Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-06-23

may be attached to the selection Of
Boston as a meeting place, for there
the first women's club meetings In
this country were held. That was In
the days when Anne Hutchinson called
together her townswomen in her
home, where the Old Corner book store
now stands, and discussed with them
the sermon of the preceding Sunday
until. in 1887, the outraged elders sent
her into exile for the sin of too freely
expressing her feminine mind.
This is the ninth biennial of the or
ganization, and reports in the hands
OF expert heads OF hard working de-
partments will show that in the eight
cen years of the Federation's exist
ence,. as we'll as in the decade back
of that, the women of the nation have
not ceased in a concerted effort to
ameliorate unsatisfactory social con-
ditions and to promote the growth of
altruism. One of the most vital in
terests of the women of the Fedora
ton is that of abolishing child labor
In the factories, mines, mills, work.
shops and stores. Whether their in
fluence was direct or indirect. the fact
that eighteen states during the past
year have enacted new laws or i'm
proved old ones regarding child labor
has been largely due to the unfiagging
zeal OF the women'S clubs. Reports
will show that within the past year
Florida and Mississippi have passed
child-labor laws for the first time, and
Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North
Carolina and Alabama have amended
while Oklahoma promises the best OF
all under her new constitution.
A children's bureau will shortly be
established In Washington, and this Is
the result of the work of the women
who constitute the membership OF
ninety-six clubs in and around New
York city. They organized themselves
into a child-labor association that is
national in Its aims and scope. The
alarming fact was known to them thai
of every 1000 babies born in the United
States 300 die, and through this bu'
reau they mean to investigate the
causes of mortality, illegitimacy, or
phanage, dependence and child labor
among the children of the nation. They
mean to plan campaign against the
general ignorance prevalent among
certain class of mothers and by in
telligent legislation and training pro-
tect the helpless little ones. 1t has
been pointed out with fronical plain
ness that the national government
through its department of agriculture
spends millions annually In the pro-
lection of It's game, the improvement
of it's domestic animals and the foster
ing of its animal and plant industries
while not penny Is expended in the
preservation of child life and in the
amelioration of its conditions.
The health Of the nation is Target!
taken over into the hands of its women
Through the influence OF the Genera
Federation of Women's clubs a bill wa
introduced into the last congress pro
viding for an educational campaign
against tuberculosis. Already women
clubs have been foremost In the worl
| of esta blishing homes and camps 10
| tuberculosis patients, campaign tina
| Is telling in its excellent results. Thi
| is quite a far cry from the conditions o
which an English traveller wrote in 1880
| what they call consumption kills tn
Americans as If they were perpetual,
| in battle; but they speak of 1t as II
were in no way their concern, rather a
If God sent 1t for some reason OF hi
own" The women Of today have NJ
such ideas on the subject. They rathe
accent the dictum of the Texas ply
stefan who lays the disease, not Z
| Divine Providence, but to dirt an,
| Ignorance. The Louisiana state healtl
conference recently paid tribute to tn
work of women in the sanitary uplift
| ing of the state.
There are 20,000,000 public school chill
dren in the United States, and clul
women Of the country know that whel
the fall term opens there will be 5000.
900 or more children who will not ente
the schools. To the women has com
the momentous question of finding on
why they will notsenter and cure TO
the reason. OF these children 100000
will be at work earning their own livini
with their hands, and that they mus
go into functions to learn how. Fewer
Than 600 cities in the United States hav
manual training in their schools, and Il
only a small percentage of the school