USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Fifteen years of civic history. Civic club of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. October, 1895-December, 1910 > Part 7
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elapse, with the children of the Juvenile Court still kept within the gloomy prison walls. When it is remem- bered that many of the wards of this Court are very young, (their ages ranging from five or six to sixteen years) and that numbers of them are detained not even for an alleged offense, but merely as dependent children awaiting the decision of the Court relative to their dis- posal, it is not surprising that Allegheny County has been severely criticised for this dereliction.
The Juvenile Court Committee perhaps erred in not insisting from the start on a strict compliance with the law; but the new method of dealing with the child offender was such an innovation as to be regarded with doubt by both bench and laity, and the Committee felt that, to win its way to popular approval, it was the part of wisdom not to ask for too much at the outset. But the intended temporary provision for the rooms of de- tention soon established itself in the minds of the County officers as a fixed policy, and repeated efforts . by the Juvenile Court Association later to have the de- tention rooms removed from the jail failed; such failure being reported to the Civic Club from time to time, in response to its urgent inquiries regarding the prospect of a change.
Therefore in February, 1910, the Club, deeming that the time had long since come for decisive action in the matter, arranged for a meeting between the County Commissioners and a large committee of its members. This meeting resulted in a thoroughly amicable and satis- factory conference. The Commissioners, having fallen heir to the situation, so to speak, from their predecessors in office, did not at first exactly appreciate the desira- bility of a change. When, however, their attention was directed to the very explicit language of the Act they agreed with the committee that to detain these children within the walls of the jail, even though separate and apart from the adult prisoners, was a direct violation of the law. The Commissioners and the Committee re-
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
gretted that the arrangements to house the children elsewhere, which they decided would be made as soon as practicable, necessitated taking them from the very wise and gentle supervision of Warden Lewis. The final out- come was, after various plans (of which the Club was kept advised), that temporary rooms have been fitted up in the old Pittsburgh Academy Building, located on property which the County expects to use, later on, for the annex to the Court House. While these rooms are not ideal, they are incomparably preferable to the old arrangement under which many wholly innocent and very young children, capable of being set in the right path, were blighted by the stigma of having been in jail. It is hoped that in the not far distant future Alle- gheny County may have a model Children's Court build- ing such, for example, as Milwaukee, Kansas City, Chi- cago and a few other cities possess.
TREE COMMISSION Following the passage, by the 1910 Pennsylvania Legislature in 1907, of the Act permitting municipalities to appoint commissioners with power to regulate the planting and care of trees in streets and highways, which the Civic Club had actively endorsed, the Forestry Committee of the Club went quietly and earnestly to work to secure an acceptance of the Act by Councils. Mayor Magee became greatly interested and urged upon Councils the desirability of ratifying this measure. That body acted favorably in the fall of 1909. In the spring of 1910 the Tree Commission, composed of Mr. Edward M. Bigelow, President, Controller Morrow and Mr. Wm. D. Grimes, was appointed to serve without compensation. After some opposition (which the Club did its best to help eliminate), an appropriation of $15,- 000 was made to assist the Commission in the care of the street trees as contemplated by the law.
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Mr. James L. Grimes, who has been appointed City Forester, is a graduate of the Yale Forestry School, and is thoroughly familiar with the work of his department. It is hoped that he will have the co-operation of the peo- ple of Pittsburgh in order to enable him to carry out the task of beautifying the streets of the City in the most expeditious manner.
"PITTSBURGH PLAN" That the city government, 1910 through the recent disclos- ures of official corruption in Pittsburgh, needs some alterations in its present system, is a problem in which the various civic bodies are deeply interested.
Following a mass meeting held in April, 1910, a "New Charter Committee", composed of two delegates each from seventeen civic and commercial organizations, was formed. Mr. T. J. Keenan and Mr. John E. Potter most ably represent the Civic Club in this non-partisan civic movement.
After a careful study of the most successful forms of government and municipal charters of other cities "The Pittsburgh Plan" was adopted by the general com- mittee and has since been approved by the organizations represented for presentation to the 1911 session of the Legislature.
