United labor bulletin., 1910-07-07
UNION WOMAN.
CLUB WOMAN
Will Be Candidate for County Com.
missioner--Stands for Reform
and for Women.
tsy Alice Rohe. in Denver Times.l

/ Mrs. Katherine Williamson, county
commissioner.
4 Looks well onia business card doesn't
lit? That may be the engraved or printed
title added to thai of factory inspector
and deputy labor commissioner" which
this most capable and energetic Colorado
suffragist and 4abor worker already
bears on her professional card
Mrs. Williamson will be an aspirant
for county commissioner. and the cam
paign for elective offices which the wo-
men of Colorado will conduct this fall
has at least cen,ered on one positive
anu acknowledge candidate
Mrs williamson, who has just returned
from a months trip through Minnesota
and Missouri, where she has been study
ing factory conditions has come home
more fully convinced than e<er that
Colorado women are the cleverest, the
most capable, the most understanding"
of to-day.
You might as well say | am candi-
date for county commissioner" said Mrs
Williamson, somewhat reluctantly, when
asked to talk about herself.
Women ought to have a few offices,
and believe they should have the ones
for which they are most adapted We
don't ask to be governors or presidents,
but we do demand Offices for which we
are not only quaiifed but are especially
adapted
| Mrs Williamson will be the first wo-
man candidate for county commissioner
in the history of suffrage. and the fact
that SO many women come under the jur-
isdiction of the commissioners is the
chief argument OF this Intelligent and
| forceful woman for the right to the Of
| fee
In the poor farms and county hos
pitals half the inmates are women A
woman can deal with their cases and
believe this is one office for which the
women should always make a demand
Unlike the sfereotyped and conven-
tional comic supplement idea of SUI
fragist. Mrs willhmsol is tall, stately.
handsome womaA of splendid presence.
excellent addre 81 fne carriage 1ni
pleasing and smart taste as to dress.
There has been more harm doua 10
the cause of suffrage through the riii-
cule of the paragraphist and the cartoon
.lrs. Williamson today. ~Ridicule is
criticism. we all know"
This interesting woman. who has been
studying conditions while away from
home. admits that she was studied just
about as much as she studied herself
Everywhere people are asking what
the women are doing in Colorado she
said, and the strangest ideas prevail.
Why. women and men seem to think we
are fighting bitterly over our rights out
here; they don't seem TO realize we have
suffrage and are recognized"
While in Minneapolis. where Mrs. Will
hanson was the guest of her daughter,
mrs. Kinney, and her sister. Mrs Earl
May. formerly Stella Burk of the Daily
News. the woman state factory inspector
spoke before a number of clubs.
Il was always being asked what we
have done in Colorado. and, of course.
my answer was that we have made bet
ter laws and have made Colorado a bet
ter place in which to live.
In ST. Joseph. Mo-. l was asked why
we were not governors and mayors, and
| told them We did not aspire to those
o-.ces. When you realize. though. that
we are casting rom As to 80 per cent. of
the votes and doing two-thirds of the
work il seems as though we are entitled
to more elective Offices. Women of all
parties are demanding this | do believe
we should be represented in the senate
and on the school board
| In st. Joseph, where Mrs. Williamson
was the guest OF Mrs. Bailey with Mrs.
Jessie Gayncr, famous in the music
world, the question of timidity in voting
was broached by women at luncheon.
why, you have no fear in going to the
letter box and cropping in a letter." re-
piled Mrs. WILKINSON. why should you
fear dropping ballot in the box?"
AS a member of the Typographical
union and president of the woman's aux
iliary to the typographical union. as
state factory INSPECTOR and deputy labor
commissioner, Mrs. Williamson is one of
the most thoro1gh students of economic
conditions in the state. She is woman
who does thinss. and her accomplish
ments in betteriug conditions have long
been felt in Colorado. In all the cities
where Mrs. Williamson visited-St. Jos
eph. Kansas Ciy and Minneapolis-she
was the subject Of much favorable edi-
torial and reportorial comment
The sane and common-sense point of
view and the wellspoken sentiments of
this Colorado woman were a revelation
to the men and women who have formed
their ideas from he comic supplement.
The women who believe In reform.
but who are not strenuously rampant.
are the ones who will accomplish
things" said Mrs Williamson. Eek
tremists are apt to do harm. l am
Democrat. born and bred. and I am al,
ways for Democracy: but first of all
am woman. l believe In Democracy.
but l believe In my sex first"
The optimism Of this thinking and act
ing woman in the face of wellknown
feminine fiascos of politics and the
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