunteers'. It can be concluded that the clients of the Mission are not stereotyped as alcoholics and neither are Skid Row inhabitants so stereotyped. It is also interesting 147 that the clients of the Mission are not apparently stereotyped as Skid Row inhabitants. This is most clearly evident in the mean social distance scores for non-ALC volunteers. In general, it appears that the volunteers as a group do not perceive the three groups of individuals as being the same. Conclusions The general societal reaction to Skid Row and its inhabitants appears to be one of neglect or apathy. The formal community helping institutions do not seek out the Skid Rower and offer assistance although he is of course eligible for federal and state welfare pro grams. Generally, however, the Skid Rower is on his own except for religious rescue missions which seem to be the institutions which channel aid to the inhabitants of Skid Row. The Rescue Mission will be thoroughly examined in the next chapter. The major concern of this chapter, however, has been the analysis of the inter action between the clients of the Rescue Mission and those who are in a helping relationship with them. As noted in the introduction, there are a variety of perspectives from which deviant groups can be viewed. Since the Mission is run by those associated with churches and since the avowed purpose of the Mission is religious in nature, it would seem that the clients would be viewed from a religious perspective. However, the data yield only partial support for this contention. While many did view the needs of the men in religious terms, the economic and physical needs were also noted as impor tant. Scrutiny of the data revealed a difference in per ception between ALC volunteers and non-ALC volunteers, with the latter group perceiving the needs more in reli gious terms. The data suggest that the more fundamental the religious group and the more literally it interprets the scriptures, the more likely it is that the world will be defined in religious terms. This of course is an area deserving more research since the data are not entirely clear. For example, some data calling this into question is the fact that 56.6 percent of the ALC volunteers and only 46.7 percent of the "others" said that the life style of the men made them sinners. It is interesting to note that the stated purpose of the Mission does not apparently override the individual perceptions of vol unteers. While the data do reveal some negative stereotyping on the part of the officers and directors of the Mission and some on the part of non-ALC volunteers, in general, there is very little stereotyping. This is supported not only by the data on attitudes expressed towards the various statements about the clients but also by the scores on the social distance scale. Generally, then, 149 those who participate in the Mission's program have positive and non-stereotypic perceptions of the clients. It is interesting, that rather than agree or disagree with a statement, the respondents were willing to state that they really didn't know. In conclusion, the data do not indicate whether the interaction between helpers and clients caused or resulted from the positive attitudes and non-stereotypic perceptions that volunteers have of the clients. The data suggest, however, in the author's judgement, that the contact has caused the moderation of attitudes and perceptions. Support for this seems to come from the social distance scale results. It would seem, then, that consequences suggested by labelling theory are not inevitable. In terms of social control, it would appear that helping programs which tend to break down stereotypes and social distance have the greatest chance of embracing the deviant and perhaps effecting a change in the deviant and reintegration of him into society. CHAPTER VII THE URBAN RESCUE MISSION Introduction It is probably an unwritten law that specialized institutions always develop to meet specialized needs. Skid Row offers no exception. The institutions on Skid Row can be divided generally into two types, "profit making" and "helping." Under the category of "profit making" enterprises would fall private employment agencies (See Anderson, 1923*117) t various types of lodging facilities (See Wallace, 1965*32-^6) such as tourist hotels (catering to prostitutes), flophouses (See Dees, 19^8) and single room hotels, and bars. Helping institutions would include public welfare agencies, public employment agencies (See Anderson, 1923*117)» shelters and rescue missions. Another type of "helping" institution would be those organizations initiated and/or promoted by Skid Row inhabitants. Notable among these institutions was the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) founded in the Chicago stem in 1905 (Anderson, 1923*230). 150 From an historical perspective, there have been three general types of social treatment of homeless meng repression, individualized concern by religious and social service agencies and mass relief (Sutherland and Locke, 1936*166). Of particular interest are the religious based programs that have arisen to deal with homeless men. In general, except for the Young Men's Christian Association, prior to 1865 the church was virtually uninvolved in the problem (Abell, 1926*8). However, after 1865 the church took an increasing interest in urban problems. Its social ministry was particularly manifest in city missions and Pastoral Aid Societies (Abell, 1962*27-35). The first mission, the McAuley Water Street Mission, was established in 1872 in Manhattan (MTo the Rescue," 1972*90). The traditional role of missions was two-fold, to save souls and provide relief. Concerning which was the primary role, it appears as if it varied depending on whether the mission was sponsored by a church or was an unde nominational mission sponsored by Tract Societies. These societies developed because of the inability of individual congregations to sponsor a program alone. Abell (1962*36) writes concerning the undenominational missions* They were alike in that they provided first for the material needs of humanity. "This we believe to 152 be the Biblical way of reaching the heart," said the managers of the North End Mission. "Till the cravings of hunger are satisfied, we cannot develop the moral nature." It will be recalled that the avowed purpose of Faith Mission is to preach the word of God. The previous chapter indicated that ALC volunteers do not perceive this as necessarily the major need of the clients. Additional data will be presented in this chapter con cerning the role of the Mission. While the search of the literature has not been totally exhaustive, the author has been unable to locate extensive studies on urban rescue missions. What there is available usually appears scattered throughout books on Skid Row. However, some interesting information is available. For example, not all missions are alike and the literature identifies several types. Nels Anderson (1923>251) lists five types of missions* the Salvation Army, the Volunteers of America, the permanently estab lished local mission, the migratory national mission and the "wildcat" local mission. Of special interest are the latter three types noted. The permanent local mission provides food, clothing and beds. It is usually sponsored by a local church or a Board of Directors of local businessmen. It employs a salaried leader (Anderson, 1923*251-252). Wallace (1965*5*0 calls this type the "conservative institutional mission." Wallace 153 writes that the Skid Rowers characterize this type of mission as giving soap, sleep, soup and salvation. The national migratory missions are financed by solicitations and workers are usually paid on the basis of a commission. These missions change cities and streets often (Anderson, 1923i252). Wallace (1965*5^-55) calls the national migratory missions "ballyhoo missions." He describes them as having the trappings of the conservative type, but not the control. They are usually founded, directed and owned by the same individual. Wallace writes that Skid Row men describe this type mission as providing sleep, soup and salvation, but omitting the soap. Both Anderson (1923*253) and Wallace (1965*5*0 describe the third type as "wildcat" missions which spring up in times of crisis. These missions are characterized by Skid Rowers as providing only soup and salvation and mighty "thin" soup at that (Wallace, 1965*5*0. Wallace (1965*57) describes the relationship between the Skid Rower and mission worker as being very complex. In reading Wallace's analysis one senses that he is describing a very hostile situation. He even states that the mission worker feels hostile toward the Skid Rower. The crux of the problem seems to be that the Skid Rower does not accept the definition of himself, by the mission, as a sinner and enters into an exploi tative relationship with the mission. Wallace (1965*56) writes that "the men on skid row seem to sense that perhaps the missions need them more than they need the missions." Wallace (1965*59) describes the relationship as one based on exchange, a tacit and unwritten, but thoroughly understood and admitted relationship. Wallace (1965*60) writes that there are different levels in the exchange relationship. For example, if a Skid Rower wants more than just soup, he enters into a higher level exchange relationship. An illustration of a higher level of exchange would be to become "saved" during the worship service. This person would then qualify for "special benefits." Individuals who undergo periodic conversions and who depend solely on the missions for their daily fare are called "mission stiffs" (Wallace, 1965*58* See also Anderson, 1923*255). Wallace (1965* 62) comments that individuals who enter missions and take up residence there isolate themselves from other members of the Skid Row community and disgrace themselves in their eyes. Despite these negative aspects of missions, Nels Anderson (1923*262) comments that "thousands of homeless men are converted every winter" and many more are touched in a way that no social agency has ever done. Jacqueline Wiseman (1970«272-273) discusses the role of rescue missions in the treatment of alcoholics. The mission becomes for many the last "station" of hope in the "loop" of institutions the alcoholic travels 155 either voluntarily or involuntarily. Rescue missions still occupy a prominent place in the contemporary urban community. It is estimated that there are some ^50 rescue missions across North America today ("To the Rescue," 1972*90). Contemporary famed missions in the states include the Bowery Mission in New York, Chicago's Pacific Garden Mission and Los Angeles' Union Rescue Mission, the nation's largest. It is estimated that the missions served 14 million meals last year. The manager of the Los Angeles mission believes that rescue missions will be packed in the 1970's with men and women whose minds have been ruined by the drug culture. Problem Society has always expressed concern over Skid Row and its inhabitants and "homeless" men prior to the establishment of Skid Row. This concern has been mani fest in a variety of responses ranging from repression to a direct helping relationship through rescue missions. The rescue mission, then, is a social control mechanism whose p u r p o s e is to "rescue" men from their destitution and restore them to normal society as well as to aid their physical needs. The rescue mission is, therefore, a socio-religious institution which serves both an indi vidual and societal purpose. 156 Since there appears to be a paucity of information on the rescue mission as an operating institution, this research project was designed to provide some insight into the operation of one rescue mission, Faith Mission, Columbus, Ohio, Of special interest will be the community's perception of and support of the Mission and the volunteers perception and support of and commit ment to the Mission. Additionally, the relationship between the Mission and its clients will be explored. Of concern in this analysis will be an assessment of the exchange relationship expounded by Wallace and a systematic search for the role type described as "mission stiff." Such analysis is significant in terms of the affect of the program. The ultimate question is whether the rescue mission helps to solve problems or simply perpetuates an unacceptable life style. Faith Rescue Mission, Columbus, Ohio 1. History of Faith Mission Faith Mission was founded by several concerned members of Trinity Lutheran Church, Columbus, Ohio. The founders include Harold Goers, Arthur Bayse, Charles Lane and Rowland Heptner. The origin of the Mission can be seen in relation to several factors. First, during 1965 Harold Goers, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran 157 Church, went to Chicago for an "urban experience" sponsored by the American Lutheran Church. As part of the program, Goers and others were given a couple dollars and sent to Skid Row for several days. During this period, Pastor Goers became acquainted with missions and found them to be the only place he could get a cheap meal. Second, the Columbus City Mission in operation since April 2^, 193^ closed on December 31* 1965. Mr. and Mrs. Cleo Kart, converts of Billy Sunday, had operated City Mission since 19^3. Mrs. Hart continued to run the Mission after her husband's death and until failing health and condemnation of the Mission's building caused her to give up the work. The final factor which spurred the organization of Faith Mission was the prodding of a new member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Charles Lane. Lane, a former alcoholic, had assisted the Harts at City Mission and was interested in seeing the work continued. The idea for Faith Mission emerged out of these circumstances. Planning began and on January 19* 1966, Faith Mission was incorporated. The first service was held on February 6, 1966. During the first year, 13,000 meals were served. Men who needed shelter during the early years of the Mission were taken to a local flop house. However, it was discovered that the manager of the flophouse sold "booze" to the men who stayed there. Action was initiated and in September of 1970 the Mission 158 acquired the rooming house which is located above the Mission's chapel and dining areas. The Mission is now able to rent individual rooms on a permanent basis to some men and to provide nightly shelter for transients and others in need. The program of Faith Mission includes an evening worship service which begins at 7»30 P.M. followed by a meal. The worship and meal are provided as noted earlier on a daily, rotating basis by approximately 30 American Lutheran Churches, eight Mennonite Churches and several Baptist and Alliance Churches. The churches and their members buy, prepare and serve the food. During 1972, 22,699 men and women attended the worship and 19,70^ meals were provided. In the first six months of 1973» attendance was 1^,301 and 11,796 meals were served. Lodging is available on a first come, first served basis. Generally, however, all those who need shelter are given beds. An individual is entitled to two free nights lodging per month. After that, lodging costs $1.50 per night. The number lodged ranges from ten to twenty per night. There are twelve beds available; others flop on the floor. According to official data the Mission sheltered ^022 during 1972 and had provided beds for 2^01 in the first six months of 1973. In 1971 the Mission purchased a farm some 50 miles from Columbus which is being set up as a rehabilitation 159 center for the treatment of alcoholics. Volunteers are accepted for the program and can expect to spend from 30 to 60 days at the farm. A charge of $50 a month is levied, hut the Mission and local churches sponsor needy men. The rehabilitation philosophy of the farm is based on the followingi 1) getting the drinker out of the urban environment and into a rural setting; thus removing the temptations that confronted him previously; 2) work; 3) counseling; k) Bible discussions and worship. At present the farm is operating below the twelve man maximum as the Mission seems to be unable to recruit men for the farm. Additionally, the farm is straining the budget of the Mission since it has not become self- supporting as it was hoped. In attempting to type Faith Mission in terms of the typology of missions presented earlier, it is clear that it represents what Anderson (1923*251) calls the "per manently established local mission." It will be recalled that Wallace (1965*5*0 calls this type of mission the "conservative institutional mission" or the one which provides "soap, sleep, soup and salvation." Characteristic of this type of mission is its sponsorship by a local church and a salaried leader or manager. It is clear, then, that this study focuses on only one type of an urban rescue mission. 