Ear on Chicago; Travelers Aid Society

This is Hugh Hale speaking from Traveller's Aid Society office in the northwest corner of Union Station in downtown Chicago, and this is the story of Traveller's Aid and what it does for the people who are traveling through the city of Chicago. This is only one of several offices of Traveller's Aid, but we have come to Union Station to do the story. Throughout the program you will be hearing from Mr. Herman L. Goldberg, who is the director of Casework, Miss Kathleen Witters, who is Casework Supervisor, Tecla Kankowicz, who is a Case Worker, here at the Traveller's Aid, and two volunteers, Mrs. Gordon Warren and Mrs. G. Heiss. Now let's get into our story and we're going to tell the story during the program of a family, a refugee family, traveling through the city of Chicago on their way to Tacoma, Washington. Mr. Goldberg, could you tell us something about what you may do for this family? Well, this family will probably need some planning, Ms. Laos, you want to tell me what it's about? Well, the family has a limited funds, 40 dollars or

under for the complete trip to the West Coast. I would suspect that this would not be sufficient to purchase food on the train. And therefore, probably we will have to buy food and let them make their own sandwiches, which is most of the time they prefer to do anyway. But you're going to use their own money for buying food. Yes. You think they have enough for that? They would have enough if we did it in that way. And then you're going to discuss with them how they're to use the sandwiches and their food and their money so that they'll have enough till they get to the West Coast. That's right, they will have money then for a milk or a hot coffee or tea on the train then. Do you know of any other needs that they have asked for? It's morning, they were hungry. And what time did they come here to the station? You know, it was early because I arrived here around 9 o 'clock and they had already gone to the restaurant, I think, by then. The red cap bought them to us about 845 just before you came. He found them trying to find their place and the station to get on the train and thought that we would help them. He knew this. Redcaps usually bring people to us whenever

they find it there in need of some assistance or planning. Who talked to them this morning? Did you? No, actually, Mrs. Lyoleus did, since this is her responsibility as a case worker and till she found out that they were hungry and immediately got them some food. They also felt they were lost in the station and that was, along with the hunger, was the reason that they both were weeping. Well, now there's one thing that isn't quite clear in my mind, why weren't they met by an agency that is supposed to sponsor this family? Probably because the wire probably reached his office this morning and he would not receive it until he came down to his office at 9 o 'clock, which would have been too late to meet the train. In other words, there just must have been some sort of confusion. That's right. It should have been received last night just seeing it probably got in after his office closed. Do you have many Hungarian families coming through now? Well, there are a number coming through, not too great, but

they have been coming and probably will continue to for a while. Now the Lutheran Welfare Society tells me that they expect to have about 100 coming through very shortly. Well, as you said, a lot of agencies sponsor these groups, but sometimes there obviously has to be a little confusion, and the traveller's aid is the best place to go. That's right. Now actually this morning we're communicating with the representative of the sponsoring society for this family, and that representative will be here very shortly. I see some people coming up for some information over here at the counters. Suppose we walk over with our tape recorder and record what's going on over there. Well, I would suggest that since there are so many conventions and shows in town that you telephone first to get see if they have a room, don't go down there, it may waste time. So, I will give you that telephone number, and then you can call them, and if you don't find a room there,

you come back and we'll see what else we can find, and then you can call these other places. Is that all right? Well, there are great many hotels, but the larger ones, as I said, are all full right now because of conventions, but I'll write the names down for you, and give you the telephone numbers, and then you may call those hotels too, and see, I know you want to be someplace in the loop if possible, but of course everybody else wants to be in the loop too, right? The moment you see, but I'll give you these telephone numbers, and then you can call those. Okay, you do that, I appreciate it. Very glad to do it. May I ask you just a question or two? What was the problem with this family hand? Well, they're just strangers in town, they're going to be here a short time, and they don't know the hotels, and he has business in the loop, and would like a hotel that wouldn't be too far from where he's going. I see, thank you very much.

The Hungarian family has returned from the restaurant, and first of all, let's listen into a phone conversation with a caseworker, Miss Cancuit's calling up the Lutheran Refugee Service. Hello, is this Webster 92731? Is Mrs. Mary Wilson there, please? Mrs. Wilson, this is Miss Cancuit's Traveler's Aided Union Station. We have a refugee family here this morning who have arrived from New York. Last name is Mott's Amazon Mary, OTZ is in zero, they have five children with them. They're on route to Roy Washington to a sponsor there. They're ticketed to Tacoma, according to the information that they carry on their form here from Lutheran Refugee Service in New York. The sponsor has been notified, but we don't honestly know whether he's going to be meeting them in Tacoma. Would you be sure about that? Would there be any question of there being met there? Met in Tacoma, because

