Part 13

Through contacts established in the course of this study, the leaders in this group have been led to inquire concerning American methods of child care. Attention was directed to the latest standard discussions on the subject.[52] After some consideration of the method of caring for dependent children by placing them in family homes, the Chicago Croatian committee decided to delay action on the erection of a costly institution, to take time for further study and to hold a conference with the national committee representing the other Croatian societies interested. In the meantime action has been taken to change the name of the new national organization from the "Society for the Erection of a Croatian Orphanage" to the "Society for the Care of Croatian Orphans," and the by-laws of the society are being rewritten so that the movement need not be committed to institutional care at the outset, but will be free to choose in the light of the best information at hand.

Some of the leading members of the committee are convinced that placing-out should be included in their plan, but feel that it may take some time to convince the Croatian people of this wish to delay operation until the question can be freely discussed throughout the whole Croatian community in America. Plans are now being made for the national committee, representing all the societies interested, to confer with the representatives of public and private child-placing agencies. The question arises as to how relations may be established between such organizations in the separate national groups and those in the American community who are concerned with improved methods in the care of dependent children. Until provision is made that such information will be shared with members of groups like these as a matter of course, there is great loss and waste.

ORGANIZATIONS OF POLES

The Polish people are, no doubt, the most highly organized of the Slavic nationalities. It may be said that Chicago is their national center in the United States, and the headquarters of the three great national fraternal insurance societies, the Roman Catholic Union of America, the Polish National Alliance, and the Polish Women's Alliance. As these organizations are much alike in general plan, a description of the organization, character, and methods of work of one will give an idea of them all.

While these societies have always been divided upon political issues, and while there has been at times considerable bitterness in the antagonism between them, they have been able to unite their efforts in important undertakings for the general welfare of the Poles throughout the United States. Common interest in the Polish cause during the war, too, has united them as never before, and there is every reason for the confident expectation that they will co-operate in any new projects undertaken for the benefit of the Polish community in America.

The Polish National Alliance is the largest single organization. In addition to providing insurance, this society carries on, through its national organization, extended work of a social and educational character.

There is, for example, among its "commissions," an Emigration Commission for aiding immigrants, which is charged with the duty of framing rules for the proper supervision of homes established for the care of newcomers. Under this Commission the Alliance has maintained immigrant aid stations in New York, Baltimore, and Boston. In New York there is a home in which immigrant girls and women arriving alone may be accommodated until relatives can be located.

The Chicago office co-operates with the offices at the ports of entry in securing information about relatives of Alliance members, and in case of special necessity arranges to have immigrants destined for Chicago met at the station. As relatives are supposed to be notified of the expected arrival before the women leave New York, the Chicago office has done little in this direction. The need for such services, however, has been made clear in the Annual Reports of the Immigrants' Protective League, showing the numbers of unattended Polish girls coming to Chicago to be much larger than the number in any other national group.

The Polish National Alliance has been carrying on a number of projects, both for the Polish people throughout the country and for the local community in Chicago. During the war many forms of work that had been developed for the service of Poles in the United States were laid aside for the more urgent needs of the time, and the funds of this organization were devoted to the support of the Red Cross and of other relief work. When the needs especially arising out of the war have been met and the necessity for sending relief to Poland is no longer urgent, these projects, abandoned for the time, will be taken up again. Polish immigration has for a time ceased. In the opinion of the Poles in Chicago it will be very light for years after the war, so that projects hereafter undertaken will be concerned with the welfare of the community as it has become established in the United States.

POLISH WOMEN'S WORK

There is a Women's Department, directed by a committee of fifteen women members. The central government frames regulations for this department "conformably to the requirements of a given moment." An illustration of its activities can be found in a movement initiated to maintain oversight of the employment of Polish girls and women. A great many Polish girls go into domestic work in private homes and in hotels and restaurants. Because girls from the rural districts in Poland find customs and living conditions here so different the societies have undertaken to study the problem. In order to investigate places of employment the women found they must represent a regularly licensed employment agency. Some delay in securing a license has held up their work, but they plan to establish in the near future a "Polish Women's Employment Agency."

