Chapter C: C. Carstens (2)

Greeks, Bulgarians, Servians and Roumanians all have served their time under the Turkish rule of massacre and oppression but they were fortunate. Geographical conditions helped them to free themselves. The Armenians revolted, too, although isolated from Christian neighbors and surrounded by ten Turks and Kurds to one Armenian.

The Armenian is the tiller of the land in Asia Minor. During the old regime because of the systematic oppression, some of the Armenians had to emigrate to earn a living. Others could not work their lands for the government had sold their oxen for taxes. The lands of these unfortunates, were grabbed by force by the Turks. For four years during the constitutional government this question was before the Turkish Parliament and was never settled. The Ottoman government can never realize that the poverty of the public means the poverty of the government.

Asiatic Turkey is blessed by fine agricultural land, yet Turkey instead of exporting wheat has to import flour. During the war while I was in Constantinople half of that city was without bread for a day and a half on one occasion. The soldiers brought over from Asia Minor were without food and they were plundering the bakeshops in the city.

In 1908 when Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, the young Turks invited all the Moslem population of these regions to migrate to Turkey and promised them money and lands. Thousands responded but they were disappointed and were saddled on the Christian population of Macedonia. This started a natural hatred towards the Moslems, and when the war started these immigrants wisely flew towards Asia Minor, the promised land. The government is shipping them to Asia Minor and Armenia at the rate of 1,500 a day. What will become of the Armenians on whom is already saddled twice more than they can endure by the Asiatic horde of Turks and Kurds?

The war was renewed because Turkey did not wish to have a few Mosques in Adrianople under the Christian rule. Yet the Turk did not think anything about the ancient churches in Asia Minor that were defiled and ruined by the Moslem hordes, nor of the bodies of the clergy which were mutilated in time of peace.

What kind of government can one expect from a race that has no such thing as home and family in the civilized sense of domestic conduct, laws, sincerity and happiness? And what kind of laws and ruling can be expected for the infidel and subject race to the above government? Yet Europe will content itself believing that the Turk will be good hereafter and will enforce the traditionary promised reforms in Armenia.

Y. M. KAREKIN.

New York City.

THE SEATTLE CONFERENCE

TO THE EDITOR:

THE SURVEY of April 12 announced the appointment of the new committees of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, stating that pursuant to the recent amendment to the by-laws Frank Tucker, the president of the conference had requested the committees to begin their work immediately. It was pointed out in your article that the Committee on Organization has been in many respects the keystone of the national conference and that its duties have been difficult and arduous.

Under the revised by-laws the duties of this committee are simplified. It is no longer obliged to make its report within a few days of its appointment. There are, however, certain disadvantages in the new plan from the point of view of members of the conference who desire to have a voice in its organization. Under the old plan, in spite of the fact that the committee was thrown into the turmoil of conference politics, the active members of the conference were all there and had an opportunity to be heard by the Committee on Organization. Under the new plan the committee is expected to have its work practically done by the time the conference meets. Unless the committee adopts a procedure which is democratic it may properly be open to the charge of making conference politics worse instead of better.

As chairman of the committee, therefore, I desire to announce through the columns of THE SURVEY that it is the desire of Mr. Tucker and myself, in which I am sure the members of the committee concur, that all interested members of the National Conference of Charities and Correction will have ample opportunity to express their views in reference to matters with which the Committee on Organization is concerned. There will be a number of open meetings both before and after reaching Seattle at which all those interested in the conference will be welcome.

It is my desire that this committee shall truly represent the wishes of the conference with reference to all matters of organization. Inasmuch as the president is anxious that this committee shall have a tentative report ready soon after the conference opens in Seattle I wish to urge all readers of THE SURVEY who are interested in the national conference to submit their suggestions as early as possible. We especially want your suggestions regarding the following:

1. Topics for discussion.

2. The names of the committees.

3. The membership of the committees, the committee chairmen and vice-chairmen.

The following dates have been set for open meeting: Friday, May 16; Tuesday, May 27; Friday, June 13.

These meetings will be held at 4 P. M., in Room 214, United Charities Building, 105 East 22nd Street, New York city. Kindly put the dates on your calendar. If you cannot come send your suggestions to the undersigned at the above address.

