The Chicago Municipal Lodging House was first opened on December 21, 1901. It provided free temporary shelter and food for destitute, homeless men. At first it was operated under the Department of Police, but was transferred on January 1, 1908, to the Department of Health, and later, on April 17, 1917, transferred to the Department of Public Welfare. In its early history, the Municipal Lodging House was fortunate in having as its superintendent men like Raymond Robins, James Mullenbach, and Charles B. Ball, who set high standards for its administration.[71] The Municipal Lodging House met the severe test of the unemployment years of 1908 and 1914 by showing how its organization could expand to meet extraordinary situations. For example, while only 23,642 lodgings were given in 1907, the number rose to 105,564 in 1908; and the 78,392 lodgings given in 1913 rose to 452,361 in 1914. The Municipal Lodging House closed in 1918-19 because of lack of applicants during wartime prosperity, but it did not reopen during the hard winters of 1920-21 and 1921-22. Many destitute men, who would otherwise have been inmates of the Municipal Lodging House with the medical attention, sanitary sleeping quarters, and other assistance for rehabilitation which it offered, became instead “regular feeders” at the “bread lines” and permanent patrons of Hogan’s “flop.” There seems to be no doubt that the absence of municipal provision made for an increase of promiscuous begging and injudicious almsgivings. Many other institutions and agencies regularly or sporadically extend assistance to the homeless man. Yet, in perhaps no other field of social work is there more overlapping and duplication of effort, or so low standards of service. For example, the missions and some of the churches, working independently of one another, boast that they feed and clothe the needy, but they make little or no effort to distinguish between those who do and those who do not deserve assistance. Consequently, the missions lay themselves open to exploitation by the homeless man. A constructive program for rehabilitation demands the co-ordination of the efforts of all agencies now engaged in serving his needs. THE HOMELESS MAN AND RELIGION The missions, and for that matter, the welfare agencies are unpopular with the habitués of Hobohemia. The hobo, in his songs and in conversation, shows unmistakably his aversion to all efforts to remake his character or to reshape his destiny. This feeling of antipathy is naturally strongest with the adherents of the I.W.W. who come in competition and conflict with the mission worker.