wc Social Hygiene and the War Woman's Part in the Campaign BY KATHARINE BEMENT DAMS The American Social Hygiene Association 105 West Fortieth Street New York City 191S Publication No. !."><) i12 ;V(«V 'i E / Reprinted from Social Hygiene, October, 1918, Vol. IV, No. 4 ■r: right. 1918, The American Social Hygiene Association, /05 West 40th. St., Xew York, A. »'. SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR II WOMAN'S PART IN SOCIAL HYGIENE KATHARINE BEMENT DAVLS Director, Section on Women's Work, Social Hygiene Division War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities INTRODUCTION Beginning with the Pilgrim Mothers, in every crisis which our country has had to face, the women have stood shoulder to shoulder with the men. In the days of the first settlers, the women were not afraid of the perils of an unknown country, savage Indians, cold, hunger and fatigue, when the call came to help their men in opening up a new world. They struggled and endured for the same ideals of freedom and opportunity which animated their fathers, husbands, and brothers. Through all our early wars with the Indians and enemies from across the sea, noble examples of heroic service stand out. But it was the steadfastness of the rank and file of the women behind the men that in each instance made victory possible. In the Civil War, the women of the country for the first time on a large scale engaged in war activities, as army nurses and as ministers to the comfort of the sick and wounded in hundreds of different ways. In the perfecting of organizations for the financial support of war activities, they had their initiation at that time. It is impossible to think of any kind of grave crisis coming to our country in which our women would not bravely play their part. It is unnecessary to say how in this great struggle the womanhood of America is not only willing, but most anxious, to serve. Women in overwhelming numbeis are pressing forward to crave the privilege of overseas service. You cannot pick up 3 4 SOCIAL HYGIENE one of the great dailies without reading an account of the bravery and unselfish devotion of women at different points on the battle front. They are no more afraid than are their brothers of long range guns, air raids or heart-rending sights in the hospitals and at the railway stations near the front in France. It is therefore not to be expected that women will shrink from facing calmly any internal situation which has to do with the wellbeing of the country. There is no reason to fear that women cannot bear to know the truth concerning one of the greatest problems which confronts our nation at this time: That is, the peril—physical, mental, moral—in the prevalence of diseases which unfit men and women for happiness and success in any walk of life, which disqualify thousands of young men for active military duty—temporarily or permanently—which interfere with industrial efficiency, and which bring unhappiness and misery to countless homes. Indeed, it is the belief of many of us that conditions never could have reached their present state if discussion on certain questions had not been taboo and if it had not been held for so many generations—for centuries even— that women should not know the real truth in regard to sexual relationships and the perils of sexual irregularities. Up to the entry of the United States into the great struggle, there had been no opportunity for anyone—man or woman—to measure accu- rately the extent of venereal disease in the country at large. For the most part, physicians had not been required to report vene- real diseases as they report other contagious diseases. Patients suffering from these diseases in the contagious stages had not been quarantined or isolated. No unselected group had been examined in order to get the accurate statistical results of the prevalence of the disease. Women and some men in certain penal institutions had been examined. Percentages for the prev- alence of the disease in the Army and in the Navy were avail- able but it required the examination of a vast number of young men, forming a cross-section of the entire community to con- vince us that we had in this country diseases running riot— more prevalent than any other contagious disease except the measles, more dangerous in their results than any other disease— SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 0 IMPROPER DRESS MAY DO HARM BY AROUSING EMOTIONS HARD TO CONTROL. Such a dress is both inappropriate and improper at a party for Soldiers This party gown is modest, pretty/simple and inexpensive. It has been adopted by the Junior League in New Yor^ City One of the Wall Posters 6 SOCIAL HYGIENE one, a disease which can be passed on to our children—both, diseases which may be innocently communicated, but whicli for the most part are the result of irregular sexual relationships. In an article in a preceding issue of this magazine,1 Captain Walter Clarke has told of the action of the Government m estab- lishing educational and medical work to root out these diseases among our soldiers and sailors. The results, however, of a study carried over a period of weeks and months, convinced the author- ities that the greatest menace to the Army was the prevalence of disease in the civilian community. It was definitely proven that with each new influx of drafted men, the curve indicating the prevalence of the disease rose and that an investigation into the circumstances of exposure showed positively that by far the greater part of the infections were incurred within the civilian community. It became perfectly evident that effective measures, either educational or medical, must be begun before the men reached camp. Hence the organization of work with civilians. This began under the direction of the Committee for Civilian Cooperation in Combating Venereal Diseases of the General Medical Board of the Council of National Defense. The work undertaken by this Committee is discussed elsewhere in this issue by Air. William H. Zinsser. For the first months the educational efforts of the Government were directed, as was natural, toward the education and treat- ment of the young men, first, who were eligible for the Army; and, second, whose industrial efficiency, quite as much as the fighting ability of the soldier, depended upon their physical con- dition. It was not until the early part of the current year that a specific campaign with women became practicable and plans were made to educate them throughout the country in a knowl- edge of what the Government's social hygiene program really involved. There can be no question as to the importance of this campaign. Venereal diseases are transmitted for the most part through actual sexual intercourse in which woman is one of the partners. A class of women from time immemorial has been set 'Social Hygiene, April, 1918. SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR ( aside by society and called prostitutes because they have sold themselves to gratify a natural appetite of men. They have always been looked down upon and in most civilizations have been outcasts. Good women as a rule have shut their eyes to their very existence. If they have thought about it at all they have regarded prostitutes as a necessary evil, in some instances even believing that the existence of this class of women was nec- essary for their