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Show phy5ocial Workenr in Ae5lumrBecomeDepraved I Ife TTie Strange Mystery of Jessie McCann; the Murder of General ;iS I g SigeVs Daughter, and Other Mishaps Among Women Mis- P3'' I sionaries, Discussed by Prof. Rice, the Psychologist. ' I ""fHE mystery of the disappearance and R 1 death recently of Miss Jessie McCann, I Jffiim a social worker in the New York slums, "fftS 'S whose battered body was found on the Coney F 'jj$tf$& '"'SP Island beach, the arrest in a nearby city of a y 'MWWS Prominent "angel of the slums" for writing ' ? Sreju. anonymous scandalous letters about her fellow V :4ffefe'M social workers, the cold-blooded murder of one : t ' f 'vS-S of his Parishioners by the man Schmidt last : &: ' .v ' ' FaU the murder of Miss EIsie Sige1, a Jocial MElsie Sigel, the "Slum Angel' Who W Mysteriously Murdered in Chinatown. mr Women Charity fr Workers Go Wrong it By Prof. DAVID EDGAR RICE, m Ph.D., Columbia University. ED wide discrepancy that may exist between pre-lPt pre-lPt and practise Is never more strikingly illus-Bated illus-Bated than when Romo prominent religious leader jdian of civic rights or some individual who la Bp political or social reforms falls a victim to the His which It is his duty or avowed purpose to Crime and vice, among thoso who cannot be ed to know better aro acceptod as matters of jBut when the same faults occur in persons ... draining, occupation or habits of life justify the -Fon of Detter tMngs, onr attention is challenged iKcurioslty aroused. -JKfst several years have produced an unusually $tuber of examples of these Inconsistencies oi JBjpnduct. Now it is a judge of the Federal courts iB&onvicted of accepting bribes from parties to (3Bed bef01"e llIln in violntlon of the law which : MhlB entire life ho had been trained to reverence I JEDrk' At auotuor time Jt ls a liigli police official, flRfar from ranking an honest effort to suppress lJjWouml fiuilty of actually instigating murder in -ftt his long record of grafting may not be lJfto light. Now It is the chief executive of a .affBto whose conspicuous efforts along the lines 'tw1 reform are brought to a sudden and igno-i.lBhalt igno-i.lBhalt by the charge that he himself has been i ' offenses equally as serious as those which SBeavoring to suppress. VMpta, it may be the honored and trusted pastor JK? lonablQ congregation who first betrays, and '-rBWde bis -first offense, basely murders one of hl8 jJt1n her Innocence and simple faith lookB to OSmDiritual guidance and friendly help. these offenses of those who "ought to know I .'Runrlso and shock us more than similar of-yBoBHaltted of-yBoBHaltted by individuals in leas conspicuous MRWe. experience shows us that they are not 'tflM' and tljat they spring from the same pas-Khe pas-Khe human soul. ''YJBjpw nat no vocation or lino of activity Is In ' JB?mrantee oC tb- ausolute Integrity of thoso K-UB enSaBed. The "human side," by which, to IjWCcurato' We usually mean human frailties, Is jHBon possession of every man. Even those who ?iHJl8tty classed as great may. as respects the yBfrtuos of humanity, fail as far below the aver-MH aver-MH are above it because of their special endow- rlfci T?n' or examPl0- who has endowed our ' vTlH tbe flnest Rntl noblest poetry It possesses, '"'jfiHL given expression to some of the most sub-jMfhts sub-jMfhts the world lias known, was notorious for flV t speech and for his bitterness and mean-JVPutes mean-JVPutes with his personal enemies. 'HKof "these universal characteristics of human HBercfore, Inotnnccs of the kind cited above aro wut of explanation. The expectation of per-V' per-V' or the overwhelming force of passion tom-owlnntes tom-owlnntes the consciousness of tho victim to k3 J1 oC sanor ud worthier considerations 'F0 .good llault8 may make the conllict harder P ostpono tho hour of surrender to the evil, but B g03 and results, are the same as in tho caso of Bflr natural tendencies to crime, however, another class of cases of very Bttracter where individuals whoso intentions tWorthlest and whose training is presumably Wfy surrender to impulses of which they thoin-f," thoin-f," obvIously be the victims and for which no ' -B'eXCU,8c5 can be offered. We refer to tho largo IjjHp Boclal workers who, whllo appnrently do-Upmaelvos do-Upmaelvos to benevolent work among the crlm-SSSK; crlm-SSSK; i 0 claSBes nre themselves drawn 7u.iwie level of those whom they have undertaken mm things. It is Important to note that JdmL I tendcy to retrogression are invarl--Tjn a fact which It will be helpful to have in .yK T,e c01pe to seek an explanation of it K an forcibly called io this peculiar phe-fBKr phe-fBKr 5'ears ago by the revolting murder of JPBWiA i. youns pIrl o Prominent famllv who hnd Trmk v,r P:c(-'a s mlpalonary for personal worker in Chinatown, who had become in- :AXy' 'tPs volved in love affairs with Chinamen these ' J$jfi -"'f o''hii . and many other similar instances have natural- ' 1 . ;, $V ly suggested the question as to why social and .' J$?t$(X''' . ' V' Icharity workers go wrong. J.?Vr '"X. : '' H iWhy should men, and especially women, Jmffp ,frrA"l. aL. 