Many cases came to their attention showing the need of protective work and legal aid for workingwomen, so that in 1917 the "Polish Women's Protective League" was organized to provide free legal advice and aid to Polish workingwomen.

The official organ of the Polish National Alliance is a weekly publication, _Zgoda_. There is a daily, the _Dziennik Zwaizkowy_, that has a semi-official status. The Women's Department is represented in the official organ by one page of ordinary newspaper size, without illustration. In the daily paper one page each week is devoted to items of especial value to women. Different material is used in the two issues, but both give considerable space to such subjects as household management, the care of children, and problems of health and hygiene.

There is, in fact, a marked development among the Polish, Bohemian, Slovenian, and Lithuanian groups, of a definite division between the men's and the women's departments. This began first in the local lodges as they grew from mere meetings for the payment of dues into something more in the order of a center for the discussion of questions of importance in group or family life, or for action on those questions.

A woman who, more than eighteen years ago, organized one of the first lodges in the Polish National Alliance said that in the lodges of mixed membership women were supposed to have the same rights and privileges as men. As a matter of fact, she said that they had no voice in matters in which they felt their interest as women were especially concerned; the women were always in the minority, and there were very few who would even voice an opinion in the presence of men.

The older women in the community came, therefore, to feel that there were many problems of vital interest and importance for the immigrant woman upon which action would never be taken in the lodge meeting, in which there was a mixed membership. They believed, too, that the meetings of the local lodge might become a real source of help to the newly arrived immigrant women. The women's lodge was therefore formed, and to the first meetings came women who still wore the handkerchiefs over their heads. Some of the more prosperous members protested that they did not want such women as these in the lodge, but the leaders insisted that their purpose in organizing women's lodges had been to reach through them just such women. The leaders felt that women who knew little of American life and customs would gradually acquire that knowledge by coming into the lodge.

A lodge of this kind under the leadership of progressive women of the older immigration has become a center in which are discussed many of the questions the women have to face for the first time. The plan in the Polish National Alliance is to have lodges so organized that women from Russian Poland may be in one, those from Galicia in another, or to organize lodges on the basis of the neighborhood association in the United States.

It is hoped that by such a plan as this the more backward women may be drawn into some of the social activities of the Polish community. Although English has not been the language of the meetings, women have been encouraged to learn English as soon as possible after their arrival. The older women urge the younger women to acquire the language. They have learned the importance of a knowledge of the language to the mother of boys and girls who are growing up in surroundings of which the mother knows little, and where custom and convention are so different from those to which she was accustomed.

With the multiplication of women's lodges came the demand on the part of the women for representation in the national organization. As a result, the Women's Auxiliary has been given an official place, and women have been elected to the national board of directors.

Polish women have felt that the welfare of the group as a whole is largely dependent upon the fitness of the women to meet the new situation. They have recognized the fact that, because of the national attitude toward women, Polish women of the class represented by the bulk of the immigration are very backward. They have therefore sought to inaugurate a campaign for the education of women on a national scale.

Another interesting development has been the growth of national organizations for women alone. One of the earliest and best known of these is the Polish Women's Alliance, an example of organized effort of women to deal with their own problems on a national scale. The leaders in this enterprise were women who, through their own experiences as immigrants, and through contact with those who came later, had come to realize both the nature of the problems women were called upon to meet and the different position of women in America.

One of the women who had been active in inaugurating the movement spoke of the extreme difficulty of such work in the Polish community because of the prejudice against women's taking part in anything outside of their homes. Some of the more advanced women thought that the welfare of the whole Polish community was retarded by the ignorance and indifference and prejudices of the women which kept them clinging to Old-World methods and customs entirely unsuited to the new conditions. They hoped that by building a clubhouse for women, with library and reading rooms, a large hall for assemblies, and small rooms for clubs and classes, they might gradually interest the women in something outside their homes.

No one thought it possible, however, for women to organize in this way, much less to carry on a national movement and to build a clubhouse, as they have succeeded in doing. Some leading women felt that education must come, if at all, through the women's own efforts, and that the education involved in work for the organization more nearly than any other experience touched the needs of these women, in that it drew them out of their older habits and encouraged them to take the initiative and so to gain the self-confidence they lacked.