VICE CRUSADE With the knowledge that the ex- 1910 tent of the so-called "Social Evil" in Pittsburgh is so wide-spread, and its effects so grave as seriously to endanger not only the morals but the health of the people, and because the public conscience should have been, if it were not, aroused by the revelations made by Mr. Wm. H. Mat- thews of Kingsley House and the Academy of Science
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
and Art, the Civic Club pledged its support and accepted a place through representatives on a committee, formed by the Eugenic Section of the Academy, which arranged for a mass meeting held in Carnegie Hall, April 12, 1910, when the social evils that are making for ill-health and bad citizenship were discussed, with a view to educating the people to the necessity of taking measures toward correcting these conditions.
CITY BUDGET 1910 In February, 1910, in response to an invitation from the Chamber of Com- merce for an informal conference on the 1910 budget of the City of Pittsburgh, the question of a permanent annual conference of civic associations on the city budget was discussed, and as a result a com- mittee was appointed to draft a plan for permanent or- ganization to be known as the Budget Conference of the City of Pittsburgh. Following the acceptance of this committee's report, the Allied Boards of Trade, upon request, undertook the formation of the budget confer- ence-the object being to classify and prepare for public distribution information concerning the income and ex- penditures of the city for the purpose of suggestion, ad- vice and information.
FLOODS The Civic Club regards the work being 1910 done by the Flood Commission organized
by the Chamber of Commerce with the deepest interest and looks forward to the permanent solution of the problem of flood prevention for Pitts- burgh.
In order to show the Board's appreciation of the importance of this matter, the opportunity was grate- fully accepted to acquaint the members of the Civic Club
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
with the work being done, through an open meeting held in May, 1910, when two of the Commission's experts, Mr. Morris Knowles and Mr. George H. Maxwell, Chair- man of the National Irrigation Association, presented the need of preventive and corrective measures for the protection of the city against the frequent floods that cause such havoc and monetary loss. Many striking stereopticon views of flood scenes in Pittsburgh and vi- cinity and the effect of deforestation and reforestation, with illustrations of great engineering feats being ac- complished in other parts of the United States, reiterated the statistics given by both speakers.
BUILDING CODE 1910
In January, 1910, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Insti- tute of architects, which for sev- eral years had been striving to impress upon the city authorities the pressing need for a revision of the build- ing code, called a meeting of the representatives of the civic and professional organizations to form a committee that should prepare a suitable outline and recommenda- tion to Mayor Magee and Councils for the appointment of a commission and the appropriation of an adequate sum to pay the expense of the clerical work of a commis- sion, whose duty would be to prepare and recommend a suitable and complete building code for the City of Pitts- burgh.
Following this meeting, a sub-committee, on which Mr. Cornelius D. Scully, one of the Civic Club repre- sentatives served, waited upon the Mayor on January 13th, 1910 and received his promise of hearty co-opera- tion. On January 31st a resolution was adopted in Councils authorizing and empowering Mayor Magee to appoint a commission composed of not more than seven representative citizens to serve without compensation. This was signed by the Mayor the day after it was
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passed, and the 1910 budget contained the sum of $7,500.00 for the use of the Commission. Mr. Edward Stotz, President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Amer- ican Institute of Architects, who had been working on this plan for some time, was appointed Chairman and one delegate each representing respectively the real estate interests, the Master Builder's Association, Engi- neer's Society, Bar Association, Master Plumber's Asso- ciation and the Civic Club of Allegheny County, com- pose its membership. Immediately following the ap- pointment and the first meeting held, a clerk was em- ployed to make a compilation of existing codes in other cities, under the supervision of the Chairman of the Commission. This compilation has practically been completed, and so far the Commission has prepared and has about ready to present ordinances covering the use of hollow tile building block and re-enforced concrete in building construction, neither of which have been re- garded by the city in existing laws. The result of the appointment of this Commission in Pittsburgh has lead to a similiar Commission in Philadelphia. It is hoped that the amalgamation of both forces may result in a statute that will create a commission to cover the entire State.
MUNICIPAL LODGING HOUSE FOR MEN 1910 It is a matter of great re- gret that the petitions of a large number of social, civic, and philanthropic organizations, the Civic Club among them, were of no avail in securing an appropriation in the budget of 1910 for the establishment and maintenance of a Municipal Lodging House for Homeless Men.