we'll have to find out how far away Roy is from Tacoma. Now they have about $40, it is a question, we're going to have to work out and see just exactly how many meals they'll need, and if there is any shortage of funds, would you authorize us to advance additional, because it's still a long trip? I see, well we'll ask them exactly how much money they were issued in New York, and of course you know meals on route are expensive, it'll be a question as to, the other thing is we might run into a hitch, because if they're supposed to go out on this two o 'clock train, they have no reservations, no coach reservations for that. So it's likely that if we can't get them on the two o 'clock train, we'll have to take them on the late train and re -notify the sponsor. Would you want us to do that, or would you do it? Well, we have, you had no worry at all. Do you have any idea whether we're expecting any more families today? They came in, you want to see, they flew in, because

they came in that out of wild, air flight. Oh, you don't have any idea what train that would be. Uh -huh. Okay, well thanks so much, Mrs. Wilson, and in case I need to, I'll get in touch with you, otherwise we'll give them our regular travel service. Okay, thanks, Mrs. Wilson. Bye. And what's the latest from the Lutheran Refugee Service, what do they have to say? Well, they have given us authorization to give travel service to this family. We're going to, first of all, the very first complication is that they do not have reservations for the two o 'clock train. Now at the party of seven, it's going to be a question as to what the space is on the two o 'clock train and whether we'll be able to place them on route. The other thing that we need to know is exactly how much they have in the way of

funds, whether that will be sufficient to cover their meals, because they still have a long trip. The third point, although we know that the sponsor has been notified, we want to make certain since these people don't know the country at all, they're getting off the train into coma, but their sponsor is in Roy Washington. We want to be pretty sure that the sponsor will know the exact arrival time and will be into coma to meet. Now this is our regular service. There may be other complications we don't know. We'll find out how the children are feeling if all of them are healthy, if they need any medical care and get into any other problems that are indicated. Well, I think that explains it thoroughly. Thank you very, very much for talking to us. Now we're back over at the counter and there's another family looking for directions and force of information and we're going to listen in. Well, here we have about until four o 'clock in the afternoon to kill and we just like to know what's nice to do around Chicago. Well, there are several things you can do. Do you know Chicago at all? We don't know where we've been here before, but we don't know us. Well, of course for people who've never been to Marshall Fields, especially women,

we all have a success that maybe if you can get your husband to take you there, that might be a good place to start from. It's a lovely store to look at and then they have nice restaurants in there and near there is the Art Institute down at Adams Street, so they're in walking distance from there down on Michigan Avenue at Adams. A little farther down on Michigan Avenue is the in Grant Park is the Planetarium. The aquarium, I think you're a little girl, might like to go and see the fish in the aquarium. Children are in delight with that. And then there's the Natural History Museum, you can spend quite a bit of time there. They also have a cafeteria there if you're having to be there at lunch time. And there are also some good movies in town that are up in the movie. I might not see something there. Well, there's a list of movies here that you can glance through and see what you might like to see and where they are. I will tell you where they are. We've been back to see your grandmother and grandfather in Pennsylvania and we're on our way home now. We live in Bend, Oregon. You're just going through them. We

hope you like Chicago. Thank you very much. Give you the list of some of the movies too if you care to go those later in the day. Thank you very much. Thank you both very much. There's another service of the Traveller's Aid giving information about entertainment in Chicago. We're going to listen in now as one of the caseworkers is going to talk to the family that was brought over here early this morning as you heard earlier by the Red Cap. Now let's listen. They'll be talking in another language but it'll be interpreted. Romania. They're Native countries. Romania. They're Native countries. They're Native countries. And they have stayed in Austria for many years. So volunteer by the way that is going to speak to the family. Yes. They've been in Austria for 12 years. Did they have to flee from Romania? Yes, they did. They flew. They had to flee from Romania to Austria. And they stayed in Austria 12 years. That's right. And then the Lutheran refugee service assisted them in getting to this country. How long did they have

to work on processing before they get in? We longed. Varus Ersis couldn't hear common. We longed Varus in Austria just before you came here. Five months. Five months. Five months. Five months. They took them to. Five months. They took them to. We know that they flew in from Austria to New York. I'm wondering how the children are doing. That's Miss Kanka, which the case we're asking questions. Were they able to make the trip all right? Or did they feel airsick or how they feel right now? Of course. I have never seen them. But they flew in with them. During the flight. Yes, the children were a little bit ill. A little airsick. Yes. How do they feel now? Yes, since they're all right. Yes, since they're all right. How about the Mr. and Mrs. Harvest? They have a good breakfast, they did,

and they said that everyone here is so very nice to them, that they can't help feeling so much better. Now you tell Mr. and Mrs. Mons that any questions that they have, that we will help them with everything through up until the time we put them on the train. We will get them onto the train now. They have an awful lot of luggage, and that's a question as to whether we can get this check through on their tickets, or do they prefer to keep all of their luggage with them on the coach? What would they like to do? They would rather keep it with them, yes. It will be a question of having help from a red cap with this luggage, now will they want the assistance of a red cap? Yes, they have to have help from them, yes. Yes, they have a little help from them, yes. Yes, they understand that, they help them with the red cap, they will be a charge, we will explain exactly how much they understand that, because they have done so far. Ms. Cancel, which is