JOHN A. KINGSBURY.

[Chairman Committee on Organization, National Conference of Charities
and Correction.]

New York City.

ANOTHER CASE OF RED TAPE

TO THE EDITOR:

During the year 1912, the Domestic Relations Court of Brooklyn, established in 1910, disbursed through the Department of Charities, which maintains a branch office in the court building, $101,660.45. That amount was made up of small payments ranging from $1 to $10, which the delinquent husband and father was ordered by the court to pay toward the support of his wife and children.

The method of disbursing the money is crude and archaic. The women are paid in cash at the cashier’s office in the court, thus necessitating the expenditure of time and carfare. The office of the cashier in the Brooklyn court is open from 9 A. M. until 3 P. M., except Saturday and Monday. Saturday the office closes at noon. On Monday only is there an evening session from 7 P. M. to 10 P. M. In Manhattan conditions are worse, for there banking hours are closely observed, and there is no evening session, though many of the women work during the day. Collection of the week’s money thus involved the loss of a half day’s work.

Mrs. A made nine trips to collect a total of $8, and from that must be deducted at least ninety cents for carfare, loss of time not being considered. Mrs. B is very old. Mrs. C is an invalid, Mrs. D has a very young child and four older children to look after. Mrs. E lives a long distance from the court. Her carfare is always twenty cents and frequently it is necessary for her to take the two youngest children with her. Mrs. F works during the day and goes to school at night. These are only a few of the many reasons why the present plan of payment should be abandoned.

Philadelphia disburses about $200,000 a year on cases of this kind. The money is paid by checks sent by mail. We are informed that no case of fraud has occurred. Chicago has a similar system that works equally well.

It was not to be expected that the originators of the Domestic Relations Court idea would construct a perfect machine, and efforts are being made to correct this defect by an order to the effect that any woman who can prove to the satisfaction of the Department of Charities that it is a great hardship for her to go to the court, can have her money sent by mail. Unfortunately, there is a lot of red tape in some of our city departments and often it is very hard to prove things to their satisfaction; so it is to be hoped that this order, which is a step in the right direction, will soon be stretched into a big, manly stride, long enough to cover all cases.

CLYDE N. WHITE.

[Brooklyn Bureau of Charities.]

Brooklyn, N. Y.

HOMES FOR WORKING GIRLS

TO THE EDITOR:

In your issue of April 19 the splendid article on The Housing Problem As It Affects Girls, by the president of the Chelsea House, has greatly interested me. May I add a few words on the subject and the names of other cities where such houses are already started or are under consideration?

There is a splendid though small Girls Friendly Lodge in Washington, D. C. In Cincinnati the Anna Louise Home accommodates about 150 girls, and Bishop Frances of Indiana has converted his spacious school Knickerbocker Hall in Indianapolis into a boarding home for young girls. This, I suppose, is the most complete and pretentious house of its kind. It has a gymnasium, swimming pool, almost entirely single rooms, and will accommodate nearly one hundred girls. In Louisville besides the Girls Friendly Inn, there is the Business Woman’s Club which meets the needs of a better paid class of young women, and the Monfort Home which like the Inn meets the needs of a girl earning a more moderate wage.

I have had letters from all parts of the country asking questions relative to starting such homes, and know that the subject is under consideration in Denver; Watertown, N. Y.; Lexington, Ky.; Minneapolis; Memphis; and Mobile.

The cherished hope I believe of all such houses should be to make them self supporting. No self respecting girl wishes to be even a partial object of charity. From the starting of the Girls Friendly Inn we have aimed to make the house self supporting, and with the exception of the interest on the mortgage, the house mother’s salary and coal, the weekly income meets all the expenditures. As soon as we can enlarge the house it will be entirely self supporting. I find this a great help, in securing the co-operation of the girls and in preventing waste in light, water and so on. The dominating thought is to make the inn a normal home and with this in view there are almost no rules. No one but those close to the young working girl knows what it means to her to be able to entertain her “gentlemen friends” in a quiet and home-like living room or to be able to give a party or entertain her Sunday School class in an attractive room.