own protection. They have tacitly accepted the social ethics of our time—that for men certain indiscretions were permissible which for good women were wholly unallowable. Whatever we may believe as to the spread in our modern society of lax relationships, in which women of other than the prostitute class indulge, the generally accepted code has been that of the "pure" woman. Any woman who departed from the strict line of conduct laid down by this social code did so at her own risk. Back of the merely physical consideration is the whole social and moral question. Dr. H. G. Irvine, the recently appointed head of the Division of Venereal Diseases of the Minnesota State Board of Health, says very pertinently:— Just why almost every physician who takes up the discussion of the problem should preface his remarks with the statement that we should be concerned with it only as a medical problem and not with morals, is not quite plain to me. Surely all of us must recognize that at the bot- tom it is much more of a moral question than anything else. If we could at once do away with sex immorality the days of venereal dis- eases would be numbered. And again:— We know that an attack only from the medical side must fail, just as it has always failed in attempted regulation of prostitution. We cannot do away with venereal diseases until we prevent exposures. We must preach continence, using the disease as an argument if you will. Let us do everything that medical science says is good, but let us not hesitate as physicians and as a profession to declare ourselves on the moral issues as well.2 As a matter of fact, the women of the country have got to know,—first, the extent to which venereal diseases have spread 2 See "An Efficient State Program against Venereal Diseases," H. G. Irvine, M.D.; p. 453 of this publication. 8 SOCIAL HYGIENE as a result of the ignorance of the community at large; second, the physical dangers to which men, women, and children are exposed as a consequence of these diseases; third, something of the steps, legal and medical, which must be taken to remedy these conditions; and, fourth, they must be roused to a realization of the necessity for higher moral ideals in the enforcement of a single standard as to social relationships. The desirability of this standard is sanctioned by every religion of the western world,—Christian and Jewish, Catholic and Prot- estant alike. There is no question of religious sanction for self-control and chastity. It is equally true that our social expe- riences have convinced us that the monogamous family is the safe basis for our modern civilization and that any line of social action which tends to destroy this is dangerous in the extreme. The women of the country must cooperate with the men of the country in making common cause against diseases and against the standards which make the spread of these diseases possible. ORGANIZATION At the time the officials in Washington reached the conclusion that a definite effort must be made to place these matters before women, it was decided, for administrative reasons, that the civ- ilian work for both men and women could best be carried on under one general supervision. The educational work for the Army and Navy had been placed under the general direction of the Commission on Training Camp Activities. Accordingly, in March of this year, a Social Hygiene Division was created within the Commission. Lieutenant-Colonel Will- iam F. Snow was made Director of the Division, which is divided into five sections, with Captain Walter Clarke, assistant director for supervision of Army and Navy work and special plans, the Army Work under Captain Royce R. Long, and Navy Work under Assistant Surgeon H. E.Kleinschmidt, the work for Civilian men being brought over from the General Medical Board and entitled Section on Men's Work, under Mr. William H. Zinsser, a new Section on Women's Work under Dr. Katharine SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 9 B. Davis, and a section on Motion Pictures, under Lieutenant Edward H. Griffith. As no Federal appropriation for the support of work with women had been made for the year then drawing to a close, it was necessary to secure the cooperation of private organizations. The main offices for the sections on civilian work were located, through the courtesy of the American Social Hygiene Associa- tion, at 105 West Fortieth Street, New York, with a represen- tative at the Washington office of the Commission on Training Camp Activities. Since 1913, the Social Morality Committee of the Young Women's Christian Association had been engaged in social hygi- ene work with young women in this country. They had had before the war a staff of four lecturers, women physicians, who had for the most part been used in schools, particularly in schools in which young women were trained for the teaching profession. The comparatively small budget of this Committee had been made to cover as large a field as possible by the financial cooper- ation of the educational institutions in which the lectures were given. With the outbreak of the war and the organization of the War Work Council of the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association, it was recognized that the presence in small communities of great numbers of soldiers, due to the locat- ing of great training camps near small towns, would give rise to abnormal conditions. The "lure of the uniform" is everywhere recognized. Young girls, thrilled with patriotism, sometimes fail to realize that the uniform covers all the kinds of men there are in the world; men of high ideals, chivalrous instincts, who naturally treat every girl as they want every man to treat their mothers and sisters; young men who do not think much of their ideals, but who are naturally kindly and who would feel that they were doing an unmanly thing to take advantage of the weakness of any girl; men with lower ideals, who feel that girls should take care of themselves or that they are fair game; or, in the worst instances, men who feel that their own physical appe- tites must be gratified, no matter who suffers. And so, many 10 SOCIAL HYGIENE (W. S. Na 13) These slips miy be taught already cut for enclosure in pay envelopes. Please order by number. Some men and women think they can't be healthy without Sexual Intercourse This is nothing but a lie. SY PillJLlIS U a blood disease and is one of the causes of in- sanity, paralysis, heart disease. softening of the brain, locomotor ataxia. imbecility and defects in children. Children born with SYPHILIS are often crippled for life. G-ON'OR'R'H'E'A IS A THOUSAND TIMES WORSE THAN A BAD COLD —IF NOT TREATED EARLY IN THE RIGHT WAY MAY BECOME INCURABLE. INFECTION of syphilis X or gonorrhea may be carried to another person by a moist discharge on towel, handkerchief, cup or toilet seat. Is it fair to risk another person's health? Make sure of your own. It is practically impossible for a prostitute to escape syphilis or gonorrhea, and these dis- eases are often caught in one act of sexual intercourse. CYPHILIS may be caught **** if you let a man with a syphil- itic sore on his lips kiss you. It often takes years to cure an ordinary case of syphilis — a bad case is often incurable. N1 EVER GO to doctors who advertise "quick cures " or " sure cures " All that these quacks want is your money GONORRHEA