The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1913-02-01

Inc bureau Oh oOcldl hygiene came
into existence about two years ago, as
a 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 rec
concentrations made by it in the pre-
sentiment handed up at the termination
of its labors was that a public COM
mission be appointed to study the So
cial evil. The foreman of that body
subsequently gave careful eonsidera-
tion to the character of the work which
might properly be done by such a COM
mission and the limitations under
which it would operate. In this con-
neetion, separate, personal conferences
were held with over a hundred leading
men and women in the city, among
whom were lawyers, physicians, bust
ness men, bank presidents, presidents
of commercial organizations, clergy
men, settlement workers, social
workers, labor leaders, and reformers.
These conferences developed the feel
ing that a public commission would
labor under a number of disadvan-
tages, 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 present recon-
mendations. The conviction also grew
that the main reason why more perma-
nent 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 efforts
were relaxed, there came the inevitable
return 20 much the same conditions
as before. The forces of evil are never
greatly alarmed at the organization of
investigating or reform bodies, for
they know that they are generally com
posed of busy people, who cannot turn
aside from their own affairs for any
great length of time to carry on re-
forms, and that sooner or later their
efforts will cease, and the patient deni-
zens of the underworld and their ex-
ploiters can then reappear and con-
tinue the traffic as formerly.
So the conviction grew that in order
TO make a real and lasting improve
ment in conditions, a permanent or
ganization should be created, the con-
tinuatiOn of which would not be de-
pendent upon a temporary wave of re-
form, nor upon the life of any man or
group Of men, but which would go on,
generation after generation, eontin-
uOusly making warfare against the
forces of evil 1t also appeared that
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 was formed. Its present mem
bers 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, Junior.
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's 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 nav
be required. When the diagnosis is
completed, it is hoped that the Lab
oratory win be in position to recon-
mend the treatment most likely to re-
form the individual, or, if reformation
is impossible, to recommend permanent
eustodial care. Furthermore, reaching
out beyond the individuals involved, Il
is believed that thus important eontri.
buttons may be made to a fuller knowl-
edge Of the conditions ultimately re
sponsible for vice. If this experiment
is successful, the principle may prove
applicable tc 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.
In entering upon its Iabors, the
Bureau regard it of fundamental i'm