The problem of sickness is an important one. Girls must often struggle along half sick because they can not afford a doctor or medicine or because they are afraid of losing their position. The inn has an endowed bed in the Norton Infirmary, and the services of some of our best physicians, also a discount of 25 per cent on all drugs and prescriptions. I find a word from the house mother is always received kindly by the employer and in my experience of eighteen months I have never had a girl lose her work on account of sickness.

JOSEPHINE M. KERMM.

[Housemother Girls’ Friendly Inn.]

Louisville.

SOCIAL ETHICS

TO THE EDITOR:

The following is a remarkable illustration of the advance in our conception of social obligations to unfortunates:

The president (of the Chicago Medical Society, December 13, 1867)
“appointed a committee to consider the wisdom of the members of the
society signing a petition requesting that the physician who was then
imprisoned (Dr. Mudd) for caring for the wounds of Lincoln’s assassin
should be released. The members of the society were of various
opinions in regard to the ethical position of the unfortunate
doctor.”[2]

Footnote 2:

Chicago Medical Recorder, April, 1913, p. 238.

JULIA I. FELSENTHAL.

Chicago.

THE BACK FENCE

TO THE EDITOR:

One of the greatest disfigurements to the landscape as one looks out the back window of the average house is the row after row of unsightly wooden fences which rigorously mark off each twenty-five or thirty feet of land and constitute a barrier of exclusiveness very chilling in its effect on one’s friendly disposition. Of course one does not want his neighbor’s children to tramp unceremoniously over his little flower or vegetable garden, but could not the same results he brought about by a simple wire division covered with virginia creeper, grapes or clematis? Think of the beauty of such an outlook, and the aesthetic humanizing effect such a display of floral wealth would have on the minds of young and old! It might possibly result also in breaking down some of that proverbial coldness and hauteur which is said to characterize city neighbors. Life is short at best and sufficiently lacking in familiarity and cordiality to warrant some attempt to reform the wooden back fence out of existence.

J. J. KELSO.

Toronto.

THE OTHER OTHER HALF

TO THE EDITOR:

“We want to know ‘how the other half lives.’” This was said fifteen years ago, and we are saying it today. But it is the _other_ half that we now have in mind. Library shelves are filled with books about the one half. Sociologists have studied it; health officers have examined it; sanitary boards have considered it; laws have been made to regulate it. Juvenile courts, protective leagues, visiting nurses’ associations, social settlements, charity organization societies, have been bringing us day by day information as to how _that_ half lives. Now we want to know how the _other_ half lives.

Recently there has been a great investigation of one special phase of the life of the poor. Great business firms have been asked how certain sums of their earnings were distributed as wages to the poor, and the wage-earners have been asked what use they made of these wages. How much do working girls receive and how much does a working girl need to live decently? These are the questions that have been asked. “We want to know more of the life of the working people,” has been the cry.

But wait. Now we want to know how the _other_ half lives: Society is a whole, not a half. These great questions are questions of society, and they can not be answered by investigating _half_ of society.

Yes, we want to know about the $2,000,000 that was paid in wages; to whom it went, and how it was spent, but we also want to know about the $7,000,000 that was paid in dividends. To whom did _it_ go, and how was _it_ spent? How much did the dividend receivers need a week on which to live? Were they judicious in their expenditures? These questions also ought to be investigated by a commission.

What do we know about the occupations, the health, the morality, the family life of the very rich?

If we are suspicious that the home life of the children of Mrs. Zambrowski of Mulberry street is not all that could be desired, we send a juvenile court officer to investigate. If there is evidence that the father is not honestly employed, if there is disease in the household, some officer is on hand to see what is the matter. What do we know of the home life of the Van Astor children? Is Mr. Van Astor an industrious bread earner? Are the home conditions of the Van Astor children morally healthful?

We want to know more about these excursions to Europe. Are they always cultural? We want to know more about the life of Mrs. Astorbilt in her Paris home. We want to know more about the employment conditions of the “Four Hundred.” Perhaps a law should be made in the interests of health limiting the number of continuous hours spent in certain social activities. We want to know more about the lives of boys and girls in wealthy boarding-schools. We desire to find out just how a working girl spends $8 a week, but we also wish to learn just how the dividend receiver spends $800 a week. The poor need visiting housekeepers to instruct them, but may not the wealthy need visiting home-keepers?

