The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-25
WHAT TO DO WITH THEM.


The address delivered few days since
by DR.. Helen Bissell, of this city, before
lhe Woman's Civic league should give all
kood people of both sexes cause for
our current methods of disposing of de-
linquent women, and. for that matter, of
delinquent men as well.
We may assume that the present sys-
tenn of committing girls under sixteen
to the reform school Is commendable in
itself 1t certainly operates better than
to preserve the self-respect and the fu-
ture usefulness of the foolish girls who,
ignorant of everything in life, take the
step, voluntarily or otherwise, which rem
ders them outcasts from decent society.
But the class of girls who may be thus
disposed of is comparatively small. They
are often perhaps amenable to home in
f1uence, and may afterwards become good
women without the intervention of the
state If the home influence and the steps
taken Immediately to stop their down
ward career are what they should be.
But when a girl passes the age Of six
teen without having cast herself wholly
upon life of folly or, crime, If her asso-
Citations are yet such as do not neces-
sarily lead to the destruction Of her fu-
ture life, what is 1t the state or the mu-
hicipality does with her when she comes
within its Jurisdiction?
At present in St. Paul the only thing to
the workhouse. Think of 1t. The work
house. How much of self-respect or pos
sibility Of redemption is there left to such
q girl after that? She must, and usually
does, live in the society of those who
know her mishap. What will they think
of her? How will they treat her? What
prospect in life is before her? These are
questions which every mother can find
the answer for in her own heart, let her
be as ignorant as she may be Of the crime
and. folly of this criminal and foolish
world of ours. 1t Is of course a happy
circumstance that the administration Of
our local workhouse is such that any girl
sent there is certain Of the most consid-
crate treatment, and if she does not show
that she has gone beyond the point of
possible redemption. is certain to have
bestowed on her by Supt. Fitzgerald and
those around him as gentle and as
thoughtful treatment as she could find
outside her own home. If she is fortunate
enough to possess a home But that is
mere incident, and does not in any way
affect the ruin that is almost certain to
follow such a girl after she has returned
to the outside world.
We once had the House of the Good
Shepherd, to which any young woman who
showed the possibility of reformation
might be sent by the committing magis-
trate or by her parents before she had
entered on the course which leads to
abiding sorrow But few mischievous
in Gripping that excellent institution in
its most beneficial uses, and now render
it impossible for committing magistrate
to avaif himself of it as place of pro-
lection for the girls who are brought
before him. Subsisting on private benefi-
cence alone, the House of the Good Shep-
herd still opens its doors to the Magda-
lens Of society; but it has been robbed of
much of its value as public reformatory
institution.
The picture which Mrs. Bissell has
drawn Is true to life. Our local police sta
tons, as well as our local Jail, which are
necessarily the temporary abiding places
Of such girls while awaiting final dispo-
sition, are sinks of abomination. The
woman who enters their precincts must
Indeed be sound at heart if her expert
ence does not help to push her many
steps iower than she had been before en-
tering any of them. But what is to be
done?
Mrs. Bissell says start a woman's state
reformatory. That is an undertaking
which does not seem now within the do
main of the practicable No mere abid-
Ing place for abandoned women should