'Wfh with a high sense of duty and firmly fixed -wll V Wmm ' f itl?1 moral standards be drawn down to the level of -4 lPSlP U WS degradation of those they seek to help 7 An in- W V&T J H fl teresting analysis of this phenomenon is pre- j ' ,s&k? H sented by Prof. Rice, the psychologist W Nr.. ""X jt P-A I SlSSBk. - fe 'i A Photograph of an Opium Den in New York's Chinatown, Where Social Workers Try to Redeem Unfortunates. tlons Into her death revealed the fact that she had become be-come entangled in love affairs with several Chinamen to whose rooms she made a practise of going in her capacity of teacher, and that her murder was the result of jealousy which she herself had to a great extent encouraged. The -widespread criticism of the plan oi missionary work in vogue among the Chinese resulting from this incident disclosed a startling and absolutely incredible state of affairs as to the relations existing between the missionary workers and their pupils. It was found that the -work was being carried on largely by inexperienced girls and young women who had gone Into it as a temporary tem-porary diversion, and that these women were often the aggressive parties in the establishment of relationships of tho most dangorous kind. The following statemont by an experienced director of social work, Miss Helen Clark, affords an Interesting insight into tho characteristics character-istics of these women: "The picture I have seen, of young, foollBh, frivolouB-mlndod frivolouB-mlndod white women deliberately egging the Chinese BIbte students on to dangerous flirtations makes me shudder over tho results. The evils of this system are more subtle and iar-reaching than even its (most bitter opponents have ever dreamed. For years tho practise of permitting American women to teach Chinese pupils individually has accumulated its results of tragedy and sorrow. Life after life has been blasted and homos wrecked ad libitum, and thoro has been no restraining hand. More than onco our mission has Bhelterod some heart-broken womau, tho dupe of an intermarriage or of an alliance that was oven worse." "Deliver mo," said another prominent mission worker, "from the women that come here from fashionable "uptown "up-town districts from Riverside Drive and Fifth avenue who come here with bibles in one hand and with tho other stretched out in coquetry to these young Chinamen. China-men. If their hUBbands knew one-quarter of what I could toll them things I have seen these women do, the places they have gone with these would-be Christian converts the divorce courts would do a lively business for Bomo time to come. I will tell you plainly thnt the Chinese do not need conversion so much as tho white women of Chinatown need it, and many of the women missionaries need it more than tho circles of Chinese young men whom thoy fawn upon as they teach from the word of God. The Chinese men do not need it, and nobody knows this better than the would-be missionaries. mission-aries. Hypocrites they are, in almost every instance, I would say." That those statements of the situation aro not mere empty exaggerations is nhown by tho fact, vouched for by the beGt authority, that a large number of the degraded de-graded white women now living In tho Chinese sections found their way there originally under the Influence of their misdirected missionary zeal or through their equally morbid curiosity to study social conditions in the slums at first hand. While It ls manifestly unfair to put all social workers Into the same class without discrimination, It is nevertheless never-theless true, as pointed out by the women referred to above, that the ranks of social workers aro recruited largoly from tho higher classes of society. This is bo for two reasons first, because the young women of tho higher classes are, generally speaking, the only ones who can find leisuro for thiB kind of work; and, second, because, lacking definite occupations, thoy aro the only ones who fool tho need of this sort of outlet for their natural activities, repressed aajhjjy ore. by the artificial conditions .of their rvmvricrht. ml. It is hard for the masculine mind to appreciate, and still harder adequately ade-quately to describe, the peculiar form of ennui to which young women of these classes are subject, and which in many cases constitutes their sole reason for entering soclnl work. The whole