Oct. 26th, 1917.
Dear Miss Addams: --
I enclose a copy of a letter that Miss Dock wrote to the press after her release from the Occoquan workhouse. After you have read it, will you kindly return it in the enclosed envelope to Miss Katzenstein? I also send you a copy of a letter that has just been sent to me. Mrs. Kendall, who writes the letter to Mrs. Belmont, is a very lovely woman from New York State, -- near Buffalo. I long to have something done to change these terrible prison conditions. Could you not write to Dr. Stagg Whitin who is the executive secretary, as you know, of the National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor, and urge him to insist on behalf of his Committee on a public investigation.
The investigation that was recently held was secret, and held by the very people who appointed the superintendent who was under fire. The Committee which investigated him was appointed by the President; the judge who sentences our women for their peaceful petitioning of the President is also an appointee of Mr. Wilson. Could you not bring some pressure to bear upon Mr. Wilson to right some of this terrible wrong that is going on in Occoquan workhouse?
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed seeing you when I was in Chicago. It is always a refreshment to my soul to have any time with you.
Sincerely yours,
Dora Lewis [signed]
Mrs. Lawrence Lewis.
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