The unexplored continent of sociology is the life of the wealthy. It is to the interest of the health and well-being of society that a careful and dispassionate study be made of this subject.

CLARENCE D. BLACHLY.

Chicago.

A CALL FOR LEADERSHIP

TO THE EDITOR:

There is a widespread opinion among social and industrial workers that the unequal conditions existing in human society are going to be levelled: that equality of opportunity and the more equitable distribution of the necessities of life are to be accomplished by a system of “passing it on.” In this way, the social burden, instead of resting where it does now, on the lowest stratum of the population, will be placed on broad shoulders better able to bear the load.

Do not such solutions as employers’ liability, workmen’s compensation, the minimum wage, reduced hours of employment and better occupational conditions all mean an increase in the cost of producing the necessaries of life? Do they not tend to make more grave one of the vital problems of the hour?

There seems to be a feeling abroad, of which many are possessed, that there is somewhere a great fund of capital on hand, which only needs equitable distribution to allow all now engaged in industry to live in comfort, with only a moderate amount of exertion.

This is the result, probably, of seeing large rows of figures, stated as the wealth controlled by financial institutions, or in the possession of individuals. Most of these figures refer to pieces of paper, either evidences of debt, or titles to ownership of lands, factories or other tools of trade. Not one of these is available for furnishing the necessities of life, _without human labor_ applied at the right time and place under competent direction.

There is produced, by direction, foresight and toil, in any given year, hardly more of any stated necessity of life than the current needs of the people. It is probably true also that it is the thrift of the few; the foresight of the so-called capitalist; the enterprise of the manufacturer, builder or railroad man, the wise ventures of the merchant and trader; that keep up the present standard of wages and living—low though it may be in comparison with our wishes or ideals.

A large number of those engaged in business enterprises fail to succeed at all. The profit of the more successful, though often imposing, averages a very small percentage counting both good and bad years. It is easily turned into a loss, by dull times, trade changes, or careless management.

To quote Ray Stannard Baker (not writing in behalf of the mill owner) in his article on the Lawrence strike: “If one were to divide all the surplus of profit in the textile mills today—figure it out for yourself! It would increase their wages and improve their living conditions almost inappreciably.”[3]

Footnote 3:

The Revolutioners Strike. _American Magazine_, May, 1912.

So it is evident that if employment is to continue and a larger share is to be given to those who perform the manual labor, while at the same time the conditions under which they work are to be improved, some means must be devised whereby the present margin of profit can be increased. Otherwise those who plan and carry on these industrial undertakings will be discouraged.

Of course many believe that capital, or business enterprise, has had too much attention already. Now that the capitalist “class” (mostly made up of men formerly poor) has shown the way to the accumulation of wealth, they think it is simply necessary for “society” or “the workers” to do the same thing themselves, and pocket the results. But how this is to be done has not yet been shown.

How can the employer treat his working force more generously, without the fear of insolvency staring him in the face, when the books are balanced for the year?

One of the most hopeful solutions was promised in the new “efficiency” discoveries. These seemed to indicate that a larger output by the worker could bring about a greater reward for himself, together with a corresponding increased profit for the employer.

But, so far, the attitude of “labor” seems to be opposed to anything like an increase either of efficiency or production. Reduction of hours and minimum of output, seem to be favored. The false idea is that more “work” is thereby created, although the amount of the absolute necessaries of life which their labor produces is thereby curtailed. Their idea is that they do not get their share of the “wealth” they already produce; that a constantly increasing mass of it is kept out of their reach. They wish to seize part of it, not by earning, but by taking it from the present recipients.

So we are brought back to the original issue. How can it be brought to pass that the director of enterprise on capitalist, whose brains are the creating power of the world’s wealth, shall be filled with an altruistic spirit that he may spare and increase all benefits and comforts with his manual helpers? And how, on the other hand, can we inspire the worker, under his direction, with loyal energy to do all in _his_ power to support and carry on the wealth-producing enterprise, each emulating each with noble example and worthy sacrifice?

Here should come in the twin forces of education and religion. Enlightenment will be of no avail without a moral basis. The fundamentals of the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule must have a place in our great educational system which should teach men that there is a higher element in life than the facts of science and material things.

