The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-02-02
THE ORIGIN, WORK AND PLANS OF THE
BUREAU OF SOCIAL. HYGIENE

\ L
BUREAU OF sc
The Bureau OF Social Hygiene came
INTO existence about two years ago, as
result Of the work OF the special
grand jury appointed to investigate
the white slave traffic In New York
City, which served during the first
half of the year 1910. One OF the
recommendations made by it in the
presentment handed up at the termin-
alton OF It's labors was that public
commission be appointed to study the
social evil The foreman of that body
subsequently gave careful considera-
| ton to the character of the work
which might properly be done by such
g commission and the limitations un-
der which It would operate In this
connection. separate, personal confer
ences were held with over q hundred
Leading men and women In the city,
among whom were lawyers, physic-
fans, business men, bank presidents,
tons, clergymen, settlement workers,
social workers, labor leaders, and re-
formers. These conferences develop
ed the feeling that a public commits
sion would labor under a number Of
disadvantages, such as the fact that 1t
would be short lived that its work
would be done publicly; that at best 1t
could hardly do more than present
recommendations The conviction also
grew that the main reason why more
permanent results had not been OBJ
tanned by the various organizations
which had dealt with the subject OF
the social evil during the past ten or
fifteen years was that most Of them
We're temporary. While active, they
materially improved the situation, but
as their efforts were relaxed, there
came the inevitable return to much
the same conditions as before The
forces Of evil are never greatly alarm
ed at the organization of investigating
or reform bodies, for they know that
they are generally composed of busy
people, who cannot turn aside from
their own affairs .or any great length
|of time to carry on reforms, and that
sooner or later their efforts will cease,
and the patient denizens OF the under
world and their exploiters can then re-
appear and continue the traffic as
formerly.
So the conviction grew that in order
to make real and lasting improve
ment in conditions, permanent or
sanization should be created, the con-
tinuation of which would not be de-
pendent upon temporary wave of re-
form, nor upon the life of any man or
group of men, but which would 90 on.
generation after generation, continu-
ously making warfare against the
forces of evil. It also appeared that
a private organization would have,
among other advantages, a certain
freedom from publicity and from pol1t-
ical 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 was formed. Its present mem
bers are Miss Katharine Bement Da-
Wis, superintendent of the New York
state reformatory for women at Bed
ford Hills, New York; Paul M. War
burg, If the firm of Kuhn, Loeb &
Company; Starr j. Murphy, of the
New York bar: and John D. Rookie
Teller, Jr. AS the work develops, new
members may be added.
One of the first things undertaken
by the bureau was the establishment
lat Bedford Hills, adjacent to the re-
formatory, Of a laboratory of social
hygiene, under Miss Daviss' direction.
In this laboratory, it is proposed to
study from the physical, mental, social
and moral side each person committed
to the reformatory. This study will
be carried on by experts and each case
will be kept under observation for
from three weeks to three months. as
may be required When the diagnosis
/ is completed, it is hoped that the lab
oratory will be in position to recon.
mend the treatment most likely to re-
form the individual, or, if reformation
is impossible, to recommend perman-
ent custodial care. Furthermore,
reaching out beyond the individuals in
volved, it is believed that thus import
ant contributions may be made to a
fuller knowledge of the conditions ulti-
mately responsible for vice. If this
experiment is successful, the L,inciple
may prove applicable to all classes of
criminals and the conditions precedent
to crime, and lead to lines of action
not only more scientific and humane
but also less wasteful than those at
I present followed.
In entering upon it's labors, the