"You are probably unaware of the misery of old age dependents. I can tell you of cases of old parents criminally neglected by their well-to-do children, many of whom you will find in flophouses and slum districts of all large cities. "For the past many years, one of our New York newspapers three weeks before Christmas has appealed for help for hundreds of the neediest cases. It exposes to the public the pathetic problems of sickness and death among people of all ages. Just go on the rounds with a social worker if you wish to witness the inhumanity of man to man. "I'm going to tell you something I saw many years ago. A man, deeply charitable, stood at a spot near Madison Square and Fifth Avenue in New York every night. There he auctioned off the services of the many unfortunates. He was always surrounded by them, as well as by a group of onlookers. He stood these victims, one at a time, on a box which he called 'the block.' It was pitiful to see them standing there, either flushed and embarrassed, or with tears running down their cheeks. He then called for bids. "'What am I offered for this person? Who will give him ten cents? Twenty-five cents? Fifty cents? Do you have a job for him?' Sometimes he gave the history of the person with sufficient verification to substantiate his information. There were always offers of money, dropped in a glass on the block by the bystanders, many of whom themselves were in tears. Many of the unfortunates found jobs there. After the contributions had been made, the speaker counted the money in the presence of the auctioned persons and gave each its equivalent in tickets worth fifty cents each. These tickets could be used to procure beds and meals at specified hotels and restaurants. He kept up this procedure night after night, until the last member of his flock was taken care of. "I well remember one man he put on the block. A bedraggled old drunkard, wearing oversized garments, torn and patched. He said, 'Look at this poor man. He looks like an alley cat, doesn't he? Just as if children threw snowballs at him during the day, and as if he rummaged through garbage cans at night.'"