The sun., 1910-01-16
ROLL OF HONOR FOR WOMEN
LEADERS IN MANY IMPORTANT
MOVEMENTS.
In This Country They Started settlement
work, Playground Associations. y schsoi
Nursing. school Farms. Pure MAik
Movement and Otmer GOOD works.

Movement and Other O0Od Werks'
Right under the eyes Of men. but for
the most part quite unsuspected by them
women are making over the world ac-
cording to their ideas Of what worio
should be.
This may seem like an extravagant
statement but IL Is easily proved In three
sentences:
-Of the great reform movements OF the
present q large number have been orlgi-
mated by women.
In almost all great sociological or re-
form movements women have at least
helped with the launching.
There is hardly one great movement
to-day in which women are not taxing
an active part
The above statement 10 made by a
writer in the Van NOrden hG0dKine. who
adds some instances out Of the many
available for backing up her contention
Right here in New York the work done
by nurses in tho public schools. an i'm
portant development Of the modern edu-
cationsl system. was started by Miss Lil-
liam d. Wald.
Previous TO 1909 such thing as a school
nurse had never been heard OF in this
country. School physicians there were,
but they merely examined the children
end sent home those found to be suffer-
ing from any sort OF communicable
disease.
Miss Wald found that thousands oil
children were being deprived OF an edu-
cation because they had some trifiing
| trouble, which could be taken care OF at
the school. She got The consent OF the
boards OF health and OF education to
begin the experiment with one OF her
settlement nurses At the end OF the
month this urse was appointed city
official and had twelve assistants. To-
day there are I4O school nurses in New
York under what is called the Depart-
ment OF Child Hygiene, having a woman.
DIR. Josephine Baker. at its head.
In other American cities other women
started the same work. Two nurses did
I it in San Francisco, the Visiting Nurse
associations in Philadelphia and Chicago.
the Mothers" in Boston. The movement
begun bv Miss Wald has now spread to
score OF American cities.
| The school farm work now adopted by
MANY towns in this country was originated
also in 1902 by another New York woman,
Mrs. Henry Parsons. IL is now directed
largely by the International Children g
School Farm League, with thousands oi
members all over the world.
The playground movement was started
and worked up to success by clnb women
in San Francisco. Denver. Chicago, Pitts
burg, Detroit, Boston and other cities
In every case the women. after working
against almost overwhelming odds Ia
bring their project to success, demon
strated its worth so undeniably that the
citv authorities assumed control.
In the fight for Juvenile courts the
women, though the power behind the
| throne. have nevertheless beSn the power
Judge Lindsey says that in his early
st-ugpies for "a square deal for the kids
the women were practically his only sup
I Dorters. Women's work and women :
| votes kent him on the bench. In Chlca go
women not only worked to get the Juvenile
court, they paid for its probation ofhceT
| when il was established.
In Philadelphia the fight was led by
the Mothers Congress and the New Cen.
tury (woman's) Club. Kansas City and
| primarily to the work OF the Humanity
society. In fact every city that has a
Juvenile court has il because the women
| worked for It.
The pure milk agitation that is now
being carried on by official and semi
| offioial commissions all over the country
began with the diet kitchens founded by
| New York women to furnish suitable
nourishment for expectant and nursinR
mothers, bottle fed babies and sick per-
sons requiring special diet
| the source of milk supply. To-day the
diet kitchens not only give out the certified
milk that their crusade has secured. but
| they keep matrons in charge OF their
stations to show mothers how to modify
| milk 20 each baby's needs and to give
systematic instruction in child care.
| And here is another movement started
| nv women instruction for women in the
| care of children and the business of home
making. The Visiting Nurse Association,
founded. supported and made up oa
| women, began il. Then other orgapi-
cations such as the Little Mothers Asso-
ciation and the League OF Home Econom-
! les took it up.
| Recently the women physicians OF the
country formed Public Health Educa'
| tion League to give popular instruction
particularly to women-in general hy'
! 9iene. The 3o6 day nurseries in Americe
| In addition to giving immensely better
care to the children OF mothers who hay,
| TO go out to work than the mothers could
are carrying on an extensive and lnten'
|
| Among the first persons in America tC
| point out the evils OF child labor and ts
| sssert that there should be laws to prevent
children from working were Miss Jant
Addams. Mrs. Florence Kelley and Miss
LILLIAN ID. Wald. They talked childlaboI
| until they had all the women'e clubs in ths
| country stirred up about 1t. Even the mer
| began to take notice. Then the nstions
child labor committee. composed OF both
| men and women, was formed.
| A few wears ego a number of rich and
| influential Chicago women. led by Mrs
| Charles Henrotin. got together to con.
aider the case OF the working girl and
made up their minds that they might
| .I,st as .-eil stnp irving ~ get thn an
blowers to do anything. II the working
| girl was ever TO get a square deal. they
decided. il would be because she had
power to force it. And the only source
OF power for the workers, the women
agreed was organization.
| Hence the Woman's Trades Union
Ieaoue. n national bodv having locals
in New York, Chicago. Boston and st
| Louis end rnade up one-third OF women
like its founders and two thirds OF trade
union girls. The league has succeeded
in organizing manv OF the women
trades. Of the four cities in which it has
| Iocola and n has secured n fiftV hour wAal<