going to go over to the phone, as a matter of fact, she has reached the phone now, and she is going to get some train information, let's listen. 12, now if we can't get reservations on this two o 'clock train, what would be the next train out, Burlington, GM? 1110 tonight, arriving Friday AM 912, okay, thank you very much. Did you get your information? This is the train information, if they can't get out on that two o 'clock train, they have to wait until 1110 tonight, not reaching to Coleman until 912. So, the first thing that we have to do is see what the Burlington depot passenger agent may have in the way of information from New York, or if he doesn't have any information, whether he can get coach seat reservations on this two o 'clock, so I'll make the phone call now. Mr. Hagen, this is Travers A to the other end. Do you have any information on a refugee family by the name of MOTS, Amazon Mary OTC regarding reservations to Tacoma on the two o 'clock seat reservations?

Yes. Look, we have, there are seven in the party, two adults, five children, oldest child is 14, the youngest is one. What's the chance of getting them on this two o 'clock? Pretty good? No, I haven't, you want me to call through up there? Yeah, they've got a lot of luggage too. Should I find you in case we can't get anything from your past, your reservations bureau? Uh -huh, check with you at 130, in case we can't get seats. Okay, what's your reservations number there? 671 on this line, or... Yes, all right. Yeah, that's, yeah, your Burlington line is what I've forgotten. Uh -huh, okay, thank you. Bye. Looks pretty good for the two o 'clock. Yes, it does. I'm going to be

calling the reservations bureau now since the passenger agent doesn't have any information. Hello. Reservations? Uh -huh. This is Travers A to Union Station. We have a refugee family who are ticketed on the Burlington GN from Chicago to Tacoma. Uh -huh. Uh -huh. What's the chance of getting them out on the two o 'clock train? Could you, uh, spare seven reservations for today, yeah. Pardon me? The train for today is what? It's all sold. No space at all. Uh -huh. Can you put them on a waiting list? Yeah. Uh -huh. What chances? Well, look, I have their tickets here. Would there be any chance that this may have been wired in via, uh, from New York via the New York Central Railroad?

Look, if I give you the ticket numbers, would you check? What about? What? Uh -huh. What would be going to Tacoma? No direct service into Tacoma anymore on any train? Applications? Yes. Number one, uh, all seats are sold out to Tacoma on the two o 'clock unless this ticket number indicates, uh, that, uh, reservations are being held in the number of the ticket. That's number one. Number two, there is no direct service to Tacoma now. The 1130 AM train, that would be leaving in an hour and a half, is, uh, the train that goes into East Auburn, which is a very short distance from Tacoma, but the destination of this family is Roy Washington, and the, um, reservations clerk is now checking to see how far Roy is from Tacoma. Um, it's a question of how we're going to ticket them now. Hello? Uh -huh.

The pauses you hear in this tape recording are naturally from the fact that she's listening to the conversation on the other end. The adult Tacoma and then Roy. How far is Roy from Tacoma? Well, look, um, the number one thing is these people are ticketed to Tacoma. Uh, they, um, the sponsor has been notified as far as we know, uh, to meet them in Tacoma, although the sponsor lives in Roy. But what I'm wondering about is, can you tell me, um, how much difficulty the sponsor would have getting from Roy to East Auburn? Would it be about as easy as getting from Roy to Tacoma? All right. Uh -huh. Uh, very short distance between Auburn and Tacoma. Well, what are the approximate distances Roy to Tacoma or Roy to East Auburn? Twenty miles. Uh -huh. Yeah.

If he has a car and I'm assuming that probably this is so, uh, it won't be too much of a drive. Yeah. Now, can you tell me, uh, about the 1130 train this morning, do you need, uh, seat reservations on that? What? You do. What chances can, uh, have we got to putting them on the 1130? Uh, uh, there are seven people, six tickets, uh, one child is one year old, the rest are from five up to 14. That'll get them into, uh, East Auburn at what time? It's just traveling through. Seven people, about, uh, minimum of six meals, and a dollar a piece would be $42, they're short of money. We'll have to. $2 short. Well, no, at that, you see, uh, um, actually, if we figure just a dollar per meal, which is way below the budget, oh, I'll bet you need on the railway train, um, it would still mean that, uh, they're short, but actually, they need more than, um,

well, they probably need somewhere within the vicinity of 50 to $55 to be the least bit comfortable. Just money will probably come from the Lutheran service. Yes. We'll request an authorization after we explain what the budget is. Arrive Thursday, 7 .50 AM in East Auburn. Okay. Now, what can you give me in the way of, uh, seat reservations? Yeah. Well, I'm hoping that maybe once the family gets into the car that we can readjust, there are two youngsters who probably wouldn't mind, uh, uh, being away from the family as long as they're in the same car, it just, uh, a little, uh, distance from them. Um, there's one that's 14 years old, and I think another 12 -year -old, you know, 12 and 14 -year -old. So as long as, and you've got five seats that are exactly, are together across the aisle and then back, right?