This new social adjustment, if it is to come peaceably and not through anarchy, must find new and able leadership which does not resort to loud protestations of devotion to one class combined with denunciation of another, or to vague cries of “social justice,” or to illusory schemes for levelling inequalities that are imbedded in human nature itself. What is needed is a leadership founded in a love for mankind, wide as the race, broad-minded, hopeful, strong and sane, to help the new generation forward in progress that shall also be peace.

JOSEPH D. HOLMES.

New York.

MOTHERHOOD AND TEACHING

TO THE EDITOR:

“Motherhood and teaching”[4] was an issue in Minneapolis not long ago, and the school board decided against the employment of married women. The board was influenced according to report, by the fact that there were poor teachers who married and this was a comfortable way to dispose of them, regardless of the injustice to the good ones. I understand that in Kansas there is a state law prohibiting the employment of married women. Were this policy applied to men teachers it would be ridiculed. Marriage is a strong factor in developing permanence of interest in the vocation and in blending vocational interest with community interest.

Footnote 4:

See THE SURVEY, April 19, page 101.

The ability to teach is dependent upon qualities which are mental and temperamental. The hours and the character of the work of a teacher are such as are peculiarly adapted to the woman who may marry and who may have children; and her fuller experience in life should make possible a fuller understanding of the needs of childhood.

It is generally recognized that our schools have deteriorated. Would not a very simple remedy be the employment of mothers as well as fathers? Would not they understand better than others what the children need?

When education was in the home it was proper that mothers should be teachers. With the socialization of education as of industry, a celibate class has arisen to take the place of mothers. Mothers have become the parasites of society, while constructive work in social service has devolved upon a celibate class. We have reached the stage now when society needs every possible constructive factor and the latent possibilities for social work in the married woman should be encouraged rather than discarded.

GRACE PUTNAM POLLARD.

[President Liberal Union of Minnesota.]

Minneapolis.

JOTTINGS

HOSPITAL SHIP FOR SEAMEN

Representative Gardner of Massachusetts has re-introduced his bill for the creation of a hospital ship for the Gloucester fishermen. This bill reached only the hearing stage in the House of Representatives during the last session. All the witnesses who appeared before the house Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries spoke for it.

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE BILL

President Wilson has assured Andrew Furuseth, president of the International Seamen’s Union, that the so-called involuntary servitude bill will be enacted at the present session of Congress. No hearings will probably be had, as Congress already has information on the subject from various angles. This bill passed the House of Representatives at the last session, but was so much altered by the Senate that the President vetoed it. This measure is one of the list of fifteen measures of social legislation the support of which was urged upon President Wilson by a number of social workers.

SAFETY CAMPAIGN AMONG CHILDREN

A campaign has been inaugurated by the American Museum of Safety in co-operation with the New York Board of Education to inculcate habits of caution in school children. The basis of the campaign is daily class room talks on safety by lecturers from the Museum of Safety and the distribution of pamphlets containing “safety fairy tales.” A safety league has been organized among the children, membership in which is indicated by the wearing of a button. While the object of the league is mostly to insure street safety the children are taught what to do in case of fire. Some of the fundamental rules for the children are as follows:

NEVER fail to look both ways for automobiles, trucks and trolley cars
before crossing a street. Keep eyes to the left until the middle
of the street is reached, then eyes to the right until the curb is
reached.

NEVER play any kind of a game in street where automobiles and heavy
trucks are constantly passing or in streets where trolley cars are
operating.

NEVER hitch on behind a trolley car, automobile or motor truck as you
may lose your footing and be thrown under the wheels.

NEVER run pushmobile races in the streets. A pushmobile is hard to
stop and may run in the way of an automobile, heavy truck or
trolley car coming in the opposite direction.

NEVER step from behind a trolley car without hesitating and looking as
another car may be coming from the other direction.

NEVER take chances.

CANAL WORKMEN UNPROTECTED

Because Congress failed to appropriate the necessary amount of funds, President Wilson by an executive order has suspended the operation of the workmen’s compensation scheme for federal employes in the Canal Zone. This measure was put into effect on March 1 by President Taft. Pending action by Congress, the employes in the Canal Zone are protected only by the Federal Liability Act.

