While workers and handicraftsmen immediately start to lay the foundation of a new home, and every morning emerge from their provisory shacks to go to work, the petite bourgeoisie (uder kleine Mittelstand) is in a predicament from which nothing but help from outside can lead them. All the small shopkeepers, inn-keepers, and clerks have lost through the fire their means of existence; on claims against insurance companies, that frequently can be realized only by way of court actions. No new existence can be founded ... with the practical attitude characteristic of them. The Israelites have been essayed a solution on October 15, by nominating a special committee whose task will be to collect money among the Israelites of other cities. This money is not to be used to alleviate the need of the present moment, but for the reconstruction of the enterprise of the small Israelite business people. Permanent help is in the end cheaper than temporary, that has constantly to be repeated. It is better to give a man a chance, through a gift of $50, to again make his living, than to have to protect him against freezing and starvation, all through the winter, with $3 or $4 a week. Of course, in granting relief by such larger sums, it is necessary to employ the utmost caution and to dispose of genuine knowledge of human character. The Israelites who, in their charity work, were always inclined toward the described principle, are perhaps better prepared for its application in the present emergency than others. The German Aid Society, the lodges, the craft associations, 2likewise possess some or all of the pre-suppositions and information necessary for the application of this policy. They should make the support of the special cases, the permanent removal of neediness through the expenditure of larger sums, their main task. It is true that this will make more work than the distribution of daily rations, but its effect will be permanent and a far greater blessing.