160 2. The Purpose of Faith Mission As noted before, the stated purpose of Faith Mission is to preach the word of God. However, as pointed out in the preceding chapter, ALC and non-ALC volunteers do not similarly perceive the needs of the men as being religious in nature. To further clarify this, the officers and directors and clergy were asked about the purpose of the Mission, Nine of the 16 officers and directors interviewed (56.3 percent) said that the primary function of Faith Mission is to preach the word of Godj provision of food and shelter was only a secondary pur pose. Seven (4-3.8 percent) maintained that the primary purpose of the Mission was to help the down and out, to give hope, to treat the whole man. To these indi viduals, the preaching of the Gospel and the provision of material items are two sides of the same coin. Following is a sampling of answers given when the question as to the primary purpose of the Mission was askedi "To rescue men and women." "Preach Gospel to bums." "Minister with Gospel - but must demonstrate." "Help those who can't help themselves." "Give hope to the hopeless." "Relate Christian Church to those people in a general way." "Give immediate help to down trodden." "Help those people - for their salvation." "Offer an expression of Christian love in tangible terms." "Help them to find Christ." 161 "Help fellows who can be rehabilitated to find a way back into society and to help other guys who are beyond help to live out their life." The clergy of participating churches were also asked to state the primary function of the Mission. Table 44 gives an overview of the responses. TABLE 44 PRIMARY PURPOSE, FAITH MISSION BY PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS Purpose ALC Others Total ✓-N o O Total 20 19 (100#) 39 (100#) Feed 6 (30#) 0 6 (15.4#) Preach 4 (20#) 14 (73.7#) 18 (46.2#) Feed and preach 7 (35#) 4 (21.1#) 11 (28.2#) Provide hope 3 (15#) 0 3 (7.7#) No response 0 1 (5.3#) 1 (2.6#) It is evident that the American Lutheran Churches are more prone to view the Mission in terms of a social wel fare orientation than are the others. None of the Men- nonites, Baptists or others saw the primary function as one of providing material goods. These churches and the individuals saw the Mission's purpose as that of preaching the word of God to lost souls (73.7 percent). Seven 162 ALC pastors (35 percent) and four others (21.1 percent) saw the purpose of the Mission as ministering to the whole man, body, mind and soul. In summary, data presented in this section and in the previous chapter indicate that the purpose of the Mission is differentially perceived by its volunteers. This does not seem to work to the detriment of the Mission's operation. However, the potential for conflict among the Mission's participants cannot be denied. 3. The Churches and Volunteers and the Mission The officers and directors were asked to provide some insight into how the Mission functions for the participating churches and the church people who volun teer to assist in the program. The following are the functions mentioned and the percent of respondents mentioningi provides volunteer with "soul satisfaction" and a blessing, 56.3 percent; gives church a place in which to express love, concern and its willingness to serve, 56.3 percent; provides an educational experience for church people, 12.5 percent; gives suburban churches a way to handle their guilt for their lack of concern for the inner city, 6.3 percent; reinforces feelings of self-righteousness, 6.3 percent; gives established churches a place to which they can refer those they don't want to help, 6.3 percent. The clergymen of the various churches were queried concerning the participation of their church and spe cifically the members who volunteered their time for Faith Mission. Table 45 gives an overview of why the congregation was involved in the Mission program ac cording to the pastors. TAELS 45 REASONS FOR CONGREGATIONAL INVOLVEMENT IN FAITH MISSION Reasons Number of Clergy Mentioning ALC Others Total 20 13 Saw a need 6 (30%) 1 (7. 7%) One way to express love 5 (25%) 0 Evangelism - extend Gospel 1 (5%) 12 (92.3%) Outreach is part of church program 4 {20%) 6 (46.,21%) Outlet for do-gooders 3 {15%) 1 (7.,7%) Education for congregation 4 {20%) 1 (7. 7%) Opportunity for action not available in own community 1 {5%) 0 Way to avoid facing local problems 1 {5%) 0 Feel responsibility for program 1 {5%) 0 Percents may add to more than 100 since respondents could give as many reasons as were applicable. While it is clear that the reasons vary, it is equally clear that the Mennonite-Baptist-Alliance group more than the ALC see their involvement directly related to evangelism and Biblical imperatives. Pastors were also asked to provide an estimate of how many of their members participate in the program of the Mission. Additionally, their total membership was sought for comparative purposes. For American Lutheran Churches, the total membership figure represented those members of the church who had been confirmed. Membership in the other churches is some what nebulous. Membership for Mennonite churches means that the individual has been "reborn" and has accepted Christ as his Savior. This may occur at any age and appears to occur earlier than confirmation for Lutherans. In some cases, church membership was very small but adult attendance was high. In these cases, the larger figure was used. The total number of congregational members available for service at the Mission is 11,330. This does not include two churches that had just been there one time each, in a substitute capacity, or the Church of God, Newark, which was not really involved as a church according to the pastor. He indicated that a few of his members came down to the Mission but he knew nothing about it. To the question, "how many of your members have been involved in the program at Faith Mission (prepared food or gone down)?", the pastors estimated a total of 1558 members. This is 13.8 per- 165 cent of the total available. When asked how many of their members were regular participants and went down to the Mission several times a year, a total of 408 was received. This represents 3.6 percent of the total available and 26,2 percent of those who have been in volved in some way. The pastors were also asked to assess the motivation of the church people for volunteering to help at the Mission. Table 46 provides an overview of the responses. TABLE 46 CLERGY'S REASONS WHY PARISHIONERS VOLUNTEER FOR FAITH MISSION PROGRAM Reason ALC Others Total 20 13 Feel it is a real service project 9 (35%) 0 Need to express the love of Christ 10 (50%) 0 To witness for Christ - evangelism 4 (20%) 13 Ego trip? work out guilt feelings 4 (20%) 0 Accept their turn in a service project} loyalty to church as an organization 5 (25%) 0 Novel experience 1 (5%) 0 The responses to this question are basically similar to those given concerning why the church as an organization 166 was involved. Essentially, pastors of the Baptist- Alliance-Mennonite congregations perceived their members as acting in accord with Biblical and church teachings. ALC pastors provide a wide variety of reasons. It is clear that ALC pastors are not as certain as pastors in the other churches as to the motivation of their parish ioners. To further clarify this, the volunteers were asked a variety of questions about their participation in the program. Table 47 gives a summary of the responses con cerning the circumstances of the volunteer's first visit to the Mission. The data seem to indicate that attach ment to a subgroup within the congregation is the most significant factor relating to a first visit to the Mission. Over 55 percent of the respondents reported they went because they were in a group in the church which had the responsibility. It is interesting to note that only 6.1 percent went because it was their turn, the rest volunteered. Table 48 gives an overview of the reasons "why" the respondents went to the Mission that first time. While it is difficult to assess the moti vations of volunteers, the data do reveal that "Christian duty" and "curiosity" are the prime motivating factors. Peer pressure, boredom and family problems do not appear as significant. Volunteers were also asked why they were or would 16? TABLE 47 CIRCUMSTANCE OF FIRST VISIT TO FAITH MISSION ACCORDING TO VOLUNTEERS Circumstance Number of Percent Respondents Distri bution Total 131 100.0 Minister asked for volunteers 24 18.3 A friend told me to go 8 6.1 I was a member of a group that was going and I volunteered to go 65 49.6 I was a member of a group that was going and it was my turn 8 6.1 I simply heard about the program and volunteered to go 9 6.8 Other 12 9.1 No response 5 3.8 become regular participants in the Mission's program. A variety of possible responses were provided to the respondents and they were asked to rank the reasons in terms of their importance to them. Table 49 provides a list of the responses and the number of individuals who ranked the response either first or second. Perusal of the Table again reveals that peer pressure and family problems are not significant in causing volunteers to go to the Mission. The strongest propellent is the belief that it is the duty of a Christian to help others. It is not insignificant that 14.5 percent 168 TABLE 48 REASONS GIVEN BY VOLUNTEERS FOR GOING TO FAITH MISSION ON THE FIRST VISIT Reason Number of Percent Respondents Distri bution Total 131 100.0 A friend talked me into going 12 9.1 I wanted to see what it was like 29 22.1 It was my turn to go 7 5.3 It is my Christian duty to help others and this was one way I could 69 52.6 I felt I could set an example for the men 2 1.5 My friends had gone, so I decided to go 3 2.2 Because of situations in my family 1 0.7 I wanted to get out of the house 0 0.0 Other 8 6.1 No response 0 0.0 of the volunteers ranked their personal value to the men as the main reason for their going. Of those who put a second reason, this response received the largest number of those chosen. The fact that 10.7 percent indicated that they go because it is their turn, indicates that their commitment to the Mission may be based largely on their church group membership. Considering all the data available, it is clear that in general the volunteers are committed to the Mission primarily through Biblical teachings and a 169 TABLE 49 REASONS GIVEN BY VOLUNTEERS FOR REGULAR PARTICIPATION IN THE MISSION PROGRAM Reasons Number Percent Number Percent Ranking- Distri Ranking Distri As Most bution As Second bution Important Most Important Total 131 100.0 72 100.0 I must take my turn as a member of my group or church 14 10.7 18 25.0 It is my Christian duty to help others 81 61.8 13 18.1 I feel I personally have something to offer these men 19 14.5 22 30.6 I feel good inside when I go 11 8.4 18 25.0 My friends go 1 0.8 1 1.4 Because of situations in my family 0 0.0 0 0.0 I enjoy getting out of the house 1 0.8 0 0.0 Other 4 3.1 0 0.0 sense of Christian duty. A substantial number (22.9 percent), however, go because of feelings of ego in volvement and support. 4. Volunteer Attitudes Toward Faith Mission The volunteers were queried as to their feelings about the adequacy of various aspects of the program of 170 Faith Mission. Table 50 gives a summary of the responses. TABLE 50 VOLUNTEERS PERCEPTION OF THE ADEQUACY OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE MISSION Service Adequate Inadequate No (Percent) (Percent) Response (Percent) Worship 84-. 7 6.1 9.1 Food 90.8 3.8 5.3 Shelter 59.5 17.5 22.9 Clothing 72.5 lk. 5 12.9 Counseling 38.1 3^.3 27. k Fellowship 44.2 31.2 2k.k Rehabilitation farm for alcoholics 22.9 35.8 kl.2 Perusal of the Table reveals that the vast majority of volunteers feel that the Mission does an adequate job in the "save" and "soup” categories. There seems to be a lack of general knowledge about the shelter, counseling and the rehabilitation farm as reflected in the large percentages of individuals who made no response in these areas. The poorest aspects of the program, by largest percentages indicating inadequate, are counseling, fellowship and the rehabilitation farm. Seven statements about the Mission and its program were provided and respondents were asked to agree or 171 disagree with each. Again, answers have been coded to reflect either a negative or positive attitude toward the Mission. Table 51 gives the statements and the percentage distribution of positive and negative responses for each statement by church category. Perusal of Table 51 reveals that there are apparently two types of state ments. Statements 8 , 11 and 1*J- are real opinion state ments about the usefulness and value of the Mission. For these statements, there is an overwhelming positive " attitude by the respondents. Statements 9» 10, 12 and 13 call for answers based on both opinions and knowledge of services elsewhere. These statements were intended to assess how important the Mission's program was for the clients in the context of the total services available. It was felt that agreement with these statements would reflect a positive attitude because it would recognize the uniqueness of the Mission's program. It can be said with some certainty that the respondents evidenced considerable uncertainty on statements 9 » 10, 12 and 13 as reflected in the high percentages of "don't know" re sponses. The moderate number of individuals who disagreed with these statements (as reflected by the percent in the negative attitude column) indicates some faith in the welfare system in the larger community and some belief that the Mission is a duplication of effort. There seems to be little difference between the church groups 172 TABLE 51 ATTITUDES OF VOLUNTEERS TOWARD FAITH MISSION, BY CHURCH AFFILIATION* Statement Percent Distribution Positive Negative Don* t Attitude Attitude Know 8. Faith Mission serves a useful function for the men and women who come to it. ALC 97.1 0.0 2.8 Others 95.1 0.0 4.8 9. Faith Mission provides services unavailable else where in Columbus. ALC 39.1 H . 