subject, however, has been treated by a woman, Mrs. Hansson. with so keen psychological insight that her statement Is worthy of quotation quo-tation at considerable lengh: "The young girl of wealth and social so-cial position is Insulated from life; she sees Its deep red, its beating pulse, its sweet surprises and sudden disclosures dis-closures from afar like a pale phan-ta.smagorin, phan-ta.smagorin, or it passes before her in the distorted reflections of half-forbidden, fashionable reading, and she returns every evening to her own ln-ward ln-ward void. Bile may live love romances ro-mances if she wishes to, and later, whou married, sho enn, if she likes, make up by the number of her love affairs for the lack of variety; but that deep, healtfhy restoration which the staking of one's whole being upon another in the hour of danger brings thnt moment of bliss when all the Inner fountains gush forth and body and soul are so glowing that they no longer perceive external cold these remain hidden from her. "And yet. it is these for which sho pines. "Externally she is only permitted to move in prescribed forms, and she feels with deadly weariness that only prescribed feelings meet and wl; continue to meet her, In the weariness of their dlsnppolut- rnent many of the most promising young women revolt from marriage, In which they expect only a lukewarm affection. Precisely in thoso circles where no material obstacles . exist many of the prettiest and henlthlest women remain single. And when, after unenjoyed enjoyments, en-joyments, festivities, distinctions, proposals, etc, a constantly con-stantly Increasing and more suffocating depression overspreads them when body and soul gradually lose their resisting powers, then the pretty ones become pious and the healthy delicate. "They look about them for something which can give their idle days a purpose, tho emptiness of their existence exist-ence a meaning which can restore their weakened vital energies, something which can release them from tho Interminable society of their ogo a duty, a sacrifice or a diversion which they can clothe In these fine names. "Their womanly Instincts, so long warped, repressed and cheated, waken in their- original strength. The instincts of motherhood, which consist in bearing, enduring, en-during, waiting, helping, sympathizing, and which have nover gained free outlet and expansion because their owners had lost faith in motherhood in their own cases, are now turned to others. Thoy feel personally and strongly in their own bodies tho tortures of starving mothers, suffering children and unemployed fathers, tho whole misery of the poor and the robbed. And they yearn to help, out of a wild desire which is really to help themselves, to find peace, to get relief from pain which they, reflecting on the suffering around them, feel as if in tho body of the child they do not bear." It Is, then, in those powerful natural impulses of the woman that we are to find the key to her weakness as well as her greatness. With the matornal instinct strong w-lthin hor, the woman, however normal and sane she may be, ls in a condition of unstablo equilibrium, equilib-rium, and It is largely a matter of chance in which direction she ls likely to -incline. If a strong and worthy love comes into her life, tho impulse finds its natural outlet in a happy married life. If, on the other hand, the real soul 'mate fails to 3 "Whose Deafih Is Shrouded in Mystery. Marriage of a White Woman Slum Missionary, to a Chinaman. appear at the psychological moment and these impulses jH must be repressed, they grow in strength like a Bprlng that is gradually compressed until a point ls finally reached where die tension is too strong to be con- JH trolled. In earlier times tho cloisters afforded a safe jH retreat for the young woman who had reached thla jH critical stage. To-day tho only alternatives seem, to be jH either an unworthy and scandalous alliance, which is IH soon repented of in sorrow, or some form of social service. In the latter case the outcome again is problematical. iWomen who are endowed with a high order of intelll-gencennd intelll-gencennd a strong sense of the direct and practical, and who go into their work under proper restrictions and guidance, become a strong and permanent force for social betterment a Jane Addams or a Katherlno jH J3ement Davis. fH But too often, unfortunately, this saving common. jH sense and wholesome guidance are lacking, the broader jJ view is lost, and, as In the case of tho teachera oi Chinamen, the interests become wholly individual and personal. The woman unwittingly places herself in a compromising position from which there is no escape ll except through open acknowledgment of her shame or through a mysterious and sudden disappearance. |