New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-27

| in which they did business, or else
where.
Among the allegations which The
1'ribune's answer brings forth as offer
ing body to its suspicious as TO the
spirit guiding the Gimbel family in the
conduct Of its business, is evidence pro
duced before the Wisconsin Legislative
Committee on White Slavery in 1914, TO
show, among other things, that mem
bors of the Gimbol family who are d.
rectors in the New York store also
were responsible for the creation Of
vice conditions which The Tribune an
swor states made the Milwaukee store
widely notorious.
Milwaukee Conditions Cited
II sfIirms that the Gimbcl Brothers
store in Milwaukee had become widely
notorious for the immoral conditions
obtaining among its young women en-
ployes; that during the hearings il WAS
charged repeatedly BY public officials
and witnesses that members of the
Gimbel family, including Louis S. Gin
bel and other managers Of the house,
employed hundreds OF young girls, six
teen TO eighteen years of age, at sal
airy of $3.50 a week. who were told that
they we're not expected to live upon 40
small an income, but were advised to
have that familiar character of vice
commission records, the gentleman
friend" TO help them out; and that the
conditions of their employment, after
being so engaged, were such as to pro-
mote and encourage conditions Of i'm
morality between these girls and men
of all grades of employment in the es-
tablishment, with resultant conditions
SO vicious that publc-spirited women of
Milwaukee organized themselves into
associations to bring about reform in
the Gimbel store and any other whose
regime was of the same character.
Oscar Greenwald, vice-president OF
the concern, while throwing the respon-
sibility upon subordinates and disclaim-
ing personal knowledge, himself admit
ted on the stand that the moral condi-
tions existing in his store "might be
improved"
No Mention in Newspapers
OF this and other sensational testi-
mony calculated to withdraw patronage
from the purchasing public there was
practically no mention in the news
papers of Milwaukee, for there, again,
according to The Tribune's charges, the
long arm of the Gimbel advertising ap-
preparation reached out and so effectu-
ally muzzled the press that the reports
appearing in the local newspapers were
of a character to minimize and avoid
attracting public attention TO the phases
of those proceedings that were most in
furious to Gimbel Brothers.
But one instance in the Gimbel rec
ord in which they were able quite ef-
fectually to muzzle the newspapers and
thereby carry on a menace of greatest
danger TO the existence Of Philadelphia
The Tribune answer maintains-was
in the defiance of fire statutes under
which they would have had to make i'm
provements on their Philadelphia build
ing, which was characterized by srchi-
tects as stack of cards" Massed
with infammable materials, portions OF
it used as factory, this ten-story un-
protected structure, in which 5000 per-
sons, mostly girls and children, were
employed, would have swept important
sections of the city TO destruction had
fire under certain probable conditions
| threatened il.
The Tribune relates these as the
skeleton facts of an investigation into
fire prevention instituted by the
Alumne Committee of Bryn Mawr Col
lege. This committee asserted that for
several years the city had been de-
manding Of Gimbel Brothers without
success that they make the changes
necessary TO bring their building with
in safety regulations.
Victory Won BY Aid of Women
The Philadelphia Chamber of Com
merce, the Board of Trade, the Bureau
of Municipal Research and other or
CARNATIONS had bolstered up the city
in its unsuccessful demands, but it
seems that it was not until the women
Of the city entered the battle deter
mined that they would bring the law
breakers to the bar Of justice that the
buildings were rendered more nearly
safe.
In the fight against Gimbel Brothers
the Bryn Mawr women found the news
papers closed tightly against them.
Again appears the arm Of the Gimbel
advertising appropriation, The Tribune
answer says. Not dishcartcned, tho
Alumne Committee carried its fight to
other cities, and it was through the
publication Of its reports and ad-
dresses in newspapers and magazines
outside Of Philadelphia that the wom-
en- were able to arouse public opinion
and put an end TO what was termed a
grave danger to the people of their
city.
TvnicaI of the commen. which