5 49.2 Others $1.9 4.8 53.2 10. If Faith Mission closed, the people it now feeds would go hungry. ALC 33.3 23.1 43.4 Others 11.2 22.5 66.1 11. Faith Mission serves a useful function for the community of Columbus. ALC 92.7 1.4 5.7 Others 91.9 0.0 8.0 12. If Faith Mission closed, the men and women who come to it would have no place else to turn for help. ALC 24. 6 28.9 46.3 Others 25.8 22. 5 51.6 173 Positive Negative Don't Attitude Attitude Know 13. Without Faith Mission, the city of Columbus would have to set up new welfare programs or expand present services to deal with the people now served by the Mission. ALC *1-7.8 11.5 *1-0,5 Others 16.1 2*1-.1 59.6 14. Faith Mission serves no useful purpose and only perpetuates an unacceptable life style among the men and women who come to it.* ALC 10.1 4.3 Others *f.8 9.6 * Statements marked with an * indicate those where agreeing with the statement was a negative attitude. In all other cases, agreeing reflected a positive attitude. except that "others" seem to respond with "don’t know" more than ALC respondents. To test the validity of this statement a chi square was computed for the total scores on the statements about the Mission. The score was calculated the same way as described earlier for total attitude score toward the clients (see page 1*H). The null hypothesis to be tested isi H0i There is no difference between church groups in attitudes toward Faith Mission. Table 52 gives the data used to calculate the chi square. The null hypothesis cannot be rejected based on the cal culated chi square and therefore we can conclude that 172* TABLE 52 VOLUNTEERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD MISSION AS REFLECTED IN TOTAL SCORE ON ALL ITEMS (N = 1 3 D Church Total Score Affiliation 0-7 8-1** 15-21 22-28 Total Total 5 5k 61 11 131 ALC 1 23 37 8 69 Others k 31 2k 3 62 X 2 = 7.68 (p> .05) there are no differences between the church groups in •their attitudes toward Faith Mission. 5. The Clients and Faith Mission Reasons why men come to Faith Mission are of interest both in terms of their motivations and the fact that the avowed purpose of missions is to preach the word of God. Table 53 provides a summary of rea sons the clients gave for why they come to the Mission. It is not surprising that 80 percent of the Tran sients said they come for food and/or lodging. It is noteworthy that 20 percent of the Transients say they come to worship. It is interesting that 55.6 per cent of the Residents say they come to worship while 175 TABLE 53 REASONS CLIENTS GAVE FOR THEMSELVES AND OTHERS COMING TO FAITH MISSION Reasons Residents Transients Total A- Why do you come to Faith Mission? # % % To eat and/or sleep 42,2 (19) 80.0 (20) 55.7 (39) To worship 55*6 (25) 20.0 (5) 42.9 (30) To kill time 13*3 (6) 4.0 (1) 10.0 (7) To talk to friends 11.1 (5) 0.0 (0) 7.1 (5) To get help (general) 4,4 (2) 4.0 (1) 4.3 (3) No response 4.4 (2) 4.0 (1) 4.3 (3) B. Why do you think other men come to Faith Mission? % %% To eat and/or sleep 66.7 (30) 68.0 (17) 67.1 (47) To worship 28.9 (13) 8.0 (2) 21,4 (15) To kill time 4.4 (2) 4.0 (1) 4.3 (3) To talk to friends 13*3 (6) 4.0 (1) 10.0 (7) To get help (general) o.7 (3) 4.0 (1) 5.7 (4) Don't know 13*3 (6) 20.0 (5) 15.7 (11) only 42.2 percent indicate they come to eat and/or sleep. Table 53 also gives the reasons clients pro vided as to why other men come to the Mission. It is consistent with their own reasons that 68 percent of the Transients said others come to eat and/or sleep. However, Residents do not assign to others the same reasons they assign to themselves. For example, only 28.9 percent of the Residents said others came to worship, 176 while 55.6 percent said that they themselves came to worship. This discrepancy could he related to the clients perception of the sincerity of other clients or the fact that he is using as a reference group the large number of Transients who pass through the Mission every year. Table 5^ presents a summary of the responses of clients to questions about their attitudes toward various aspects of Faith Mission and its program. In the author's judgement, these questions received the briefest and least profound responses of all other questions asked in the interview. In general the response to each question was usually "good" or "okay.” One expected result in the questioning was that a greater percent of Transients, in comparison to Residents, did not respond or said they didn't know. Another general trend was that Residents were usually more positive, more often giving a "good" response, while Transients usually said "fair." The most negative response in the answers was the reaction of Transients to the question about how they felt about the manager of the Mission. Thirty-six percent of them said they didn't like him while only 2.2 percent of the Residents said this. This response is no doubt a result of limited and partial contact of these men with the manager as contrasted to the longer contact of Residents. The general 177 TABLE 54- ATTITUDES OF MISSION CLIENTS TOWARD FAITH MISSION AND ITS PROGRAM How clients feel Residents Transients Total abouti Total each section 45 (100.0?Q 25 (100.0%) 70 (100.0# A. Worship services Good, wonderful 23 (51.1) 9 (36.0) 32 (45.7) Fair, okay 19 (4-2.2) 11 (44.0) 30 (42.9) They vary by church 3 (4.3) 4 (16.0) 7 (10.0) Not very good 0 (0 .0) 0 (0 .0) 0 (0.0) No response 0 (0 .0) 1 (4.0) 1 (1.4) B. The church groups who pro vide worship and meal Wonderful, good people 23 (51.1) 8 (32.0) 31 (44.3) They are okay 15 (33.3) 8 (32.0) 23 (32.9) Many are hypo crites 4 (8.9) 0 (0.0) 4 (5.7) No answer 3 (6.7) 9 (36.0) 12 (17.1) C. Lodging facil ities Good, nice 9 (20.0) 5 (20.0) 14 (20.0) Okay, fair 23 (51.1) 9 (36.0 ) 32 (45.7) Poor 3 (6.7) 3 (12.0) 6 (8.6) Haven't slept there 10 (22.2) 8 (32.0) 18 (25.7) D. Mission in general Good 21 (46.7) 7 (28.0) 28 (40.0) Fair, okay 21 (46.7) 13 (52.0) 34 (48.6) Not very good 0 (0 .0) 0 (0 .0) 0 (0 .0) No response 3 (6.7) 5 (20.0) 8 (11.4) 178 Residents Transients Total E. Manager of the Mission Great guy 16 (35.6) 8 (32.0) 24 (3^.3) He's okay 21 (46.7) 6 (24.0) 27 (38.6) Don't like him 1 (2.2) 9 (36.0) 10 (14.3) Don't know 7 (15.6 ) 2 (8.0) 9 (12.9) apathy and hesitancy to respond to these questions is also reflected in the answer to a question concerning needed improvements in the Mission and its program. A total of 52.9 percent of the clients said no changes were needed and 20 percent more gave no response. Of improvements recommended, changes in the lodging facil ities were most frequently mentioned, but only 12.9 percent of the men noted this. This 12.9 percent re flects 8.9 percent of the Residents who recommended such improvements and 20 percent of the Transients. Additionally, one Resident and three Transients wanted the Mission to be open all day. One other recommendation was proffered by four Residents and this was that "drunks" ought to be kept out of the Mission. The data clearly indicate a positive relationship between the clients and the Mission. It must be reiter ated, however, that the questions asked of the clients about the Mission received the shortest and least profound answers. Part of this no doubt is due to the fact that these questions were asked last. Also, the clients 179 may have responded in the manner in which they did because they felt that was what the interviewer wanted to hear. Additionally, the respondents may have believed that negative attitudes would result in the closing of the Mission. 6. Clergy, Clients and Conversions An area of investigation of significance in assessing the success of the Mission in social control is conver sions. Concerning conversion experiences, nine Residents (20 percent) and no Transients reported having one at Faith Mission. Of these nine, only six seemed to be con version types, as the other three reported such experi ences daily or weekly. These experiences defined by the men as "conversions" were really recommitments and testi monies. Of the six others, three had experienced one such experience and three had experienced them several times. When asked what caused the experience to occur, most responded that it was the preacher or the service in general that "moved" them. To provide some insight into the type of individuals undergoing a conversion, several factors were analyzed. The ages of those re porting a conversion were 40, 4-0, k l t 6? and 60. Age does not seem to be significant. Concerning the drinking classification of convertees, one was a teetotaler, four were light drinkers and one was a heavy drinker. The influence of alcohol in conversions cannot be assumed or inferred from this data. Of some interest is the fact that of the six reporting conversions, four were, by religious affiliation, members of holiness sects. Two reported no church affiliation. It would seem, then, that those men are somewhat prone to conversion experiences. There was no evidence that rewards were provided to those who underwent conversions and there fore induced the conversions. In other words, there is no reason to believe that these men were "mission stiffs" who periodically converted for rewards. Most, if not all of the recommitments and conversions take place in the context of an altar call. The altar call involves an invitation from the clergy to come forward to the altar and accept Christ. Table 55 summarizes the use of altar calls by those leading the worship at the Mission. It is evident that altar calls are not characteristic of ALC clergy while it is an integral part of the worship services conducted by the Mennonites Baptists and the others. Two clergy said that they did not have an altar call but always asked for men to raise their hands if they had a problem or wanted to be prayed for. Table 56 gives an overview of the response rate to altar calls. The response rate is an estimate by individual worship leaders of the percent of total times they have been successful in getting someone to 181 TABLE 55 USE OF ALTAR CALLS BY WORSHIP LEADER, FAITH MISSION . ALC All Others Total 20 (100#) 19 ( 1 0 0 %) Always have an altar call 2 (1 0 %) 12 (6 j.2 %) Occasionally have an altar call 1 (5%) 6 (3 1 .6 %) Never have an altar call 17 (80%) 1 (5.3%) TABLE 56 RESPONSE RATE TO ALTAR CALLS REPORTED BY CLERGY Response Clergy Reporting Total 21 (100#) Never 2 (9.5#) 10# or less of the time 5 (23.8#) 20# of the time 3 (14.3 %) 3 3 %° of 'the time 1 (k,8%) 50# of the time k (19.0%) A majority of the time h (1 9 .0 %) Always 2 (9.5%) come forward to the altar. It is clear that altar calls, in general, are not successful in terms of response rate as only six leaders (28.5 percent) report that they are successful more than half of the time. The number responding to an altar call is variable. The reported range is zero to ten respondents. In general, one or at most, two individuals respond on an average evening. During the period of participant observation, the author witnessed only two successful altar calls. On one occasion three individuals responded and on the other only one responded. In addition to this lack of response, none of the respondents said "yes" when asked if those who answered the call were significantly affected by it from that time on. Eight of twenty-one individuals (38.1 percent) said that occasionally there is a serious and significant conversion. Four others felt that in general, the experience was only of momentary significance. It did not appear that the worship leaders were dis couraged by this paucity of response or the lack of significance of the experience for the responders. Most commented that they had "sown the seed" - no one could do more. It was also reported that success was never clearly evident and would only be known in the "final days." The reason given for the momentary significance of the conversion experience was lack of follow-up. One minister said that it takes only a small amount of effort to get the initial commitment or conversion. Most of the effort (95 percent) goes into getting the individual to mature in Christ. There are no provisions at Faith Mission, according to most of the respondents, to expend this effort. Several pastors indicated that they attempted 183 to follow-up by inviting the men to their home church. However, this was not always successful over the long run and usually involved the individual coming to the church only once. The literature on missions mentions that there are so called "mission stiffs" who periodically convert for a variety of rewards. Worship leaders were askeds there fore, if they were aware of any men or women who regularly answered altar calls. Only five (23.8 percent) said yes and two others indicated that once in a great while they saw a man again. When asked how many this involved, the answer was one or two individuals or a very small percent. Respondents were asked why some people answered altar calls regularly. The response was that they needed re assurance and had not really given themselves to Christ. Since the vast majority of respondents are only at the Mission at most, once a month, it is difficult to assess the validity of these comments, relative to the extent of repeaters. Those offering altar calls were also asked what they did for those who accepted their invitation. The purpose of this was to see if material rewards were offered for conversions. Such rewards, it is felt by the author, would encourage men to become "mission stiffs" and to periodically respond to altar calls. No one admitted to giving any material goods or money to the men and women 184 at any time. As a matter of fact, it was against the policy of those responding. When