New-York tribune., 1918-01-20

old-fashioned melodrama and the "pennv
dreadful OF those days set forth in lurid
scenes the pitfalls which lay in the pathway
of this same innocent little creature when she
sought for dwelling place in the wicked city.
And though conditions have changed since
the stage-coach days, though the country maid
herself has changed and even the nature of
the pitfalls have changed, the problem is there
just the same-the same old problem that ex-
listed in the days when the Bowery was spelled
with an ie'-the problem of the safe and
proper housing of the thousands and thousands
Of young women who come each year to live
and work In the biggest city in the world
Fifty years ago the Y. w. C. A. was
founded for the express purpose of looking
after these young women but even with it's
ever-increasing facilities it cannot begin to
meet the demands of all working girls So
from time to time other associations and or
CARNATIONS have been founded-some purely
philanthropic. some self-supporting the
same purpose, the care and protection of our
working girls.
There must needs be all sorts and kinds
OF these organizations to meet the requirements
of all sorts and conditions of girls-not only
Of those girls who here for the purpose
of earning their livelihood, but of the vast
multitude of students who must be cared for
and housed as we'll. For the past three years,
since the war made foreign study impossible
the number of these students has been almost
doubled. Therefore, the housing problem has
become more and more difficult
FIRST AID TO THE STRANGER
The last organization to enter the field and
give first aid" in this work is the Associ-
alton to Promote the Proper Housing for
Girls. This association conducts at II West
Thirtyseventh Street Bureau of Boarding
Houses for Girls,' with board and room reg
istry which are enrolled only houses which
have been carefully investigated by the visit
ing committee of the association and pro-
nounced by them to be up to the best standard
OF morality, cleanliness and general wholesome
ness.
A girl who desires a boarding or rooming
place applies at the Office and is given list
of addresses of houses which comply with
her needs. If she afford to pay only S6
per week less for her board and room the
service is free to her, but if she has sufficient
income to expend Sc for her living ex-
penses fee of twenty-five cents is asked. This
fee covers all service until the girl is perma-
nently located and perfectly satisfied with her
choice. She may move half dozen times be-
fore she finds exactly the right place, but the
twenty-five cents covers all the trouble which
the bureau takes in placing her.
The idea of the Association to Promote
The Proper Housing for Girls originated in
Boston, where the work has been carried on
since early in 1914. Two years ago the New
York branch opened, and this has proved
50 successful that similar bureaus are shortly
to be opened in Cincinnati Cleveland, Pitts
burgh and Philadelphia, and it is hoped that
before very long there will be branches in all
the other large cities.
BOTH LANDLADY AND "ROOMER" BEN
EFITED
Not only is this bureau boon and a blessing
TO the girl in search of dwelling place, but
1t is godsend to the landlady as WE'LL for it
lnsures her a respectable tenant who is pretty
sure to be permanent--all for the small sum
of so cents, which she pays to the bureau
when the room is engaged. The would-be
tenant we'll the landlady is obliged to
answer long list of questions and give re-
liable references before she can receive the
benefits of the bureau.
These references are carefully followed up
BY the Investigating committee and if the ap-
plicant is found unsatisfactory in any respect
her application is rejected and her case is
turned over to some organization which is
especially fitted to deal with it. So on the
side, the association is constantly doing work
along social welfare lines as we'll. Indeed it
Is branching out in several directions.
Every week the landladies who are regis
tered on the books of the association are in
Vlted to a sort of symposium, where problems
relating to the work are discussed over cup
OF tea. 1t was my privilege to attend of
these meetings, and it was illuminating, to say
lne least for these women were not at all Of
The type that had expected. Indeed, it seems
pity to even refer to them as "landladies"
somewhere in the dictionary there must be a
word which fits them better than this.
In the large organized houses for girls they
are known as "housc Mothers and this seems
much more appropriate title. There was GER
'alnly nothing that suggested the popular con-
cepuon of the "landlady" in any one of those
women who gathered about the cosy tea table,
each busily knitting for the Red Cross. In
oeed, ] thought, as I looked them over, if
were lonesome girl in search Of home l
should be in a quandary to which one of
'nose sweet~faced women l should ask to adopt