Chicago Tribune
MAPS OUT WORK FOR VICE
STUDY
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Executive Committee of City Commission Prepares for Great Task.
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WIDE FIELD OF LABOR.
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Levee Bondage, Saloons, Police and Other Subjects Assigned for Inquiry
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Levee bondage and other aspects of the "red light" districts were assigned for investigation to ten subcommittees at a meeting yesterday of the executive committee of the commission of thirty appointed by Mayor Busse to study vice conditions in Chicago. The important preliminary work brought to the public library all the members of the executive committee — Dean Walter T. Sumner, Dr. W. A. Evans, Dr. A. W. Harris, the Rev. E. A. Kelly, John L. Whitman, E.M. Skinner, and Judge M. W. Pinckney.
After the subcommittees have completed investigations their reports will be made to the executive committee, which in turn will report to the full commission.
The inquiry into Chicago’s traffic in women will be conducted by Prof. Graham Taylor, Prof. Herbert L. Willett, and the Rev. Abram Hirschberg. Their task will include finding answers for the following questions:
How much bondage exists in Chicago?
What is the extent of the "cadet" system?
What is the extent of the "fake" marriages"
What can be done to stop the importation of girls?
What can be done to furnish a way of escape for them?
Will Study Saloon’s Influence
To determine "the relation of the social evil and the saloon," Dr. A. W. Harris, the Rev. E. A. Kelly, and Julius Rosenwald were named a committee, whose scope of work is indicated by the following topics: Saturday night dances, saloon dances, vaudeville and music in saloons, women in saloons, midnight closing, the sale of liquor in resorts.
Recommendations of needed legislation will be made by Judge Harry Olson, P. J. O’Keeffe, Dr. David Blaustein, and Dr. James H. Hyde. They will considered the desirable extent of police power; also whether there should be a commission to supervise the red light district.
Data on vice problems from all over the world will be collected by a committee on literature, composed of Dr. Frank Gunsaulus, Prof. William I. Thomas, and Bishop C. T. Shaffer.
Medical questions will be investigated by Dr. Louis E. Schmidt, Dr. W. L. Baum, Dr. James N. Hyde, and Dr. Albert Evers.
To study the crime phase of the evil, Dr. William Healy, Dr. Alexander Robertson and John L. Whitman were named. They will consider remedies, among which are included permanent confinement and the parole system.
Committee on Local Conditions
Local conditions in Chicago will be set forth by Dr. W. A. Evans, Dr. Walter S. Sumner, and District Attorney Edwin W. Sims. The number of resorts, owners, keepers, location, character and other facts will be enumerated.
The committee on rescue and reform consists of Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin, Bishop William F. McDowell, and Rev. John O. Kircher. Among the tasks set are plans for getting girls out of debt and hospital accommodations.
On the committee on child protection and education those named were Dr. W. W. Hallam, Dr. Anna Dwyer, the Rev. James Callaghan, and Louis O. Kohtz. The scope of their work will include lectures to school children, to girls and boys in offices and stores, and studies on the influence of improper literature and the stage.
The relations of the "social evil and the police" will be investigated by Edward M. Skinner, John L. Whitman, and Judge M. W. Pinckney. The scope of the work of this committee was not determined fully.
All future sessions of the commission and the various subcommittees will be executive.
"We want the public to know," said Dean Sumner, "that the commission is not an administrative nor a prosecuting body. We will investigate conditions as they exist in Chicago and suggest various reforms. We will not, however, as some persons think, make raids and otherwise exercise police powers."