The organization was at first possible only because of the benefit features through which the support could be gained of men and women who had no interest or confidence in such educational projects as attempt to interest the women in clean streets, satisfactory disposal of garbage, and improved housing conditions.

This movement does not represent hostility to the great joint organization. Most of the women interested in developing the movement have been members of the Polish National Alliance; but they have thought that to give the women a sense of confidence it was necessary to have a women's organization, quite independent of the men's. And there have developed then the three relationships between men and women: (1) the Women's Department as one of the divisions of work in the Alliance; (2) the Women's Auxiliary to the men's society, and (3) the National Women's Organization, in which men are not members.

LITHUANIAN WOMAN'S ALLIANCE

The idea of the separate woman's organization finds an interesting illustration in the Lithuanian Woman's Alliance. This national society, independent of any other organization, was organized in 1915 in Chicago. Only Lithuanian Catholic women who are in good standing in the Church are admitted. The society has now grown, until there are over five thousand members in different Lithuanian communities throughout the United States.

The society was organized for the education of Lithuanian women in America. Those interested in the organization recognized that it would be very difficult to obtain support for such a movement among women of the type they most wished to interest unless it had the indorsement of the Catholic Church.

There are two departments, an educational (_Absvieta_) and a benefit (_Pasalpa_). It was recognized by the leaders that little appeal could be made to women for an educational enterprise, for the majority of women are too ignorant and indifferent; but like the Polish women they knew that "benefit" would appeal to every immigrant woman, for all belong to at least one friendly insurance society. The poorer women and the more recent immigrants are associated in the little parish self-assessment societies, in which each pays a small monthly fee, usually twenty-five cents. Membership in a substantial fraternal insurance society costs more than they can afford to pay.

The Lithuanian Woman's Alliance provides insurance for 35 cents a month. The benefit department provides for the payment of a death benefit of $150, and $5 per week will be paid upon request to any member who is sick more than two weeks. In each case in which benefit is granted, two visitors are appointed to make arrangements for hospital care if necessary, and to render any other needed assistance.

The idea back of this organization has been to help immigrant women to adjust themselves to the new circumstances of life in America; the method chosen has been through education along general and very practical lines, beginning at the point where the women themselves have come to recognize their needs. The fact that few of these women can read even in their own language makes it very difficult to reach them. At present, however, the task seems less difficult than ever before. The fact that fewer lodgers are taken, that in some cases the higher wages have lessened the pecuniary problems--even the fact that women have been drawn outside the home to work--these facts, together with the activities of women in war work, have served to give them a sense of identity with the American community; so that there is now a greater demand for English lessons than ever before. Many women now realize the necessity of speaking the English language, and women who read in Lithuanian are eager to learn to read English so that they "may know what is in the attractive-looking magazines they see on the news stands."

The educational department is open to all women, whether they wish to avail themselves of the benefit or not, but the benefit department is open only upon condition that members also take part in the educational movement. Dues in the educational department alone are ten cents a month. The educational program is to be carried on through the local lodge and the official organ, _Woman's Field_, issued monthly by the central committee.

The magazine, aside from such space as is needed for official notices, is devoted to educational material. A typical number includes articles on questions of general interest to women everywhere. Emphasis is laid on the necessity for women's learning English and assuming the duties of citizenship. One page each month devoted to questions of general hygiene and the care of children is edited by a Lithuanian woman physician. A page or section is given to instruction in the preparation of food, as the Lithuanians realize that one of the gravest problems for their people here has been that of diet. Space is given to articles about Lithuania, "so that the young people may know that they need not be ashamed of their country."

The educational work planned for the local lodge includes instruction along many lines. Classes are held two evenings a week in the parish halls. The work of one of the more active lodges gives an idea of the scope of the undertaking. This chapter numbers over fifty members. Regular monthly meetings for the payment of dues and transaction of business are held on Sunday afternoon in the parish hall. After the business is finished there is a social hour.

Weekday classes have been held on two evenings each week; on one, English and sewing classes are held; on the other, cooking and housekeeping classes. Women who have had greater advantages in Europe as well as in the United States give their services as teachers. All courses are planned for women who have had very little opportunity in either country; the president of one of the lodges said, in explaining their program, "You know Lithuanian women are not high up like American women--they do not know how to keep house or cook or take care of babies."