a man asked for material goods, and they often did according to the sources, they were told "no" or referred to the manager of the Mission. There was some evidence that in the past, in the days of the City Mission, some individuals did offer converted men and women rewards such as lodging and money. However, there is no evidence that conversions are rewarded at Faith Mission. This may be why the altar call response rate is low. 7. Faith Mission and the Community! Its Usefulness and Linkages As noted in the methodology section, various community organizations and agencies were approached about Faith Mission to determine if these groups were familiar with the Mission, what they thought of it, and if there was any working relationship between the Mission and the agency. The first question posed related to the represent atives' familiarity with Faith Mission. Of the 28 indi viduals interviewed in person or by phone, 18 (64.3 per cent) indicated that they were familiar with the Mission. An additional six (21.4 percent) said they had heard of it and four (14.3 percent) said they were not familiar with it. Those who indicated that they were unfamiliar 185 with it included the Director of the Franklin County Welfare Department, the Chief Justice of the Franklin County Municipal Court, one Judge of the Court, and the representative of the Salvation Army. It should be noted, however, that the staff members of the Welfare Department were very familiar with the Mission and had used it to assist individuals. Those who admitted only vague awareness of the existence of the Mission in cluded the Mayor of the City, the Vice President of Administration of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, one representative of the police department, the Commissioner of Health for Franklin County, the sheriff of Franklin County and the director of the Volunteers of America. It should be noted again that the staff of the Alcoholism Center of the Health Department were quite aware of and knowledgeable about the Mission. It is difficult to quantify the discussions the author had with the agency representatives relative to the usefulness of the Mission and whether or not it served a worthwhile service for the community. Many of the discussions were lengthy and complex and answers were generally qualified. Except for those who did not comment (five of the 28) and the staff of the Alcoholism Center, the others indicated that the Mission, and similar organizations, performed a useful function in general and did serve the community. These individuals 186 expressed the belief that there was a need for organ izations that deal with transient and homeless men and alcoholics. To use the ideas of the Health Director, the Mission had a role to play in the total scheme of welfare services. In viewing the Mission, none of the respondents specifically referred to the religious nature of its program. All saw it only in terms of the material goods it provided. In terms of the services provided for the community, ten individuals specifically said that the Mission served the community by helping to keep these men off the streets. This in turn, made the streets safe, kept the crime rate down and saved the city money. The representatives of the police department voiced approval of the Mission similar to that generally stated above. It was not felt that the Mission complicated the police's work or harbored criminals. Basically, it was believed that the Mission helped make the streets safer. The Mission's policy of having those who want lodging in their rooms by about 9«00 p.m. fit in with the police's policy of removing intoxicated individuals from the streets for their protection and the protection of others. Those police interviewed who had been on street patrol during their career attested to the fact that the Mission did not cause them any trouble. One individual voiced the opinion that while he was in favor of helping the needy, he deplored inefficiency 18? and duplication of effort. He saw the Mission as a struggling little outfit whose role could he handled more efficiently hy others. The Welfare Director felt that it was the responsibility of public welfare to handle the problems dealt with by the Mission and all private agencies. However, the inadequacy of the welfare system made such private programs essential according to the respondent. The staff of the Alcoholism Center of the Department of Health were the most negative about the Mission and similar programs, and the most critical of the Mission's alcoholism program. They felt that there was a definite need for overnight lodging services for transient men but believed that when private agencies met the need it just gave the community a reason for not meeting the need. There was also general agreement that the Mission and similar organizations including the courts and work house just perpetuated the public inebriate. It was recommended that this entire system be replaced by long term treatment, care, support and diagnosis. Two specific criticisms were also noted. First, the Mission was not open during the day and no one could be reached after 9i00 p.m. Therefore, it was impossible to refer men there if they were found on the streets at anytime other than in the early evening. Secondly, it was felt that the Mission did not really want help in setting up a 188 good alcohol rehabilitation center even though they had asked for assistance. There was very little approval of the program currently in use at the farm. The center had sent two men to the farm but they had left within three weeks and gave only negative comments about the farm. In contrast to this, the Director of the alcoholism program of the Columbus Metropolitan Area Community Action Organization (CMACO) was more positive about the farm rehabilitation program. However, he also felt the program was inadequate and needed more than a "work and pray" therapy program. He was willing to work with the Mission and referred alcoholics to the farm if he felt it was the best available program for them. While generally in favor of the Mission’s program, the Colonel at the Volunteers of America expressed some skepticism of Faith Mission. She perceived that the Mission's staff did not think much of her or the Volun teers. She did not approve of lumping the Mission to gether with the Volunteers and the Salvation Army as being similar programs. The essential element lacking in the Mission's program was work therapy. The Colonel also indicated that she did not refer men to the Mission. She felt that if she couldn't help them it was not fair to bother others. While the belief was expressed that there was room in the field for the Mission as well as 189 the Volunteers, and others, the author sensed some belief that they were in competition for the men. There is no evidence that Faith Mission has a regular working relationship with any of the organizations interviewed. However, several organizations do refer men to the Mission and/or the rehabilitation farm. This is true of CMACO, the Alcoholism Center of the Department of Health, individual policemen, Lutheran Social Services and the Franklin County Welfare Department. These latter two groups do the most extensive referring. A represent ative of Lutheran Social Services said the agency referred two or three men to the Mission a month. The Volunteer service division of the Welfare Department reportedly refers ten to twelve men and women to the Mission a month. Those referred are usually those that the department can not help. This would include those who have lost their welfare checks, those who spent all of their resources early in the month or transients Of the seven members of the Columbus City Council queried by mail about Faith Mission, only one (1^.3 per cent) Councilman responded. This individual wrote that he was not familiar with Faith Mission but did financially support the Salvation Army. He felt that the Army was a valuable asset to the community because it keeps the door to society open for Skid Row individuals. Because of the low response rate, little conclusion can be 190 drawn about the city government's view of the Mission. Of the 31 officers and directors of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce queried by mail, 18 (58.1 per cent) responded. Of these 18, only two (11.1 percent) said that they were familiar with Faith Mission. The other 16 (88.9 percent) said that they had not heard of the Mission. When asked if they felt that programs such as those provided by Rescue Missions, the Volunteers of America and the Salvation Army were a benefit to the community, 12 of the 18 (66.7 percent) indicated yes. Only one person (5.6 percent) said no and five (27.8 percent) said they didn't know enough about such programs to make a judgement. Generally, the expressed benefit to the community was in terms of the provision of services to needy individuals. Of the 2k people the author talked to who worked in the vicinity of the Mission, only 14- (58.3 percent) had heard of Faith Mission. This is surprising since all of these people worked within two blocks of the Mission. Those not familiar with the Mission included several employees who would be directly facing the Mis sion when they left work through the front door. Of the 14 that had heard of the Mission, there was some reluctance to voice an opinion about it. Four of the 1^4- (28.6 percent) would make no comment and four others said it was okay and did not bother them. Three (21.*4- 191 percent) said that the Mission was good. One of these indicated that he felt it was good for the street and two others, those connected with spot labor businesses, said that it was good for the men and good for their business. They commented that they had even referred men to the Mission for food and shelter. Additionally, they noted that many transients found the Mission a good location for lodging because of its proximity to the labor pools. Three of those interviewed were very critical of the Mission. These included the barmaid of the Preview Lounge (two doors away from the Mission), the owner of Leon's Cleaners (next door to the Mission) and the clerk of the Columbus Hotel (one block from the Mission). The barmaid was the most vehement in her comments. She said that the church was wasting its money and that the Mission was ruining everybody’s business on the street. In addition to the winos being on the street and throwing trash, they were always begging from those walking by, according to the respondent. She further claimed that the employees of Ohio Bell, across the street, were afraid to walk the streets to and from work. The respondent was also angry because her establishment was blamed for selling the drunks wine. She pointed out that they did not sell wine to begin with. The barmaid was quite convinced that the church was helping the winos 192 get worse by giving them a free meal so that they could drink more. The lady at Leon's Cleaners believed that the Mission helped the men, but that it was bad for business. She claimed that the women who worked at Blue Cross and Ohio Bell would take their cleaning else where rather than come near the Mission. The clerk at the Columbus Hotel commented that he felt the Mission brought undesirable types of people into the neighbor hood. He had been mugged one night and has attributed this incident to men from the Mission. Conclusions The data presented in the chapter, in addition to providing insight into the structure and functioning of an urban rescue mission, have important implications for social control. In general it seems that all constituents of the Mission and the community in which it is located have positive attitudes toward Faith Mission. While some reservations about the usefulness of the Mission were expressed by members of the community at large, most felt the Mission served the individual and the community well. Although some could not articulate the function served by the Mission for the community, those who did saw it in terms of protecting the com munity and/or aiding a "deviant" part of the community. The Mission was being viewed as a mechanism of social control. The volunteers also expressed positive attitudes toward the Mission. These attitudes are manifest in a continuing interest on the part of volunteers in the program. Also underlying this interest is the religious commitment to preach and help others. The Mission and the volunteers both benefit in the arrangement. The Mission is staffed and the volunteers have a way to act out the teachings of the scriptures. Viewing religion in a Durkheimian sense as a "social fact" and thus as a means of social control, the Mission program serves as a two fold method of social control. In one sense, as discussed above, it serves to control deviants. Secondly, it offers support to the religious social control mechanism by providing a contrast or an example of the dangers of a turn from God. This view was actually expressed by some clergy. The clients also express generally positive attitudes toward all aspects of the Mission. In light of all these positive attitudes and the commitment of the volunteers, the potential for an effective socio religious program is evident. The one danger is that the differentially perceived primary function of the Mission could become a basis for a conflict that would surely cause the downfall of the program. Concerning the success of the Mission as a social control institution, little conclusive evidence is possible. While there are shortcomings in the program, men and women are being clothed, housed and fed. Whether or not a change in life style is being effected is a question that cannot be answered. In the author's judgement, the Mission does effect social control via consolation, support and religious sanction. However true this is, it does seem certain that the Mission is not serving to perpetuate a deviant life style. Partial evidence for this is the fact that the structure of the Mission does not promote the development of the "mission stiff" role type. The only exchange relation ship in evidence, then, is the one between helper - client. While there are "profits" to both, the relation ship seems stable and does not exist on different levels as Wallace proposes. CHAPTER VIII SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This chapter will include a presentation of the limitations of the present research, a general summary and discussion of the findings and their significance for sociological theory and social policy. Suggestions for further research will be noted throughout the dis cussion where appropriate. Limitations of the Research While the intent of the research project was to focus on all aspects of the urban Rescue Mission so as to gain a total picture of this specialized insti tution, it is now realized that such a task is beyond the