Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-09

Anna did not answer; instead, she walked hur-
ysedly away trying 10 escape this added humif-
iation-the pity of a stranger.
But the stranger was persistent. She followed,
repeating her question offering help. She fol-
lowed for several blocks before Anna, desperate,
At bay gave in and told her story: She was Ger
man; two years In this country; no relatives
except q brother who had moved west and been
lost sight of; job gone savings exhausted no
food for three days. The tears rolled down her
broad peasant face as she talked.
THE former popular delusion that the ma
jority Of Americas 100000 women "em-
ployed IN gainful occupations are working only
for q little extra pin money has been exploded
many times by census and other statistics, in
cluding the findings of the Womens Bureau
and the Federal Department of Labor. 1t is
ccntradicted once more by the figures of the
New York City Emergency Work Bureau. OF
the 1854 women who were being given tempo
Tary employment by this fund in February,
1,227 belonged to the clerical stenographc and
professional class; more than one-half of them
lived alone and were entirely self-supporting.
and another section, nearly third of the total,
supported not only themselves, but dependents.
Only III Of the A227 lived with their families,
and even these supported themselves. This
group being taken care Of temporarily, repre-
SCENTS, according to Miss Randall only fraction
q those In the white collar class now out Of
work and desperately in need of help.
The effect of the unemployment crisis on
such organizations as the Girls Service League
and the Travellers Aid has been marked Into
the hands of these two organizations fan most
of the rash young things who leave their homes
and seek the glamour Of great city in search
Of fame, adventure or money. With no more
than the price Of one good theater seat in their
pocketbooks, they travel often on foot. from
long distances, sure that life will be fuIler and
mere beautiful when they get to the great city.
Summer Is the time when they usually come 70
New York in the greatest numbers
But this year all Is different. Ardent youth
has become cautious-or else it cannot jingle in
It's pockets even the tiny sum necessary to hitch
hike from 3 boring place called home" TO q
aIamoEous place called New York"
Eve have had this Spring" says Miss Stella
Miner, director Of the Girls Service League,
'fewer runaway girls whose sole motive is I'D
venture than we normally have in the dead Of
winter. The record Of those coming TO us In
May and June, 1891, showed only One-fOurth
Of the number who came to us during the same
Spring and Summer months year ago"
The girl who runs away from home this year
and finds herself stranded in some large city Is
more likely to have ned because home was in
tOlerable, and no matter how hard and uncer-
tain were the chances in q strange city they
were mot as bad as conditions she already was
facing. The last year has seen many Of these
desperate girls and women coming TO New York
from Pennsylvania mining districts and New
ENGLAND min towns, where strikes and closed
factories, accompanied by the shutting down
e. other industries in the same places which
have employed the women folk Of the miners,
have brought about terrible conditions.
when Martha W. was found crying On q
park bench, and brought to one Of the social
organizations by policeman, she explained
that when the factory in which she worked In
. western Pennsylvania town had closed down.
she did not have the courage to 60 home and
ten her large family, whose sole support she
had become. So she spent her last weeks
waaes on q ticket to New York. For three days
she had been living on nothing but milk choco-
late.
aAviators. you know, carry 1t with them on
their nights"
It was the same impulse that brought two
kisters college graduates, from the South when
the country schools they had been teaching
IN closed because the neighboring farmers had
moved away; they thought they could get jobs
n mattresses In Atlantic City, but instead were
stranded in New York. And it also was
desperate need which brought zonia TO the
Ereat city from a wretched location" (not even
dignified by any form Of town organization or
Eovernment) at the mouth Of q mine shaft
about two miles from Scranton. Without side
walks, schools, churches or anything considered