The Nation: No Honor Among Saints

Helping the poor is one of mankind's nobler activities, but as with all good works, it can be pursued with excessive zeal. That, at least, seems to be the case in Chicago, where some donors complain that goods they have left clearly marked for pickup by one charitable organization have been pilfered by truck drivers for a rival charity. People have reported that Amvets trucks have picked up clothing left for the Salvation Army. An Amvets official denies that this is being done but says witnesses have seen Salvation Army drivers making off with Amvets bundles. And Goodwill Industries of America, which relies on well-marked collection boxes rather than house-to-house pickups, claims that it gets complaints about both Amvets and Salvation Army drivers taking donations left beside the Goodwill boxes. Amvets Pickup Manager John J. Walsh is properly incensed at any such short cuts to good deeds. "There's enough out there for all of us," he contends. "We don't have to steal from each other."