THE SALVATION ARMY RESCUE DEPARTMENT.
In the United States and Great Britain, the question of the social evil
has never been thoroughly investigated and faced systematically as a
whole. In some of the large cities in the United States, notably in
Chicago and New York, the question has been taken up in various ways by
different reform societies. Probably the best investigation made thus
far has been the work of the Committee of Fifteen, in New York City,
which issued its report in the year 1902, but the problem does not
appear to have been faced by us as a nation as it might have been. Other
countries, especially France, have paid a great deal of attention to
this form of vice. Nearly every phase of the question has been examined
by some French investigator and reported on, but when we look for
reports or investigations on the part of American or English students,
we find very little of value.
As regards the United States, all attempts at reaching a true estimate
of the extent of this evil have failed. Apparently, there is no way of
obtaining such information. We have seen estimates regarding some of the
cities in past years, and such estimates are given as 40,000 prostitutes
for New York City,[88] 30,000 for Chicago and 35,000 for San Francisco.
But these figures have evidently been derived in a very unscientific
way. The evil is probably worse in the Western states than in the
Eastern, but we are not satisfied of the accuracy of such estimates as
35,000 for San Francisco and only 30,000 for Chicago.
The work known as the Rescue Work of the Salvation Army is, to a certain
extent, related to the Slum Work. The slum officers can often work
hand-in-hand with the Rescue officers, inasmuch as their field is often
on the same or adjoining territory. At the same time, it is essential
that the Rescue officer be more highly specialized than the slum
worker. During the past few years the percentage of successful cases of
reform brought about by the Army Rescue Homes has reached as high as 80
or 85%, according to the Army's statistics. They, however, are unable to
keep in touch with all the girls sent out, and hence this percentage
would not be final, but even allowing 25% off for failures not known to
the Army, it is doubtful if there is any other reform agency along this
line which is as successful as is this force of trained rescue
workers.[89] In the United States this force works in conjunction with
twenty-two Rescue Homes scattered throughout the States. These homes are
especially fitted for the work, some having been built for the purpose.
There are work rooms for the girls, where they can do sewing and laundry
work. There is a reading room and sitting room, dining room, and
different dormitories and sleeping apartments. Then special facilities
are provided for the care of babies in the way of proper nurseries.
There are two ways in which these girls come under the influence of the
Homes and Rescue workers: either the girls come voluntarily to the
Homes, expressing their desire to leave this form of life for a better
one, or they are brought to the Home by the direct influence and touch
of the Rescue officer. These Rescue officers make regular tours through
the districts where the girls are to be found. They watch their
opportunities, and whenever they think it wise, they speak to the girls
personally. When this is not possible, they make an advance by way of
literature. One method is to open up a conversation by means of a little
card, upon which is printed the address of the Rescue Home, and the
offer of help to any girl who is in trouble of any sort. Some of the
officers tell us that they get to know the faces of the girls through
their regular tours, and whenever a new girl comes they are able to
recognize her at once, both by her features and her actions. In this
way there have been some instances of real prevention without the need
of any curative means whatever; instances where young girls have been
rescued from the very brink of their evil fate. One way of reaching the
girls is visitation and nursing when they are sick. Another way is
through the police courts. In some of the latter a woman Army officer is
in regular attendance, and the judge frequently hands certain cases over
to her charge.
Many of the girls received into the Home have had no practical training
in life; many, very little moral training, and in the case of those who
have had good training in earlier years, the life they have been leading
has so undermined their old ideals, that the training must be repeated.
Hence, the aim of the Home is two-fold. First, the aim is to lay a
strong foundation morally. When the girls reach the Home, in most cases
they are already penitent, and ready for a change, but to make such a
complete change as is necessary to lead them back to a normal life means
the individual revolution of desire and interest. Here is where the
importance of the moral influence of the Home is realized. Step by step
the girl is led on by the simple teaching of Christian and social
ideals, until in reality she is a changed individual. Often she looks
back on her past life with such repugnance and shrinking, that her only
desire becomes that of doing something to retrieve her past, and she
becomes an active agent in the betterment of the conditions of other
girls around her.