causes chronic sickness and loss of strength, diseases of vital or' gans, dangerous operations on women, blindness of babies. mwmmwummwwMmmmmmmmMwmmmmniimmM, ANY EMPLOYEE wishing to know more about venereal diseases' can get free advice from the plant nurse, matron, or doctor. Application for advice will be kept strictly confidential and will not count against promotion. Slips for Enclosing ix Weekly Pay Envelopes SOCIAL HYGIENE AXD THE WAR 11 girls, through ignorance, through emotion, take steps which will lead to bitter regret. Then there is the other girl who has already crossed the line and becomes herself a temptress. She is dangerous, not only to the young men. whom she allures, but, earning money easily, dressing more showily, furnishes a dangerous example to girls of weak will and unsatisfied desires. The War Work Council, therefore, in making its first budget, set aside a generous amount to expand its educational work along the lines of social morality. It greatly increased its staff of lec- turers, prepared additional literature, and got ready to take an active part in this necessary field. The War Work Council gave, between September 15, 1917 and March 18, 1918, six hundred and seventy-five lectures in seventy towns distributed over twenty-two states. These talks were given by sixteen lecturers. The committee in charge of social morality work, of which Mrs. Robert E. Speer is Chairman, recognized that much more could be accomplished by the government in this field than by a group of private citizens or any volunteer organization. Accordingly, with the establishment of the Section on Women's Work, this committee offered all of its resources to the government, to be used as might seem wise. In view of their organization and experience, their Lecture Bureau, of which Dr. Anna L. Brown is Chairman, was accepted as the official Lecture Bureau of the Section on Women's Work. The field for work of this Section is coextensive with the wom- anhood of the United States. In order to reach anything like an appreciable number, the Section realizes that it must have the cooperation of all existing agencies in this field. So far as has been ascertained, there are social hygiene organizations, under various names, in but sixteen states. Most of these organizations have expressed a desire to cooperate with this Section. Not all of them, however, have had experience in working with women and girls. Many of them have stressed work with men and boys or have interested themselves in questions of law enforcement or law reform. Several of the organizations, however, were before the war doing an appreciable amount of work for women and girls 12 SOCIAL HYGIENE in their respective states, and since the war have felt the necessity of increasing their activities. Such an organization is that of the Connecticut Society of Social Hygiene, of which Dr. Valeria H. Parker is the Field Secretary. This organization gave one hun- dred and fifty-seven lectures in 1917, and has responded to all the requests of the Section for lectures within the state of Con- necticut. The Massachusetts Society is very active. It reports two hundred and fifty-five lectures for 1917, is increasing its efforts from month to month, and is preparing literature suitable for girls and women. Dr. L. V. Ingraham, its Acting Secretary, for example, gave sixteen lectures at the Harvard Summer School; thirteen of these were to both men and women and three to women alone. The work of the Oregon Social Hygiene Society has always stood out among that of other state organizations. Their former secretary is now the head of the educational section of the Division of Venereal Diseases of the United States Public Health Service. Their organizer has been accredited as the rep- resentative of the Women's Section in organizing lecture work among the women in industry, particulary in Portland, Oregon, and its vicinity. The Texas organization is active in trying to stimulate communities to form branches of its organization, to interest citizens in local conditions looking toward clean com- munities. The Wisconsin Society has recently had a conference to develop speakers and is planning specific work with women throughout the state. In Illinois, the Women's Committee of the State Council of National Defense has formed a Social Hygiene Department, of which Dr. Rachelle S. Yarros is the Chairman. Dr. Yarros has been an active worker in this field for many years and has lectured extensively on this subject. This committee has been made an accredited agent for the State of Illinois and is working in close cooperation. Monthly reports are made of its activities. During the summer it has carried on a very active campaign of organization in Chicago and throughout the state. Lecture courses have been arranged in a great number of factories and industrial establishments. County organizations are being formed to stimulate the work in the counties of the state. One of the latest undertakings has been an exhibit in public comfort SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 13 stations, especially designed to call women's attention to the dan- gers of venereal disease and the steps which should be taken if infection is suspected. In Minnesota the newly established Division of Venereal Dis- eases of the State Board of Health has created an educational section in charge of Dr. Mabel S. Ulrich, who, incidentally, was the first lecturer engaged by the Social Morality Committee of the Young Women's Christian Association. Dr. Ulrich's bureau, with the cooperation of Dr. Irvine, is recognized as officially cooperating with the Section. Dr. Ulrich has been organizing and training a staff of speakers. She has succeeded in arranging for lectures in most of the summer schools of the state of Minne- sota, and has placed exhibits and other material at the state and county fairs. All requests for work in this state are referred to her bureau. The Massachusetts Health Committee, organized during the summer, in cooperation with the Massachusetts State Board of Health, is working out a system for getting the industrial pro- gram of both the sections on Men's and Women's Work before the large industrial establishments of the state. Cooperation has been established with the newly created Bu- reau of Venereal Diseases of the State of New York, under Dr. Joseph S. Lawrence. As rapidly as the states organize sections on education under their venereal disease bureaus it will be the policy of the Section on Women's Work to act in close cooperation. There is too much to be done to permit overlapping or duplicating of effort. ADVISORY COMMITTEE An Advisory Committee has been formed to assist the section in planning methods of getting the propaganda over to the great- est possible number of women in the country. The committee consists of: Miss Hannah J. Patterson, Resident Director of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense; Mrs. Elmer Blair, Chairman, Public Health Department of the Gen- eral Federation of Women's Clubs; Dr. Anna L. Brown, Chair- 14 SOCIAL HYGIENE Our ^irls as well as our soldiers receive instructions in standards of conduct for war time. One of the Wall Posters SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 15 man, Social Morality Committee of the War Work Council of the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association; Mrs. Gertrude