The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-04
THE DOUBLE STANDARD
Mrs. Mabel Conklin Lectures on
the Social Evil.
THE PURITY MOVEMENT
No State Needs It More Than Mon
t~ana-People Must 30 Improved.
Churches Not Exempt - No
Chance for Girls to Reform.

A very small audience at the Audi
forum last evening listened to a very
interesting and a very worthy talk
from Mrs. Mabel Conklin of Brooklyn.
Mrs. Conklin is the general secretary
OF the White Cross society OF the Unit
ed States and national lecturer Of the
w. C. T. u. She addressed the ladies
OF the w. c. T. u. at the Baptist
church yesterday afternoon and last
evening spoke at the Auditorium to a
few people.
Mrs. Conklin said tina she was very
glad of the opportunity to tell the peo-
pie of Butte the work which is being
done by the two White Cross societies
OF which she is secretary. Mrs. Conk-
lin Is a very interesting. eloquent talk
er and told In a very entertaining man
ner of the way in which the White
Cross societies came into existence.
More h 30 years ago in the city of
London a certain lady stopped at a ho-
tel, but the room being all occupied,
had to a X the back p%arlor. In the
IRON parlor was given a banquet at
which men only attended. The lady
heard conversations in the front par
lor in %nsequen Of which she de-
tNfa III a. W Nlt aus VI W %
purity. She worked almost alone for
20 years. at the end of which time a
crusade was started all over England
which was known as a purity crusade.
At that time in the United States
the w. c. Il. u. was seven years old.
That organization then decided to lay
a second stone on their structure to be
called the purity stone. Mrs. Conklin
commended that the beliefs OF people
must be improved. for when people are
pure In heart there will be no social
evils. To accomplish his publication
there must be executive work and edu-
cational work. Mrs. Conklin said that
In no state she had ever visited was
there greater need of a purity move
ment h in the state of Montana.
The speaker decried the double STAN
dard of morals. That standard. she
said. exists in society, in the churches.
I'm the colleges. i'm the trades and pro-
fessions. The Montana legislature has
tried to enact laws against this. socie-
~ has tried ostracism, homes and 'am-
lilies nave tried social elevation, but the
double standard exists nevertheless.
Men i'm every class of society boast Of
having driven some poor working girl
to moral suicide. N~inety-nine out of
every 100 women are opposed to vice.
The first result and a glorious result Of
woman suffrage in Colorado was the
enactment of a law which raised the
age OF protection of girls to u years.
Mrs. Conklin said that the vice was
first legalized in London 500 years ego.
She said that the double stan1l-d oN-
lists in colleges, and that IL is very
rarely that a boy can go to college and
come out a clean man. Why not equal
lie the matter of purity in both sexes?
Mrs. Conklin said that the double
standard exists in churches as well. She
told the story of a girl who had fallen.
but tried to reform. h endeavored
to secure employment in Christian
families. but not one would give her
a chance She then declared that she
had been driven to a life of
shame and was through re-
penting. There are two armies. one Of
500. 900 Mothers girls and the other Of
five times that number of mothers
boys. Every opportunity is given the
boys TO reform. but no chance is given
to the girls. Ninety per cent. Of the
girls could be rescued II Christian peo-
pie would do their duty. The home is
closed and the trades and professions
are closed to the girl who tries to re-
form. Right I'm Butte the cry mn
to us for help. What are the people
OF Butte thinking of when they rest so
easy and c~omplacently while this terri
BILE vice is allowed to exist?
one OF the greatest sins of woman Is
giving of support TO the bargain
ter. When bargains are given II means
that some working girl shall suffer and
will pay for bargains in tears and in
life's blood, perhaps in virtue. Mrs.
Conklin said she vas informed that
there are prosperous conditions I'm Butte
in regard to wages for girls. but there
might be n change. She told of the fac
tory girls i'm the East and the sewing
girls. When n is hungry they are
very apt to forget principle. III you
could only look on the other side OF
this question you might be more char
liable and give the fallen girls a
chance. When they get IS cents for
making n shirt or . cents for making n
pair of pants. who can wonder IL they
go wrong?
To stop the social evil. work must
be done among the young men. The
young man is the hope OF the future.
He is the educator OF tomorrow.
We want a nobler manhood and a pro-
tected womanhood. That is what the
White Cross society Is trying TO accom-
plish. The first claus in the pledge of
the White Cross society requires that oil
women be treated with respect. whether
rich or servant girls. The single stand
ard means the white life for two.