capabilities of the researcher. An attempt was made to collect some data on each aspect of the Mission, However, it is realized that all possible data have not been collected although as many leads as possible were followed in the time available. It should further be stated that not all of the available data have been included in this paper. Only data that related to a consideration of social control and Skid Row was 195 196 selected for presentation. That is the basic reason why a variety of hypotheses related to the volunteers and their expressed attitudes and sex, age and extent of participation in the Mission program were not tested. Methodologically, there were several major limita tions. In terms of sampling procedures, neither the sample of volunteers nor clients interviewed constituted a random sample. While the interviewing of all volun teers who came to the Mission during a single summer month did provide a good cross section of respondents, it is not a random sample. This is most significant in using various statistical techniques and particularly in interpreting the results of these tests. A greater limitation in sampling procedure, however, relates to the selection of Mission clients for interviewing. Since not all individuals attend the Mission, a random sample of living areas as Bogue did would not yield the correct population. Additionally, it would miss the Transients who sleep at the Mission. Further, many of them are only in town for one night. Therefore, it was necessary to make direct contact at the Mission. Selection of a random sample from a population which changes from night to night and for a study which extended over several weeks did not seem feasible. However, acquiring respond ents through "asking for volunteers" and by direct conscription has consequences for the analysis and 197 interpretation of data. While it is felt that in general a fairly accurate description of the Mission's clients was obtained, further generalization of the data would not be warranted. Similarly, although comparisons were made between the client data and Bogue's findings, it must be recognized that Bogue's data reflect a random sample. Another limitation related to the interviewing of the clients of Faith Mission is the quality of the response. Perhaps as many as thirty percent of the clients had difficulty providing totally coherent inter views. This was caused by such factors as mental and/or emotional problems, lack of communication skills and drinking. Continual probing during the interview hope fully elicited fairly accurate and complete information in the end. A third problem area is the possible incompleteness and inaccuracy of the shelter records which were utilized. While no evidence suggests that men who signed up for shelter provided inaccurate data on age and residence the possibility exists that they did. It would seem more likely, however, that the incorrect name would be given if any information were to be falsified. Analysis of the records did reveal that all records were not complete in the information provided. Additionally, the author is not convinced that he had gotten all of 198 the records for 1972. This probably relates to the fact that their storage procedure is not very organized. In addition to all of the records in the file in current use, the author accidently discovered quite a large number of records that had been pulled from the file for lack of space and thrown in several desk drawers. Additional evidence of this problem is the fact that the author cited total sheltered in 1972 as 3759 while the official Mission records recorded 4022. Finally, the research is limited to some extent by the lack of time available. The participant obser vation phase of the research was particularly affected by this factor. The time alloted for this observation was limited by the need to complete the other phases of the research in the time available. With these limitations taken into consideration, the next section will provide a brief summary and inte gration of the findings reported. Summary and Discussion of Findings It was noted in the Introduction to this paper that the sociological concern for society has been manifest in a continuing effort to discover the elements that promote and hinder societal integration and to understand the functioning of social control mechanisms in effecting and maintaining integration and order. This research 199 paper has focused on one type of individual, the Skid Rower, whose life style and activities can only be described as being antithetical to integration and societal commitment. Review of previous studies and data from this research clearly show that the life style of some Skid Rowers is voluntary while for others it is involuntary. In other words, some men have exercised their rights in a free society and chosen the Skid Row type existence as an alternative life style, while others have been forced into the role by society itself. This latter circumstance is in part explained by the inability of aged and physically, mentally or emotionally handi capped men to find jobs. Society is, then, in the peculiar position of having to control that which it permits or in fact causes. How has this control been manifest? In part it has been effected via the police and courts and super ficially through the welfare system. Additionally, a variety of specific programs have been developed to deal with the alcoholic Skid Rower. However, most of the control that has been in the form of assistance and rehabilitation has been exercised by a variety of socio religious institutions such as the Salvation Army, the Volunteers of America and rescue missions. These insti tutions have usually arisen spontaneously in response to a need and out of the social conscience of concerned 200 church people. Despite the fact that some feel that such programs only serve to perpetuate a deviant life style, the data from this study indicate that at least the rescue mission studied and its workers have a relation ship with the clients which is in no way exploitative or facilitative of the undesirable in the Skid Row life style. Indeed, the attitudes of those volunteers who help at the Mission can only be described as ones which should maximize the helping relationship. Similarly, the positive attitudes expressed by the clients of the Mission toward the Mission and the volunteers should maximize their receptivity to the help offered. The potential for effective social control appears to be great. A factor that seems significant in promoting the type of social control exercised by the police is the ecological segregation of Skid Row. The congregation of these "deviants" in one or two delimited sections of the community allows the formal control agency to more easily supervise and control. One condition which could clearly thwart social control efforts would be the existence of a strong negativistic subculture. The data from this study, however, while supporting the existence of a subculture, do not support the contention that the subculture negates societal values and supports such norms as drinking, 201 laziness, isolationism and hopelessness. It appears that the subculture simply offers primary group experiences and mutual support for those alienated from society. Any analysis of the effectiveness of social control must consider the characteristics of individual Skid Row men which may cause them to be differentially re ceptive to control mechanisms and assistance. The data do reveal some basic differences, which are significant in this regard, between what have been identified as Transients and Residents. In general Transients are less subculturized in the Skid Row way of life and have a socio-economic background that would appear to make them more conducive to the return to "normal" society. It is with these men, then, that the greatest success in the area of rehabilitation should be possible. This being said, however, some pertinent questions emerge which are worthy of consideration and further research. The major question is whether Transients and Residents are really two separate types of individuals or whether Transients eventually evolve into Residents, and if they do, why they do. The data of this study indicate that Transients and Residents are different in terms of socio-economic background and age in addition to mobility. However, mobility is the basic factor under lying the typology, and the question is whether mobility or transiency is a function of background and/or age or some other factor not clearly evident at this point. It seems reasonable to assume that if the better educated Transients decide at some point to settle down and take a "normal" role, this move will be facilitated by their socio-economic background. Similarly, Transients with poor socio-economic backgrounds might experience con tinual difficulty and never be able to return to a more normal life style. They would then become the Residents of the future, if it can be assumed that eventually wanderers will settle down if only because of age. If this is true, Transients and Residents might always be found to differ in socio-economic background. However, it does not seem feasible that all Transients will at some point decide to give up their life style. Consequently, the differences between Transients and Residents noted in this study may not be found in the future as the present generation of Residents dies off. The findings of this study may, then, reflect a transition phase from the "old hobo" (immigrants, veterans, etc.) to a new type of "hobo." Another issue which emerges, consequently, is what affect age has on the Skid Rower and his mobility pattern. Since Residents are generally older than Transients, it may be that aging is directly related to the decision to permanently settle in one area. Another possibility, however, is that the evolution of a Transient to the 203 Resident role may be a result of subculturization. The questions raised seem worthy of inquiry. It is suggested, then, that further research consider whether Transients become Residents and whether, if they do, this evolution is a result of age, subculturization or some other factor. Such information would be in valuable in establishing effective helping programs. Future research should also consider whether a new breed of "Skid Row man" is emerging in terms of routes to Skid Row and socio-economic background. Significance to Sociological Theory Sociologically, the significance of this project's findings are in the areas of social organization including urban ecology, social interaction and social deviance. The research has centered on a unique urban institution which has evolved to meet the needs of both the community and societal social systems as well as the needs of individual members of these systems. It has further concentrated on various aspects of the clients of this institution whose life style has been termed deviant by the normative system of society. Additionally, the nature and effects of the interaction between client - institution and client - helper has been explored. In the area of social organization, the overriding significance of this research has been the investigation of an institutional structure that has not received much systematic attention in the past. Much research had centered on other institutions that are integral parts of society's structure or deal in some fashion with various forms of individual disorganization. This research helps fill a void.• Additionally, in the area of urban ecology, the competition for space and the resultant segregation of certain activities gains some contemporary support in this study of Skid Row and the Rescue Mission. For organizational theory, the research has helped clarify and elaborate the nature of organ izational linkages, the nature of personal commitments to organizations and areas of potential organizational conflict. Of particular significance in this respect is how religious values and doctrines promote system linkages and welfare activity, but how commitment to a specific activity is in large measure dependent on institutional subgroup membership. This was demonstrated in the research when it was shown that many church people participate in the Mission program because of membership in church organizations that have taken the Mission as a project. It is also significant for organizational theory that an organization such as the Mission can successfully operate and integrate volunteers who perceive its function so differently. It would appear that this success despite the potential for conflict 205 is related to the overriding perception by all volunteers of the needs of clients for spiritual and material services, regardless of which is considered most important. The research has also helped clarify the perceptions appearing in the literature about the type of clients served by Rescue Missions and inhabiting Skid Row. Of special significance is the finding that there is a contemporary hobo and that transiency is a way of life for some individuals. Also significant was the inability of the researcher to detect or find "mission stiffs." Some of the theories of social deviance were also explored in the research. While Becker's deviant career process and labelling theory were not systematically examined, support for the contention that the clients of the Mission have formed a subculture and have been sub culturized can be found. While the clients express wishes and hopes, there was little evidence that they were in fact able to or willing to effect a change. There seemed to be a large number of clients who accept ed this as a suitable life style. The fact that there was little stereotyping of clients by clergy and volun teers, while some was detected in other segments of the community, provides some evidence for concluding that contact and more intimate interaction leads to under standing, empathy and withdrawl of labels. This was also supported by the social distance scale results. Sociological exchange theory receives some illumi nation in the data. As noted earlier, Wallace (1965*58- 62) discussed the interdependence of the Skid Rower and the Mission and the different levels of relationship that are possible. The present research does not support this exchange relation as much as the exchange between the churches and church volunteers and the clients. Certainly the Mission needs clients if it is to do its work. But most people associated with it would be glad if the need were not there. That the Mission needs clients probably becomes a crucial consideration only in the case of missions which are profit seeking such as the national migratory missions and wildcat missions. However, the clients do need the services provided by the Mission. Evidence also suggests that the churches and volunteers need the clients for a variety of