S. Martin, Secretary, Association of Collegiate Alumnse; Mrs. Alexander Kohut, Vice-President, National Coun- cil of Jewish Women, and Mrs. Raymond Robins, President, Na- tional Women's Trade Union League. Representatives of the National Education Association and of the Catholic War Work Council are to be added. METHODS OF WORK As in the other sections of the Social Hygiene Division, the work of the Women's Section is carried on through lectures, liter- ature, exhibits, and a motion picture film which will be in readi- ness for use by the time this article is in print. Lectures One of the most successful methods of presenting the Govern- ment's social hygiene program, together with information con- cerning social standards, venereal disease, and all other matters connected with this subject which should be known by the women and girls of the country, is through the medium of lectures. It has been found by experiment that, as a rule, women physicians are most successful as lecturers. Not every physician qualified on the scientific side can, however, become a successful lecturer. This requires personality and the ability to reach a group of women through the spoken word. There is still great hesitancy on the part of some mothers, teachers, and club women to listen to a discussion of these subjects. We find them more easily per- suaded if the speaker is a woman physician. Moreover, a woman physician is prepared to answer many queries which are likely to arise in discussion more satisfactorily than can a person without medical training. Since the Lecture Bureau has been organized as a part of the Section on Women's Work, the staff has been increased until there are at least one hundred women physicans, located throughout the country, who can be called upon. Of these some are giving their entire time to the work. Others 16 SOCIAL HYGIENE are able to leave home for a trip of a week's duration. Still others can lecture only in their immediate localities. There is no cut-and-dried lecture given on all occasions, the method of presentation being left largely to the individual speaker. The subject-matter of the lectures, however, covers the following topics:— 1. The government's program for men in training, sketching briefly plans for education and for the medical control of disease. 2. The statement of the fact that large numbers of leading physi- cians are endorsing the government's position in declaring that conti- nence is compatible with health and the only absolute safeguard against venereal disease is self-control and avoidance of all opportunity for infection. 3. The government's legislative program in securing the coopera- tion of the states in establishing bureaus of venereal disease, with emphasis not only on the physical control of disease, but also on educa- tion. 4. The psychology and problems of adolescence for both boys and girls—these problems to be discussed with mothers and teachers. 5. A discussion of the facts involved in sex and sex relationships: (a) its physical aspects; (b) its social relationships; (c) its spiritual significance. 6. Marriage in its personal and social relationships. 7. The importance of the single standard of morals, considered from physical, social, and patriotic points of view. 8. The imperative need for women to understand all the questions involved and to help assume responsibility for conditions in their own communities in relation (a) to the present, with the need of a clean social life for men isolated in camps during the period of training; and (b) to conditions to follow after the war. 9. The appeal to young women for a directly patriotic attitude towards soldiers and sailors, as involved in dress, conduct, and personal influence. The number of points in the above outline touched upon and the selection of the specific points to be dealt with depends on the group to which the lectures are being given and the number of SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 17 loVoungN NV*« VfC>0" ,-s Cfl*151** The GirVs Part 1 c,f/*"> IMbli-lwd by Pamphlets fob Gibls 18 SOCIAL HYGIENE lectures which can be given to an individual group. With the younger girls in schools and with industrial girls, it has been found that at least three lectures are preferable wherever possible. With women's clubs and groups of older women, frequently a single lecture only can be arranged for. Experience is showing that in any given community the best results can be reached if an extensive campaign, covering anywhere from a week's time up, can be carried out along very definite lines. This requires an organizer. At the present time four women with experience in organizing are employed, one of whom precedes the lecturers in any city where such an intensive campaign is contemplated. She goes into the city with a certain number of introductions, meets leading women of different social, racial, and religious groups, and forms a local committee temporary in character for the purposes only of the campaign, although in some cities this committee has chosen to continue its existence after the lecture campaign is over for the purpose of follow-up work. This local committee assists the organizer in arranging the schedule of lectures. A good illustration of what can be accomplished are the results of the Paterson campaign carried on in June. This covered a period of seven days. A good deal of preliminary work had been done by a men's committee and representatives from the Lecture Bureau. The Chamber of Commerce had taken a hand in a clean-up of the city and much public interest had been aroused. The women's end of the campaign began with a mass meeting held on Sunday afternoon, attended by a thousand women. The Board of Education placed a number of schoolhouses located in different parts of the city at the disposal of the local committee. Manufacturers and proprietors of department stores and other industrial establishments arranged to have the speakers meet their women employees either just before the noon hour or just before dismissal at night, permitting half-hour talks in the em- ployer's time. Wherever possible three talks were given on suc- cessive days. Thirty-five industrial establishments opened their doors. All of the high schools, the higher grades in the grammar schools, and several private schools admitted the lecturers for the last half-hour in the afternoon. In the evening meetings were SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 19 held also in the public schools for the mothers in the respective neighborhoods. In all, seventy-three lectures were given in seven days. As a result of this week's campaign other establishments in the city have since asked to have lectures given to their em- ployees. In Boston the work developed to the point where it has been necessary to take an office and place in it an office secretary with stenographer. The Boston local committee has upon it repre- sentatives of the leading women's organizations of the city. In all, since the 18th of March, lecture work has been carried on through the Speakers' Bureau in thirty-one states and one hundred and twenty-three cities and towns. Seventeen hundred and eighty-five lectures were given by forty-five individual lec- turers. In June a conference of lecturers was called in New York. Rep- resentative physicians, from Maine to