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN 1910 For some time officials of the Courts and persons en- gaged in charitable work have felt that Pennsylvania was deficient in its means for reclaiming women who are offenders against the law; that women from 16 to 30 years drift repeatedly through the Courts and into prison and after brief detention go out again as helpless and hopeless as they went in. The Civic Club of Philadel- phia, which is responsible for initiating a campaign for legislation to secure a reformatory similar, for example, to that at Bedford, N. Y., will ask for an appropriation for such an institution by the 1911 session of the Legis- lature and will direct the campaign throughout the State. The Civic Club of Allegheny County, at their request, has been enlisted among other associations and has agreed to endorse and assist in securing the passage of this measure.
BILLBOARDS As the Civic Club endorsed and 1910 worked for the passage of a law gov- erning the erection and taxation of billboards, introduced by the American Civic Associa- tion in the 1907 session of the Legislature, it goes with- out saying that, spurred on by its failure to pass, the Club's attention to the billboard as a nuisance and dis- figurement was firmly rooted.
Associations and individuals who were powerless to govern the inclinations of their lessees had brought to the attention of the Club a number of times their absolute helplessness in controlling the erection of bill- boards upon their own and adjoining property, and there seemed no way to attack the proposition save through a concerted effective organization of the various civic and social interests. It can properly be stated that while a comprehensive brief covering the legal status of
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
the billboards in the State of Pennsylvania and City of Pittsburgh was prepared and submitted to the committee under the Department of Municipal Art of the Civic Club, Mr. John W. Beatty, Chairman in November, 1909, active steps looking toward the restriction of the bill- board through the formation of such an organized com- mittee were not taken until January, 1910. A special committee of three (Mr. Wm. A. Roberts, Chairman ; Mr. Wm. K. Johnson, and Mr. J. D. Hailman) was ap- pointed by the Board to direct the policy through a plan they were authorized to formulate.
Understanding just how far they could go through the laws and ordinances, or the lack of them, the first step taken was by letter directed to forty-five civic and social organizations inquiring the sentiment for or against the billboard in order to ascertain what support, if any, a movement against the billboard would have from co-working bodies. The responses were very satisfactory, illustrating that most effective results could be obtained by combining and crystalizing the forces in- terested.
After numerous conferences and meetings, the Com- mittee submitted a report to the Board of the Civic Club with its conclusions that their number should be in- creased by one or two representatives from the inter- ested organizations of the City and by additional num- bers from the Civic Club, and recommended :
1st. A campaign of education.
2nd. That full data concerning the billboards in the City of Pittsburgh be gathered for the use of this committee, the information of the Club in general, and the further use in Councils when an ordinance is pre- sented.
3rd. That real estate owners be requested to co- operate with the larger committee in refusing to permit the use of their property for billboard advertising.
4th. That the local theatrical managers and all the painters, lithographers and printers of this class of work
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be asked to co-operate with said committee in the im- provement of such signs and billboards.
5th. That in conjunction with this campaign of education, local legislation be sought in line with a tenta- tive form of ordinance now in the hands of the commit- tee, which has in large part been drafted after the ordi- nance for the regulation of billboards in other cities, notably that of the City of St. Louis, which has been sustained by the Appellate Courts of the State of Mis- souri.
The Board approved of this report and advised that the committee further outline a plan of procedure.
Following the provision that the Billboard Com- mittee of the Civic Club shoull be increased by delegates from other civic bodies or by individuals interested, nine- teen organizations have affiliated in this work, and ac- cording to the decision made at the first meeting, for the time being the enlarged committee will carry on the work under the Civic Club and be known as the "Bill- board Committee". From this larger committee, imme- diately after its organization, certain standing sub-com- mittees were appointed by the Chairman, Mr. Wm. A. Roberts, each to take charge of a particular part of the work of the whole committee through the following mediums :
A committee on statistics with Mr. John T. Comes, Chairman, to gather data as to the number, size, location, subject matter, owners, etc., of the billboards in Pitts- burgh for the use of the committee at large and the in- formation and education of the community.
A publicity committee with Mr. John L. Porter. Chairman, to bring to the attention of the public the work of this committee and so create a helpful interest in the regulation of billboards.
