The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington, ID. G.
A SALVATION ARMY IDEA.


are to have a home where they will be
able to entertain company in a par
lor and where they will occupy rooms
sufficiently attractive to make them
think of home pleasantly, instead of
regarding it merely as place to
sleep.
These things are important to the
working girl in the city. Boarding
house keepers now find it expedient to
rent the parlor as an extra bedroom.
Sometimes only transients are accom-
modated, the inference being that the
parlor is ordinarily open, but the par
lor seems to be perpetually IN de-
mand, and the girls have to choose
between the front steps and the park
as a setting for their evening engage
ments. AS for the attractiveness of
typical boarding house rooms, there
are all degrees and variations of the
bedroom set with a chair, waste
basket, and marble top table added to
make the room homelike, but gener-
ally the effect is not cheering.
From these two evils, 200 washing
ton girls are to be delivered after the
following plan. The Salvation Army,
which has for its motto Meet the
need" saw a need for more and bet
ter rooms for working girls in Wash
| ington. The government is still run
ming its dormitories for government
clerks. But this is an emergency war
measure that may be legislated out Oh
existence at any time. Then, too, the
government dormitories are for gov
eminent employees, only.
The telephone company here had its
war dormitories, too, where its en-
| ployes were housed. But these are
now being closed so that about 30
girls a week are having to find other
| quarters. Then there are the other
girls who have not been eligible Tor
any of the dormitories or who never
got off the waiting lists.
Some of these girls have been sleep
| ing on cots. three and four in a room,
and this supposedly emergency cond1-
peace times. Prices are still on a war
| basis and large rooms are still held at
rates that make it necessary for three
or more girls to divide the expense.
In this situation, the Salvation Army
saw a need for a home where at least
| a few Of the girls who wanted a home
| atmosphere could be taken in. The
Dewey, a small hotel in a desirable
and convenient neighborhood, was
bought already furnished. and was
opened for business last week with
most of the 139 rooms taken.
| Major J. G. MCGEE, who is in charge
| of Salvation Army work in Washing
ton. explains the plan for running it
| as follows:
No Rules.
"Our whole idea is to establish a
| home for these girls-not a home in
| the sense of an institution, but of a
residence. So We call it a residence
for young women. There are to be
| practically no rules, because we feel
| that a long list of typed rules hung
up everywhere is apt to antagonize
people so that they begin to think
about the things that are forbidden
and want to do them. When the girl
ask about rules, we tell them that this
is a residence and they are to conduct
themselves just as they would in their
| own homes.
"One of the first inquiries of appli-
cants for rooms is invariably about
| company, for that seems to have been
a stumbling block at most of their
! lodging places. We tell them that they
| can entertain men in the parlors until
| II o'clock, and they look relieved and
say, oh, that's all right. That's late
| enough
1--WE have no regulations as to when
a girl must be in at night. Several
of the girls work until 8 o'clock al
the. telephone exchange. They get
dinner down town after that, and II
they go to a moving picture show &C.
casionally they might not get in be-
fore II. We would not want to take
in girl who stayed out until early
morning every night, but we know
that the girls must have amusement
A high officer of the Salvation
Army who stopped off in Washington
last week summed up the aim of the
residence and policy of the manage
ment when he said There must be nc
lack of courtesy, nothing left undone
that will make for the comfort and
happiness of our guests"
Ever since plans for the home be-
came known, Major Mckee has beer
kept busy explaining the details tc
girls who want rooms. The prices fol
room and board average about the
same as the government dormitories
except that there is wider range Of
prices at the residence for young
women. A few of the more expensive
|, rooms are still vacant, but it is be
lieved they will soon be rented. The
Salvation Army has established SINH
lar residences in New York, Cleveland
Chicago and Los Angeles, and there
are always waiting lists of applicant.
in these cities.
! Serve for Sake of Service
| The residence is expected to be self
supporting, but not profitmaking. 1.
it is found that any profits remain
: after expenses are paid, the surplus II
to be put back into the project to pa,
for improvements, or else the rate
charged the girls will be lowered. :
The residence is business project
, | b0L OI d OASIS. YOU cal
understand that when you know tina
the Salvation Army officer and hi
wife who are to manage it will draw ;
salary of $1S a week-not apiece, Blu
: both together. Staff Captain w. II
) Heift and his wife, who saw servic
abroad in the Salvation Army huts, ar
coming to take charge. ''It vii
mean" says Major McGee "workint
all day long, twelve hours, fourtee1
hours a day: doing whatevar ia Macao
. sary to meet the need You canno
hire manager who would work tina
way. But the army people do it be
/ cause their one aim is service
3 Ever since the war, when the Saliva
ton Army made doughnuts famous
people often associate the organiza
: ton with nothing else but religion
n services and men who are down, bu
n as the Army says. never out. Their
is a good deal more to the SaIvatio
Army than this. Now, for instanc,
j when many people have let their en-