California, attended. In all there were about one hundred delegates. In addition to the lecture staff, there were the Deans of Women of a number of col- leges and universities, who constitute a Social Standards Commit- tee of the Association of Deans. At this conference representatives from government depart- ments presented the work of the Law Enforcement and Social Hygiene Divisions of the Commission, the Section on Combat- ing Venereal Diseases of the Surgeon General's Office, and the social hygiene work of the Young Men's Christian Association. A round table was held, attended only by the physicians, in which they discussed the problems which had confronted them in their work. The expression of appreciation in the follow- ing letter is one of many indications of the value of the con- ference :— I "wish to thank you very sincerely for including our Dean of Wom- en's Committee on Social Standards in your invitation to attend the Conference on Social Morality, which met in New York City last June 13th, 14th and 15th. We came away inspired, and ought to be of far greater influence patriotically in the communities from which we came, on account of the lectures and discussions we heard at the convention. 20 SOCIAL HYGIENE The Social Standards Committee, Association of Deans of Women's Colleges and L'niversities, has prepared a most excellent statement of the principles on which such standards should rest and how they should work out in the lives of our college women. It is the purpose of this Committee to present this statement to the college women of the country on their reassembling in the autumn. The letters which follow, coming from men and women in dif- ferent parts of the country and of different interests, show how great the need is felt to be and a gratifying appreciation of the way in which this need is being met. From a State Normal School, following a series of lectures to the girls:— Would it be possible to have Dr.--------come to talk to our boys? Only those who meet boys daily and who can watch them grow, can feel how greatly they need that intelligent, sympathetic, straight-for- ward talk. It would be a pity not to give them the opportunity of hearing it. May I ask, then, that Dr.--------be sent us again, and soon? I wish she could come before my seniors graduate, which will be about June 14th. They need it and this will be their last chance. From the assistant medical inspector of a public school system:— I have been much interested in the work of Dr.--------in--------. I have attended many of her lectures and also a course of conferences which she gave for women who were more deeply interested in further- ing the work. Her frank, clear statement of facts is very well received by her audiences. One of the most expressive comments that I have heard on her work was by a young clerk explaining to another girl why she should go and hear the lecture, "She tells you lots of things you know already, but she tells you the 'cuz why's'." I think you are most fortunate in being able to get the services of the younger women physicians in this work, for they make a much more intimate appeal to young girls than can be done by older women. I think great good is going to come from the work. SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 21 -yv/otoe^' gtvare \ ^tio^ SM vice The "U S°ldier aadYou' ^>;£******* I VJ\l3* Me Vou Doto2 ^ot tVie Gov etttff* .ctil! fes^s? _\Notoetv' issued ■»***?&»*>$ Laws and Law Enforcement SupErcsliony for . . Study and Action Pamphlets fob Women 90 SOCIAL HYGIENE From a State University:— I am delighted to have the opportunity to say that there is only one opinion here regarding Dr.--------. We feel that her talks were abso- lutely invaluable. She is the one person I know of who seems to make absolutely no mistakes in handling this difficult subject, and my only regret with regard to her work is that not every college in the country can have the benefit of it. Her stay here produced upon the whole community the same bracing and stimulating effect that a cold bath has. From the pastor of a Presbyterian church in a city in which a series of our lectures to girls was given:— As pastor of one of the larger churches in this camp city, I should be glad if it were found possible by you to return--------to us for a couple more weeks at your convenience to finish some good work which she began, but didn't have time to finish. There is great need for the better guidance and discipline of the young girls in this community. The need for such workers as —------ was felt before the camp was located here. It is doubly felt now. From a mother who failed to hear a lecture given to the Parent- Teacher Association:— Would you kindly inform me when and where Dr.--------will lec- ture again to mothers? Several friends who heard her in the audito- rium in the school on —---—— avenue told me I missed so much by not hearing her. They are anxiously waiting to hear her again. They talked so highly of the movie, "How Life Begins," and said Dr. --------'s address was so interesting they were sorry when it was over. Be good enough to let me know when Dr. --------will speak again, as I am anxious to hear her. From an army captain in charge of a cantonment laundry:—■ From Captain--------} To Dr. —----—. Subject: Lecture. 1. It is requested that you deliver a lecture to the female employees of the Cantonment Laundry, this camp, on--------; subject, health. SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 23 2. I consider that the talk-you have made to these people in the late past has been of great benefit to them. 3. This propaganda should be given wide cooperation by all employ- ers of female help. From the Executive Secretary of a War Camp Community Service Board:— Dr. -------- completed her time with us Saturday afternoon, --------. I am now making official report on her work. She gave thirty-six talks while in-------- to groups in factories, department stores, labor auditoriums, offices, women's club rooms, ending with a mass meeting on the Exchange floor at the Chamber of Commerce. At these thirty-six talks she reached all types of girls; some of the talks were systematically arranged before audiences comfortably seated. Under these circumstances Dr. -------- talked an hour; at other times she appeared in factories at noon times, talking from twenty to forty minutes; at these noon-time talks the girls grouped around her, standing or sitting on anything at hand, frequently eating their lunches during the talk. In some cases, when Dr.--------met with the factory girls in their rest room, they grouped about her in semicircular groups, sitting on the floor. In the larger department stores we met with splendid cooperation on the part of the firms. The first two hours in the morning were given for her talks; one-half the store force was sent to the auditorium the first hour, and the second half the second hour. These talks were always followed by questions and answers. Everywhere the girls re- ceived Dr.--------with interest and responded heartily to her appeal to them to support the work of the government in attempting to estab- lish a single standard of morals. In places where Dr.