The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-04-15
GENERAL FEDERATION OF
WOMEN'S CLUBS FREDERIC ! T1sK71.

fow wears ago friendly discussion
among the women s clubs of the
s'od States as to which was the old.
This honor was claimed by both
sorosis Of New York and the Wo-
'D : club of Boston, each of these
r;ne been founded in 1868. But it
1"velopcd that the club movement, like
nr1 Lochinvar, came out of the West.
ro Ladies' Literary society of Kal-
',oqoo Mich, was founded in 1852,
I The Minerva club of New Harmony.
a in 1859. Close on the heels of
',s.o four pioneers came other clubs,
'S.nob the Ladies' Physiological in
.aute ~ Boston has the distinction of
inc the first and only woman s club
.s.t had a man for a president, Pro-
..s.o, C. 2. Bronson serving in this
..nacity and being remembered in due
..ason by his grateful followers In the
S-.sant of new suit Of clothes.
The first clubs were generally given
;, tbe study of literature, but as the
rorld progressed and the great changes
:, tho age came on, the women were
svept rresistibly into the vortex of
a.snite endenvor. Like birds Of
t..tber, they began focking together
r,bsv wanted to discuss and understand
,hinos. They became interested in ev-
srvthine under the sun from sympho-
r;,s and suffrage to whole wheat bread
ana theosophy. Clubs grew from these
uostinps, the membership increased
~.n;dlv, and then the affiliation move
mept began. With this union came
strength.
sorosis was probably the leader in
hs federation movement, having called
meeting of clubs in 1889 for the purr"
nose of mutual improvement The tol-
having year there were several State
fsderations formed, and at the first
h;snniaI meeting of the. body known
ss fbe General Federation of Women S
Clpbs, in Philadelphia, in 1894, there
rsrc Ave State declarations represented
Maine, Utah, Massachusetts, New
York and Kansas-the latter then IN
ending Missouri clubs. Today the fed
sration includes 5000 clubs which rep
y.sent forty-six State fedcratlons, with
an aggregate membership of 100000
women.
The work of the clubs included in
This general federation is as widely
yaried AS the many sections they rep
resent Every possible movement that
initiates for the good of the people
finds an echo in some one, or perhaps
all Of those clubs. Emperor William
has declared that woman should be In
ierested only in her three K's-her
Kinder, her Kueche, and her kirche.
American women also believe this, but
thew go about proving that it is a
broader thing than even his Majesty
knows, for they are using every eff
for; to make not only their own, but
sl other children happy, useful ele.
msnts of society by throwing around
them better laws, better educational
Possibilities, and healthier environ
ment; they mean to have not only their
own, bat all their neighbors' kitchens
well kept. under competent hands anc
Stocked with pure foods, for they know
the health Of the nation depends upoI
this and they mean TO make their OWL
and every other church stronger
broader and more powerful by having
il 90 hand in hand with practical char
iiy when perplexing social problem:
must be solved.
There have been j good many hitche:
in club work. and no small amount OF
adjustment has been necessary. Al
carly idea that more charity was need
ed away from home than at home hac
to BIO lived down. This sometime
brought ludicrous complications. Fo
example, q good Boston woman wen
down to Southern State to offer sew
eral hundred books to start librar,
for club, only TO discover that th
pIganlzation had already placed thre
Of four libraries in the field. AT th
ARn AaR AN NE