In Baltimore, from one third to one half of the families under supervision are on or below the poverty line. This means that they are registered on the books of some charitable association, and are, or at times have been, dependent upon these organizations for food, rent, fuel, clothing, or other assistance. In other words, the gap between the income and the cost of living has needed to be bridged over by outside aid. In a new community when the nurse’s first patients are the “poor people” of the locality, she will find that nearly a hundred per cent. of her cases are on the poverty line. This was our experience in Baltimore, when the work was first organized, but now that it is well established the percentage is much reduced. The nurses are now working in homes where economic conditions are not acute, hence the number of those receiving or rather of those needing relief (the terms are not always synonymous) is less than a few years ago. Still, distressing poverty is found in from one half to one third of the families, which means that the problem of fighting tuberculosis is gravely complicated. =The Relief-Giver.= When people need financial assistance, the question arises, by whom shall it be given? a point which provokes much discussion. Many people think that the nurse should give this relief, because of her intimate knowledge of the home conditions of the families under her charge—a knowledge far more extensive than that gained in any other way. Some think if she is socially trained, _i.e._, supplements her hospital training by a course in a school of philanthropy, that she can combine the duties of both nurse and charity organization agent, and become in this way a most effective social worker. By this combination, the family will be spared the infliction of two visitors, nurse and agent, a desirable result, since the advice given by these two workers is often flatly contradictory. Other people think that instead of having a nurse, it would be better to have a graduate from a school of philanthropy, with a training supplemented by a six months’ hospital course. The superficial nature of this course is sufficient commentary on its value. Moreover, more than one half of the patients with tuberculosis do not come within the reach of a relief-giving agency.