The Elbert County tribune., 1913-01-31
STUDIES BIG PROBLEM
BUREAU OF SOCIAL HYGIENE is
EXPLAINED.
John o. Rockefeller, Jr., Tells Of Its
Origin, Work and Plans for the
Investigation of Vice
Conditions
Western Newspaper Union News Service.


New York. Jan. 2s.-In order that
the public might better understand
the Bureau of Social Hygiene. John
D. Rockefeller, Jr.. gave out state
ment explaining the origin, work and
plans of that institution. The bureau.
he said, came into existence about two
years ago as result of the work of
a special grand jury appointed to In
vestigate the white slave traffic in
New York city. This jury recommend
ed that a public commission be ap-
pointed to study the social evil.
Mr.. Rockefeller was foreman of that
grand jury and he thereafter gave the
subject deep thought and conferred
with large number of leading men
and women. These conferences"
says Mr.. Rockefeller. developed the
feeling that public commission
would labor under a number of disad-
vantages, such as the fact that 1t
would he short lived; that its work
would be done publicly; that at best
it could hardly do more than present
recommendations. So the conviction
grew that in order to make real and
lasting Improvement IN conditions. a
permanent organization should be ere
ated, the continuation of which would
not be dependent upon n temporary
wave of reform. nor upon the life of
any man or group of men, but which
would go on, generation after genera
tion, continuously making warfare
against the forces of evil. 1t also ap-
peared 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 So
cial Hygiene was formed. Its present
members are. Miss Katharine Bement
Davis, superintendent of the New
York State Reformatory for Women at
Bedford Hills. N. Y; Paul NJ. War
burg. of the firm OF Kuhn. Loeb & Co.;
Starr j. Murphy of the New York bar,
and John d. Rockefeller, Jr. AS the
work develops new members may be
added.
zone of the first things undertaken
by the bureau was the establishment
at Bedford Hills, adjacent to the re-
formatory, of 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 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, 1t is hoped that the lab.
oratory will be in position to recon-
mend the treatment most likely to re-
form the individual, or, II reformation
is impossible, to recommend perma-
nent custodial care. Furthermore,
reaching out beyond the individuals
involved, it is believed that thus i'm
portant contributions may be made to
a fuller knowledge of the conditions
ultimately responsible for vice. II this
experiment is successful the principal
may prove applicable to all classes OF
criminals and the conditions preced-
ent to crime, and lead to lines of ac-
ton not only more scientific and hui
name but also less wasteful than those
at present followed"
That its work might be done intelli-
gently 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. These studies will be
followed by others in various Ameri-
can cities, and it is the hope of the
bureau that based upon all of them.
may be devised practical plan for
dealing with the social evil.
In conclusion Mr.. Rockefeller's
statement says: "It cannot be too
strongly emphasized that the spirit
which dominates the work of the bu-
reau is not sensational or sentimental
or hysterical; that it is not 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
a great world problem"