Many advocates of the workmen’s compensation plan believe that President Wilson before suspending its operation should first have asked Congress for funds. They argue that in this way public attention could have been called to the situation by means of a special message instead of through the medium of an order which received practically no publicity.

The Canal Compensation Law is in the form of an executive order signed by President Taft in the closing days of his administration. It was drafted by officials of the government in co-operation with the Legislative Drafting Fund of New York. Secretary of War Stimson, said of it: “This measure for the first time brings the federal government abreast of the most advanced thought and experience at a time when they and their families are most in need of justice; namely, when they suffer the hardships of injury or death inevitable in the course of modern industrial undertakings.”

VIENNESE CHARITIES

The lack of centralization and co-operation between charitable agencies in Vienna is responsible for much duplication of effort and much charitable imposture. The situation is not improved by the many entertainments given ostensibly to help the poor but in reality often costing more than they take in. A movement is said to be on foot to remedy this by the foundation of a charity organization society along English and American lines.

GOMPERS CIRCULAR TO IMMIGRANT WORKERS

Although it scarcely hopes to succeed at the present session of Congress, the American Federation of Labor has determined to start efforts for the passage of restrictive immigration legislation, to “start the ball rolling” so that at the next session the immigration problem will be thoroughly discussed. Meanwhile the federation has sent out to over half a million immigrant workers a circular signed by Samuel Gompers, president of the Federation and Frank Morrison the secretary, concerning the advantages of belonging to the union. The letter concludes with this sentence:

“In writing to your friends in your native country advise them to
remain there until you, together with your fellow countrymen here,
have organized unions that will protect yourself and them against low
wages and long hours.”

This circular printed in twenty-one languages has gone to laborers in the industrial districts of the East.

CORN CLUBS AND IDLE BOYS

A woman of keen observation writes of her hill town that what is needed there is not more amusements, games, socials, but something to encourage boys to become thorough and honest workmen; that the best workmen in the village are foreign born; that the native-born boys and girls are seekers after pleasure and ease, shunning work and giving scant heed to the serious interests of life.

This has a familiar ring to it; but that there are appeals to arouse and enlist the energy of country boys, witness the annual visit to Washington of the champion corn growers recently. Thirty-five boys, winners among 75,000 boys who raised corn on a single acre of land last summer, and one little girl, leader among the girls’ canning clubs of the country, were the guests of the government for a week, and bore witness to the industry of the army of sturdy children who stayed at home. The best record of the boy visitors was 207 bushels of corn to the acre, or about eight times the average yield for the country. The girl had raised a succession of tomatoes, beans, and turnips on her tenth of an acre, sold some of it fresh and canned the rest, realizing $53.

MEDICAL INFORMATION BUREAU

A bureau of information has been opened at the New York Academy of Medicine, under the direction of the Society for the Advancement of Clinical Study in New York. The object of this bureau is to furnish visitors in New York and the local profession information on medical subjects, so as to make use of the large clinical opportunities which heretofore have not been readily obtainable.

EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT

The North American Civic League for Immigrants is arranging a public conference on the Education of the Immigrant which is to be held at the City College, New York, on May 16–17. President Finley of the college is the chairman of the Committee on Arrangements and Clarence M. Abbott the secretary. On Friday morning, May 16, Domestic Education for Immigrants, the Immigrant in Labor Camps and Isolated Communities will be the subjects for discussion. In the afternoon of the same day the Education of the Immigrant Child will be the topic.

A large public meeting in the Great Hall of the college is scheduled for the evening of May 16, at which addresses upon various subjects connected with the education of the immigrant will be made by speakers of national importance.

The final meeting on Saturday morning is to be on the Education of the Immigrant Adult. District Superintendent Albert Shields will also lead a symposium for principals and teachers upon the organization of evening schools.

Those who are to serve as chairmen of the various meetings are Mrs. John M. Glenn, Frances A. Kellor, William H. Maxwell and John H. Finley.

DESERTION AND DIVORCE

During the six years ending June 30, 1912, willful desertion was the most common ground for divorce in California. Extreme cruelty was a close second. These facts are taken from a report submitted by State Labor Commissioner McLaughlin to Governor Johnson. The average percentage of divorces to marriages for these six years was 12.9. About 50 per cent of the couples divorced were childless.

