The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-05-24
SOCIAL SERVICE
DIRECTOR GIVES
POINTERS ON VICE
FIRST STEP AGAINST ELlMiNA.
TON OF ORGANIZED VICE
SHOULD BEGIN IN HOME.
HEALTH BOARD READY TO ACT
Parents Are the Ones Who Must A..
sumo Responsibility for the ideals
and Morals Of their Children.


health, believes that the first step in
the campaign against organized vice
and the elimination of venereal dis
eases. should begin in the home.
Miss Ostrander, for several years
was connected with Hull House in
Chicago and had two years experience
as police woman in Dayton
There area few very evident facts
that all women hesitate to acknow.
ledge. We all know them directly or
indirectly, however, and we are be-
coming yearly more ready to admit
them and assume our just share CT
the responsibility in meeting them
and overcoming their long line Of
hideous consequences" said Miss Ost-
rander.
The greatest of these age old
monsters Is prostitution. 1t crept into
our social life so long ago that no one
knows when or how. We do know
that today 1t exists in every country
and among all sorts and conditions Of
men and must be reckoned with. 1t
furnishes the world with more filthy
and hideous diseases than all other
sources combined. 1t gives us most
OF our blind and deformed children,
our feeble-minded men and women
and our drunkards. It furnishes the
market where innocent girls and boys
are bought and sold to satisfy the
lusts Of mankind. 1t makes necessary
more asylums and institutions than
all other causes combined.
with prostitution goes every form
of mental, physical and moral degen-
eracy, all Of which are taking tax
money out of the pockets of honest
citizens to support and maintain. The
prostitutes, of which there are many
more men than women, are children
grown up. They have all had mothers
and fathers. They were all as inno-
cent as the children you see every day
on the streets Of your town. They are
the unfortunate ones who came under
the social conditions which we as
citizens allow to exist all about us and
they were too ignorant and too weak
to make the fight.
Someone asked me where the fight
against prostitution should begin. The
answer is, in your own home Prepare
your own girl and boy to make the
fight. In spite of your devotion and
watchfulness, they will be subjected
to the same conditions and tempta-
lions as every other girl and boy. The
only protection any child has against
the temptations of life is from within
himself. You parents are the ones
who must assume the responsibility
for the ideals and for the morale of
your children.
Our Debt to Society.
I'VE, as individuals, are perhaps
more alive to our responsibility to-
wards society just now than at any
time for many years because of con.
ditions surrounding the encampments
The boys In those encampments are our
sons and husbands and brothers. The
women who prey upon them and the
men who corrupt them are hurting
our own. 1t is no longer an imper-
sonal condition existing somewhere, It
Is here. 1t touches us directly. Our
sons are their victims and our daugh.
tiers the wives of those victims. Their
blind or feeble-minded children will be
our children and our grandchildren.
These are not pretty truths. There
are no soft words to describe these
things. They are the truth, however.
and they describe conditions very
close to our homes. What will you do
about it,
1.-THE State Board of Health has I'M
dertaken to treat all cases of venereal
diseases and so protect the helpless
disease apprehended at the canton
ments or at any other place In the
state, both men and women.
1.-THE Social Service Department Of
the State Board of Health has been
instituted to organize the rehabilita-
ton work which is necessary before
any considerable number of patients
can be returned to society with de-
sire for normal life. Many most eff.
Client organizations and individuals
throughout the state have already of
fered their cooperation In furtherins
this work. Plans have been perfected
to have each patient given mental
examination during hospital conflne
ment to help determine their final dis
position. Those who are pronounced
will be placed in insti'
tutions for permanent detention.
Problem Belongs to All Glasses.
1.-THE problem belongs to all classes
and therefore all classes must work to-
gether to solve 1t. Assume your full
share of this responsibility now. Pro-
tect your own children. Not by keep
ing them tied to your apron strings
but by giving them the knowledge and
moral strength to fight their own ba.-
ties. They will have their hardest
struggles when you are not there to
protect them.
"The Social Service Department OF
the State Board OF Health is ready 20
help you in every possible way but
cannot do your work for you. The
best results can only be obtained BY
all of us working together all the time.