Annual Report of the Immigrants' Protective League
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY ;••' 325.06 IMM v.i-s UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN The person charging this material is responsible for its due date. renewal or return to the library on or before the $300.00 The minimum fee for a lost item is $125.00, for bound journals. bool<s are reasons Theft, mutilation, and underlining of in dismissal from for disciplinary action and may result may result in the University. Please note: self-stick notes torn pages and lift some inks. 217-333-8400, Renew via the Telephone Center at 846-262-1510 (toll-free) or [email protected]. option at: Renew online by choosing the My Account http://www.library.uiuc.edu/catalog/ MAR 1 9 ENT'D IC^agu? for tty? prot^rtton of Jmmtgranta ANNUAL REPORT 1909-1910 Headquarters, Room 435, 158 Adams Street Chicago, Illinois InarJn of Sntstofi Ellected for the Year 1909 Cyrus L. Bentley Dr. Ludwig Hektoen Dr. David Blaustein Chas. L. Hutchinson William J. Calhoun Miss Juua C. Lathrop Ivan Doseff Prof. Ernst Freund Samuel N. Harper Mrs. Raymond Robins Elected for the Years 1909-1910 Judge Julian W. Mack Miss Mary E. McDowell Prof. George H. Mead Miss E. V. Rumsey Mrs. Tiffany Blake Guido Sabetta Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen Mrs. Henry Solomon Charles F. Harding Miss Edith Wyatt Elected for the Years 1909-1910-1911 Miss Jane Addams J. J. Sonsteby Mrs. Samuel Dauchy Prof. A. E. Steiner Dr. Emil G. Hirsch • Mrs. Wm. I. Thomas Philip N. Ksycki Dr. C. Volini Julius Rosenw^ald C. J. Vopicka Elected for the Years 1910-1911-1912 Cyrus L. Bentley Dr. Ludwig Hektoen Dr. David Blaustein Chas. L. Hutchinson E. P. Bailey Miss Julia C. Lathrop Mrs. Joseph Fish Prof. Ernst Freund E. M. Skinner A. A. McCormick mtxms Judge Julian W. Mack President Prof. George H. Mead First Vice President Miss. Jane Addams Second Vice President Chas L. Hutchinson Treasurer Miss S. P. Breckinridge Secretary Miss E. V. Rumsey Mrs. Samuel Dauchy Charles F. Harding Prof. Ernst Freund Director Miss Grace Abbott B42918 Those of us who have lived for many years in the Chicago settlements have keenly realized the need of some systematic and centralized effort on behalf of the immigrants living in Chi- cago. Every year we have heard of girls who did not arrive when their families expected them, and although their parents frantically met one train after another, the ultimate fate of the girls could never be discovered ; we have constantly seen the exploitation of the newly arrived immigrant by his shrewd countrymen in league with the unscrupulous American; from time to time we have known children detained in New York and even deported, whose parents had no clear understanding of the difficulty. The first year's work of the League for the Protection of Immigrants has shown that a central office is able not only to take care of the exceptional cases much more effectively than a settlement could do without its co-operation, but that new needs and possibilities are constantly discovered through this opportunity to treat as a whole the Chicago immigrant situa- tion. The League for the Protection of Immigrants is fast proving to be one of the most effective instruments for social amelioration in Chicago. Jane Addams. Hull House, March 3, ipio. H^pnrt nf tlj^ pr^Btb^nl* The report of the director is so full and complete that it is necessary for me to add but little to it. The work that the League is attempting to do is primarily that of first help to the immigrant. He arrives here bewildered, unacquainted with our language, habits and customs, and a ready prey for the scoundrel. His entire future loyalty and patriotism to the country that is going to be his home may be seriously aflfected by his first contact with its men and women. Not merely as a matter of humanity toward the brother and sister in need, but as a matter of duty to ourselves and to our own children is it important that the newcomers receive the best possible impression of those who are to be their fellow-citizens. It has been often charged, and sometimes with truth, that the foreigner is a pliant tool in the hands of certain political workers and subservient to their ofttimes selfish ends. But the average citizen, forgetful of his own obligations, fails to consider the underlying causes of this situation when it does arise. He fails to appreciate that while he has been attending to his own per- sonal interests someone else has given a welcoming hand to the newcomer, has been his adviser in time of need and trouble, and that in after years, when the newcomer has become an American citizen, his gratitude for favors rendered in time of greatest need makes this first friend the supreme authority for the new-made citizen who acts upon