The day book. [volume], November 03, 1911, Image 2

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
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wprn-out body, is a mighty unsafe, receptacle for a .healthy souJ.
But- many of us the great majodity of us don't seem to
know that to long hours of labor may be -traced much of the vice of
our city life. . r
In our judgment one of the most significant and valuable rer
sults of the investigations of the Chicago Vice Commission, is that '
the eminent men and women on that Commission learned there are
limitations of physical as well as moral strength, and that there is
an intimate relation- between these two strngths. -
In the early days of Labor's struggle .for the eight-hour day,
doubtless there were some who thought no deeper than to think
that the ignorant working man- merely wanted more time to loaf
and more time to drink.
Eew of them even imagined that overwork and almost hope
less conditions were in some measure responsible for overdrink. ,.
And still fewer, probably, saw any. connection between long
hours and morals.
On' this topic the vice report gives information that should -be
read and thoughtfully considered not only by all union workers,
but by ALL workers by everybody who has any love for huraanr
ity and any interest in the future manhood and womanhood of
the world. . ., t .
Under the head of "Department Stores" the report of the Vice
Commission says: -
"As an introduction to the study of Department Stores it may
be well to call "particular attention to the fact that the present econ
omic and insanitary conditions under which girls employed in fac
tories and department 'stores live and. work, Has an effect on the
nervous forces of the girl in such a way as to render her much more
susceptible to prostitution.
"This is true as a, basis. The whole tendency of modern life,
.which places a greater strain on the nervous 'system of Toth men
and women of all classes than has even been placed at any time in
the history of the civilized world, cannot but help, to a great ex
tent, develop considerable eroticism. It is a soutjd medical fact
that practically the same condition in regard to stimulation of nerve
cells exists at the point of extreme exhaustion, where a person has
a feeling of strength which is unnatural, and that point is usually
reached after exceedingly hard and exacting labor, or fit the point
where high feeling, improper exercise., and considerable amount of
alcohol can bring the nerves to a point of stimulation.
"That is the explanation of the fact that pedple try to disprove
tfie economic explanation of prostitution from the fact that there
are people of all classes of society addicted to inimorality.
"It is unfortunate that it has not been possible to undertake a