The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1913-02-07
BIG PROBLEM IS
BEING STUDIED
EXPLANATION OF WORK BUREAU
OF SOCIAL HYGIENE HOPES
TO ACCOMPLISH.
ABOLISH WHITE SLAVE TRADE
John D. Rockefeller, Jrp Tells OF the
Plans for the investigation of
Vice Conditions.

Plans for the investigation OF
Vice Conditions.
New York.-In order that the pub.
lie might better understand the Blu
reau of Social Hygiene, John d.
Rockefeller, Jr., gave out a statement
explaining the origin, work and the
plans of that institution. The bureau,
he said, came into existence about
two years ago as a result of the work
Of a special grand jury appointed to
investigate the white slave traffic in
New York City. This jury recon-,
mended that a public commission 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 a large number of the
leading men and women. These con
ferencese," says Mr. Rockefeller, ode
veloped the feeling that public COM
mission would labor under a number
of disadvantages such as the fact that
it 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 con-
viction grew that in order to make a
real and lasting improvement in con-
ditions, permanent organization
should be created, 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 go on, generation
after generation, continuously making
warfare against the forces of evil. 1t
also appeared that a private organiza-
ton would have, among other advan-
tages, a certain freedom from public
ty and from political bias, which a
public appointed commission could
not so easily avoid.
"TherefOre as the initial step, in
the winter of 1911 the Bureau of So.
cial Hygiene was formed. Its pres
ent members are Miss Katharine
Bement Davis, superintendent Of the
New York state reformatory for WON
en- at Bedford Hills, N. Y; Paul NJ
Warburg of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb &
Co.; Starr ]. Murphy of the New York
bar, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
zone of the first things undertaken
by the bureau was the establishment
at Bedford Hills, adjacent to the re-
formatory, of a labratory of social
hygiene, under Miss Davis direction
In this laboratory it is proposed to
study from the physical, mental, So
cial and mOralside each person com
mitted to the reformatory. This study
will be carried on by experts and
each case will be kept under obser,
walton 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
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 follow
ed"
That its work might be done intel
ligently the bureau employed George
j. Kneeland to make a comprehensive
survey of vice conditions in New
York, and Abraham FleXner to study
the social evil in Europe, and their
reports are now being prepared.
In conclusion Mr.. Rockefeller's
statement says: at cannot be too
strongly emphasized that the spirit
which dominates the work of the bu-
reau is not sensational or sentiment
tai or hysterical; that it is not a spirit
of criticism of public officials; but
that it is essentially a spirit of con-
structive suggestion and of deep sci
entific as well as humane interest in
4 great world problem
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