his advice and suggestion in full confidence that they are for his own good. It therefore behooves those whose interest in the develop- ment of their own country is pure and unselfish and whose humanity is broad enough to overlook the differences of race and creed and habits, themselves to extend this welcoming hand, to take measures to guard the foreigners against the perils to which they, more than the average man, are subject, and finally to open up to them opportunities for education and patriotic citizen- ship. This has been the work of the League—^welcoming the new- comers, seeing that they reach the homes to which they are destined, guarding them against wrongs at the railroad stations, labor employment agencies, and work camps, assisting them to secure work, advising and encouraging them to take ad- S vantage of the many co-operating educational opportunities that are furnished by our night schools, settlements, churches, Y. M. C. A. and other organizations, supplementing these when neces- sary, and as to the girls and women, protecting them from the perils of the white slave trade and prostitution. Personal visits to stations and homes, conferences with the local, state and national authorities, co-operation with other organizations and especially with the police, have been some of the methods em- ployed as the basis for the work. Studies of national groups which are new elements in Chicago's population, such as the Bulgarians and Greeks ; and of such problems as "Chicago's Employment Agencies and the Immigrant Worker" and "Im- migration and Municipal Policies," have been made by Miss Abbott. These have been published in the American Journal of Sociology, the Survey, and the Proceedings of the National Municipal League in the Cincinnati Conference for Good City Government. As a result of the work done by Miss Abbott and our Legis- lative Committee, the laws governing Employment Agencies were amended and greatly improved at the last session of the Legislature. Much of this work must always be done by private philan- thropic agencies, such as this League. A large measure of assistance can, however, and in our judgment should be rendered by the municipal, state and federal authorities. For over a year we have had negotiations with the federal authorities in the endeavor to obtain, first, the names of all immigrants destined for Chicago, and, second, for the establishment of a federal bureau in this city to which such immigrants will come on ar- rival, supplemented by federal inspectors on the immigrant trains and matrons in the railroad stations. At such a bureau oppor- tunity can be given to all philanthropic organizations under proper supervision to confer with the immigrant. There can be no question but that if the protecting hand of the federal govern- ment is on the man and woman after leaving Ellis Island and until he or she reaches the final destination, our report two years from now will not show, as does our present report, twenty per cent of the women destined to Chicago unaccounted for. The Commercial Club of Chicago is about to take up this matter and its members when their interest is aroused to the importance of the subject, will undoubtedly be able to secure the establishment of such a bureau. 6 C«M P Q o•-t c \\ The North American Civic League for Immigrants is seek- ing some measure of co-operation, federation, or consolidation with this League. The importance of a national organization is fully recognized by us, and while there are difficulties involved in determining the best method of working together, the matter can beyond question be wisely worked out if left to the next Executive Board. I therefore recommend that this be done. As the report of the Budget Committee will show, we shall require for the work of the next year at least $8,000.00. The membership must be extended. Every organization interested in the immigrant should become a member of this central league and thousands of citizens, both native and foreign born, who are alive to the importance of the question will, on proper rep- resentations, gladly contribute to the work. Our heartiest thanks are due to our director, our secretary, the members of standing committees and the visitors, through whose zealous and faithful work so much has been accomplished during the past year. Julian W. Mack, President. ; U^p0rt nf tlf^ B>^rrrtarg. During the years 1907-1908 the) Woman's Trade Union League of Chicago organized a committee to visit newly ar- rived immigrant women and girls for the double purpose of helping them escape those dangers which threaten their moral well being in a great city, and of giving them such information with regard to opportunities for employment as would induce them to enter the better organized rather than the congested trades.