Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-06-01
CHICAGO LETTER.


Mrs. A. Emmagene Paul, superin-
tendent of the Second ward street
cleaning, may we'll be called the Colo
mel Waring of Chicago. Twenty years
ago, according to Mrs. Paul, she was
exactly the type of woman that con-
stituted the despair of the violent
woman suffraglst.
One day in her usually llfeless mood
she picked up the daily paper and her
eye CHANGED to light upon little ed
itorial in reference to woman who
had also suffered, but who had risen
above her grief and was making her
life a 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 inien-
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 1893,
the spring after the Worlds Fair, and
It so happened that Mrs. Paul went to
visit friend, who was a 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:
"Well, ladies, you talk very well,
but why don't you do something's"
Eyes," was the reply, but how to
begin. It 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 friend
who knew that official, and 1t 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 ac-
cordingly went, but not finding them
so easy to convince as he had mag
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. Pauls inclinations;
but. finding that her refusal would
,stultify any further efforts Of the CLUB,
she consented to take the office for a
month, simply to prove that 1t was not
only 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 1t. 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
first 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 a
reward of electioneering during polit-
ical campaigns; and that, although |
drawing $1,000 a year salary, he not |
only did no work, but nothing was J