The large centers of population showed a much higher divorce rate than did the state as a whole.

MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION ON VICE

Governor Foss of Massachusetts on April 21 signed the bill recently passed by the state legislature, providing for the appointment of a commission of five persons, one of whom will be a woman, for the investigation of commercialized vice in Massachusetts. Witnesses, papers and documents may be summoned, and oaths given. The bill creating this commission was the first measure reported out by the Committee on Social Welfare.

Massachusetts is believed to be the first state to institute a formal state-wide investigation by commission of prostitution in all its phases.

TWO WAYS TO TEACH SEX HYGIENE

Two methods of teaching sex hygiene, the biological and the physiological, and their adaptation to the needs of different groups, will be the subject of three conferences to be held by the Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, at Hobart Hall, 416 Lafayette street, New York city on the evenings of May 12, 19 and 26 at 8:15 P. M.

Dr. Mary Sutton Macy will present the physiological and Nellie M. Smith the biological aspect. The third talk on the adaptability of these two methods to different social groups, will be given by Harriet McD. Daniels.

JAIL MEALS DECLARED FIT FOR DOGS

The establishment of four work farms for the prisoners now confined in the county jails of California is urged upon the legislature by the report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections, just issued. These jails, it is suggested, could then be used for holding persons awaiting trial. As at present run they have correctly been called primary schools in crime, says the report. They are declared to be seriously overcrowded in winter, poorly ventilated and unclean. “The meals,” says the report, “are served as one would feed his dog, and in some of them the quality is not much better.” The prisoners herd together, it is asserted, with nothing to do but study and plot crime.

If each of the four farms were large enough to furnish food and labor for 500 prisoners, the report says, they would empty the jails. They would be self-supporting, as well as much better for the prisoners, declares the board.

BRUTALITY ALLEGED AT AUBURN

“Brutality, violation of the law, waste and general incompetency” have been found in the New York state prison at Auburn by a special investigator appointed by Governor Sulzer. The investigator, George W. Blake, urges that the warden, George F. Benham, be removed as quickly as possible. Equally serious are his accusations against the prison physician, Dr. John Gerin, whom he describes as an autocrat. “Abundance of evidence,” says the report, “shows that he is brutal in his treatment of the sick, neglectful of their needs, and that he flagrantly violates that section of the prison law which defines his duties.” Refractory prisoners, the report goes on to say, have only two gills of water every twenty-four hours. The doctor is said to have declared that this was sufficient to maintain life. The punishment cells are described as being perfectly dark and having four rows of iron rivet heads on the floor so that it is impossible to lie down.

When Joseph H. Scott, former superintendent of the state prison department, was recently removed under charges by Governor Sulzer, he asserted that his dismissal was in reality a piece of vengeance because he would not change the Auburn wardenship at the governor’s dictation. So frequent have been the charges and counter-charges in the administration of New York prisons recently, and so often is it asserted that politics lies at their bottom that social workers are more and more becoming loathe to pass judgment on the basis of one-man investigations.

PROBATION IN NEW YORK STATE

An increase of 48 per cent in the number of delinquents placed on probation in New York state during the year ending September 30, 1912, is shown in the preliminary edition of the sixth annual report of the State Probation Commission recently transmitted to the legislature. Over 20,000 persons were under the oversight of probation officers during the year, and of this number 14,687 were new cases.

A review of the five years’ growth of the system since the state commission began in 1907 is contained in the report. During this period the number of publicly salaried probation officers has risen from thirty-five to 159 at the beginning of the present year. The number of cities employing the system has grown from sixteen to thirty-eight; the number of counties using it in felony cases from eleven to thirty-nine; and the number of counties using it in town and village courts from two to twenty-two. In spite of the marked extension of the system, however, a map published in the report indicates that in thirteen of the sixty-one counties in the state not a single person was placed on probation during the past year. This is because the adoption of the system and the appointment of probation officers is optional with the local authorities.

