The day book., March 08, 1913, NOON EDITION, Image 5

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

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

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WANT IS JHE REAL SEDUCER OF OUR GIRLS,
SAYS JANE ADDAMS OF HULL HOUSE,
. Having read the testimony of Julius Rosenwald and department
stores, in which they takVthe. pqsition that low wages have no rela
tion to white slavery, The Day Book here presents" the testimony
of Jane Addams, of Hull House, who needs no introduction to' our
readers: - - . .. , .
, By JaneAddams. - v '
s"Is it because our modern industrialism js so new that we hav.e
been slow to connect it with the poverty and vice all about us?"
The. aphorism that "morals fluctuate' vith trade" was long con-
sidered cynical, but it has(been demonstrated in Berlin, in London,
in Japan, as well as in several American cities that there is a distinct
increase in the number of registered prostitutes during periods of
ftnancial depression and. even dur
ing the,. dull season of leading
local industries.-''' .
"Out of workj hadn't been able
to save," 'Could not make enough
money tat'live on," "I- got sick and
Tan behind, are the' explanations
given by rescued .girls at Hull
House; '
One.girl said that she had first
yielded to temptation when she
had become utterly discouraged,
because she had tried in vain for
seven months to save enough
money for a pair of shoes. She
'habitually spent two dollars a
week for her room, three dollars
for her board, and sixty cents a
week for carfare, and she iound
the forty cents remaining from
her weekly .wage of six dollars in
adequate'to do more. than re-sole
her old shoes twice.
When the shoes "became wtoo
worn to endure a third soling and
she possessed but ninety, cents to
ward a new pair, .she gave up her
struggIefto use her own- con-
temptuous phrase, she "sold out
for a pair of shoesl" '
Of coursea girl in such a strait
does not go out deliberately to
find 'illicit niethods of earning t
money-4-she simply1 yields in a
moment of utter weariness, and
discouragement to the tempta
tions she has been able, to with
stand up to that moment.
The long hours, the lack of
comforts, . the low pay, the ab
sence of recreation, the sense of
"good times" all about her which
she cannot share, the" conviction
that she is rapidly losing health
and chdrm, rouse v the5 molten
forces within her. A swelling
tide' of self-pity suddenly storms
the banks which have hitherto
held her and finally' overcomes
her instincts, of dece'ncy and
righteousness, as well as the habit
of cleap-living, established by
generations- of" her forebears.".
It is perhaps in the department
store more than' anywhere, else