Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1911)

Life at Hull House Chicago's Melting Pot' (Essanay) By HAROLD AURELIUS HELTBERG [It is with pleasure this Motion Picture story is printed, because of its educational f atures, broad scope and economic value in demonstrating the best methods of convertir g large numbers of foreign peoples into useful American citizens. — THE EDITOR] Who is not interested in Hull House? One of the first settlements established in America, it has now attained such proportions that no less than nine thousand people assemble there each week, either as members of an organization or as parts of an audience. Situated in the very center of Chicago's vice, criminal and poverty-stricken district, surrounded by a large foreign population, the great institution stands forth as a lighthouse in the midst of a troubled sea. Its life-lines are thrown out by such a variety of means that it is almost impossible for any one coming within its radius to fail to receive its help. Veritable lighthouse keepers are they who dwell within that large building of many angles, unlimited hospitality and broad philanthropy, and direct the workings of its great social industries. Convinced that growth either in buildings or in numbers counts for little unless the settlement is able to evoke and attract to the house valuable resources of moral energy and social ability from the immediate neighborhood, they have left no means untried to accomplish that object. Untiring, unselfish, and unsalaried, except for purely technical services, these college-bred men and women are giving their brains, strength and education for the good of humanity. They may well be termed the regular life-saving crew. Volunteer assistants are the two hundred teachers, visitors, and directors of clubs who visit Hull House each week, giving time, energy and valuable assistance. 79 Activities are everywhere. Year by year new buildings and new industries have been added, and new organizations formed, exhibits and public lectures given, until the educational advantages of Hull House have become so wide-reaching that it is impossible to travel in any direction without meeting beneficiaries and recognizing its great economic value. Those who are familiar with Polk and Halstead streets, in Chicago, have no difficulty in picturing to themselves the dark, sordid surroundings, the unsavory odors, the black, rickety frame structures along adjacent streets, the hordes of children, innumerable fruit stalls, and indescribably crowded homes of the foreign population, all within a stone's throw of Hull House. If they have ever been so fortunate as to visit the settlement, and inspect it during its busiest hours, they will recall, first, the large coffee house, where hundreds of people are constantly coming and going. This coffee house was opened in 1893, on the basis of a public kitchen. The object was to meet the needs of women who must spend the day in such stead}^ application to sweatshop work that they can give little attention to the feeding of their families. From this coffee house, for the past fifteen years, every noon, many orders of soup, coffee and hot-meat sandwiches have been carried into neighboring factories. The large patronage of school teachers from adjacent public schools, business men from near-by factories, and various social clubs, in connection with their party refreshments and banquets, have developed