A committee on advertisers and owners, Mr. John D. Hailman, Chairman, to present the matter especially to the advertisers and owners of property and procure their co-operation in the work.
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A committee on law and legislation, Mr. Wm. K. Johnson, Chairman, to prepare laws and ordinances for the regulation and taxation of billboards.
A finance committee, Mr. E. B. Lee, Chairman.
It was further decided that a meeting of the whole committee be held at least once each month at which the several sub-committees could report progress and policies of the committee and conduct of the work could be discussed and decided upon.
The Legislative Committee has drawn up two Bills and a tentative ordinance. The committee on statistics has handed in a complete report covering Pittsburgh proper and a number of interesting photographs have been taken. It is hoped that this movement will find enthusiastic backing, as it is one of the greatest forward steps toward making this city beautiful.
IMMIGRATION The object of the Board of the 1910
Civic Club to promote the general welfare of the immigrant through the organization of an association to take up the ques- tion of the distribution, protection, education and as- similation of the immigrant may be better understood by quoting Miss Kellor who puts the matter clearly when she says, "The State should take up, at the point where the Federal government lays aside its responsi- bility, the real question of immigration, which is the problem of making the immigrant into a good citizen, protecting him when he is looking for a job and helping him to go to the part of the State where he is most needed, where the best conditions exist, where there is the best standard of living and where he may find con- genial associates." Believing that only through an asso- ciation organized to centralize this kind of work could effective service be given by the State, a committee was
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appointed in October, 1910, whose object should be the formation of adequate plans.
Miss Frances A. Kellor, Chief of the Bureau of In- dustries and immigration of the State of New York and Secretary of the New York Committee of the North American Civic League for Immigrants, came to Pitts- burgh to start this committee in its work. Miss J. M. Campbell, Educational Secretary of the New York Com- mittee, accompanied Miss Kellor. During their three days in Pittsburgh, numerous meetings were held with the heads of all departments of work in any way con- nected with the foreigners, in order that they might bet- ter be able to suggest a policy for the Civic Club com- mittee. An open meeting was held at the Chamber of Commerce, when, in addition to the above named, an address was made by Baron Paul Forster, the Austro- Hungarian Consul of Pittsburgh. A number of meetings were held with the committee and a plan was drawn up under the following heads and adopted as a basis for the work :
1st. A resumé of the philanthropic, charitable, edu- cational, and religious agencies relative to their work with or for the foreigner.
2nd. Transportation : stations and trains, transfer, rates, distribution to Pittsburgh points.
3rd. Laws: state statutes and ordinances govern- ing families, domestic relations and department regula- tions.
4th. Employment agencies : domestic agencies and contract labor agencies.
5th. Banks, steamship agents.
6th. Notaries public.
7th. Co-operation: children and distributor, trans- portation via New York and Pittsburgh.
The immigration bureaus in the few states that have them are solely for the purpose of obtaining labor or developing the industries of the state. In Pittsburgh there are the Y. M. C. A., the church, the public schools,
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the Methodist Episcopal Deaconesses, the Immigrant Aid Society, the Settlements, etc., working on very im- portant and special kinds of work, but the scope of the above committee comprehends them all and hopes ulti- mately by co-operation to blend them into a great clear- ing house that will better the condition, welfare and in- dustrial opportunities of the alien. It needs investiga- tion and money to start this work, and it will be a task of some proportions. New York has been most fortu- nate in having these difficulties solved by the provision of funds to put it on a working basis and the results have more than warranted the expenditure. The Civic Club, unless aided in some unexpected way, will have to depend on volunteer service, which precludes the possi- bility of accomplishing its object immediately, but it has worked long and hard on other problems and is prepared to pursue the same course in this.
FEDERAL LEGISLATION 1910 The Civic Club through its Legislative Commit- tee, in February, 1910, sent letters to all the Pennsylvania representatives in Congress, urging them to bring about the suppression of the transportation of women for immoral purposes, by aiding to secure a $50,000 appropriation to be used by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for employ- ment of special inspectors to bring persons engaged in such traffic to indictment and conviction, and urging them to aid in the final passage of bills relating to this subject H. R. Nos. 15816, Senate No. 4514.