On one evening in the week the whole time is devoted to housekeeping. The church hall has been equipped with a gas stove, a set of cooking utensils, dining-room table, linen, dishes, and silver. Lessons are given in the preparation and serving of a meal. Some attention is given to food values, but the object is mainly to show women how to prepare wholesome food as economically as possible. Processes of canning, preserving, and drying fruits and vegetables are demonstrated, as they are wholly new to most of the women. The women are also shown how to scrub, wash dishes, and care for clothing.

Reference might also be made to a local society organized by Lithuanian women about twelve years ago on a mutual-benefit basis, for educational purposes, which were stated in the constitution to be:

... to provide sick and death benefit; to organize Lithuanian women for a better and larger education; to provide evening and day classes in reading, writing, sewing, sanitary housekeeping, and the care of children; to provide lectures, books, and programs to interest women in health and education; to encourage friendship among Lithuanian women, and provide social life; to provide scholarships for students seeking higher education; to encourage writers; to encourage women to read the newspapers in Lithuanian and English.

These women, who have all been in the United States for a considerable period, and know the needs of the newcomers, have fitted up a housekeeping center in the public park center in their neighborhood. They have a kitchen and dining-room equipment consisting of a stove, a set of cooking utensils, and a dining table with service. Here cooking classes are held once a week, the lessons given by the women who are skilled in cookery.

The attempt is made to create an interest in food values, in proper cooking, and in wise spending. In housekeeping lessons, washing, scrubbing, washing windows, and even dishwashing and the setting of the table are taught. Classes in English have been organized, but these women have suffered as others have suffered from a lack of teachers skilled in teaching this kind of a group, and from a lack of classroom material suited to their needs.

The Polish and the Lithuanian societies illustrate the organized effort of women in those groups in which the group life is highly developed, in which a number of women have become conscious of separate needs and undertake to assist in the development of others of their sex.

UKRAINIAN BEGINNINGS

Among the Ukrainian women the beginnings of this process can be observed, but in this case there is common effort on the part of the most progressive men and women in behalf of the more backward women. We are told that the Ukrainian women have much greater authority and responsibility in the United States than in the Ukraine, so that some men say that here "the laws are made for women." They spend the money, discipline the children, and direct the household life. Many of the women have been poorly fitted, by their inferior status at home, for their new duties, and the Ukrainian Women's Alliance was organized in 1917 by both men and women in an attempt to meet this situation.

This organization, too, is based on the benefit idea, which all the women can understand, but plans are already laid for a comprehensive educational program to be carried out not only through educational centers in the local lodges, but through a magazine of national circulation. This is a complete innovation, as there has never before existed among the Ukrainians a woman's association, nor has any attention been paid to their interests in Ukrainian publications. The organ of the Alliance had in October, 1919, put out four issues, and met with so cordial a response that its next number was double the size of the first numbers and the sales at news stands were sufficient to cover the cost of these first numbers.

The contents of one number indicate the purposes sought by its publication. Of the articles, one describes the organization of the Alliance, one discusses the relation of the institution of the home to the community, with special stress laid on the responsibilities of the mother in the home, one explains the woman-suffrage movement and urges the importance of woman's place in government. There is a department devoted to diet, food values, and recipes, and one devoted to hygiene, with special emphasis on child care.

In some of the other national groups the number of men is still so far in excess of the number of women that the energies of the group seem to have been absorbed in dealing with the problems of the men or of getting a foothold as a group.

ITALIAN WOMEN UNORGANIZED

This does not apply to the Italian community. While benefit societies among the Italians are very numerous, there has until recently been little movement toward a national organization similar to those among the Poles and Lithuanians. The deep division in dialect, custom, and feeling between people from different sections of Italy accounts for the number of societies as well as for the lack of affiliation among them. Three of the largest societies in Chicago, in which membership is largely Sicilian, are now affiliated, but no effort has been discovered to make use of the organization as a basis for domestic educational enterprise.

Women are admitted to many of the societies on the same terms as men, but rarely attend meetings. There are many small self-assessment societies for women alone, but they have no social or educational feature; members seldom meet, and dues are often sent in by children.