The Western Sentinel

JANE AND HER STAR.
Chicago's First Woman Garbage Inspector
and Her Work In the Dirtiest Ward.
It took a Hercules to clean the Augean
stables, but "St. Jane," a slender, little
woman, is to see that the dirtiest ward in
all Chicago is properly swept and cleaned.
Miss Jane Addams, or "St. Jane," as her
friends affectionately call her, has been appointed garbage inspector in the Nineteenth
ward, and with a big star on her
jacket will patrol the squalid streets and
noisome alleys and see that the city contractor does his work and earns his money. She wanted the contract herself and
was prepared to give ten times the amount
of bonds required by the city authorities,
but some of the male persuasion with a
strong political pull secured the coveted
work.
"I didn't want to make any money out
of the contract," Miss Addams says, "but
I suppose the present contractor has that
idea in mind. He must keep the alleys
clean, however, or he will find some one
after him who means business." Miss Addams is wealthy and merely accepted the
office she holds for philanthropic reasons.
She was born in Cedarville, Ill., 35 years
ago and is the youngest child of John H.
Addams, who was for many years a member of the Illinois state legislature. She
was graduated from Rockford College in
1881 and entered the Women's Medical College, Philadelphia, but failing health compelled her to abandon her work there. In
1889 and in 1890 she went to London to
study the methods of Toynbee Hall and fit
herself for a similar work in the slums of
Chicago.
Returning to Chicago, Miss Addams and
Miss Ellen Starr, a teacher, secured the
old Hull House at the corner of Polk and
Halstead streets and went to live and work
in one of the worst quarters of Chicago.
The woman who owned the house gave
the rent for a number of years, and at first
the expense of running the house and ministering to the wants of the deserving poor
was paid by the two women. Finally,
however, many philanthropic women became interested in the project, and Hull
House is now one of Chicago's most beneficent charity institutions. The poor, most of whom are foreigners, are taught cleanliness and good morals and are entertained
in many profitable ways. Miss Addams is
Chicago's first woman garbage inspector,
but if the star of 'St. Jane' continues in
the ascendant Mayor Swift may make it
possible to say 'there are others.'