In April, 1910, the Club strongly endorsed the pas- sage of the H. R. Bill 13915 relative to the creation, in the Department of the Interior, of a Bureau of Mines. In May, 1910, it urged the endorsement by the Pennsyl- vania Representatives and Senators of Senate Bill 6049 establishing a national Department of Health.
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AFFILIATIONS The Civic Club maintains an "affiliated" membership in the American Civic Association, the National Municipal League, the National Child Labor Association, the Child Labor Association of Allegheny County, and the Asso- ciated Charities of Pittsburgh.
FINANCES The Civic Club has every reason to be- lieve that it is not individual when it comes to the subject of finances. The amount of work done could never have been accomplished with the an- nual dues at $2.00 or the annual receipts credited to the general fund, which is used to defray all office expenses including rent, salaries, printing, stationery, telephone, incidentals, postage, etc., if it were not for the fact that from the very beginning of the Club each department or the committees under them have been obliged, through a finance committee, to raise their own funds. This fund is turned into the Civic Club treasury and vouchers for the disbursement thereof are paid by the Treasurer of the Civic Club upon order of the Secretary after approval by the various committees.
In the following table of general fund receipts it will be noticed that between 1899 and 1906 there were no donations of any kind to the general fund.
General Fund Receipts.
1898
$1,450.25
1899
1,312.59
1900
426.00
1901 477.00
1902
452.00
1903
592.00
1904.
547.00
1905.
725.00
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1906
1,682.35
1907
1,022.25
1908
1,561.87
1909.
1,712.48
1910
2,505.06
Beginning with the year 1906, when $933.50 was contributed to the general fund from a benefit entertain- ment, there were contributions to the fund that fluc- tuated greatly each year.
In order to insure the support necessary for the successful continuance of the work, the Board in 1910 decided to establish a guarantee fund. The following members of the Club pledged to contribute annually amounts ranging from $5.00 to $50.00 in addition to their dues. The total amount of the guarantee fund in 1910 was $1,120. This amount added to the general fund brought the receipts for 1910 up to $2,505.06.
GUARANTORS.
Allen, Col. Edw. Jay · Arbuckle, Miss Christina
A
Armstrong, Mrs. Chas. D. Ayers, Mr. H. B.
Barr, Mr. J. H. Bell, Mr. Arthur W. Bindley, Mr. John
B Bissell, Mrs. Frank Blackburn, Mrs. W. W.
Cassidy, Mrs. Wm. H. Chalfant, Miss Isabel Clark, Mrs. W. E. Clause, Mr. Wm. L.
Demmler, Mrs. A. J. Denny, Miss Matilda
C Clemson, Mrs. D. M. Connell, Mr. Wm. H. Corey, Mr. Wm. E. Crutchfield, Mr. J. S.
D
DuPuy, Mrs. Herbert
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Edwards, Miss Katherine M. E
F
Fernald, Mr. C. B.
H
Hamburg, Mr. Phillip
Hamilton, Mrs. William D.
Hanauer, Mr. A. M.
Harbison Estate
Heinz, Mr. Clarence
Iams, Mrs. Franklin P.
I Irish, Miss Charlotte
Jackson, Miss Mary Louise
Keenan, Mr. T. J.
Kennedy, Mr. Wm. M.
Lincoln, Mr. Wm. E.
Lockhart, Mr. Jas. H.
L Lyon, Mrs. C. L.
Martin, Dr. Elizabeth Martin, Mrs. Sherwood C.
Mehard, Hon. S. S. Mellon, Mr. A. W. Mellon, Mrs. Jas. R.
M Mellon, Mr. Richard B. Miller, Mrs. Reuben Moorhead, Miss Emily Murdock, Mr. Alexander
Mc
McClintock, Mr. Oliver McConway, Mrs. William McCreery, Mrs. William H.
McGinley, Mrs. John R. McLean, Mrs. Chas. B.
N
Negley, Mr. Henry H.
O
Oliver, Mrs. Jas. B.
Oliver, Miss Mildred
Heinz, Mr. Howard C. Heinz, Mr. H. J. Holdship, Mr. C. F. Houston, Mr. Jas. H.
J
K King, Mrs. Alexander
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
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