reasons, such as to perform a Christian duty, to have a service project, to get self-satisfaction, etc. There was also no evidence to support the exchange relationship described by Wallace that leads to the Skid Row "mission stiff." It would seem that the crucial variable in the emergence of this role type is organizational support. Faith Mission does not encourage conversions by induce ments which can be called rewards for services performed. Wallace also contends that the clients exploit the Mission because they do not accept the Mission's definition of 207 ■them as sinners. While the volunteer data did reveal a sizable percent who felt this way, the majority of volunteers did not see this as true. Additionally, the sinner theme is not predominant in worship services at the Mission. These facts may suggest why the clients have such a positive attitude about the Mission. Finally, the data also suggest that personal dis organization often leads to a narrowing of social space. This idea was expressed by Professor Christen Jonassen in a conversation with the author. This seems partic ularly applicable to the clients who have been termed "Residents." Based on interviews and observation, Residents' social space is quite limited. Travel and family contacts are less than for Transients. The whole life of many Residents is centered around home and the Mission and downtown Columbus. It might be suggested without verification that this narrowing of social space is also a function of age. It will be recalled that Transients are younger. Observations also revealed that younger Residents were more mobile. Therefore, the narrowing of social space for Skid Row inhabitants is probably a function of subculturization and age. Significance for Social Policy In terms of the constitution of the local welfare system and its rules and regulations, there is a definite need in Columbus for Faith Mission. The services pro vided and needed by the clients are not so extensively provided by any other local welfare agency. In terms of services needed, it is clear that food, lodging and spiritual nourishment are most significant. There is no overriding evidence that an extensive alcoholic rehabilitation program is an essential program. In terms of Faith Mission as a relatively new and struggling organization, it would seem that the Mission should strengthen its downtown program before attempting to operate a rehabilitation farm for alcoholics. A more extensive and well operated program at the Mission will meet even more needs of the clients and may assist some clients in avoiding subculturization. Certainly the attitude of the clients toward Faith Mission can only work to the benefit of an expanding program. A crucial problem the Mission must deal with is its narrow base of support. While the number of organ izations supporting the Mission is increasing, the number of individuals actively involved is very small when compared to the potential number. With only small numbers in each organization involved, it would be easy for financial and other support to be withdrawn. Broadening of involvement might be accomplished by assigning more church subgroups the responsibility for going to the Mission. 209 There is no doubt that the community is unaware of Faith Mission and its work. More public relations efforts should be attempted. Various community organ izations might be approached for gifts. While some of this is occurring, more should be attempted. Interviewing did reveal that some people feel the Mission only perpetuates an unacceptable life style. The data does not support this contention. The Mission makes life a little easier for some disenfranchised members of the community. Lastly, it cannot be emphasized too much that for many the Mission is their home church. Therefore, the quality of the service must be continually scrutinized. The practice of forcing a person to worship in order to eat must be questioned. People who are uninterested only disrupt a meaningful experience for others. Related to this comment is the real possibility for serious conflict among participants in and supporters of Faith Mission because of how the central function of the Mission is viewed. The data suggest that the Mission is a necessary and vital organization. It would seem that viewing the Mission's program in terms of an integrated program which is made available to those in need and setting only minimal rules and regulations would be the best way to avoid conflict. Flexibility coupled with only the minimally necessary rules for order would also 210 seem the best way to continue the positive relationship with the clients which appears to exist. Any attempt to label or define the men as sinners and to treat them differently from the way we treat others might only lead to alienation of clients and the establishment of an exploitative relationship where one does not currently exist. APPENDIXES 212 APPENDIX A INTERVIEW OP MISSION DIRECTORS 1. What is the primary purpose (function) of Faith Mission? 2. In addition to this primary function, what other functions does the Mission perform? 3. In your judgement, is the Mission program successful? Is it carrying out its functions as you perceive them? Evidence? Criteria for success? 4. What changes would you like to see made in the Mission program? If not covered abovet how do you feel about having the Mission open all day and providing such things as a reading room and recreational facilities? 5. Is Faith Mission linked to any other agencies or organizations in the Columbus community? If yes, what is the nature of the linkage? 6. What services or functions does Faith Mission provide for the Columbus community? (i.e. How does the Mis sion benefit the community?) 7. How would you characterize the relationship between Faith Mission andj a. the officials of the city of Columbus? b. local welfare agencies? c. the police? d. the general citizenry of Columbus? e. the Salvation Army and Volunteers of America? f. the men and women who come to the Mission for worship and meals? 8. How would you characterize the men who come to Faith Mission in terms of their attitudes and life style? 213 9. What "needs" do these men have? 10. In your judgement, why do men come to Faith Mission? 11. Do you feel that the men attend the worship service for the religious experience? 12. Do you feel that the men who come to Faith Mission "appreciate" the "services" offered? 13. What functions does Faith Mission serve for the churches and their members that participate in the Mission program? (i.e. What benefits accrue to participating churches and members?) APPENDIX B INTERVIEW WITH COMMUNITY AGENCY REPRESENTATIVE Are you familiar with Faith Rescue Mission, East Long Street? What does Faith Mission do? What is its purpose for existing? Is this a worthwhile purpose, in your judgement? Is there a working relationship "between Faith Mission and your agency (organization)? If yesi what is the nature of this relationship? Does Faith Mission perform any services or functions, direct or indirect, for your agency (organization)? What are they? Do you feel that Faith Mission performs any services or functions for the community of Columbus in general? What are they? 215 APPENDIX C COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AND REPRESENTATIVES INTERVIEWED Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Robert C. Zimmer, Vice President of Administration Officers and Directors (interviewed by mail) Dr. Sherwood L. Fawcett, Battelle Memorial Institute W.F, Laird, Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc. Donald R. Haverick, Buckeye Union Insurance Co. Dean W. Jeffers, Nationwide Insurance Co. Robert Lazarus, Jr., Lazarus Arthur D. Herrmann, Huntington National Bank Frank J. Durzo, Jeffrey Galion Inc, Kline L. Roberts, Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Rowland C.W. Brown, Buckeye International, Inc. Leland F. Brubaker, Brubaker/Brandt, Inc. David 0. Cox, Ross Laboratories Robert S. Crane, Crane Plastics Charles C. Egger, Columbus Citizen-Journal Dr. Harold L. Enarson, The Ohio State University Daniel M, Galbreath, John W. Galbreath and Co. Arthur G. Green, Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Co. John R. Hall, Ashland Chemical Co. Gordon C. Jelliffe, City National Bank and Trust John W. Kessler, John W. Kessler Co. Dr. Thomas H. Langevin, Capital University Amos H. Lynch, Columbus Call and Post John H. McConnell, The Worthington Industries, Inc. James B. McIntosh, The Midland Mutual Life Insurance Co, James H. Manecke, Ranco Inc. R.E. Mason, Jr., Columbus Truck and Equipment Co. Walter C. Mercer, Ohio National Bank James Petropolos, Jr., James Petropolos and Co. Oliver F. Runde, Federal Glass Co. Lawrence J. Tolbert, B and T Metals Co. Carl J. Wagner, WTVN Radio Ned L. Walker, Ohio Bell Telephone Co. Columbus City Government Mayor Thomas Moody (no interview granted? comment relayed through secretary) 216 Council Members (interviewed by mail) M.D. Portman Charles A. Mentel Charles R. Petree James A. Roseboro John H. Rosemond, M.D. Fran Ryan Daniel H. Schoedinger Columbus City Police Department Col. Ralph Drown, Division Executive Officer Lt, Herman Stofle, Planning and Research Sgt. W.D. Orndorf, Precinct Sergeant, Precinct i Police Patrolman S.D. White Columbus Metropolitan Area Community Action Organization (CMACAO) William Conley, Director of Operations Leroy Bright, Director of Alcoholism Program Franklin County Department of Welfare Sheila Harshaw, Director (phone interview) Pat Hooffstetter, Manager, Volunteer Services and Education Services Lillian Mann, Intake Supervisor (phone interview) Franklin County Health Department Dr. William Brown, Commissioner of Health Alcoholism Division* J.A. Hinchliffe, Director Fred Asbury Jack Ditter John Haughn Steve Jones Franklin County Municipal Court Chief Justice Fais (phone interview) Bruce Jenkins, Judge C. Howard Johnson, Judge Wilbur Shull, Judge Franklin County Sheriff* s Office Harry Berkemer, Sheriff Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio Donald T. Boyd, Executive Director Lucille Abies, Family and Child Service Supervisor Outreach for Youth Tony Cresswell, Director Salvation Army Brig. Ruth Frey, Accountant Volunteers of America Col. Harriet McDonald Don Dell, Franklin County Welfare Department Liason 218 APPENDIX D LETTER SENT TO DIRECTORS OF THE COLUMBUS AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Gettysburg College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325 10 August 1973 Dear i This summer I am engaged in an extensive research project which focuses on Faith Rescue Mission, E, Long Street. This research will form the basis of my PhD dissertation in Sociology at the Ohio State University. It is being sponsored by the Board of Directors of the Mission and Gettysburg College, where I am an instructor. As part of the research, I am interviewing the clients served by the Mission, the volunteers who participate in its program and representatives of various community organ izations. As a Director of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, I am very much interested in your opinion of Faith Mission. If your time permits, I would appre ciate a response to the following* Are you familiar with Faith Mission? If so, do you feel its program is a benefit or a detriment to the community? In what way? If you are not familiar with Faith Mission, do you feel that programs such as the Volunteers of America and Rescue Missions are a benefit or a detriment to the community? In what way? Certainly your name will not be connected with your response and it is understood that you are speaking only for yourself and not the organization to which you are attached. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Donald W, Hinrichs 219 APPENDIX E LETTER SENT TO MEMBERS OF THE COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL Gettysburg College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325 10 August 1973 Dear i This summer I am engaged in an extensive research project which focuses on Faith Rescue Mission, E, Long Street. This research will form the basis of my PhD dissertation in Sociology at the Ohio State University. It is being sponsored by the Board of Directors of the Mission and Gettysburg College, where I am an instructor. As part of the research, I am interviewing the clients served by the Mission, the volunteers who participate in its program and representatives of various community organ izations. As a member of the Columbus City Council, I am very much interested in your opinion of Faith Mission. If your time permits, I would appreciate a response to the following* Are you familiar with Faith Mission? If so, do you feel its program is a benefit or a detriment to the community? In what way? If you are not familiar with Faith Mission, so you feel that programs such as the Volunteers of America and Rescue Missions are a benefit or a detriment to the community? In what way? Certainly your name will not be connected with your response and it is understood that you are speaking only for yourself and not the Council as a group. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Donald W. Hinrichs 220 APPENDIX F BUSINESSES IN THE VICINITY OF FAITH MISSION AND EMPLOYEES INTERVIEWED Beer and Wine Carry Out (One block from Mission, same side of street) Owner Blue Cross (Directly across the street from Mission) Receptionist Capital Auto Radiator Company (One block from Mission, opposite side of street) Two workers Columbus Hotel (One block from Mission, same side of street) Clerk Columbus Time Recorder Company (one block from Mission, opposite side of street) Two female employees Daniel Radio Corporation Warehouse (Two doors from Mission) Workman General Tire Sales, Inc. (One half block from Mission, opposite side of street, across inter section) Manager, cashier Grant Piston Rings (one half block from Mission, same side of street) Three workmen Hiss Stamp Company (One half block from Mission, same side of street) Manager, woman employee Labor Pool (One and one half blocks from Mission on a side street) Assistant manager Leon's Cleaners (Next door to Mission) Owner 221 Milt's Past Food Service (Two blocks from Mission, same side of street) Waitress Minite Men, Inc. (Two blocks from Mission, opposite side of street) Manager Preview Lounge (Two doors from Mission) Barmaid Tasty Restaurant (Next door) Waitress Thompson Radio Supplies (Directly across the street from the Mission) Two workmen Wasserman Company, Uniforms and Shoes (Two blocks from Mission) Workman 222 APPENDIX G INTERVIEW WITH CLERGY OF CHURCHES ACTIVE IN FAITH MISSION 1. How often does your congregation provide the worship and meal at Faith Mission? 