The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-01-31
MR.. ROCKEFELI ! JR., ON
SOCIAL HYGIENE
In a Statement Sent Out Recently
He Declares That Man, Not
Woman is Guilty of Com
mercializing Social Wrong.


Woman is Guilty of Com
mercializing Social Wrong.
The Bureau of Social Hygiene
came into existence about two years
ago, as a result of the work of the
Special Grand Jury appointed to in
vestigate 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 termination of its labors was
that public commission be appoint
ed to study the social evil. The
foreman of that body subsequently
gave careful consideration to the
character of the work which might
properly be done by such a commits
sion and the limitations under which
it would operate. In this connection
separate, personal conferences were
held with over hundred leading
men and women in the city, among
whom were lawyers, physicians, busi-
ness men, bank presidents, presi-
dents of commercial organizations,
clergymen, settlement workers, So
cial workers, labor leaders and re-
formers. These conferences devel-
oped the feeling that public COM
mission would labor under a num-
Der of disadvantages, such as the
fact that it would be short lived;
that the work would be done publicly
that at best it could hardly do more
than present recommendations. The
conviction also grew that the main
reason why more permanent results
had not been obtained 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 were temporary.
While active, they materially i'm
proved the situation, but as their ef-
forts were relaxed, there came the
inevitable return to much the same
conditions as before. The forces of
evil are never greatly alarmed at the
organization of investigating or re-
form bodies, for they know that they
are generally composed of busy peo-
pie, who cannot turn aside from
their own affairs for any great
length of time to carry on reforms,
and that sooner or later their efforts
will cease, and the patient denizens
of the underworld and their ex-
ploiters can then reappear and con-
tinue the traffic as formerly.
Therefore, as the initial step, in
! the winter of 1911 The Bureau of
| Social Hygiene was formed. Its
| present members are Miss Katharine
Bement Davis, Superintendent of the
New York State Reformatory for
Women at Bedford Hills, New York;
Paul NJ Warburg, of the firm of
Kuhn. Loeb & Company; Starr j.
Murphy, of the New York Bar; and
John D.. Rockefeller, Jr. AS the
work develops, new members may be
added.
One of the first things undertake
en- by the Bureau was the establish
ment at Bedford Hills, adjacent to
the Reformatory, of a Laboratory of
Social Hygiene, under Miss Davis
direction. In this Laboratory, it is
proposed to study from the physical,
mental, social and moral side each
person committed to the Reforma-
tory. 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 re-
quired. When the diagnosis is COM
pleted, it is hoped that the Labora.
tory will be in position to recon-
mend the treatment most likely to
reform the individual, or, if reform
alton is impossible, to recommend
permanent custodial care. Further
more, reaching out beyond the indi-
viduals involved, it is believed that
thus important contributions may be
made to a fuller knowledge of the
conditions ultimately responsible for
vice. If this experiment is success
full, the principle may prove applica-
BILE 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 present fol-
lowed.
At the same time, the Bureau was
fortunate in securing the services of
Abraham FleXner, whose reports on
the medical schools in this country
and in Europe are so we'll known,
to study the social evil and the vari-
Gus methods of dealing with it in the
} leading cities of Europe. Mr.. Flex-
ner spent the greater part of a year
abroad, making a searching and ex-
haustive inquiry into the subject,
p and is now working on his report,
which will be ready for publication
this winter.
These studies are to be followed
by others, in those cities in the
United States where different condi-
! tions exist or where special methods
of dealing with the social evil have
been introduced, the object being to
become familiar with all phases of
the subject and all methods of
handling it which have been tried
in this country and in Europe.