Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-02-07
STUDIES Big PROBLEM
BUREAU or SOCIAL HYGIENE Is
EXPLAINED.
yshn D. Rockefeller, j., Tells Of rs
Origin Work and Plans for the
Investigation Of Vice
Conditions

New York, Jan. 27.-n order thai
the public might better understand
the Bureau of Social Hygiene, john
D. Rockefeller, Jr., today gave out q
statement explaining the origin, work
and plans of that institution. Ths
bureau, he said, came into existeHcs
about two years ago as : result Of the
work of a special grand jury ap-
pointed to investigate the white slave
traffic in New York city. This jury
recommended that . public commits.
sion be appointed to study the social
evil.
Mr. Rockefeller was foreman Of that
grand jury and he thereafter gave the
subject deep thought and conferred with
q large number Of leading men and
women. These conferences" says Mr..
Rockefeller, developed the feeling that
Q public commission would labor under
q number Of disadvantages, such as the
fact that 1t would be short lived; that
its work would be done publicly; that at
best it could hardly do more than pre-.
sent recommendations. So the convic-
ton grew that in order to make a real
and lasting improvement in conditions Q
permanent organization should be ere
ated, the continuation of which would
not be dependent upon a temporary wave
OF reform, nor upon the life of any man
or group Of men, but which would 20
on, generation after generation, contin-
uously making warfare against the
forces of evil. 1t also appeared hat a
private organization would have, among
other advantages, a certain freedom from
publicity and from political bias, which
a publicly appointed commission could
not so easily avoid.
Therefore, as the initial step, in the
winter of 1911 the Bureau of Social
Hygiene wal formed. Its present mem.
bers are Miss Katharine Bemsnt Davis,
superintendent of the New York State
for Women at Bedford
Hills, N. Y; Paul N. Warburg, Of the
Of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.; Starr j. Muir.
of the New York bar, and John D.
Rockefeller, Jr. As the work develops
new members may be added.
One OF The first things undertaken by
Tho bureau was the establishment at
Bedford Hills, adjacent to the reforms.
5ory, of a laboratory of social hygiene,
lnder Miss Davis direction. In this
laboratory 1t is proposed to study from
physical, mental, social and moral
tide each person committed to the re-
'ormatory. This study will be carried
m by experts and each case will be kept
inder observation for from three weeks
o three months, as may be required.
the diagnosis is completed, it is
'oped that the laboratory will be in a
position to recommend the treatment
most likely to reform the individual, or,
I reformation is impossible, to recon-
mend permanent custodial care. Further.
nore, reaching out beyond the individ.
involved, it is believed that thus i'm
ortant contributions may be made 10 a
uller knowledge Of the conditions ulti.
responsible for vice. If this ex.
eriment is successful the principal may
applicable to all classes of Grim.
and the conditions precedent to
rime, and lead to lines of action not
My o scientific and humane but also
IS wasteful than those at present fol.
That its work might be done intelN.
emily the bureau employed George J..
.neeland 70 make a comprehensive sur
ey Of vice conditions in New York, and
braham Flexner to study the social
In Europe, and their reports are
,w being prepared. These studies will
followed by others in various Ameri
cities, and it is the hope of the bu.
'au that, based upon all of them, NAV
} devised a practical plan for dealing
It'll the social evil.
In conclusion Mr.. Rockefeller's state
ent says: 1T cannot be too strongly
.phasized that the spirit which domi.
ties the work of the bureau is not sen.
tional or sentimental or hysterical;
at it is not a spirit of criticism of pub.
officials; but that it is essentially a
irit of constructive suggestion and of
'ep semitic as well as humane interest
q great world problem" :