Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-27
WORKING GIRLS'CL
The Industrial sOuthside to the Front
With a New Project.
IT WAS ORGANIZED LAST NIGHT.
4 Club Home to be UndenOminatiOnaI and
Upon Broad Lines.
An ENTHUSIASTS IDEAS OF THE PLAN

There was q meeting held in the Palace
Parlors, No. 1901 Carson street, last night,
for the purpose Of organizing GirPs
Working Club, for the Southside. The,
matter has been talked of for some time,
and one or two informal meetings had been
previously held, but last nights meeting
resulted in permanent organization being
effected. There were about 25 or 30 women
and girls present. and considerable interest
was manifested in the scheme.
Miss Lille A. Haller who has recently
inspected the girls clubs of New York City,
presided, and made an address, in which she
described the plans upon which the various
clubs are operated and explained the bene-
fits to be derived therefrom. She said the
girls of New York had elegantly furnished
clubhouses, with combined Libraries, read
ing rooms, sewing rooms, dining and lunch
rooms, which were kept open constantly and
were great benefit to the working girls.
OPINIONS EXCHANGED.
Miss Haller proposed that the Southside
organization be formed on the same plan,
and then the women present exchanged their
views on the matter. Mrs. r. II. Jones, q
prominent worker in the w. G. 7. o., spoke
to the girls and pointed ont the good that
was being done by the Chris
tian Endeavor Societies in other
cities. The general feeling was
that there is no class of people who need an
encouraging word or a helping hand more
than working girls, who by depriVing them
selves of an education and the comforts and
pleasures of society to q great extent, earn
their own living, and in many cases support
i. al-- r L. c.AI-
A permanent organization was effected by
Lille A. Haller, President; Miss Mary
Gerlitz, Vice President; Miss Lydia Miller,
Secretary; Mrs. r. II. Jones, Mrs. james
Tarr, Mrs. Sarah Dickson, Mrs. j. NJ. Fos-
ter and Mrs. Thomas Smith, Advisory
Board.
Thursday night was fixed as the time for
regular meetings until the club is in good
working order.
NEEDS POINTED OUT.
Miss Haller said, after the meeting ad-
journed: "There are hundreds of working
girls on this side of the river who will be
benefited by this club. We came to the
SOuthside because there are more working
girls on this side than in any other section
of the city. am told that there are over
hundred girls employed in one mill. All
of the glass houses employ large number.
We will have the clubif it takes year to
get it on a successful basis.
"Our main purpose in establishing the
club is to lift up and benefit the working
girls of the city. It is to be started on a
purely independent, undenominational
basis. None shall be excluded on account
of race or creed. We propose to rent
building and furnish the rooms for the girls
We will have library and reading room.
Meals will be served at very nominal
price. Sewing, typewriting and copying
will be taught, and girls who are back in
the common English branches will be given
an opportunity to improve Intellectually.
Singing clubs will also be organized, and
the girls will be furnished piano to make
the club attractive. The girls will be as
sisted to find employment. Everything
possible will be done to make the club q
substantial benefit to the members"
AS REGARDS FINANCE.
'Where do you expect to derive your
financial support?" was asked.
"That matter is all right. The club will
support itself as soon as we can secure the
confidence of the girls and get them inter-
ested in the matter"
MISS daller WAS asked II tney nao re-
ceived any promises Of aid from financial
sources, but she evaded the question, saying:
1--WE have no lear of the financial end.
"It is understood that mass meeting will
be called shortly to present the scheme to
the general public and at the same time to
raise enough funds to make the beginning.
The women who are interested in the enter
prise seem very sanguine OF success. 1t
may be stated that while those who are the
foremost advocates of the cause are we'll
known in W. C. 7. q. circles, the club is to
be under the auspices of no church or Chris
tian organization. Although no appeal is
contemplated, the good Offices of any
friendly philsnthropist who desires to step
forward with an offer Of building or an en-
dowment fund Will be very gladly received
by the promoters of the first working girls
club in Pittsburg.