The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-08-19
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The Portia club has issued its
year book for the coming season. The
little volume is printed in black on
soft gray paper, with a cover of the
same shade and tied With lavender
ribbon. The program for the year
will consist of travel study, worked
out in story form, one chapter to be
given at each meeting. In addition
to the travel study, the following top
les of general interest will be taken up:
Socialism, universal peace, Norman
ism, modern methods of philanthropy,
the lure of the city, national banking
system, city play grounds, training of
social workers, pensions, paternaI duty
of government to prisoners, open air
schools, demands Of fashion, elective
franchise, ethics of the boycott and
strike, and improved career of home
making The officers fer next year
are Mrs. w. w. Bowman, president;
Mrs. NJ c. Porter, vice president; Mrs.
D. E. Barton, secretary and treasurer;
program committee, Mrs. d. c. Tillot-
son. Mrs E. J. Shakeshaft, Mrs. F. w.
Daugherty and Mrs. L. M. Powell.
The first meeting is set for October 5.
The first Thursday in October. which
is the regular date for the annual fall
meeting of the City Federation, will
be observed this year as usual, not
the organization this year. No def
mite arrangements have been made for
the meeting, but a session of the exec
utive board will be held about the mid
die of September, and arrangements
made for the annual meeting.
The secretaries of the various clubs
will confer favor on this department
by sending in a copy of their year
book when they are ready for distribu-
ton. A few books have already been
received, and all clubs that can spare
copy of the years program Will kind
ly address one to the Club Department
of the State Journal.
The premier of New South Wales,
when in New York a few days ago,
declared that equal suffrage in his
state has operated most satisfa ctorily
during the ten years 1t has been effect
i've. "a higher morality has resulted,
he said, "and the home life, on which
any nation depends. has been strength
ened. More women vote than do men,
and, contrary to much argument, the
franchise does not unsex them. 1t
makes our women more womanly, and
the result has been that there is
great decline in the infraction Of laws.
although the population has wonder
fully increased"
Harvey A. Carman of Denver in a
of the necessity of women having the
ballot, and after ample chance for OBJ
serving it's results in my own state, can
truthfully say that woman suffrage has
been vindicated triumphantly. Hav-
ing been president Of the Colorado
State Federation of Labor, president
of the Denver Typographical union,
and otherwise active in labor affairs,
it is apparent to me that the ballot
is a weapon that should be placed in
11d Of
protection, and especially In the hands
of women who work.
Baroness A1etta Korf. an American
who is the wife of an official in Fin
land, is reported as saying that one of
the first things the women of Norway
did with their ballots was to get the
government to start scho OILS of domes-
tic training for girls.
In an address before the judiciary
committee of the New York legisla-
ture, Mrs. Maude Nathan makes the
following remarks regarding the
housekeeper and the ballot I'VE are
often told that the home is woman 5
proper sphere. am a houSekeeper,
and there is not a department of the
work that is not affected by politics.
1.-THE immigration question affects
the servant question. The tariff af-
fects the price of materials which we
buy to furnish our homes. Municipal
politics force themselves upon our at
tention daily. If the streets are not
clean it is difficult to keep the home
clean. If the garbage and refuse are
not taken away it is hard to keep the
home in sanitary condition. If the
police department is inefficient, what
protection have women for their
homes against burglary?
1.-THE milk that is furnished to us
at our doors every morning is supposed
to have been inspected at the dairies;
but if the officers are inefficient or got
their appointments simply through pc
litical influence, we are in danger of
having disease in our homes. If the
meat that comes to our tables is sent
from a slaughter house that is filthy
or from tubercular cattle. what re-
dress has the non-vOting housekeeper2
I'VE women are taxed for every
thing in our homes, the ground they
occupy, the water we drink, the food
we eat, and the clothes we wear. We
are told not to NEEDLE with politics.
but politics NEEDLES with every de-
partment of our homes. Politics gov
ems the education of our children.
and if we are working women, they
control the regulation of employ
ment. In Colorado there is equal pay
for equal work done by employees of
the state, and they are not deprived of
their positions, as was the case with
a number of the women members of
the department of health in New York