Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1901-04-21

hdASetS T SdSId dllOli Ol W OuIel SluDSJ which met in this city the past week, the Graphic was unable to print, at the time, the welcome address of Mrs. to print at all, hence the Graphic cher fully gives it space in this issue:
 Ladies of the Federated Clubs of Arkansas: I have been requested and commissioned by the women's clubs of Pine Bluff to extend to you a most cordial and generous welcome to the hospitality of our city. Four years ago call was issued for representa- tives from the various womens clubs of the state to assemble in Little Rock for the purpose of organizing feder- ation of clubs. The organizations of this city were represented by mem bers who returned home so full of en- thusiasm for the work and with such of the session and their kind reception by the people of our capital city, that we felt eager for the time to come when all the members of our local clubs might share with others the im- petus and inspiration, interchange of plans and methods of work to be gath cred at these yearly meetings.
 The scoffer might say that have be- fore me manifold edition of the New Woman" Is this true? What is meant by the expression? The term is used by some contemptuously by others it is spoken with respect. sometimes it is given merely as des- ignation, reerring to result of cer- tain tendencies and methods, without the attempt to show that these are in themselves signs of progress or de- cline. But the idea is certainly a prevalent one that woman. in compar ison with man, now occupies posi- 1ion and wields an influence hitherto unknown in her history.
 Not only did woman recently sit on the throne of one of the most progress sive nations of earth's highest civili- zation as queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India but. at the other extreme of the sweep of progress, the desttnes of the most numerous, and least progressive. and most conservative of oriental peoples are swayed by a woman who holds her power by the force of an imper ious will and determined spirit-the empress dowager of China All the male rulers of the world do not even claim to number among their peoples, If combined, so many persons as are the subjects of these two great na- tions; and the masculine rulers have joined their forces in the hope that they can keep in check the one wo- man ruler who defied mankind as fl she represented the scarlet woman of the apocalypse.
 It may seem that the question soon will be, has man any rights that wo- man-the New Woman-is bound to respect? The prevalent opinion seems to be that the woman of modern times is, in large measure, responsible for this state of affairs, and that she is a creature of our day of progress alone; but the facts of history do not sub stantiate this claim Even in far Cathay. where woman has been sup posed to have a subordinate place, such prominence to women rulers as is now illustrated there has been, by no means, unknown in the earlier ages of the world. The empress 'sWu," as she is called occupied a prominent place among soyereigns. Even before her husbands death. she engrossed the whole management of affairs. Her generals extended the limits of her empire and compiled with her orders to alleviate the miseries of her sub jects. Her reign was a brilliant one, and she has been known i'll history as the Catherine de Medici of China. In that vast empire, at least. the New Woman has not been so very new in the last thousand years. In Russia almost two centuries ago. Catherine l., wife and successor of Peter the Great. manifested her ability in war and diplomacy; later. Catherine H.. of Russia was even more distinguished in her ability. and represented the worst and best sides of woman's character. Lord Broughman says of her, Her capacity was of an exalted nature. There have been fewer abler monarchs in any part of the world and the history of princes afford few examples of such talents and such force of character on a throne, per verted to the working of so much mis- chief