Imperial Valley press., 1912-10-17
THE STEPS BY WHICH BECAME
PROGRESSIVE
IBy Jane AddamsI

When l try to write down the steps
/ by which l became a Progressive, l am
! inclined to trace them first to the
| gradual discovery that philanthropic
effort everywhere is merging into civic
effort. In fact, the line between phi
lanthropy and politics is so constantly
| changing that it is very difficult 10
know when the given step has been
taken which carried one from the first
field into the second.
To illustrate from my own expert
ence: When l first went to live at
Hull House in 1889, one of the most
We're the w9men and children who con-
stantly passed with huge masses Ct
clothing on their backs or in their
arms, which they were carrying from
the sweatshops. This clothing disap-
peared into the dark halls and I'D the
narrow stairwavs Of tenement houses
to &c finished II crowded i:ttlo rorcs
| TEoTe the aEtlTl f1Z.:iiy -eT1i ..Foa i
late INTO The following night But BE-
cause the season was short and the
pay so small in spite Of their utm ISL
efforts they never earned enough TO
tide them through the long. dun sea
son which followed the period of rush
work; and the poor widow who work ed
at home that she might be with her
children and have their help always
had to receive charitable aid because
her pay was far below a living stand
ara.
When Hull House, with the trade
unions of Chicago. bcsan an agitation
for law which should regulate sweat
shops and the age at which a child
might begin to work, it was these un-
derpaid women and their undern our
ished 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 convinced
that only a state wide regulation could
make an impression upon the situa-
tion.
II is difficult for me to remember
just when I became convinced that Il
was useless TO provide classes and So
cial diversions for working girls VINO
were too tired to profit by them, be-
cause Of the overstrain due to long
hours and night work; but it was GER
tainly many years ago, in 1893, that
| was one of ardent group who
appeared before the Illinois legisla-
ture to urge the enactment of an
| eight hour law for women. During the
winter Of its enforcement, the HUI
House classes We're full Of working
girls glad to use their new leisure fol
Self-improvement; and their dsap.
pointment remains in my mind as one
of the sharp. definite results which fol
lowed the decision of the Illinois su.
preme court that the law was uncon.
stitutionaL
| could go on through many pages
reciting my experiences as 1 Learned
OF life" to use Dante's fine phra e
and became convinced that only the
people themselves, by utilizing theii
own powers of self government coult
rectify the evils which the rapid de-
velopment of modern industry and the
crowded city had brought about. Loae
before l knew that 10000 people in
the United States are compelled to dc
Sunday work l was distressed over
the hundreds of men in our neighbor
hood who never had day off for fam
lily life or for quiet recreation; these
men seemed an illustration of the
sheer stupidity of consuming all O!
life's energies in order to keep alive.
Hull House is not in a criminal
peighborhood, and yet we have oui
share of convicts whose labor add.
to the profits of prison contractors
while their families suffer. The Shame
and wrong of such an arrang ement was
made clear through personal acquaint.
ance with those families who faced ac
tual want in order to hide their dis
grace. for they would not apply to es-
iablished charities lest the family Sc
cret be discovered.
! knew hundreds of other familie>
in which the bread winner had bec,
crippled and killed through industrial
older and wiser nations such families
are cared for through a well devised
system of social insurance.
/ I have always been particularly ap-
pealed to by forlorn old age, and Hull
House has long had a pension list CT
old people who had reached the end
could not bring themselves to go to
the poorhouse. Nothing is more pitt
| full than this premature old age which
comes so swiftly to the man who has
gone to work too young and has
worked too hard throughout his life
More than one case whom we have
sent TO the hospital has been diagnosed
as premature senility although the man
was still in the fortes and once or
philanthropy, not even with the fine
help Of the Associated Charities Of Chi
cago, can begin to care for these ola