The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-08-20

given by Miss Gale as an address, be-
fore district convention Of the Wis
consin Woman's club in Madison. The
significance of the fact that Miss Gale,
a writer of wide reputation, Is giving
of her time for the improvement of
conditions in her home town cannot
be over estimated. 1t augers an in
crease of interest in civic improve
ment all over the country. Editors
note.
ITO be good Citizen" John Spar
go says, without seeking to remove
bad social conditions, is impossible. !"
Nobody could be born knowing this.
But 1t seems dangerously easy to die
without ever finding 1t out. If one
does learn 1t, the moment amounts
to a revelation, and q revelation that
does not become an action is nothing
but dead dream.
Usually we approach the matter
from the other side. We say, mo
town can be at its pest which is not
having something done to better its
conditions" The passive voice al
ways shifts the responsibility. At
once the common council, the adj
vancement association, the business
men become In our minds the ones
who should be lettering conditions
and we say What pity that the
town is kept back" But this other
statement-"To be good citizen
without seeking to remove bad social
conditions Is impossible"puts the
responsibility where 1t belongs: On
you and me. And John Spargo adds:
ITO be a good Christian and bad
citizen at the same time is impossi-
BILE" The cloistral citizen like the
cloistral Christian is out Of date. We
know better.
!, 1t is because this precious revela-
tion Of common responsibility for a
common good is beginning to be shar-
ed as 1t never was shared before, be-
cause we women, here present, un-
derstand this that John Spargo says
and because we want to act upon 1t
that civic problems have become a
part of our days work. First, wo-
men kept--or did not keep--the
cave tidy. Then they made--or did
not makethe tent neat. Then they
kept-and stillkeep-the house or
ly and legislated with scrupulous
niciety Now there Is almost no part
of the social life in which women may
not help and, save In the single ex-
ception of training her son, at no
point In the social life more than In
her power over civic conditions does
the woman so nearly approach the
franchise. When she helps to get
paving or manual training in her
town, she almost votes.
Inquiries are coming to the Fed
Grafton of Womens Clubs, to the Uni
versity Extension Department, and to
individual clubs asking for definite
detailed information about just how
to organize town Improvement as
ISOLATION and just what to do when
1t is organized. Because thing done,
however slight the thing or slightly
expressed, has value distinct from
even the most perfect theory, have
thought simply to tell briefly some
thing OF how the women Of one town
organized to try to do little to-
ward lettering certain town condi-
tions, and to tell a few sources Of
much wider information open to those
who wish to do the same thing. For |
1t will be found that most OF the
printed material tells how cities work.
Garbage and sewage reduction plants,
playground equipment running into
the thousands of dollars, expensive !
and cumbersome apparatus of various
sorts, fall lightly from the pens OF
the big municipal housekeepers, and
the little town keepers are left won
dering and wishing and asking. Hear.
ing how st. Louis, Indianapolis, and
Cleveland did 1t, is like giving Pa
ris fashion sheet to a plain sewing
woman and telling her blightly to
60 ahead.
In the town In point, one of the To-
cal clubs gave over studying foreign
countries and decided to study Amer
lea. One hour at each meeting was
given to a paper on present day Amer
ica--on irrigation, light houses, on
the civil and consular services, the
post Office system and SO on. And
the second hour was devoted tofcivfc
and social problems child labor in
labor legislation in Amer
lea, employers liability, women in in
dustry, modern prison and reforma-