A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil

Jane Addams

oct 2010 · University of Illinois Press

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Published in 1912 on the heels of Twenty Years at Hull-House and at the height of Jane Addams's popularity, A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil assesses the vulnerability of the rural and immigrant working-class girls who moved to Chicago and fell prey to the sexual bartering of what was known as the white slave trade.

Addams offers lurid accounts–-drawn from the records of Chicago's Juvenile Protection Association–-of young women coerced into lives of prostitution by men who lurked outside hotels and sweatshops. Because they lacked funds for proper recreation, Addams argues, poor and socially marginalized women were susceptible to sexual slavery, and without radical social change they would perhaps be "almost as free" as young men. In addition to promoting higher wages and better living conditions, Addams suggests that a longer period of public education for young women would deter them from the dangers of city life.

Despite its appeal to middle–class readers eager for tales of sexual excess and the rape of innocence, the press and prominent intellectuals criticized A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil for being disproportionately hysterical to its philosophical weight. Katherine Joslin's introduction considers the controversial reactions to the book and the circumstances of its publication. Behind the sensationalism of the narratives, Joslin locates themes including the commodification of sex and the importance of marriage for young women.

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Jane Addams was born Laura Jane Addams in Cedarville, Illinois, on September 6, 1860. She graduated from Rockford Female Seminary with the hope of attending medical school. Her father opposed her unconventional ambition and, in an attempt to redirect it, sent her to Europe. In London, Addams was moved by the work done at Toynbee Hall, a settlement house. Upon her return to the United States, she began her lifelong fight for the underprivileged, women, children laborers, and social reform. In the space of four years she received Yale University's first honorary doctorate awarded to a woman, published her first book, was the first woman president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, and was elected vice president of the National American Women Suffrage Association. In 1915 she became the first president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. With Ellen G. Starr, Addams founded Hull House in Chicago, a renowned settlement house dedicated to serving the disadvantaged and the poor. Addams went on to author twelve books, including Twenty Years in Hull House, Newer Ideals of Peace, and Peace and Bread in Time of War. The latter title was written to protest the U.S.'s involvement in World War I and was based on Addams's experience assisting Herbert Hoover in sending relief supplies to women and children in enemy nations. Hospitalized following a heart attack in 1926, Addams could not accept in person the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1931. She was the first American woman to receive the honor. Addams died in 1935.