Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1900-06-01
I CHICAGO LETTER.

sNlk1kC ASIO a LIZ u n LII. u
Sfrs. "A. Emmagene Paul. superin-
4 tendent 81 the Second ward street
cleaning, may well be called the Colo-
mel Waring OF Chicago. Twenty years
I ago, according to Mrs. Paul, she s7a r
exactly the type OF woman that con-
5stituted the despair OF the violent
woman suffragist. n
One day Ii her usually lifeless mood
she picked up the daily paper and her
eye CHANGED to light upon q little ed
itorial ID reference to q woman who
had also suffered. but who had risen
above her grief and was making her
life distinct blessing to humanity.
Something in the spirit OF the article
aroused Mrs. Paul to sudden resolve.
and when her mother came into the
room she quietly announced her inten-
ton OF going back to Chicago. To
her family the very idea was mad
ness, but neither illness nor influence
could deter Mrs Paul from her pur-
pose and to Chicago she came with
no definite plan as to what she was
going to do, but believing that some
work must be waiting for her in the
big, crowded city. This was in 1923,
the spring after the Worlds Fair, anu
1t so happened that Mrs. Paul went 20
visit a friend, who was q member OF
the Municipal League, an organization
formed during the fair for the pur-
pose Of seeing what power women
could exert in the administration OF
civic affairs. The club seemed very
much alive to the generally filthy con-
.dition Of the city, and to the malad-
ministration of it's laws. After listen
Ing to endless explorations and dis
'cussions of the subject, Mrs. Paul one
day ventured to say:
We'll, ladies, you talk very well,
but why don't you do something?
..Yes," was the reply, but how to
begin. 1t was obviously necessary to
first make terms with the mayor, and
none of the ladies had any personal
acquaintance with him. AS chance
would have it, Mrs Paul had a friend
who knew that official and it all end
ed in her being detailed to bring the
attention of Mr. Mayor to a few Of the
things that the Municipal League
wished to have done. She found his
honor very much inclined to treat the
whole matter as joke. He, how
ever, finally volunteered to go before
the ladies and prove to them the ut
ter futility of their schemes. He &C
cordingly went, but not finding them
so easy to convince as he had imag-
ined, he consented to appoint an In
spector from among them, provided
the league would second his choice OF
Mrs. Paul for the Office.
Nothing could have been more
.averse to Mrs. Paurs inclinations;
but. finding that her refusal would
stultify any further efforts Of the club,
che consented to take the office for a
month, simply to prove that it was not
only a possible, but an eminently suit
able position for woman to hold.
She had no need and no desire to add
to her income, and undertook the work
with the sole aim of proving that a
woman could do it. She was there
upon commissioned to take one Of the
best wards in the city investigate its
conditions and do whatever she chose
for its improvement, with the equip
ment already appropriated. Mrs. Paul
hrst spent several days in study of
the situation, and discovered-what
she was later to discover in nearly
every ward Of the city-that the regu-
lar inspector was given his Office as
reward of electioneering during polit-
zeal campaigns; and that, although
drawing $1,000 year salary, he not
only did no work, but nothing was