Commercialized Prostitution in New York City - George J. Kneeland

The Salvation Army maintains rescue and industrial homes in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as it does in all the chief cities of the land. The home in Manhattan cares for 50 women and is always full. Some midnight rescue work is done; but the girls actually taken from the streets are few. This work, which formerly depended largely upon religious results in meetings, now accomplishes more by personal influence of workers. The girls are of all nationalities, their average age, 25. So far as possible, the different classes are separated in the home. Of 115 inmates in one year 60 were betrayal cases, 19 were cases of prostitution, and 27 girls were under serious temptation. Capable girls are trained and sent out to service. The leaders state that perhaps 80 percent are reformed. The Army also maintains a home at Tappan on the Hudson for young girls about to become mothers. This work was formerly the Door of Hope and is still in charge of Mrs. Whittemore. The Army also does a preventive work for young girls on its farm in Spring Valley.

The two homes that probably touch the problem of the prostitute and commercialized traffic in women more closely than any others are Waverly House and the Florence Crittenton Home. The leaders in these homes are in close relation to the magistrate’s courts and both take care of witnesses in white slave cases pending in the Federal Court.

Waverly House is under the management of the New York Probation Association. It accommodates 18 girls, who come through the courts, as above mentioned, and through philanthropic and religious organizations. Two hundred and nine were cared for in the house in 1912. They remained from one day to three months, for Waverly House is a temporary home and not a reformatory. Most of the girls are young, the largest group between sixteen and eighteen. With the exception of the court witnesses, girls are placed in such permanent institutions or positions as will meet their needs. Personal attention and careful study are most prominent in this house. Classes in the useful arts, English, and music are provided. One night each week is “play night,” and entertainments of all kinds are provided. The higher spiritual truths are brought to the girls through a Sunshine Circle. Through the Employment Bureau the girls of the house, as well as many who have been arrested, those in moral danger, and many difficult and incorrigible girls, find situations.

The Florence Crittenton Mission in this city is one of many homes of the same name situated in the larger cities of this country. It formerly engaged in a rescue mission work for both men and women. Its work is now limited to the care of erring women. The home contains 16 rooms, each occupied by two or more persons. The girls are probationers, girls released on suspended sentences, witnesses in white slave cases, and women discharged by the courts; a few come from cafés and from the streets. During an entire year, 501 girls passed through the home, some staying but a few hours, others remaining for the year. They range in age from fourteen to twenty-five years. A night school is maintained, as well as classes in physical culture and the useful arts. A Helping Hand Class makes scrap books and small articles for sick children. The pleasure side of life is met by entertainments, and religious services are regularly held. The disposition of the 501 girls above mentioned was as follows:

Situations		183
Sent home		185
Deported		17
In care of organizations		58
Committed to institutions		19
Left against wishes		17
In Home		22
		501

The work is financed and managed by the National Florence Crittenton Mission.

Though not placed strictly under the reformative heading, certain fundamental phases of the work of the Probation Association and the Church Mission of Help may here be presented. As stated above, the sphere of these societies is largely that of clearing houses. They study carefully the girls who come to them and make of them the disposition best suited to their needs. The time of study allows opportunities for personal helpfulness and it is well improved.

The Church Mission of Help began its work by a prolonged study of 229 cases of wayward girls who were more or less connected with the Episcopal Church. Parental and good home conditions were sadly lacking in most cases. On the basis of this study the society began its work of information to the church and of helpfulness to the girls. During the year 1912 it was in touch with 352 girls, of whom 148 were under its direct care, 58 were cared for on leaving institutions, and 103 were in institutions. Two hundred and six of these girls were connected with the Episcopal Church. Twelve other religious bodies were represented, while a small number of the girls had no religious affiliations. All cases are referred, where possible, to the churches with which they are or were connected. The work of this society is largely personal. Besides locating girls in homes and institutions, employment is found for those fitted for it. Some court work is done. In addition to paid workers, an increasing number of trained volunteers are being used. Besides the care of the church girl and the work of education and prevention done by this society, its service of visitation in institutions is most valuable. The visits of sympathetic women to girls in institutions pave the way for a useful service in their social reinstatement later.

The wider work of the New York Probation Association, which deserves mention here, is in the form of a careful study of all the cases with which it has to do. A thorough physical examination is given each girl by a physician. A mental examination follows and cases are placed under the direct supervision of a skilled neurologist and psychologist. Careful records of all facts are kept. The discovery of physical and mental weakness, often after prolonged study, leads to a definite course of action. Such scientific results are not only valuable in the practical treatment of the individual girl, but furnish a basis on which the courts act, and are of wide usefulness to the student of the conditions which lead to moral delinquency.