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Show STUDIES BIG PROBLEM BUREAU OF SOCIAL HYGIEiV 18 EXPLAINED. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Tails of It Origin, Work and Pians for the Investigation 01 Vice Condition. he York, Jan. 27. In order that the public uUlit better understand (lie Hureau of K-iclal Hygiene, John D. Ilockefeller, Jr., today ;ave out a statement cxplalulng the origin, work and plans of tbut InHtitutlon. Th bureau, ho said. ame Into existence about two years mo as a result of the work of a special grand Jury u;v llntd to Investigate the white" slave traffic In Saw York City. This Jury rerun. !ti nd' d that a public comls slon bo aiiolnted to study the social evil. Mr. Rockefeller was foreman of that grand jurv ttI11j fae thereafter save the subject deep thought and conferred with a large number of leading lead-ing men and woniun. "These conferences," confer-ences," says Mr. Rockefeller, "dovel oped the Xeellna; that a public commission commis-sion would labor under a aumbor of disadvantages, Uch as tho fart that It would be short lived; that Us work would U done pubtlcly; that at best It could hardly do more than present pre-sent recommendations. So the conviction con-viction grew that In order to make a real and lasting Improvement In conditions, con-ditions, a permanent organization should be created, the continuation ot which would not be dependent upon a temporary wave of reform, nor upon the life of any man or group of men, but which would go on, generation alter generation, continuously making warfare against the forcus of evil. It iIho appeared that a private organization organiza-tion would bate, among other advantages, advan-tages, a certain freedom from publicity public-ity and from political bias, which a publicly appointed commission could not so easily avoid. Therefore, as the Initial step, la the winter of 1911 the Ilurcau of Social So-cial Hygiene was formed. Its pres-nt pres-nt members are Miss Katharine Dement Dem-ent Davis, superintendent of the New York state Koformatory for Women it Iledford Hills, N. Y.; Paul M. Warburg, War-burg, of the firm of Kuhn. Loeb & Co.; Starr J. Murphy, of the New York bar, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. As the work develops new members may be added. "One or the first things undertaken by the bureau was the establishment at Iledford 11. lis, adjacent to the reformatory, re-formatory, of a laboratory of social byviene, umr Miss Davis' direction. In this laboratory It is proposed to study from the physical, montal, social and moral side each person committed to the reformatory. This study will be carried on by experts and each case will be kept under observation for from three weeks to three months, as may be required. When the diagnosis diag-nosis Is completed. It Is hoped that the laboratory will be In position to recommend rec-ommend the treatment most likely to reform the individual, or. If reformation reforma-tion Is Impossible, to recommend permanent per-manent custodial care. Furthermore, reaching out beyond the Ind'viduala Involved, It Is believed that thus liu-porlant liu-porlant contributions may be man to a fuller knowledge of the conditions ultimately responsible for vice. If this experiment Is successful the prln- t r!pl may prove applicable to all j classes of crlm'nais and the conditions 1 precedent to crime, and l'ei to lines nf action not only mure arirnUflc ana humane but also !. wasteful than those at present followed." That Its work ml ,;ht be done Icteltl- ; gently the bureau employed George J. i Kneeland to mane a comprehensive j mrvey of vice conditions In New York, and Abraham Kleiner to study the social evil In Europe, and thair reports are now being prepared. These itudles will be followed by others In . rarious American cities, and It Is the i hope of the bureau that, based upon ill of them, may be devised a prao- j Ileal plan for dealing with the social ! In conclusion vMr. Rockefeller's j itatement says: "It cannot be too ( itronsr'y emphasized that the spirit ( shlch dominates the work of th b-reaa b-reaa Is not sensational or sentlmeu-al sentlmeu-al or hysterical; that It Is nu a spirit )f criticism of public offlcals; but hat It Is essentially a spirit of ron-itructlve ron-itructlve suggfxtion and of deep set-ntlfic set-ntlfic as well as humane Interest In i great world problem." |