2. Are you involved in any other way with the Mission or its clients? If yest how? 3. What, in your judgement, is the primary function or purpose of Faith Mission? Is it successful in carrying out this function? Do you believe the Mission serves a useful function for the men and women it serves? If yesi in what way? If noi why? 5. Do you believe the Mission serves a useful function for the community of Columbus? If yesi in what way? If noi why? 6. Why is your congregation involved with Faith Mission? 7. Concerning the members of your congregation who give their time at Faith Missions a. How many of your members give at least some time to the Mission program? b. How many of your members participate on a regular basis in the program? c. How do you recruit volunteers for this program? d. Total church memberships Membership criteria! e. Why do people volunteer for this program? 22.3 8. Concerning the clients served by Faith Missioni a. Do you believe that they need the evening religious experience? b. Do you feel that they get something out of the religious service? c. Do you believe that the men "need" the food and clothing? d. Do you feel that they appreciate the material goods that are given to them? 9. When you conduct the worship service, do you encourage conversions or formal commitments to Christ? If yes» a. How often are you successful in getting these conversions or recommitments? b. How many different individuals have answered your call? In what time period? How many will answer your call on an average evening? c. Are there any men or women who recommit themselves on a regular basis? If yes» how many or what percent of the total fall into this category? d. Once a man converts or recommits himself during the worship, what do you do as a follow through for him? e. How are these conversions and recommitments significant in the lives of those who make them? 10. Are there any changes in the program at Faith Mission that you would recommend? APPENDIX H ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING IN FAITH MISSION PROGRAM AND REPRESENTATIVE INTERVIEWED Churches American Lutheran Calvary Lutheran Church Bairsford Road and East Livingston Columbus, Ohio Dave Gabel, Pastor Christ the King Lutheran Church 129^ East Dublin-Granville Road Columbus, Ohio Robert Swanger, Pastor Christ Lutheran Church 231^ E. Main Street Columbus, Ohio Fred Bermlohr, Pastor (interviewed by mail) Clinton Heights Lutheran Church 15 Clinton Heights Road Columbus, Ohio Charles Klinksick, Pastor Divinity Lutheran Church 3209 McCutchen Road Columbus, Ohio Richard Findlay, Pastor Epiphany Lutheran Church Pickerington, Ohio Loren Hoch, Pastor Faith Lutheran Church 730 Collingwood Avenue, Whitehall Columbus, Ohio C.T. Langholz, Visitation Pastor Good Shepherd Lutheran Church 211 Merkle Road Columbus, Ohio Henry Oestreich, Visitation Pastor Grace Lutheran Church 4500 Refugee Road Columbus, Ohio Eugene Bensch, Pastor (interviewed by mail) Lord of Life Lutheran Church 24-95 West Dublin-Granville Road Columbus, Ohio R. Ervin Walther, Pastor North Community Lutheran Church 114 Morse Road Columbus, Ohio Robert Trump, Pastor St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church 150 East Columbus Grove City, Ohio David C. Campbell, Pastor St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church 133 West South Street Lithopolis, Ohio Thomas Rehl, Pastor St. Mark's Lutheran Church 1218 Dennison Road Columbus, Ohio Karl A. Hommer, Pastor St. Matthew Lutheran Church Lochbourne, Ohio Don Beutel, Pastor St. Paul Lutheran Church 4686 Walnut Street Westerville, Ohio Jacob J. Schick, Pastor St. Peter's Lutheran Church I763 Cleveland Avenue Columbus, Ohio William C. Betcher, Assistant Pastor 226 St. Philip Lutheran Church 1506 East Long Street Columbus, Ohio Howard Grevenow, Pastor Trinity Lutheran Church South Third and Fulton Streets Columbus, Ohio Larry Hoffsis, Pastor Upper Arlington Lutheran Church 2300 Lytham Road Columbus, Ohio Luther 0, Strommen, Pastor Mennonite Ambassadors for Christ (Beachy Amish Mennonite) Youth group of three congregations, Plain City, Ohio Raymond Kauffman, Pastor Bethesda Fellowship (Beachy Amish Mennonite) Plain City, Ohio Ervin Hostetler, Bishop Crusade Bible Church (Eastern and Ohio Mennonite Conference) 1^1 West First Street Plain City, Ohio Paul Yutzy, Pastor Gospel Light Conservative Mennonite (Conserv ative Conference Mennonites) Plain City, Ohio Eli William Beachy, Assistant Pastor Powell Community (Minister associated with Eastern and Ohio Mennonite Conferencej church unaffiliated) Seldom Seen Road Powell, Ohio Maynard Ressler, Pastor Sharon Mennonite (Eastern and Ohio Conference Mennonite) Amity Pike Plain City, Ohio Elvin Sommers, Pastor 227 Shiloh Mennonites (Conservative Conference Mennonite) Resca, Ohio Willis Sommers, Assistant Pastor United. Bethel Mennonite (Conservative Conference Mennonite) Plain City, Ohio Allen Yutzy, Assistant Pastor Baptist Bexley Baptist Church 269 North Gould Road Columbus, Ohio Clarence Hackett, Pastor East Livingston Baptist Church 6500 East Livingston Avenue Reynoldsburg, Ohio Robert Ginn, Pastor Stelzer Road Baptist Church 2235 Stelzer Road Columbus, Ohio Robert Walker, Pastor Church of God Church of God Newark, Ohio Emerson Wilson, Pastor Alliance Church Westerville Alliance Church 75 East Schrock Road Westerville, Ohio Walter Thomas, Pastor Organizations Columbus Christian Lay Fellowship Columbus, Ohio James Gaupp, representative 228 Individuals A. Katherine Davies - associated with mission churches since childhood. Cleo Hart - convert of Billy Sundayi ran City Mission in Columbus with husband and then singly on his death from 19^3 to 1965. Kenneth and Mary Hay -.devoted workers at Mission* Mrs. Hay pastors at the Church of God, Plain City, Ohio George Metzger - converted in 19^6 * introduced to City Mission by pastor* has preached regularly since conversion at City Mission and Faith Mission. Floyd Morrow - ordained minister, community church* has preached regularly at Mission since invited to City Mission 22 years ago. 229 APPENDIX I QUESTIONNAIRE FOR FAITH MISSION VOLUNTEERS 1. Church affiliation* Missouri Lutheran_____ Lutheran Church in America__ Mennonite_____ Other, please specify denom ination 2. Male______Female______ 3. Age ______ 4. How many times have you "been to Faith Mission to help with the worship and evening meal? (Please check the appropriate category) 1 time ____ 11 - 14 times ___ 20 - 24 times 2 - 5 times ____ 15-19 times____ 25 or more___ 6 - 1 0 times ____ 5. How often do you go to Faith Mission to help with the worship and evening meal? (Please check the appropriate category) once a month 2 times a year ___ once every 2 months ___ once a year ___ 4 times a year ___ other, please specify* 6 . Have you ever had the opportunity to talk in some depth with any of the men and women who come to the Mission for help? Yes ___ No ___ 7. In terms of what you feel those who come to the Mis sion need the most, rank the following services provided by Faith Mission in order of importance, ranking the most important service as number 1* food (the evening meal) ___ the Gospel of Christ ___ clothing ___ 230 fellowship ___ shelter (sleeping quarters) ___ counseling ___ farm for rehabilitation of alcoholics ___ Here are some statements about Faith Mission and its program on which we would like your opinion. For each statement please circle the response which most nearly corresponds to your opinion - either "strongly agree," "agree," "don't know," "disagree," or "strongly dis agree." 8. Faith Mission serves a useful function for the men and women who come to it. 9. Faith Mission provides services unavailable else where in Columbus. 10. If Faith Mission closed, the people it now feeds would go hungry. 11. Faith Mission serves a useful function for the community of Columbus. 12. If Faith Mission closed, the men and women who come to it would have no place else to turn for help. 13. Without Faith Mission, the city of Columbus would have to set up new welfare programs or expand present services to deal with the people now served by the Mission. 14. Faith Mission serves no useful purpose and only perpetuates an unacceptable life style among the men and women who come to it. Here are some statements about the men and women who come to Faith Mission for the services provided by the Mission. For each statement please circle the response which most nearly corresponds to your opinion - either "strongly agree," "agree," "don't know," "disagree," or "strongly disagree." 15. They need the food provided for them. 16. They all drink alcoholic beverages. 17. They have no friends. 231 18. The religious worship service at the Mission is meaningful to them. 19. They are basically lazy. 20. They do not work because they can't work or can't find work. 21. They would come to the worship service even if no food or clothing were provided. 22. They have little hope for the future. 23. There is no life style worse than the life style of these individuals. 2b. They are all alcoholics. 25. They need the word of God in their lives. 26. Those individuals who experience a conversion or recommit themselves to Christ during the worship service are sincere and this experience is signif icant to them from that time on. 27. They have no meaningful relationships with other people. 28. The life style of these individuals makes them sinners in the sight of God. 29. They appreciate the food and clothing provided for them. 30. They attempt to help themselves as much as possible by seeking work, counseling, etc. 31. The men and women who come to the Mission can be helped. 32. They have the right to live the type of lives they want to live without interference from others. 33* They have little pride in their personal appearance. 3^. They appreciate the time people like me give to help them. 232 35. Following is a list of services provided by Faith Mission to the men and women who come to it. Check whether, in your judgement, the service is adequately or inadequately provided. In other words, is the Mission doing a good job or a poor job in providing the service in terms of its overall objectives. foodj adequate ___ inadequate____ worship* adequate ___ inadequate ___ clothing* adequate ___ inadequate ___ shelter* adequate ___ inadequate ___ counseling* adequate ___ inadequate____ fellowship* adequate ___ inadequate____ rehabilitation of alcoholics* adequate ___ inadequate ___ 36. Do you feel that changes are needed in the program at Faith Mission? Yes ___ No ___ If yes, please jot down several recommendations for improving the program. 37. What was the circumstance of your first visit to Faith Mission? Chech only one of the following* Minister asked for volunteers, I volunteered ___ A friend told me I should go so I volunteered ___ I was a member of a group which was going and I volunteered to go ___ I was a member of a group which was going and it was my turn to go ___ I simply had heard about the program and volunteered to go ___ Other ______(please specify) 233 38. Why did you go to Faith Mission for the first time? Check one of the following* A friend talked me into going ___ I wanted to see what it was like ___ It was my turn to go ___ It is my Christian duty to help others and this was one way I could ___ I felt I could set an example for the men ___ My friends had gone, so I decided to go ___ Because of situations in my family ___ I wanted to get out of the house for a while ___ Other ______(please specify) Answer question 39 if you have been to Faith Mission more than once or if you plan to return again* 39. Why are you now or will you be a regular participant in this program? You may check as many of the following as apply. However, if you check more than one, please rank them in terms of their sig nificance to you. Rank the most important as 1, the second most important as 2 and so on. I must take my turn as a member of my group or church ___ It is my Christian duty to help others ___ I feel that I personally have something to offer these men ___ I feel good inside when I go to Faith Mission ___ My friends go ___ Because of situations in my family ___ I enjoy getting out of the house occasionally ___ Other ______(please specify) 40. Please check your highest level of educational attainment* under 8 years ___ under 12 but more than 7 years __ high school graduate ___ College* 1 to 3 years ___ graduated ___ specify degree ______23^ Masters degree PhD Other please specify DIRECTIONS* Please place one check to indicate the closest degree to which you would he willing to admit a member of each of the groups listed below. Make sure that your reactions are to each group as a whole, not to the best or worst members you may have known. 1 Might marry or accept as a close relative 2 Might have as a close friend 3 Would accept as a next door neighbor b Would accept in my school, church, and so on 5 Would accept in my community, but would have no contact 6 Would accept as a resident of my country but not my community 7 Would not accept at all, even as a resident in my country GROUP 12 3 ^ 5 6 7 drug addicts prostitutes alcoholics ex-prisoners skid row inhabitants atheists political radicals homosexuals adulterers gamblers ex-mental patients Faith Mission clientele marijuana smokers women who have had an abortion hippies intellectuals 235 APPENDIX J INTERVIEW WITH HOMELESS MEN 1. Date of birthi Intervieweri Interject after first question! Oh, by the way! I should tell you that some of these questions will be quite personal. Everything you say will be kept confidential and will be used as material for our studies without mentioning names in any way. If you think any of the questions are too personal, you may decline to answer if you wish. But it will help us most if you can answer all of the questions. Is this okay? 2. How would you describe your health? excellent good fair poor 3. What kinds of medical or health problems or ailments so you feel you have now? 4. What illnesses or injuries have you had in the past 12 months? What kind of treatment did you get for each? (If NONE, ask WHY?) 5. How did you pay for the cost of treatment? 6 . How many days of reduced activities did you have due to your illnesses and injuries last year? 7. Where do you currently live? (address, hotel name, etc.) a. What kind of a place is that? (hotel, apartment house, private home, rooming house, mission, etc.) b. Do you share a room or apartment with anyone? How many? c. Do you havei private bath? coo zing facilities (stove, sink, refrig.)? d. How do you like living there? 1) What things do you like about it? 2) And what don't you like about it? 236 8. During the past year, what kinds of places have you lived in? How long in each? (labor camps. Salvation Army, missions, outdoors, etc.) 9. How do you feel about living in this neighborhood? a. What do you like about living here? b. What don't you like about living here? c. How long do you expect to stay here? 10. How long have you lived in this neighborhood? (refers only to present trip here) 11. Have there been any events or circumstances in your life that caused you to move here? Would you tell me what they were and what happened? (encourage brevity) 12. How did you come to choose this neighborhood as a place to stay? How did you become acquainted with this area or areas similar to this in other cities? 