Until very recently, the Reformatory has had no field worker. Our knowledge of the families of our girls has been obtained as stated in the first section. Accordingly, much that would have a bearing on the conditions which have made our girls what they are, is unknown to us. But we do know that out of the 647 cases studied, in 130 different families there were known degenerate strains. This is shown in the following table:

HEREDITY; KNOWN DEGENERATE STRAINS

Total Percent
1. Alcoholism in family 35
2. Criminality in family 5
3. Epilepsy in family 7
4. Feeble-minded (very marked) parents 2
5. General ill health of parents 9
6. Insanity 16
7. Parents sex offenders 21
8. Syphilitic parents 10
9. Tubercular 25 130 20.09

It is probable on the face of it that syphilis, tuberculosis and alcoholism are likely to be much more generally present than is shown by our figures.

Before we are prepared to say just how many of these factors affecting home life are directly responsible for a girl’s entering a life of prostitution, we should be able to say that these factors were or were not present to the same extent in affecting the lives of a group of girls of about the same age, education, industrial efficiency and social status who have not “gone wrong.” Would there be as many orphans, as many motherless girls, as many or more working mothers in any such group taken at random? Until we can make such a study, it is not fair to consider the facts given in these sections on the family as anything more than a picture of the conditions from which our girls come.

Education and Occupation:—A girl’s education and occupation are very closely connected. We have data with reference to education so far as the Bedford cases go, based on the actual examination of the girls. [Table VIII] has something to say for compulsory education in New York City, especially when taken in connection with the data from other institutions and from the street cases. The table shows that 50 individuals, or 7.72 percent cannot read or write any language. Of these, 15 are American-born. Thirty-two can read and write a foreign language; 45.3 percent have never finished the primary grades, while an additional 39.72 percent never finished the grammar grades. Of the whole number, only 7.24 percent finished the grammar grades. Thirteen individuals had entered but not finished high school; only four individuals had graduated from high school; three had had one year at a normal school and one out of 647 cases had entered college. The institution cases other than Bedford make a slightly better showing, but here, in a large percentage of cases, we have nothing to go on but the girl’s own statement. According to this, only 12 percent finished grammar grades and, according to their own admission, 11.4 percent of the street prostitutes cannot read or write in any language and only 4 percent had finished the grammar grades. (See Tables.)

So far as the Bedford cases go, the industrial efficiency of the women is about on a par with their education. [Table X] shows the occupation of these girls before entering a life of prostitution. It will be noted that 243 or the largest group are general houseworkers, forming 37.5 percent of the total number.

Almost all the studies of prostitution heretofore made have noted the high percentage of women who were engaged in domestic service previous to entering the life. So far as my observation goes, I do not believe that this indicates any greater danger from domestic service itself as an occupation than from any other in which unskilled girls engage. Domestic service for women under existing economic conditions corresponds to casual labor for men. It is the job where training and experience are unnecessary in order to find work. Such services would not be desired by families where efficiency is demanded and paid for. A very large proportion of our girls were not competent workers but were girls employed in the lowest stratum of families that employ domestic help at all and where standards of service do not exist. This group includes almost all the colored girls and a considerable number of the foreign-born white girls. The factory operatives form the next largest group; clerks in department stores come third. Ninety-two individuals, or 14 percent, had never engaged in any occupation previous to having entered a life of prostitution. These were either girls whose parents were fairly comfortably off and who preferred to have their daughters at home pending matrimony, or girls who married almost immediately upon leaving school and kept house until matrimony became too much for them. A large proportion of all our young women were not fit to fill any more responsible positions than those they held.

Comparing the occupations of the institution cases other than Bedford with those shown in the Bedford table, we find that the factory operatives form the largest group or 32.46 percent, domestic service and department stores coming second and third. (See [Table XXX].) The table of occupations of street cases makes quite a different showing, which may or may not be due to the desire of the girls to put the best foot foremost in giving their histories to the investigator. Here the department store clerks form the largest group. Nearly half of the histories, however, say that the girls have never had any occupation previous to entering the life and in 101 cases, no statistics were given. (See [Table XLVI]). So far as education goes, however, this group is no better equipped for filling more remunerative positions than are the girls in the institutions. Their racial distribution is about the same. There is not much reason to believe that they were greatly different from the institution cases in industrial efficiency.

For comparison with the occupational groups of women wage earners in New York City in the population at large, the latest statistics available are those of the United States Census of 1900. This gives the total number of wage-earning women as 329,489. The groups which run into five figures are as follows: