"The purity crusade now going on is only a city hall spasm," declared Miss Jane Addams, reformer. "The work of this crusade will die unless we women come forward and make this reform general. Who in Chicago is better fitted to make the investigations in regard to the women, to study their conditions, and to do it thoroughly, than the women of the clubs?
"Men cannot carry on this work among the unfortunate women of the city without the women, and it is only fair that the public spirited women should come to the aid of the repentant women who need them."
Miss Addams' impromptu talk stirred the women as all of the essays and talks that preceded her had failed to do, and the women of the club, who last week were ready to draw in their skirts when passing an unfortunate [woman] "with a past," and who were ready to ignore Mrs. Leslie Carter and "Du Barry," were yesterday pledging themselves to go out among the women of the [underworld] to find them and clasp them to the bosoms.
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