13. If you could live in the neighborhood you like best, where would you choose to live - where you are currently living, someplace else in this neighbor hood, in another neighborhood or someplace else? Ik. Suppose new housing was to be built especially for men like yourself who live around here that you could rent at a price you could afford. What kind of places to live should be built for you? (ex. Single rooms like YMCA, open dormitories, apart ments for 2 or 3 men in which you could cook, etc.) 15. Are you familiar with the term "Skid Row?" a. Do you consider yourself as living on Skid Row here in Columbus? Would you please explain why you said that? b. If YES 1 During how many weeks of the past year have you lived on Columbus" Skid Row? c. If N O 1 Have you ever lived on what you consider Skid Row? If YES 1 How many years have you lived on Skid Row in your life? 237 16. How would you describe your typical day? Take an average day and think of how you spend it - What things do you do? You may start with getting up in the morning. PROBESi what time do you get up? where do you eat breakfast? what do you do after breakfast? where do you eat lunch? where do you eat supper? what do you do in the evening? 17. What do you think of the other men that live around here and come to the Mission? In thinking of where you would like to live, would you like to have people like these men around you, or would you like to have different people? a. What do you like about the men? b. What don't you like about them? c. How many close friends do you have here?• 1) If NO close friends 1 why do you suppose you have not found any friends among them? 2) If HAS friends 1 are your friends different from the other men on the street? In what way? 18. Now I'd like to ask you about any work you did during the past week. Last week did you work at any job? If NO, skip to question 19. a. What kind of work did you do? (occupation) b. Was it a spot job or a steady job? c. How did you get this job? (if employment office, name office) d. What's the name of the company (person) you worked for? e. Where is the company located? (address) f. What do they do or make there? g. How many hours did you work at this job last week? h. How much did you get paid per hour on this job? 238 19. Ask only if NOT WORKING LAST WEEKi Did you apply for work last week at any place? Where? a. If APPLIEDi why do you suppose you didn't get a job when you tried? b. If NOT LOOKINGi what kept you from working or looking for work or didn't you want to work? 20. Now I would like to know all of the cities you have been in during the past year, how long you stayed in each place, and the jobs you had while you were there. 21. a. About how many times have you been to Columbus and then moved away? b. In what year did you first come to Columbus? 22. Estimated wages last yeari a. During the past year, about how many weeks did you go without working even one day? b. During the weeks that you did work, how many hours per week did you usually work (I mean the average week you worked)? c. Think of the best paying and the lowest paid jobs you had and how long you worked at them* what would you say was your average pay per hour last year? 23. Do you get a pension of any kind - because of disability (injury), retirement (social security) or because of age (public assistance)? How much? 2^. Last year did you receive money from rents or interest on property or savings you own? How much? 25. Last year did you receive money as a gift from relatives or friends? How much? 26. What was your total income last year? 239 27. a. What kinds of work have you done in your life? Could you tell me which jobs you have held longest and how long you worked at each? (list jobs held one year or longer. If none in this category, list three "best" jobs) b. Which of these jobs did you like best? c. Why did you happen to leave it? 28. Would you rather have "spot jobs" or a steady job? a. If spot jobsi Why don't you want a steady job? b. If prefers steady job but does not have a steady jobi Do you think you could handle a steady job working five days a week, eight hours a day? If NOi Why don't you think so? 29. If you could get free training to prepare you for a better job, would you be interested in taking it? a. If NOi Why is that? b. If YESi What kind of training would you want? 30. How do you usually spend your spare time? Do you evert How often? a. go to the movies? b. go to a tavern or bar? c. go to adult book stores? d. go to a penny arcade, shooting gallery? e. play checkers? f. play cards? g. bet on horses, play numbers, buy a lottery ticket? h. watch TV? i. go to a reading room? j. otherj 2k0 31. a. In the last week, how many free meals have you had from the Mission or other such places? b. In the last week, how many times have you had a free bed? From whom? 32. How would you like to spend your spare time? a. Are there any special things that you would enjoy that you can’t afford? b. Are there any things that you can’t do because there’s no place to do them? c. Have you ever had any hobbies that you’d like to take up again? What? 33. Where were you born? (area and state)t 3*K Where did you live during the time you were growing up (between the ages of o and 1*0? a. Name of town and stater b. Did you live on a farm, just outside town, or inside a town? c. How long did you live there? 35. Where were your parents born (state or foreign country)? 36. What is the nationality of your parents? 37. What kind of work did your father do at the time you were growing up (his occupation)? 38. a. When you were growing up was your family poor, very poor, comfortable or well-to-do? b. Did you always have enough to eat at home when you were a boy? If NOi What was the trouble? 241 39. a. How old were you when you left home? b. How did you happen to leave home then? What happened to make you leave home? 40. What kind of a person was your father? a. What did you like about him? b. What did you dislike about him? c. (If not already mentioned) Was he a heavy drinker? d. Did he ever serve a jail sentence? For what? - 4i. What kind of a person was your mother? a. What did you like best about her? b. What did you dislike about her? c. Did she drink? 42. How did your father and mother get along with each other? a. Did they see eye to eye on most things or did they quarrel a lot? b. If they quarreled a lot, why did they quarrel? c. Taking everything into consideration, would you say they had a happy marriage during the time you were a boy? 4-3. Which of your parents helped you the most when you were growing up? 44. Which of your parents do you think you liked the most? 45. How many children were there in your family alto gether? 46. What was the highest grade of school you attended? Did you complete that grade? 47. How were your grades in school - very good, good, average, poor, very poor? zkz 4-8. Did you enjoy going to school? a. What did you like about it? b. What did you dislike about it? c. What were your best subjects in school? d. What subjects were hardest for you or did you dislike the most? 49. Why did you stop going to school? 50. After you left regular school, did you take any special training, like apprenticeship training, correspondence school, anything like that? 51. What kind of person were you when you were 15» 20 years old? a. Were you happy or unhappy? What kinds of things bothered you? b. What were your ideas about what you wanted to be then? c. Were you a hard worker, or were you inclined to be easy-going on the job? d. Were you restless and always wanting to be on the go? (In what way?) e. Did you have a lot of friends, only a few friends, or were you more of a lone wolf? f. How did you spend your free time? g. Did you date girls before you were 20 years old? (How often?) h. Did you have any close friends who were boys? i. Did you run around a lot with a gang of boys? j. Did you ever get into trouble with the police when you were young? If YES 1 1) What kind of trouble? 2) Were you ever taken to juvenile court or 2^3 arrested? 3) Were you ever sent to a training center for delinquent boys or a reformatory? 52. Are you nowi married divorced____ separated widowed never married If NEVER married ask question 53. If one of the other responses skip to question 5^. 53. Were you ever engaged to be married? If NO ask at a. Were you ever in love or did you ever date steady with a girl? If YES ask b» b. What happened to break your engagement? c. ASK ALL RESPONDENTS WHO NEVER MARRIED1 Why do you suppose you never got married? 5^. If married, divorced, widowed or separatedi How long did you and your wife live together? a. Would you describe your home lifei b. Unless widowedi What caused your separation? c. How many children do you have? What are they doing? 55. Living relativesi Where (City, state) Written- visited in ______past 2 years Mother Father Wife Brother-sister Children Other 56. How do you feel toward your relatives? 244 57. Suppose you were sick and down and out. Would your relatives give you help if they knew where you were and needed help? 58. Why do you suppose so many men who attend the Mission and live around here drink so much? 59. How heavy a drinker are you? Do you consider your self to be ai heavy drinker moderate drinker light drinker periodic drinker or don*t you drink at all? UNLESS NEVER DRINKSt a. About how much of the money you get do you spend on drinking (fraction or percentage)? b. Do you have spells when you drink very heavy? 1) How often do you have these spells? 2) Why do you suppose you drink more at those times than at others? c. What do you usually drink? wine beer whiskey other d. Why do you suppose you drink? (satisfaction, relax) e. How do you drink? bar buy a bottle If bottlei 1) Where do you go to drink the bottle? 2) When you drink from a bottle are you usually alone? 60. a. About how many days last week did you have some wine or whiskey to drink? b, How much whiskey did you have to drink last week? 61. If NEVER DRINK* Were you ever a heavy drinker? a. When did you stop? b. How did you stop? c. Who helped you to stop and how did they help you? 62. About how many times would you say you have been arrested for being drunk? never less than 5 5-10 10-20 20-20 more than 3° a. How many times were you sentenced to jail for being drunk? b. When was the last time you were arrested for drunkenness? c. Have you ever been hospitalized for drunkenness or as a result of being drunk? 1) How many times were you hospitalized? 2) Who took you to the hospital usually? 3) What kind of treatment did you get? 63. How many times have you been jackrolled or robbed in the past year? 6k. How many times, if any, have you had the D.T.'s? 65. Have you ever joined Alcoholics Anonymous or some other program that tries to help people stop drink ing too much? If YES 1 Did the program help you? List programs joined* 66. Have you ever served a jail or prison sentence for some offense besides being drunk? If YES» For each term of imprisonment list charge and length of sentence. HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT YOURSELF AS A PERSON* 6?. If you were asked to describe yourself, what kind of person would you say you are? 68. a. Do you feel that it is hopeless to try to get ahead? b. Why do you feel that way? 2^6 69. Do you associate with women nowadays? If YES* a. How often? b. Where do you meet them? c. What kinds of women are they? d. Do you go with the women who live around here? If NOi Why not? 70. People say that some of the men living around here have sex experiences with other men. a. How many men do you think do this more or less regularly? b. During the past couple of years have you had an experience like that with another man or boy? 71. Here are some questions about religioni a. Were you ever a member of any church? What church? b. Do you believe in God? c. How do you feel about churches in general? d. Where do you normally attend religious services? 72. If you had your life to live over again, what kinds of things would you do differently? 73. If you could make three wishes and they would all be granted, what would you ask for? 7^. Do you think the police are doing a good job of protecting the people who live on this street? 75. What political party do you like best? Republicans Democrats None No interest in politics Otheri HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT FAITH MISSIONi 76. How often do you come to Faith Mission a week? 77. How did you become acquainted with Faith Mission? 247 78. Why do you come to the Mission? 79. Why do you think other men come to Faith Mission? 80. How do you feel abouti a. the worship service? b. the church groups who provide the worship and the meal? c. the lodging facilities? d. the Mission in general? e. the director of the Mission? 81. Have you ever been counseled by anyone on the Mission staff? Why did you seek counseling? Did the counseling help you? In what way? 82. What improvements and changes would you like to see made in the Mission program (including facilities, etc.)? 83. Have you ever experienced a religious conversion or recommitted your life to Christ during the worship service and as part of this went forward to receive the minister’s blessing? If YESi a. How many times has this occurred to you at Faith Mission? b. How often do you recommit yourself? (for example 1 once a week, once a month, etc.) c. What during the service causes you to recommit your life to Christ? d. Do these experiences occur at any special times? If YESt When? e. After the worship service in which you recommit yourself, what does the minister or Mission staff do for you? (probes* free lodging, clothes, etc.) 2^8 8^. Have you ever given a personal testimony during the worship service at Faith Mission? If YESi a. How many times have you done this? b. How often do you do this? (once a month, etc.) c. What causes you to give a testimony? 85. What is your name please? BIBLIOGRAPHY Abell, Aaron I. 1962 The Urban Impact on American Protestantism 1865-1900. Londont Archon. Anderson, Nels. 1923 The Hobo. Chicagoi University of Chicago Press, Arnold, David 0. 1970 "A Process Model of Subcultures." Pp. 112-118 in David Arnold (ed.), The Sociology of Sub cultures. Santa Barbara! University of California. Becker, Howard S. 1963 Outsiders. New Yorki Free Press. Bell, Robert. 1971 Social Deviance. Homewood, Illinois! Dorsey Press. Bittner, Egon. I957 "The Police on Skid-Rowi A Study of Peace Keeping," American Sociological Review 32(October). 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