Omaha daily bee., 1895-06-02
PROGRESS AMID POVERTY
Significance and Results of thu Hull House
Movement in Chicago.
SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL REFORM
Two Energetic Women Found an Oasis In
y Desert of Poverty, Crime and I'm
cIeanlIness-Scope of the Work
and Its Achievements.

CHICAGO. May 30.-(Correspondence OF
The Bee)-If you wish to keep up with the
times in this very progressive city you must
study sociology You must not only have
such knowledge of the subject as can be
gained from books and lectures, but you
must have such knowledge as has been
gained by actual experience. To get this
experience you must be perfectly familiar
with the city as set forth in Hull House
maps and notes.
These locate the different races and classes
30 exactly that you know Just where to go
to find what you want For instance, all
the dark blue parts of the map show you
where the Italians live, and the red shows
the Polish quarter. In the same way yell
low indicates that here live the self-support-
ing poor, while the purple districts are in
habited by what is known as the relief"
class. Other races and other classes are
indicated by other colors. These maps were
prepared by residents Of Hull House and
this brings me to the subject of my story.
1t is not a reformatory, it is not a char
table institution in the ordinary sense OF
the word, since every one pays for what he
gets there, but 1t can perhaps be best de-
fined as a social experiment.
POVERTY IN PLENTY.
. The Nineteenth ward is the most densely
populated district of Chicago. Nineteen diff
ferent nationalites are represented by its
Inhabitants and the sanitary conditions are
something frightful to contemplate. Plenty
of children here, half clad, half fed and
wholly neglected. How could II be other
wise? Whole families live in one room ant
in thousands of cases the joint earnings o.
such families do not amount to S5 a week
AS you wander about through the narrow
filthy alleys and miserable tenements yol
begin to understand the why and the where
fore OF the anarchist, and go away feeling
utterly helpless and miserable. But thi:
feeling OF helplessness did not overcome tive
brave women who fVe years ago came L
make their home in the very midst of thi!
squalor and want and sin. They believed
that social intercourse could best express
the growing sense OF the economic unity o
society, and so moved in.
Think of attempting to influence such
community through its social life, wher,
the only gatherings were about the door,
OF a saloon to see the police drag out thu
participants in fight or in the halls o
some miserable tenement to see a drunkart
beating his wife and children. But thes,
brave women believed that the saloons wer,
the social centers because they had no rival
to add, many women who frequente
them, would soon desert them II something
better were provided,
ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT.
No child growing up In that district today
can complain that something better has no
been provided, for the two rooms into which
Miss Adams and Miss Starr first invited
few women OF the neighborhood to take te,
with them. much TO the surprise of tina
seldom invited few, have grown 70 HUI
House. which aims 70 pc and is a socia
center about which these people may groul
their various organizations and enterprises
Hull House does not make the common
mistake OF trying TO reach people onl!
through their desire for Improvement; /
has provided amply for those who can onl,
be reached through their desire for amuse