--------spoke the girls requested her to come back again, and when she told them this would not be possible they asked where they might hear her speak at some other time. After her talk at --------to the girls of the-------- factory six of these girls came in that evening to--------, and stood for one hour to gain admittance to the ------— auditorium, at which they had learned she was to give an address. When I learned these girls had been standing outside, refused admittance because the meeting was a closed one, I gained admittance for them. These girls had come all the way into the city—a long traction ride after eight hours' work 24 SOCIAL HYGIENE in the factory—because Dr. -------- had interested them so much at noon time, they wished to hear more. Fourteen requests have come in to me as organizer of girls' work in --------for talks by Dr.--------at other factories. The length of time which was allotted us to have Dr.--------was not sufficient to fill any more than thirty-four engagements. These fourteen requests are held over, hoping that we may at some future time be able to fill them. At one of the large department stores Dr. --------, by request, returned for a second talk after having before spoken to all the women employees of the store. Several other department stores afterwards asked that she return to them. This was impossible in the space of time allotted. Her last public talk Friday night, --------, before a mass-meeting on the Exchange floor of the Chamber of Commerce, was not only a success, but a triumph. One thousand girls and women were present. There were not enough chairs, so many of them sat on the ledges around the room. At this talk Dr.--------not only spoke of the conditions which had been met in the Army and the necessity for women to support the government, going into the question from a physiological side, but she also made a strong appeal by telling the story of life. This group of one thousand was three-quarters Patriotic League girls from all lines of work in the city, and one-quarter mothers and neighbors. At the conclusion of Dr. --------'s talk Dr. -------- was asked to say a few words. She did so by making an appeal that the work in which Dr.--------had interested the girls be carried on after she had left the city. --------wishes to thank you for sending Dr.--------to us. We feel the work has only been given a good start in this city, and in order to gain the best results it is necessary to resume a similar campaign at some later date. We hope in the Fall to be able to have talks on this subject before all the high schools in metropolitan--------, and also before all the mothers' clubs. We will communicate with you at some later date in regard to this plan. Dr.--------addressed a total of more than six thousand girls. From the social welfare worker in an industry which employs three thousand girls, who arranged for our lecturers to address them in groups of three hundred each:— I have heard several very nice things about your lecture, since you SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 25 were here, and thought you might be interested in them. The sub- stance of many of them was that while you "enlighten," you do not "frighten." After hearing some of the other speeches on the same sub- ject, it seems to me that this would be a good watchword for us all. Another frequent comment was that your talk was constructive and full of hope, even for the prostitute, who is the object of our attack. Several others rejoiced in the fact that you did not appear to be a man- hater, as they themselves are not. The idea that women are at least in part responsible for the double standard, and thus have a duty in doing away with it now, is one that makes a very strong appeal. One of the most hard-headed young office women whom I met the next day had tears in her eyes when she talked about it, and said, speaking of you, "I take off my hat to her." She had been one of those who had doubted the wisdom of having such talks for her younger girls. In so far as I am able to judge, your talk was perfect for our girls. There was such great enthusiasm that if you are in--------again before we close our series I hope you will favor us with another. A letter from the teacher at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, through whom arrangements were made for the courses given there:— Dear Friend:—I call you friend since what you have helped me get for the girls and women here shows that you are our friend. * * * We had a special call for a meeting of women and girls for Sunday night, June 30th. At least four hundred persons were there. Monday at 11 o'clock the address was given before the whole summer school, men and women who are teachers in every section of the Southern states, from Louisiana to Virginia. After the report of the Sunday night's talk got around the men insisted on not being left out. With us it seemed best to let them have a share of our blessings. Everyone was so much pleased and thankful for the opportunity to hear the talks. At this meeting, counting our own teachers and the villagers, fully five hundred persons listened to every word of Dr.--------and sighed when the bell rang for dinner. Tuesday at the same period the women and girls were assembled—summer teachers only, however; our girls could not be there. The director said that four hundred and fifty women were present. A number of the people from the village came. This was the last talk and we all invited the speaker to return soon. 26 SOCIAL HYGIENE Our girls heard the first address on Sunday night; then on Monday night our girls and some of the nurses in training here were assembled, and for one hour and a quarter we earnestly accepted our instruction. I am asked by our principal's wife and Mrs. B. T. Washington to ex- tend our deepest thanks for the source from whence came our help. No one can say how much good will result from this lecturer's visit. Our lecturers themselves are full of enthusiasm and hope as a result of the reception which they have never failed to experi- ence. One of our speakers, when asked what she felt the government was accomplishing in its social hygiene program, replied:— "That can't be measured yet, but doing it is more thrilling than surgery!" This doctor has talked moral standards in wartime to girls in college, in high school and in jobs, and while she likes them all, she would "rather talk to industrial girls than do anything." Why? "Because they dare you to put up something real. The college girl will sit and listen to you for an hour and you aren't really sure whether she's interested or just well-mannered, but if the girl in a silk factory listens to you for an hour you can be pretty sure it's getting over. They give you their time; you've got to give them something worth while: It's a straight bargain." Sometimes a lecturer must talk to profiles and the backs of heads and against the clatter of knives and forks. "I went to the----------box factory," says Dr.-----------; "they sat around at queer angles finishing their lunch and didn't seem to listen," but when I finished they said, 'Come earlier next time and we won't make a bit of noise eating!' " One is reminded of the experience of another of these lecturers who was told by the forewoman of a certain factory, that she could talk to the girls if she could hold their attention after the six o'clock whistle blew. At six, two girls arose and left the room. The lecturer, a bit sorry there were even two, kept talking on and on, and at the close of the time the convinced forewoman said "And the only reason those two left was because they were deaf!" "How do you begin?" Dr.