The first literature on sex hygiene to be published in this country in Yiddish has been issued by the American Society for Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 105 West 40th Street. Through the generosity of a Hebrew philanthropic organization in New York city the society has been able to publish a Yiddish edition of its pamphlet on Health and the Hygiene of Sex. This new booklet will be distributed through such organizations as the Educational Alliance, the Hebrew Young Men’s Association, the Hebrew Educational League and the Hebrew Sheltering Arms. An edition of 5,000 was printed, but in less than a week it was exhausted. Large orders have been received for subsequent issues. As yet only local Hebrew charities have been given this pamphlet for distribution.
The same pamphlet in English is being distributed to boys in preparatory schools and colleges and through Y. M. C. A.’s and boys’ clubs all over the country at the rate of a thousand topics a month.
The society hopes during the coming year to publish Italian and other translations of its pamphlet and to issue new pamphlets for special distribution among settlements and organizations dealing with uneducated groups of boys and girls.
PREVENTION IN THE COUNTY
The spread of preventive measures from city and town to outlying county and rural districts seems to be gaining headway. In Minnesota a county conference of charities and correction was recently started and at Cumberland, Md., a strong plea was made last month for a county-wide charity organization society. Speaking before the Maryland Conference of Charities and Correction, Margaret F. Byington, associate field secretary, Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation, told of the effective work that had been done by county organizations in New York and New Jersey. She was met with the response that the association of Cumberland would probably employ an additional paid secretary in the near future to work entirely outside the city.
The last legislature authorized the establishment of a juvenile court for Allegheny County, of which Cumberland is the county seat. One of the discussions of the conference dealt with the difficulties surrounding the work of such a court with a jurisdiction extending over some fifty or sixty miles of territory.
As a result of the conference it is probable that a state-wide housing law will be presented to the next legislature, that all acute cases of insanity will be transferred from the local almshouses to the state hospitals and that a branch of the Maryland Children’s Aid Society will be established in Cumberland.
COMMUNITY MACHINERY IN THE SOUTH
Three distinct social agencies have been recently developed in Birmingham, Ala., from one association, the Boys’ Club and Children’s Aid Society. They are the Juvenile Court with its probation system, the Children’s Aid Society and the Boys’ Club proper. The story of these changes is expressive of the development of social organization in the southern cities.
The parent society has for several years been one of Birmingham’s most vigorous efforts toward the betterment of the conditions affecting child life. In 1903 the Boys’ Club had just one room at the City Hall. By 1909 a New Year’s dinner and a summer camp had become regular features. Next a special reading room and shower baths were added. Children’s aid work was then undertaken more systematically. Two men and one woman devoted themselves to the interests of dependent and neglected children. Probation work was also introduced, and the club has twice moved to larger quarters.