The services of the organization have been taken advantage of by
members of all the national groups in Chicago, and these services have
included meeting immigrant trains and distributing arriving immigrants
to their destination in the city, prosecuting the agencies from which
the immigrant suffered especial exploitation, visiting immigrant
girls, securing appropriate legislation, and in general making known
to the community the special needs of the newly arrived immigrants.
The League has from the beginning made use of the services of
foreign-speaking visitors, and the volume and success of its work has
varied with the number of these visitors, the extent to which they
represented groups in need of special aid, and their skill as social
workers. At the time of the publication of the last report, the
following languages besides English were spoken by these visitors:
German, Bohemian, Italian, Lettish, Lithuanian, Magyar, Polish,
Russian, Slovak, and Yiddish. Many aspects of its work do not bear on
this discussion, but the following brief passages from the annual
reports indicate the way in which the work in behalf of unaccompanied
girls developed.
During the past year and a half the League has received from
the various ports of arrival the names and addresses of the
girls and women destined for Chicago. All of these newly
arrived girls and women have been visited by representatives
of the League able to speak the language of the immigrant.
Four, and part of the time five, women speaking the Slavic
languages--German, French, Italian, and Greek--have been
employed for this work. In these visits information has been
accumulated in regard to the journey to Chicago, the depot
situation, the past industrial experience of the girls, their
occupation in Chicago, wages, hours of work, their living
conditions, the price they pay for board, and whether they
are contributing to the support of some one at home. On this
basis the League's work for girls has been planned. (_Annual
Report, 1909-10_, p. 13.)
In these visits many girls needing assistance are found. The
most difficult ones to help are those for whom the visitor
sees a danger which the girl is unable to anticipate. Often a
girl is a pioneer, who comes in advance of her family, and
the friend or acquaintance whom she knows in Chicago
undertakes to help her in finding her first job and a place
to live, and then leaves her to solve the future for herself.
If she should be out of work or in trouble she has no one
whom she can ask for advice or help. In cases of this sort
all that the visitor can do is to establish a connection
which will make the girl feel that she has some one she can
turn to in case of trouble or unemployment. (_Annual Report,
1909-10_, p. 15.)
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