--------was asked. "I tell them I SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 27 Some of the Slides Used in the Stekeomotorgeaph 28 SOCIAL HYGIENE come to them from their government. I tell them I am not a reformer, but am for the conservation of the wealth of America, and one of America's greatest assets this year is her working girls. I tell them the only difference between the women on the Fifth avenues of life and those in industry is that there are more of the latter, so there's all the more reason for them to be top-notchers. They know what the government is expecting of the enlisted men, but they know what life is, and that there's a long way to go before you make over a generation, but they're going to be in on the making. And then when you put up the straight standards, these girls, who are used to choosing everything for themselves, from clothes to codes, know them to be good and put them on as they'd put on a new hat and walk out to help set the fashion!" Another one of our lecturers in Jersey City had given three talks on successive days to girls in a candy factory. The last talk was on a Friday. At its conclusion the doctor was answering eager questions, when the signal for return to work was sounded. One girl said, "Doctor, won't you come back tomorrow?" The doctor replied, "Mr.--------has been so generous with his time that I should not like to ask for more." "But tomorrow is Satur- day," the girl replied; "come in the afternoon and take it on our time." "What do you specially want to hear about?" asked the doctor. "We want you to tell us what kind of men we ought to marry!" was the response. In telling of this experience the doctor laughingly suggested that we might find it desirable to get out a new pamphlet, "Specifications for Husbands!" A physician lecturing in Boston to a group of girls in a depart- ment store heard an echo of the work being done in the Army and Navy Sections. One girl came up to her after the lecture and said, "I was so interested to hear of these things, because the young man to whom I am engaged has written me all about what had been told him in one of the lectures given in the camp." It is the testimony of the physicians speaking to girls in industry that they are much more easily reached if the appeal is made through patriotism rather than through either physical or moral incentives. Apparently the only limit to the lecture work is the number of SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 29 qualified women physicians we can secure to speak for us and the supplying of the funds wherewith to make it possible for them to do the work. Requests are coming to us rapidly to supply speakers for wom- en's club meetings during the coming winter. At the outbreak of the war the Mid-Biennial Council of the General Federation of Women's Clubs was in session at New Orleans. The officers of the Department of Public Health immediately adopted a resolu- tion which was telegraphed to Secretary of War Baker at Wash- ington, promising their whole-hearted assistance in every way which would help to foster clean moral conditions in the locali- ties where military camps were established. At the Biennial meeting in Hot Springs in May, 1918, upon the presentation of the proposed legislation under consideration at the time by Con- gress to establish a Federal Social Hygiene Board, the following resolution was adopted:— Whereas, venereal diseases constitute the greatest cause of disability in the Army and Navy, and result in decreased efficiency in the nation's indus- trial life, and Wheeeas, civil communities are largely responsible for these diseases in the Army and Navy, and Wheeeas, no disease known to medical science has such a destructive effect upon the health and reproductive power of women as gonorrhea, and no disease has such a murderous effect on the offspring as syphilis, and Whereas, no race can maintain its maximum vigor when its young men are weakened by venereal disease, when its women are barren and when its children are defective, therefore, be it Resolved, that the General Federation of Women's Clubs in convention assembled, hereby petition to Congress of the United States to provide meas- ures to prevent the spread of venereal diseases in civil life as well as in the Army and Navy, to educate the people regarding the seriousness of venereal diseases, to extend adequate financial aid to the States to enable boards of health and other state agencies more successfully to combat this menace, and be it further Resolved, that the delegates to the General Federation of Women's Clubs urge upon the public health authorities in their respective states the adop- tion of measures approved by the War Department, the Council of National Defense, and the U. S. Public Health Service, for the prevention and treat- ment of these diseases. At this same meeting the Director of the Women's Section 30 SOCIAL HYGIENE presented its plan of work and asked the women's clubs of the country to give one, and, wherever possible, two days of its pro- gram through the coming year to a consideration of the gov- ernment's program for dealing with vice and venereal disease and to a discussion of what their own club or their own com- munity could do to assist. A suggested program was furnished in pamphlet form, with topics for discussion, a bibliography, and other suggestions. Several thousand copies of this tentative pro- gram were taken by the delegates for distribution in their respective neighborhoods. Hundreds of other women's clubs were reached through direct circularization—at least one club in each town within the fifty-mile zone of every camp, cantonment, mili- tary and naval station in the country having been directly reached by correspondence. Other organizations to indorse the work of the Section have been the National Education Association at its meeting in Pitts- burgh, a number of state federations of the clubs, and the New York State Women's Medical Association. Literature In addition to the material which had already been prepared and printed by the Social Morality Committee of the War Work Council, other pamphlets, written to meet specific needs, have been prepared and are being distributed. "Clean Camps, Communities, Fighters" and "Do Your Bit to Keep Him Fit" have been revised to include the women's pro- gram with that of the other sections of the Social Hygiene Division. These pamphlets are sent free for propaganda pur- poses. For women, there is in addition to the suggested club pro- gram "The Soldiers, Uncle Sam and You," and "Women's Share in a National Service." Another pamphlet, entitled "Laws and Law Enforcement," is intended to outline for women who want to do more than merely read and discuss a practical way of aiding their own communities to become clean. The two pam- phlets written by Mrs. Woodallen Chapman—"Your Country SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 31 Blind from Birth Deserted Two Scenes from. "The End of the Road" 32 SOCIAL HYGIENE Needs You" and the "Nation's Call to Young Women"—are in- tended for girls of the 'teen age and for older young women, respectively. "The Girl's Part," by Dr. Mabel S. Ulrich, has been reprinted by permission of the Minnesota State Board of