Okay. Well, that would work out all right. Now, could you give me the seat numbers and then, uh, hold them in, and then you'll Well, I'm glad that they got seats, uh, on that 1130 train, we won't have to listen to the rest of that conversation. I'd like to tell you just briefly, a little bit about the family. Families last name is Mats, M -O -T -Z, the father is Johann, he is 39 years old, the mother is Maria, she is 38, the children are 14 -year -old Gerda, 12 -year -old Johann, nine -year -old water, five -year -old Renata, and one -year -old Hildegard, and Hildegard is as cute a little child as you've ever seen, a little blonde girl dressed in European clothing, a very beautiful little girl indeed. In fact, the whole family is a very handsome family. We're glad to see that they're going to get out to Roy Washington before long. This happens to be recorded on Tuesday morning, and they're going to be in Roy Washington on Thursday morning at 730. So it doesn't take the travelers aid very long to move, and they usually get the best reservations they can in a case like

this. So we have concluded the case of the Mats family, and there are some other questions that I'd like to address to Mr. Goldberg about the Traveler's Aid Society. Now we have done almost a complete story on this family, a refugee family coming into the United States and moving all the way across the continent from New York to Washington State. And it's been a very interesting story indeed, as to how the Traveler's Aid helps them. But there are many other things. We've also recorded how information is given to a young family coming in here trying to find a hotel room. Another family coming in trying to find something to do, that they have a layover in Chicago of approximately eight hours. Some of the other things tell us about. The other things that we face here every day are not only the inexperienced travelers who come to us for assistance, but the Traveler who may be elderly or aged and is not able to get along very well, and for whom we have made arrangements to meet and provide

for them while they're here. We also plan for children who are traveling alone. And what other services, Mr. Goldberg? There are also runaways who are brought to our attention either by the station personnel or by police or when they come to the desk and ask volunteers for a certain kind of help. The volunteers recognize that they may be a runaway and bring them to the attention of the caseworker. Sometimes people get sick. They may be mental, they may be disturbed or they may be physically ill and can't go on and then we provide for their care here and make arrangements for their going on. We communicate with their families through the other Traveler's Aid societies or through a social service agencies and the other towns. Occasionally, somebody coming to Chicago does find employment but doesn't have the means to keep himself going until he can get his first check. If these are newcomers and they come to us and we try to plan with them either by our service or by referring them to a proper resource in Chicago for this kind of help. The fact that we are here to

meet travelers who are in difficulty and newcomers to Chicago who have emergency needs as a service that constantly goes on throughout the year. Traveler's Aid is open each day in the year and under the direction of Mr. Ralph W. Collins, the executive secretary, has been expanding services and directing the services so that we now have facilities not only here at Union Station but at all the major railroad stations, the airport and the bus station and the Greyhound bus station. Thank you very much Mr. Goldberg for talking to us. Now there is one other person that we want to talk to before we conclude our program and that is Miss Kathleen Winter, who is supervisor of caseworkers. Now Miss Winter, first of all I'd like for you to explain to me the difference between a caseworker and a volunteer. Well, the caseworker is a trained worker usually with Traveler's Aid. She must have

her master's degree and some experience in a casework agency before coming to the agency. She is working full -time that is a eight hour day and the volunteer donates her services. Usually this is a period of six hours per day and the volunteer services are in a three shifts per day. The volunteers are very, they usually report right on time and are just as interested in the work actually as the paid workers. Where does the money come from to support Traveler's Aid? Well, the money comes partially from the community fund, partially from membership drives that Traveler's Aid sponsors each year and partially from benefit balls. The railroad donates our space and

also is quite generous as far as our money is concerned. Well, Traveler's Aid certainly is doing a wonderful job in Chicago as they are throughout the United States and we want to thank you Miss Winter for talking to us and helping us on the program. You have been a very great help indeed. And Mr. Goldberg, thank you, sir, for allowing us to come down to do the story of Traveler's Aid at Union Station. Thank you very much. It has been a real privilege to have you here to see what we can do and to record it for the community of Chicago which I am certain is so much interested in our work and to watch us what we do very closely. Well, once again, thank you to all of you down here. It has been one of the most interesting shows that we have done. The story of this family and some of the other services that Traveler's Aid disposes down here at Union Station. And that is the story of Traveler's Aid. This is Hugh Hill speaking.