Meanwhile, the second aim of the Rescue Home is being realized. The
girls are taught the means of practical livelihood. They are instructed
in cooking, the care of the kitchen and nursery, and general
housekeeping. Sewing is made a prominent feature, and in every Home a
laundry is maintained, where the girls do their own washing and
sometimes outside washing. In some Homes the fund realized from the
laundry and from the sale of clothing made by the girls is quite a help
toward defraying the general expenses. Again, at some of the Homes,
such work as book binding and chicken raising has been successfully
carried on. Independence is encouraged, and as soon as possible the girl
is made to feel that, by aiding in the work of the Home, she can help
meet the expense which she caused.
To the girl who has possibly never done sewing, never known anything
about proper cooking or the care of a home, there is much that is new in
this training, and, on the other hand, great patience is required on the
part of her instructors. A fit of anger or despondency, and in a very
short time she has left the Home and its care, and returned to her old
life. Some do this even more than once and again return, having, upon
reflection, realized the force of its love and shelter. Others, of
course, leave and never return, but a large number are sent back to
their own homes or out to fill situations of various kinds.
A great difference is found between one girl and another, due to the
different status of life and surroundings from which they originally
fell; hence, some girls are reformed with greater ease and in a shorter
time than are others. The average time that a girl is retained in the
Home is about four months. The Army aims at keeping in touch with them
afterwards.
"Personally," says one of the leading Rescue officers writing on
this point, "I attach by far the greatest importance to the work
done with our girls after they leave the Home. If we ceased our care
for them when they went out to service, we should have, I fear, many
failures. I have by my elbow, as I write to you, a current record of
120 girls, not picked out but taken just as they come, which tells
just where each one is, what she is doing, what was her spiritual
condition when last seen or heard from, what day visited, etc. That
list is taken from a record kept of every girl who passes through
our hands. On one page is her previous life story; on the other, her
career after leaving the Home. It is the most important record we
keep."[90]
Along with other departments of social service in the Army, this
department has been considerably extended during the past few years.
Figures are at hand for the United States only. In 1896 there were five
Rescue Homes with a total accommodation for 100 girls, and there were,
in the Rescue Work, 24 officers. In 1904 we found twenty-two homes, with
a total accommodation for 500 girls, and there were 110 specialized
officers engaged in the Rescue Work. During the eight years prior to
1907 15,000 girls were helped.[91] Speaking of the year 1903-4,
Commander Booth-Tucker says: "More than 1,800 girls passed through the
homes during the year, and of these 93% were satisfactory cases, being
restored to lives of virtue, while some 500 babies were cared for."[92]
During the past few years, also, some valuable properties have been
acquired for the purposes of Rescue Homes. Among these are two Homes in
Philadelphia worth $20,000.00; the Home in Manhattan, New York City,
valued at $35,000.00; the Home in Buffalo, costing nearly $40,000.00;
the Home in Los Angeles, worth more than $15,000.00, and others.
In conclusion it may be said that although this great social question
presents almost overwhelming problems for solution, yet there is no
agency that deals with the evil in a curative way so successfully, and
on such a scale, as does the Rescue Department of the Army. One
difficulty of the work is that, while so many departments of the Army
work are self-supporting, this work cannot be made so. Another
difficulty is the lack of those who are willing to sacrifice their lives
to such noble effort. Mrs. Catherine Higgins, former Secretary for this
department, in her report, said that she had a great need of 100 more
workers, and that she could use many times that number in the
furtherance of the work.
While it is rather the part of society to strike at the very causes of
this social evil and root it out entirely, still, such successful
combating with the evil itself, right on the battle-field of flagrant
vice, should receive the hearty support of all.
FOOTNOTES:
[88] Mentioned in Josiah Strong's Social Progress, 1906, p. 243.
[89] In Great Britain in 1903, the proportion of re-admissions in the
Rescue Homes was about one in seven. In that year, about one-sixth of
the new cases were unsatisfactory. (The S. A. and the Public, p. 131.)
[90] "Social Service in the Salvation Army," p. 71.
[91] Pamphlet "S. A. in the U. S."
[92] _Ibid._, p. 26.