The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-01-30
new YORK BUREAU
OF SOCIAL HYGIENE

fellef, Jr.:
The Bureau of Social Hygiene came
j into existence about two wears 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
recommendation made by it in the
presentment handed up at -he termi-
nation of its labors was that a public
commission be appointed to study the
social evil. The foreman of that body
subsequently gave careful considera-
tion to the character of the work
which might properly be done by such
a commission and the limitations un-
der which it would operate Tn this
connection, separate, personal con-
ferences were held with over hun
dred leading men and women in the
city, among whom were lawyers,
physicians, business men, bank presi-
dents, presidents of commercial or
ganizations, clergymen, settlement
workers, social workers, labor leaders.
and reformers. These conferences de-
veloped the feeling that public com
mission would labor under a number
of disadvantages, such as the fact that
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would be done publicly; that at best
1t could hardly do more than persent
recommendations. The conviction al
so 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 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 investigat
ing or reform bodies, for they know
they are generally composed of busy
I people, 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 under
world and their exploiters can then
reappear and continue the traffic as
formerly
So the conviction grew that in or
der to make a real and lasting inn
lprovement in conditions, permanent
| organization should be created the
continuation of which would not be
/ dependent upon temporary wave of
reform, nor upon the life of any man
or group of men, but which would 90
on, generation after generation, con-
/ tinuously making warfare against
/ the forces of evil. 1t also appeared
that private organization would
have, among other advantages, a GER
tain freedom from publicity and from
bias, which publicly appointed com
mission could not so easily avoid.
4 Therefore, as the initial step, in the
winter of 1911 the Bureau of Social
Hygiene was formed. It's present
members are Miss Katharine Bement
I 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. Rookie
feller, Jr. As the work develops, new
members may be added
! One of the first things undertaken
by the bureau was the establishment
at Bedford Hills, adjacent to the re-
formatory, of a laboratory of social
/ hygiene, under Miss Davis direction
In this laboratory. it is proposed to
study from the physical, mental, So
cial and moral side each person com
mitted 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 laboratory will be in position
to recommend the treatment most
likely to reform the individual, or, if
reformation is impossible, to recon-
mend permanent custodial care. Fur
thermore, reaching out beyond the in
dividuals involved, it is believed that
the important contributions may be
made to a fuller knowledge of the con-
ditions ultimately responsible for vice.
If this experiment is successful, the
principle 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 present followed.
In entering upon its labors, the
bureau regarded it of fundamental
importance to make a careful study of
the social evil in this country and in
Europe, feeling that this problem, like
any other great and difficult one, can
be intelligently approached only by
means of a thorough and complete
knowledge of all the factors involved,
as well as all the methods and ex-
periences of other cities and countries
( in dealing with it. Arrangements
were made, therefore, in the early
part of last winter to secure the SER
vices of George J. Kneeland. who had
! 4 H. n
( investigation. Since that time, Mr..
Kneeland, with corps of assistants,
has been making thorough and com
prehensive survey of the conditions of
vice in New York City. This survey
has covered not only houses of prosti-
tuition, Raines law hotels, disorderly
saloons, cafes and restaurants, mas
sage parlors and other places where
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