The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1907-09-12
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.)

MISS Julia c. 1.athrop. long associated
ana with larger activities elsewhere has
hi'd AN important part in building up
many worthy institutions III Illinois. Dur
ING her terms Of service on the Illinois
sf4te board ct public charities. of which
she Is now a member. she has actively
.aoored TO improve conditions in the great
'took county institutions at Dunnilx also
owe much to her public spirited work
Muct. OF the credit for establishing the
us influence for good is due to her. In
auteliorating the condition of child work
ers and In other ways she has shown her
poDulation.j
Cne Of the significant signs of the
times is the growth of a sense of re-
sponslbility among women as to mat
tiers of public hygiene. the protection
o. children, the care of dependents
aad delinquents-in short, that rather
Indefinite and constantly charging
field which may be called public char
aties. This sense of responsibility is
the natural development of those indi.
vtdual charitable ministrations which
have always been assigned to women
as .their legitimate province. The COM
Portable. If not comforting, charity of
a Lady Bountiful is out-dated. A wo.
man cannot make the most innocent
visit to family In distress without
fading herself beset by the whole army
ct problems of causation. Willy-nilly
she is dragged into public efforts for
laws and institutions, in each case the
Inevitable result of simple activities
which apparently would lead her no
farther than neighbours hearth.
For example, in the last few years,
to take Illinois as fair type. a large
amount of legislation has been secured
OF a philanthropic sort-the parental
school law. the Juvenile court law. the
Improvement in the compulsory educa-
ton law. the law as to factory inspec.
ton and the labor Of children, the es.
adjustment of the asylum for chronic
insane. the state training school for
girls. the new ST. Charles school for
boys. These measures and others
have been initiated and urged in large
degree by women. and are logical
evidence of the desire to find con-
structtve remedies Of general applica-
ttoa which follows the simple
beginnings involved in being a neigh.
TO; in the direct fashion of the para
bic. The time has passed, we take it,
fot questioning the usefulness OF pro-
priety OF such larger activities on the
part of women. Further, as We dis.
cover that few conditions are local or
spasmodic. that cause battles us and
prevention alone shows itself as an
adequate end, the effort to make COM
mon provision for specially helpless
persons or classes of persons. in the
taterest of society rs we'll as of these
classes is certain to increase.
AS an illustration of this tendency
to increase the scope OF charitable eff.
fost consider the growth of public
charitable institutions from the county
pooffaouse to the constantly elaborat-
lug system by which the blind, deaf
aud feeble minded. insane and others
are cared for by the state unit in sep.
acate groups and by which the care of
gfoups once classified as criminal are
now set under a milder heading. The
states. too. are constantly taking up
ue* tasks. SO that the philanthropfc
and reformative functions of state
are its largest item of expenditure,
sometimes absorbing half its revenue.
In the state of New York alone there
axe said to be 100000 dependent and
Delinquent persons. whose care costs