Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-02-01
Writer for the Survey Tells of
PeriIs Confronting Some
Immigrants.
MUCH WORK YET TO BE DONE.
Passage OF Federal White Slave Bill Is
Not the Last Step In Facing the
Great American Problem.
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
New York, Jan. 27.-The hardships of
Immigrant women arc graphically set
out In an article prepared by Frances
"A. Kellor for the charities publication
committee of Tho Survey. She tells
Of the snare OF white slavery awaiting
the stranger in America and enters
plea for a national commission on i'm
migrant women. She says:
Tho white slave agitation before Con-
gress which resulted in the passage of
the West bill on Jan. ~, is one phase
of great group of special problems
of immigrant women. These need con-
ccrtcd action, led by Americans all over
the country, under q national commit
tee.
Many of the general conditions In
vestigatcd by both the New York and
federal immigration commissions bear
with more hardships upon women than
upon men With the increasing num-
ber of the young unmarried women
who come here to work and have no
family ties or at best remote ties, a sit
uation Is created which cannot much
longer be ignored Let me illustrate
some OF the special problems involved
One organization which distributes
many families and men yearly through
out the country, when asked about
sending immigrant girls out of tho city,
replied I'VE cannot distribute girls.
, The responsibility of sending them out
of the city alone l6 too great" Indus
tries outside of New York city are In
need of labor. are willing to pay as
good wages as are paid In the city, and
offer better living conditions, but there
are no facilities for safeguarding the
girls on their journey or on arrival.
similar peril confronts the girl
who wishes to learn English English
Is taught the adult only In the night
schools, and many parents are not ac-
customed to have young girls out in
the evening and do not consider 1t safe
for them to go alone to the school
buildings In some neighborhoods.
DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH.
The lack of English in many in
stances seriously affects their earning
capacity and ability to protect them
selves. Many immigrant women are
employed as domestic workers and have
no homes of their own. The loss of a
position. which frequently occurs at
moments notice. means the loss OF
shelter and board as we'll, and en-
ployers do not often inquire If a girl
has a place to stay over night, If her
friends are also domestic workers their
recourse only to the employment agen-
cy lodging house. Immigrant homes
sometimes make provisions. but IL
immigration is heavy they are not al
ways available and are wholly made
qllate to meet the need.
The lack of any record whatever In
the state of the allen children who
come here to live falls with especial
hardship on the girls. The factory in
dn1 hntt W n
the hundreds of little girls entitled to
some education under our compulsory
education law, who arc put to work
as household drudgeS, nurse girls and
family helpers. whom no ono over To-
Gates and sends to school.
The recent report on the immigra-
tion camps of New York shows that
the state guarantees to its laborers on
public works an eight-hour day. but
it also shows household drudges who
work 16 hours q day and have In ad-
dition the care of little children.
It has been found that immigrant
girls are easily the victims of the
learner system In their ignorance of
american working conditions" they
not infrequcntly spend weeks learn
Ing a trade" which requires but few
days For this time they receive moth
ing or a few cents. and they are dis
missed and another green one taken
on when they object or can no longer
afford TO work in this way.
The lack of regulation of employ
ment agencies throughout the state
bears especially hard on women, for
they arc not only defrauded as are the
men, but are frequently sent to work
as servants I'm disorderly places and
thus are led gradually Into becoming
inmates.
When an employment agency law is
operative only in cities of the first
and second class it is impossible to
know Just how a girl has Jared who
has been sent to a roadhouse In the
Catskills.
Protection in stations. on board
trains and boats and on arrival at
destinations is a matter which has
never been undertaken in any Sys-
tematic way. An investigation made
in 1905 showed that women destined
for Philadelphia. Washington and 9TH
er cities were not taken to the station
from Ellis island until about a:3o p. M.
along with other aliens. Their trains
did not leave until Z and they arrived
in Philadelphia at 1870 OF later. and
In Washington and other cities at mid
night or later. The Investigator her
self witnessed three young men meet
and carry off a young girl In tho
Philadelphia station. claiming they
ntic ici itidtlNGS tile girl IN
sisted that she did not know thcm.
The operations OF a similar gang OF
young men at this Same station were
broken up In Philadelphia in 1907 The
time of arrival. conditions of transfer
across cities as in Buffalo and Chica-
go, to connecting lines are vital points
for protection. An Investigation at
some of the stations in another city
showed no matrons on duty at night.
and that men from the nearby disor-
derly places and soloons were allowed
to come In and mIngle with the immi-
grant women.
These are not problems with which
state department of immigration or
with which the state can wholly deal.
The pending federal legislation on the
white slave traffic is not n remedy for
the white slave trade to such a degree
that state and citizens need not exert
themselves. At best this legislation
can apply only to importation and
traf1ic between the states, and 1t is Diff
hcult to frame law which will be held
to be constitutional The enforcement