Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-01
BETTER HOMES
FOR GIRLS NOW
ARMY SLOGAN
Boarding House Keepers Have
Rented ParlOrs as Bed
rooms.
NO PLACE TO ENTERTAIN
By FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.


ment clerks-are to have a home where
they will be able to entertain company
IN a parlor and where they will occupy
rooms sufficiently attractive to make,
them think Of home" pleasantly, instead
+ of regarding it merely as a place to sleep.
These things are important to the
working girl in the city. Boarding house
keepers now find it expe1 ient to rent the
parlor as an extra bedroom. Sometimes
only transients are accommodated, the in
ference being that the parlor is ordi-
nartly open, but the parlOr seems to be
perpetually in demand, and the girls have
TO choose between the front steps and
the park as a setting for their evening
engagements. AS for the attractiveness
OF typical boarding house rooms, there
are all degrees and variations of the
bedroom set" with a chair, wastebasket
and marble top table added to make the
room homelike, but generally the effect
is not cheering.
From these two evils. 200 Washington
girls are to be delivered after the follow
ing plan The Salvation Army. which
has for its motto Meet the need" saw a
need for more and better rooms for work
ing girls in Washington. The Govern
ment is still running its dormitories for
Government clerks. But this is an en-
Urgency war measure that may be legis-
lated out Of existence at any time. Then,
too, the Government dormitories are for
Government employees, only.
The telephone company here had its
war dormitories. too. where its employees
were housed. But these are now being
closed so that about fifty girls a week
are having to find other quarters Then
there are the other girls who have not
1t IL
or who never got off the waiting lists
Some Of these girls have been sleeping
on cots, three and four IN q room, and
this supposedly emergency condition
threatens TO extend well into peace times
Prices are still on s war basis and large
rooms are still held at rates that make
II necessary for three or more girls to
divide the expense.
In this situation the Salvation Army
saw q need for a home where at least
few Of the girls who wanted a home at
mosphere could be taken in. The Dewey.
a small hotel in a desirable and conven-
lent neighbOrhood. was bought. already
furnished. and was opened for business
last week with most OF the 139 rooms
taken.
Maj. J. g. MCGEE, who is in charge Of
salvation Army work in Washington, ex-
plains the plan for running it as fol-
lows:
WILL PROVIDE
HOME WITHOUT RULES.
"Our whole idea is to establish home
for these girls-not a home IN the sense
OF an institution. but Of q residence So
we call il a residence for young women
Their are to be practically no rules, be-
cause we feel that q long list of typed
rules hung up everywhere is apt to an
tagonize people so that they begin to
think about the things that are forbid
den and want to do them. When the
girls ask about rules. we tell them that
this is a residence, and they are TO con
duct themselves just as they would In
their own homes.
zone OF the first inquiries of appli-
cants for rooms is invariably about COM
pany, for that seems to have been a STUN
bling block at most of their lodging
places. We tell them that they can en-
tertain men In the parlOrs until II
o'clock. and they look relieved and say
oh, that's all right. That's late enough
I'VE have no regulations as 10 when q
girl must be in at night. Several Of the
girls work until s o'clock at the tele-
phone exchange They get dinner down
town after that, and If they 20 10 a
moving picture show occasionally they
might not get In before u. We would
not want to take in a girl who stayed
out until early morning every night, but
we know that the girls must have amuse-
ments."
A high officer Of the Salvation Army
who stopped off in Washington last
week summed up the aim Of the residence
and the policy Of the management when he
said There must be no lack Of courtesy,
nothing left undone that will make for
the comfort and happiness of our guests"
Ever since plans for the home became
known. Major MCGEE has been kept busy
explaining the details 10 girls who want
rooms. The prices for room and board
average about the same as the Govern
ment dOrmitories, except that there is a
wider range of prices at the residence
for young women. A few Of the more
expensive rooms are still vacant. but it
is believed they will soon be rented. The
Salvation Army has established similar
residences in New York, Cleveland. Chi
cago and Los Angeles, and there are al
WAYS waiting lists OF applicants in these
cities.
SERVE SAKE
OF SERVICE.
The residence is expected to be self
supporting, but not profit-making. If
1t Is found that any profits remain after
expenses are paid, the surplus is to be
put back into the project to pay for
improvements. or else the rates charged
the girls will be lowered
The residence is business project, but
on philanthropic basis You can IN
derstand that when you know that the
Salvation Army officer and his wife who
are to manage it will draw a salary of
SIS week-nOt apiece but both together.
Stah Captain W. H. Heift and his wife.
who saw service abroad in the Salvation
Army huts, are coming to take charge.
1T will mean" says Major MCGEE.
working all day long, twelve hours,
fourteen hours a day; doing whatever is
necessary to meet the need You can
not hire a manager who would work
that way. But the Army people do It
because their one aim is service"
Even since the war. when the Saliva
ton Army made dOughnuts famous. peo-
pie often associate the organization with
nothing else but religious services and
men wao are down, but as the Army saws
never out. There is a good deal more
TO the Salvation Army than this. Now.
for instance. when many people have let
their enthusiasm for war work grow luke
warm or colder. the Salvation Armv is
doing two important pieces OF work.
For two years and a half II has been
sending relays OF wounded soldiers to
spend two weeks in Atlantic CITY.
twenty-five or thirty boys from Walter
Reed Hospital are selected every two
weeks and soldiers in other hospitals of
nearby States are also sometimes in
r1uded in the Dartfar Tba h.. =