Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-03

In reviewing the progress made by wom-
en- all over the worLd.-LeRIIe JlIne. il the
New York Herald. says: AS the year
wears TO it's close Il natural process eE
summing up takes place. net o1fBsfh the
minds of individuals, but in every depart
ment Of work and life. and questions arise
in connection with those things upon which
we have expended time and labor as to
their value and the real use of what has
been accomplished.
usually we glance over the record Of
the past from the point OF view of the in
dtyidual and the effect upon ourselves of
losses or gains. But this becomes less and
less reliable the world grows smaller
by being knit more closely together. and
individuals grow larger by wider contact
and greater and more active knowledge of
the rest Of the world.
Perhaps the forces thus engendered and
quickeHed are accelerated by the volume
of events which seem 10 roll up and de-
mand classification and record as we near
the close of the century. Certain it is that
their movement and vibration are felt
from center to circumference; from the
furthest point Of the furthest frontier to
the deepest heart OF the highest civiiiza-
tiOn, and that IL affects not men alone
but women as well from the larger. the
human point OF view. as they were never
so reached before.
This influence, 50 broad and uplifting,
must he kept in mind in considering what
is being done. what has been done within
a longer or shorter period of time. for all
find a motive in this sentiment Of co-opera-
tion and all converge toward some center
of unity. not unity of sympathy merely,
but as ii has been expressed. unity in di-
versity. This human attitude this fac
ulty for combination. is new to women.
Perhaps IL would be more Just TO say that
the time had not arrived for its develop
ment. Power in women has come but its
appearance has not been confined to any
country. The impulse is the same every
where-the work, the effort put forth only
limited by environment
With particular reference to American
women. Mrs. Croley gives the women's club
the first place as an agent of advance
ment.
Perhaps the most significant of all the
signs of the present time is the growth
and adaptahility of the woman's club idea.
in its larger capacity it is of purely Amer
lean growth. Starting from small begin
five years created organizations which cover
the entire country. which are federated
in twenty-three states. the states and local
clubs in one great general federation, rep
resentinE probably half Il million of women,
each and ali-local, state and general COM
Misunderstanding their own Independent
autonomy. doing their own work in their
own way, but once in two years gathering
all together i'm great convention for discus
sion. comparison of ideas and methods and
cultivation of fellowship.
Locally these clubs represent every
phase of life. from the wage-earner to the
lady of the White House. Beginning with
literary for study and discussion of lit
erary and educational topics. they have
grown into department clubs, civic
clubs. village improvement. and neigh
borhood' clubs, art clubs. 'Froebel'
clubs and many. many more.
THE membership ranges from twenty
five to 1900 according 10 locality and pop
ulation, and the diversity of interests they
promote is raising the standard and chang
ing the social life of whole communities.
I'm many places club houses have been
erected, and wherever they exist they are
centers of a refined and intellectual life,
participated in by neighborhoods and all
sorts and conditions of people.
THE most universal study in these wom-
est point Of view. taking in literature. art
and the social life of peoples. and no col
lege curriculum offers a finer basis for
work than many of these club outlines
and rarely in any university are such ea-
ger and enthusiastic students as these club
women.
THE working girls clubs are as self
respecting. self-sustaining and intelligent
as any other of the modern organizations.
They have removed the working girl from
the ranks Of the whining, crying and to-
be-pitied class. and established her as an
Independent. responsible human being
The Working Girls Guild of Philadel-
phia has It's own house. its own classes, its
own pleasures and it's own charities and
pays its own way.
I'm Brooklyn. New York and some other
places they have made summer rests and
vacation homes. though the majority prefer
to be free to go where they please
at is not the worker who is to he pitied
1t is those who are unemployed. who do not
know h'; TO work and. therefore dislike
IL. The love of work belongs TO the skilled
and shows an advanced state OF civiliza-
tion.
This broad club life of women. many
sided full of opportunities and based upon
the human principle Of working with. rath-
er than for people. exists only in America
because here only are there women in the
mass enjoying tho requisite freedom and
possessed OF the equal intelligence.
THE expansion Of this idea alone presents
a prospect fruitful in varied possibilities
and rich in present opportunities"