The report makes special mention of the use of probation as a means of collecting family support, restitution and instalment fines. While practically nothing was collected by probation officers for these purposes when the commission started its work five years ago, the aggregate amount paid for these purposes by probationers in compliance with court orders during the past year is estimated as in the neighborhood of $300,000. According to the report, the domestic relations courts of Buffalo, Manhattan and Brooklyn, the first courts of this character to be established, were largely an outgrowth of the probation system and depend to a great extent upon it for their efficiency.

The volume contains a number of carefully prepared tables and charts.

CHILDREN’S COURT FOR ONTARIO COUNTY

Governor Sulzer of New York on April 11 approved two bills to give the County Court of Ontario exclusive jurisdiction throughout the county over cases of neglected and delinquent children, and concurrent jurisdiction in certain offenses against children. The laws are almost identical with the Monroe County Children’s Court Act of 1910, and make Ontario County the second in the state to have a county children’s court using a civil instead of a criminal procedure. The bills were framed by the State Probation Commission at the request of County Judge Robert F. Thompson and of the Board of Supervisors. A civil service examination will be held in the near future for the purpose of securing a competent probation officer for the court.

Two Social Tours

IN EUROPE

The pioneer party went last year. Its success will be increased this
year.

SAILINGS
June 26 to Copenhagen
June 28 to Hamburg

Several have already enrolled. Full information

DR. E. E. PRATT, 225 Fifth Ave., New York

ARE YOU GOING TO BOSTON?

Ladies going to Boston without male escort find the FRANKLIN SQUARE HOUSE a delightful place to stop. A home hotel in the heart of Boston for young women, with a transient department. Safe, comfortable, convenient of access; reasonable. For particulars and prices address Miss CASTINE C. SWANSON, Supt. 11 East Newton St., Boston.

SITUATIONS WANTED

KINDERGARTENER would appreciate Information regarding location for private kindergarten or day nursery. German and English taught. Address “Kindergartner,” c/o SURVEY.

* * * * *

EXPERIENCED, high-class executive and financial secretary wishes to make change. National Organization preferred. Address 1112, Survey.

Weak crotches in trees are the ones that split apart in the storms. Dead limbs are the ones that fall—a menace to life and property. Trees with cavities are the ones that the winds blow over. A fallen tree cannot be replaced in your lifetime.

=The loss of trees is the price of neglect.=

You may think that your trees are sound—but do not trust to guesswork—learn the truth through a Davey Tree Expert without cost or obligation. If your trees need no treatment you want to know it—if they do need treatment you ought to know it. =Let a Davey Tree Expert examine your trees now.= Write for Booklet W.

=The Davey Tree Expert Co. Kent, Ohio=

BRANCH OFFICES: 225 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y., Phone: Madison Square
9546; Harvester Bldg., Chicago, Ill., Phone: Harrison 2666; New Birks
Bldg., Montreal, Can., Phone: Up Town 6726; Merchant’s Exch. Bldg.,
San Francisco, Cal. Telephone Connection.

=Accredited Representatives Available Everywhere—Men Without Credentials Are Impostors.=

_Ready May 10th_

A SUNNY LIFE

The Biography of Samuel June Barrows

By Isabel C. Barrows

SAMUEL JUNE BARROWS, who at his death was one of the leading penologists of the country, started his career as a reporter on a New York paper. In turn, he became private secretary to William H. Seward, then Secretary of State, minister, editor, congressman, and Secretary of the Prison Association of New York. He was one of America’s best and typical products, many sided and capable. This account is written by his wife who more than anyone else understood and appreciated his rare and lovable nature. Her volume is most delightfully written and the reader will find this record of achievement a stimulating and uplifting work.

_Illustrated. $1.50 net; by mail $1.62_
LITTLE, BROWN & CO., BOSTON

HOUSES SUPPLYING INSTITUTIONAL TRADE

=China and Glass.=

JAMES M. SHAW & CO.,
25 Duane St., New York

=Ready to Wear Garments.=

For Men, Women and Children—Wholesale
BROADWAY BARGAIN HOUSE,
676 Broadway, New York City

=Dry Goods.=

FREDERICK LOESER & CO.,
434 FULTON STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

=Newspaper Clippings.=

HENRY ROMEIKE,
110–112 West 26th Street, New York

=House Furnishing Goods.=