The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-10-25
Jane Addams Relates Why She is
Allied With the Progressive Party

Jane Adams who speaks at the
auditorium in this city Tuesday even.
ing tells in the following article. writ
ten by herself. why she is a progress
sive:
(By Jane Addams.)
When I try to write down the steps
by which I became a progressive I am
inclined to trace them first to, the
gradual discovery that philanthropic
effort everywhere is merging into civic
effort. In fact the line between phil
anthropy and politics is so constantly
changing that it is very difficult to
know when the given step has been
taken. which carried one from the first
field into the second.
fence: When I first went to live at
Hull house in 1889. one Of the most
conspicuous things upon the streets
We're the women and children who
constantly passed with huge masses
OF clothing on their backs or in their
arms. which they were carrying from
the s~weatshops. This clothing disap-
narrow stairways OF tenement houses
to be finished In crowded little homes
where the entire family sewed upon
1t late into the following night. But
because h season was so short and
the pay so small in spite Of their ut
most efforts they earned enough
to tide them through the long, dull
season which followed the period Of
rush work; and the poor widow who
worked at home that she might be
with her children and have their help,
always had to receive charitable aid
because e pay was far below q liv.
ing standard.
Undergrad Women.
When Hull house. with the trade
unions Of Chicago, began an agitation
for a law which should regulate sweat
shops and the age at which a child
might begin to work. it wa then these
underpaid women and their under
nourished children whom We hoped to
help. We had found that there were
too many of them. the effects Of their
wretched mode Of life were too far
reaching to be cared for by any pri-
vate philanthropy. and were convlnc-
ed that only a state wide regulation
could make an impression upon the
situation.
1t is difficult for me to remember
Just when l became convinced that it
was useless to provide classes and So
cial diversions for working girls who
We're too tired to profit by them. be-
cause Of the overstrain due to long
our n night work; but it was GER
tainly many years ago. in 1893. that
1 was n Of an ardent group who ap-
peared before the Illinois legislature
to urge the enactment Of an eight
hour law for women. During the WIN
ter Of it's enforcement, the Hull house
classes were full of working girls, glad
to use their new leisure for self-im-
provement; and their disappointment
remains in my mind as one Of the
sharp. definite results which followed
the decision Of the Illinois supreme
court that the law was unconstitution.
al.
Other Conditions.
I could go on through many z
recittng my experience as I Learned
of Nfe." to use Dante's fine phrase.
and became convinced that only the
people themselves. by utilizing their
own powers Of self-government could
rectify the evils which the rapid de-
velopment Of modern industry and
the crowded city had brought about.
Long before I knew that 1000. 900
people in the United States are com.
PEELED to do Sunday work I was dis
tressed over the hundreds Of men in
our neighborhood who v had a
day off for family life or for quiet
~recrcation; these men seemed an H.
lustratiOn Of the sheer stupidity Of
consuming all Of LIES energies in or
der to keep alive.
nun HOuSe lS not In b criminal
n~eighborhood. and yet We have our
share of convicts whose labor adds to
the profits Of prison contractors while
their families suffer. The shame and
wrong of such an arrangement was
made clear through personal acquaint-
nee with those families who faced
actual want in order to hide their dis
grace. for they would not apply to es-
tablished charities lest the family Sc
cret be discovered.
7 knew hundreds Of other families
in which the bread winner has been
crippled and killed thronRh Industrial
accidents. before ] realized that in old
or and wiser nations such families are
cared for through a we'll devised sys-
tenn 81 sncial insurance.
ForlOrn Old Ages SUnport.
I have always been particularly an
I! pealed 10 nv forlorn old age. and Hull
house has long had n pension list Of
old people who had reached the md