Year: 1912
Type: article
Abstract: On April 9 of the present year, the President of the United States approved the act creating the Children's Bureau under the Department of Commerce and Labor.The efforts that led up to this accomplished fact may be briefly reviewed as follows:Five years ago the idea of a Federal Children's Bureau originated with Miss Lillian D. Wald, head of the Nurses' Settlement in New York.Mrs. Florence Kelley, secretary of the National Consumers' League, a former resident of Hull House now living at the Nurses' Settlement, drew up the first outline of the matters relating to child-care which should be intrusted to the proposed bureau for investigation-an outline corresponding closely with the enumeration of subjects contained in the law finally enacted.The genuine value of a genuine settlement is thus evidenced by the fact that this bureau was first urged by women who have lived long in settlements and who by that experience have learned to know as well as any persons in this country certain aspects of dumb misery which they desired through some governmental agency to make articulate and intelligible.They urged upon the National Child Labor Committee the possibility of undertaking a publicity campaign on behalf of such a bureau and that organization has for four years maintained an office in Washington, and, by wise and patient effort, has aroused and organized the public interest which has been an all-important factor in securing the law, so that no piece of governmental machinery ever went into operation with more harmonious and vigorous backing from public-spirited men and women.The National Child Labor Committee took the lead only to bring together effectively the great associations interested in such I Being an address before the Biennial Meeting of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, San Francisco, July 5, 1912.
Source: American Journal of Sociology
DOI: 10.1086/212095
Author: Julia C. Lathrop
Language: English
Topic: Child Welfare and Adoption
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2004992389