Prime Minister’s Daughter

Evening Star, Issue 20374, 4 January 1930, Page 2

Prime Minister’s Daughter

Writes on Social Service Miss Ishbel MacDonald’s Views . Need for Trained Leaders to Direct Voluntary Efforts [By Ishbel MacDonald.] (Copyright.) In her third article, written after Tier tour of the United States of America with her father, Miss Ishbel MacDonald, eldest daughter of the Prime Minister of Britain (Mr Bamsay MacDonald), compares social service work in Britain and U.S.A. She tells of her own work, and stresses the need for trained leaders to make the most of the efforts of volunteer workers.

QUEBEC, October 25, . My visit to the United States had two aspects. Primarily, I went as the daughter of my father on an official mission. But with the Prime Minister’s daughter came another self, the London County Councillor, interested in social reform. I have elected nowadays to give most of my tnno to public activities on the London County Council and Laboui Party propaganda, besides being hostess at Downing street. But once a woman has become alive to the evils existing in the society in which she lives, once she has thrown herself heart and soul into the movement for the betterment of conditions among the masses of people, she never can lose her absorption in their problems. f lliese problems are" the ■ same, no matter which side of the is their setting, in spite of the reputation of America for prosperity. MANY IN SQUALOR. Though a large number of American working men and their families live comfortably in the United States, there remain many persons who are overwhelmed by the flood of disaster, ulhealth. and squalor, . While I was in New lork and in Washington I tried to observe something of how Americans deal with their problems. Mine could_ be only a surface view. But two impressions stand out:—

First, social work in the United States strikes me as being- more introspective than social work in Great Britain. Everything that is done in. America is thoroughly analysed. I heard of an American book recently published, in which the habits, tastes, desires, houses, clothing, automobiles, and ideals of every citizen of a town in the Middle West were tabulated. This is the sort of “ looking within themselves ” that Americans so often do. . . My second impression-is one of similarity rather than difference. When I visited the uptown clinic of the Hendry Street Settlement, in New York, and saw the babies there who had had their tonsils removed, ,1 thought “ they might be London children S’-* JOB FOR WOMEN. Social work in America and Britain has come to mean more and more to modern young women. I am but *n example of a great body of young people striving to improve conditions under which .people live or to make up in some way for the sufferings they undergo. The normal young woman wants to do something to better, social conditions. On the whole, the flapper has been deceiving the public. She has been hiding her inner feelings under an attitude of gaiety.' She has much more feeling for humanity than her frivolous side would indicate. The young girl and the newly-married woman, as well as the mother who has brought up a family and sent it out into the world; are the logical persons to do social work. , I think every girl ought to nave the training which makes it possible for her to go to work for her living. even_ if she does not take up the profession for which she is trained. “PATCHWORK” SERVICE. Two kinds of social sendees are open to-day to the women who are free to enter it— voluntary and professional. Tho voluntary workers make up the larger class. They form little groups for specific purposes, working inde pendently of other groups, and often duplicating the efforts of other group*. It is these independent groups I have credited with occasional “ patchwork ” social service.: ■ Lacking a central office to direct them with a sweeping programme, their good intentions often express themselves in temporary measures and wasteful procedure. They waste huge quantities of valuable energy raising funds for these activities.

But in spite of occasional blunders, voluntary social workers are extremely important. They make up the bulb of the workers. Under , the directions of trained, paid social workers they exercise enormous power for good, provided they have that natural talent for social work which is vital to success. NO PATRONISING. I do not believe in charity in the old sense of the word. Women no right to go into the slums to visit the poor, saying patronisingly: “,T must help the poor!” I #n glad say this type of social worker is going out of fashion. Wo regard the poor as friends, and not as people through whom we satisfy our desire for a sense of , superiority Tho war brought about this change, I am told. ■ j With more trained paid workers in tho field this condescending attitude

would vanish completely. From myj own observation I should say in th« United States .there ate ' more paid social workers fpm in Britain, as well as a greater number of private organisations to administer social wel-t fare. Ah educated, independent, self-re-specting young woman working for her living among the poor and wretched is not likely to take a “ holier-than-thou ” air with her into a humble home. But in both countries there i» a dearth of women educated to do professional social service. - THOUGHT I WAS NURSE. The leaders in Britain are girls , who have had such special training as I was having when my father first went to Downing street, and which I had, to abandon to become his hostess. ; When I was training to be a health visitor, which meant I should learn a smattering of nursing. Now, to be a health visitor, I should have to be a registered trained nurse. The power of the trained social worker is remarkable. _ What respect mothers have for a uniform! I remember when I was going around following up oases for my school care committee in the Bow and Brom* ley section of London, I sometimes chanced to wear a straight brown cloth coat and brown hat. Some thought this was a nurse’s unw form, and ray words carried more weight than with other mothers, who had not happened to see the brown coat and hat. When I spoke so garbed I had the authority of a professional person. My words, in other clothes, were received as the advice of a young, inexperienced, West End woman. REAL LEADERS SCARCE. Every social worker must have the talent for making people like her. A 1 tactless person. never can be a successful home visitor or a club organiser,' no matter how kind her motives.

She can take charge of office routine,keep records, make reports. But she must not be sent out to do the human side of the work, as she often is now, because there is a shortage Of wellequipped voluntary workers. ; This is the stumbling blobF, even inAmerica ; there are not yet enough' women who combine the driving force of being interested ip the lives "'of other people with the training to express that force intelligently. I began doing social service when I left Downing street in 1924. I was only partly trained, because my schooling had been interrupted in December, 1925, when the Labour Party came into power. I had had one year and one term at’ King’s College for ’Women, the only college in England which gives a combined household and social science course. ‘ . I became secretary of the Care Committee of an East End school. It was my duty to follow up cases for which doctors had recommended treatment, I went into this work as a preparation for the London County Council. The Care Committee work was worth while. What joy, actually to see a child change mentally and physically because of some minor operation undertaken through my efforts J

TASK FOR GOVERNMENT. I never have : felt that one could put right the • injustices of society through social service alone. In the last analysis social work must be a function of government. It ■ is not enough for a municipality or county or national government merely to en* courage. welfare work. The government must take the re* sponsibility, must put an end to opportunities , for “patchwork social service, and see that energy is used for constructive work. Once I thought education would t teach people how to demand their own rights. But the more I see of life in London—and I know the same is true in New York, Chicago, and olhei! American cities with slum districts—the more I realise that education can* not bring about social justice by itself* Good housing has so much to do with' it. The general health of poor people is so aifected by the way they live that they cannot benefit by education as fully as they should* It is a waste of teachers and of beau* tiful school buildings if those who use them exist at home in cramped sur* roundings. We must, fight the idea that bad housing is inevitable as death, and that wo have to accept social evils of past generations without making a great struggle to root them out. It is better to find the cause of a social ill and remove it than to use palliatives to ease the pain. How can any girl with wide-open eyes and an inner faith in humanity fail to take her part in preventing and curing social disease, no matter what her station in life P (Concluded.)