Health. "To Girls in War-Time" is a leaflet dealing with venereal diseases and their dangers which is designed for girls in industry. The industrial section is asking the heads of big concerns em- ploying women to use the two posters, "Women Have Not Known" and "When the Boys Come home," in toilets, rest-rooms and other places where girls congregate; to use the pay envelope slips week by week, in the hope that by reiteration some perma- nent improvement may be made, and to put into their hands such pamphlets as are best suited to their special needs. The literature is not copyrighted and permission has been given to Boards of Health in various localities to copy and use it wherever they so desire. A weekly bulletin is prepared especially for the lecturers and for other persons particularly desiring to be kept informed of the last word in the field. This bulletin is divided into two parts. The first part contains brief summaries of the latest books or magazine articles in the field, giving principles, opinions, points of view or any other material which will be especially valuable to the speakers, not necessarily for their use in lectures, but for their general information. And second, up-to-date, authoritative statements of the latest developments in governmental activities in this and related fields, such as the Commission's Law En- forcement Division and its Section on Women and Girls, and new legislation, establishment of clinics, etc., through the Public Health Service. Other literature will be prepared as need arises. The Section will be glad to distribute it free of cost, so far as funds permit, but where the material is ordered in large quantities it is neces- sary to ask that the cost of printing be met. Exhibits The Section on Women's Work has done much less in the way of exhibits than has the Army and Navy Section. In the SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 33 first place, no suitable exhibit material had previously been planned for girls. A small beginning along these lines has been made, one series of very attractive charts having been pre- pared at the New York office. Dr. Ulrich, of the Minnesota Board, has also prepared a series for use in county fairs. One set of stereomotorgraph slides is ready and the Section contrib- uted a stereomotorgraph, together with a set of these slides, to the Allied War Exposition. One of the plans for the fall work is the preparation of suitable exhibit material, as it is believed that in many towns it would be practicable and profitable to hold such an exhibit in a public place in connection with the lectures. Moving Picture The great success of the film, "Fit to Fight," which is being used in the Army and Navy Section, led to the belief that a film prepared specially to answer the needs of girls and women would meet with similar success. Accordingly, Lieutenant E. H. Griffith, the Director of the Motion Picture Section, has been for the past two months at work upon a film entitled "The End of the Road." This will be ready for use by the first of October. There is, it is believed, a large group of girls in each community who care little for lectures, who will not be reached as members of an organized group, and yet who will come to see a moving picture if the opportunity is offered them. The scenario has been most carefully worked out in consulta- tion with physicians on the side of fidelity to medical fact, and with teachers as to the psychological effect. The stories in the film are all taken from life. The title, "The End of the Road," indicates the thought developed in the story. Two girls grow up side by side in a small town. One girl has the right kind of mother, who has met her childish inquiries as to the beginning of life with the truth, and all through the years of the girl's adolescence has been her confidante and friend. The other girl's mother is a different type. She is a woman who has had ambitions she has never been able to gratify, and whose one idea for her daughter is that she shall make a rich match and be 34 SOCIAL HYGIENE placed in a position where she need not work and may gratify her fancies. The prologue shows the difference in the training of the two girls. The story begins with the day the two girls are grad- uated from the local high school. Later, both come to New York. Mary, actuated by a desire to be of service in the world, enters a hospital to take a nurse's training. Her friend Vera comes, hoping to have wider opportunities for matrimonial choice. She takes a position in a department store. The girls' stories develop in line with their early training. Mary, strengthened by principle and high ideals, resists temptation, while Vera, making advances which have as their purpose no real desire to do wrong, but only to attract, is led to accept the attentions of a man who has no thought of marrying her, and step by step goes along the road that leads in the end to disease, desertion and disgrace. Mary, in her hospital work, comes in contact with girls and women whose careers are the direct outcome of the paths they have chosen to follow. The war comes. Mary becomes an army nurse and is assigned, first, to an army cantonment, where she comes across girls of the type often found in the vicinity of the camps, led there by sen- timent or by the spirit of sheer thoughtlessness or love of adven- ture. The love story (believed to be necessary to hold the interest of the young women who see the film) is skillfully woven in and leads to the climax in the last scene overseas, where, amid the perils of an air raid, Mary and her lover discover each other. In the preparation of this film the Section has been fortunate in securing cooperation from many sources; by no means the least, that of Mr. Richard Bennett, of "Damaged Goods" fame, who has given his services to play the hero's part. The picture, when com- pleted, will be shown to invited groups of girls and women, and will be accompanied or followed by talks which will drive home the lesson to be taught. The Commission on Training Camp Activities, and all the divisions thereof, is a wartime activity, created primarily to help the government to win the war. The educational work, which is the task of its Social Hygiene Division, can by no means end with the war. Education is a slow process. Many of the older genera- SOCIAL HYGIENE AND THE WAR 35 36 SOCIAL HYGIENE tion are too firmly fixed in thought and habit to make likely any radical changes of either principle or conduct. Hope is with the rising generation. Recently, however, Federal legislation has created machinery which is to continue in time of peace. This machinery is the Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board, provided for in the Chamberlain-Kahn Bill, which became effective as law in July of this year. The personnel of this Interdepartmental Board con- sists of the Secretaries of War, Navy and Treasury, and the three surgeons general or of three other persons named by the three secretaries respectively. The act provides also for a Division of Venereal Diseases in the Public Health Service, and makes large appropriations (.$4,100,000 total) for research, educational work, and allotments to state boards of health to assist them in develop- ing locally the campaign against venereal disease and its conse- quences along the broad lines laid down by the government.