Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30

the meaning OF the bills TO es-
tahlish Noman's Bureau OF the
Metropolitan Police Department, now
lying In active In the House and Sen.
ate, WAS yesterday defined by Lieut..
Nina Z. Van Wrinkle. director of the
Weman's bureau, Tor The Star The
history and achievements ot the
bureau, the background of the
struggle IL lift it from its past and
present status of an experimental
gesture on the part OF succeeding
commissioners 10 one of iegali.ed
pey,naneney; the problems aud value
Of modern acknowledgements police
worlx.---vere told by Mrs. Van Wrinkle
to "A representative Of The. Star as
follows:
Reveals Drama of Life.
*The work of the Woman's Bureau
is analogous TO the motion picture
constantly passing across the screen
without intermission or stoppage
The pictures are OF the skeleton
closets of big cross-section or the
people and their communities, largely
respectable although sometimes there
are iirs down into the slums and the
underworld Taken piece by piece.
stem by step. case by case. they re
veal drama more moving than any
i'm fiction or on the stage--the drama
OF Life.
when guests arrive. we delight In
showing them our house-the coy
living room, comfortable bedrooms, IN
yiting kitchen and all the composite
parts that so TO make this house our
home. But usually there Is one door
which is kept locked--the door to our
skeleton closet-and we hurry by. for
the less we think of that the easier is
our state of mind.
Point to Scouts and "Y."
$50 with our community services,
the health and Boy Scout movements.
the Girl Scouts, the Y. w. G. A. the
Y. NJ. C. A. and such other incalcula-
blv worthwhile movements are the liv-
ing room activities to which we point
with pride, and justly so. and we glad
lv lend our efforts and money to their
furtherance But what of the ghosts
of the skeleton closet? They are OF
MANY forms, the cheap, nasty theater,
the unsupervised dance hall, the un-
married mother, the runaway boy, the
foolish shoplifter. the child or the
streets, the distracted mother unable
to control her daughter, and thou
sand other specters of sordid unhappy
promptly adjusted, could come from
the uneasy closet into the sun of the
living room.
"In Washington, the Woman's Blu
reau of the Metropolitan Police De-
partment Is the keeper of these skeie-
ton closet secrets, and many times the
means of their solution. During near
~ nine years service rendered "a
hours a day and seven days week,
this bureau has cared for approx
mately 10000 individuals, two-thirds
of them children, without ever releas-
ing a news story about any of them
that would in any way publish their
shame or delinquency. IT Is to make
permanent and increasingly effective
the service of policewomen that the
bill for the establishment of the Wona-
ans Bureau is presented in Congress.
Local CIubwomen Working.
Groups of local clubwomen have
petitioned and obtained the assistance
of national organizations OF women
| for the passage of this BILL The meas
ure, which LIS now pending In the Sen
ate land House, will establish by law
the Woman's Bureau of the Metro
politan Police Department, now exist
| ing only on sufferance-having no
legal status. Leaders from the execu-
tive board of the General Federation
of Women's Clubs, who recently met
here In executive session, went per-
sonaIly to Senator'S and Representa-
| tives to secure their support for this
| legislation.
such influential groups as the Ma
| tional Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution. Women's Chris.
| tan Temperance Union, General Fed
Grafton of Women's Clubs, American
Social Hygiene Association, National
| Council of Women and many others
have given definite Endorsement of
the bill as written and as to principle,
desiring not only to safeguard the
/ District work, but also to see enacted
into law a measure which may be used
as a basis for similar legislation else.
| where.
THE bill was favorably reported by
| the District committee of the House
and placed on its calendar. A hearing
was held by the Senate District com.
mittee at the call of Senator Capper
Senator William Fl. King of Utah
who requested the committee to re.
frain from voting until he could be
| present. was present at this meeting
to which Senator Capper invited rep
resentatives from the General Fedora
ton of Women's Clubs. These women