New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-11
Confined (yor p7gs 8

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no cried "She doesn't know any law. And
What che nroposes will interfere with bust
ness"
apcrbaps So" we answered; "but she
Lrowc What the law ought to be-
Tha,'s the whole aim of the woman in
law. ~ show that @Law Makes Right is
f,l,scv Take the work Mrs. Florence
Kelley is doing, for instance Shc Walks
straight up to the Law and says:
sSee here You mean well, suppose;
but You've been dealing with inanlmate
things like property and precedents and con
tracts 50 long that you have gradualiy los;
sight of human nature. Allow me u can
YOUR attention TO few little matters tndC
we women have had occasion To learn iflSlue
our homes which we think ought 70 enter
into your deliberations.
remember hearing her speak before the
Roard Of Estimate when all the social work
crc of New Works East Side had risen 10
nrotest against an elevated road being put
on Delancey-st., the one open space ",'t'c
real sunlight and real air could be had by
the children Of the tencmcntS. we Sui8cI
down to that hearing full OF ndignatiof' ana
some quoted points OF law and some p'edu io'
mercy or tried to flatter the stold board mo
bcnevocncc; some even represented tie
SURFING masses of the East Side as angrliy
plucking up that incipient elevated by the
roots and dropping it into the East KiVei'
| remember watching one short lc&sti -
ing member Of the board who presented lhe
texture contour, and color OF a roast COOS,
and thinking how that hypothetical East
side mob would find him lusclously rch ana
tOOthSOmc.
But We didn't make any Impression on tne
conplaccn' board till Mrs. Kelley began 70
speak. she was a lawyer; but she didh
talk technical law she talked sense ana ilu-
manty. Not for a moment did she question
the LEGAL power of the board to put elevated
roads wherever they happened 10 CHoo5e
nor did she entertain any illusions about the
Last Side making any protest 50 coilefent
as a mob; she simply pointed out mat 70
have no place to play, and no air ana no
sunlight. was bad for children, casually re-
minded the board that these were facts they
knew perfectly well, and that therefore they
couldn't possibly do this thing. because 1t
wasn't yight. Her talk was like cavalry
charge. it even dcnted in the roast goose
gentleman. There is no elevated on De
lanccv-st TODAY and there never will be
as long rs there are women To keep watch.
IKE many OF the women who study law.
II Mrs. Kelley went into 1t not IN search
of a profession, but to get special human
thing done. She was factory Inspector IN
Illinois. and brought TO a county attorney It
case where little girls were hired to work IN
poisonous gliding to the great injury Of their
health.
Said the attorney, "Do YOU expect me 10
prosecute this case:
"Yes Here is the evidence.
WHY | can't DO that. | might have TO
turn round and prosecute Marshall Field
next day He employs bunch Of girls at
the same thing.
"Wcll, why should YOU not::' asked Ms.
Kelley.
And the district attorncy intimatcd that
anyone who knew 50 little OF what II meant
to interfere with business had no legal mind
and WAS out OF place consulting him. The
next morning she began to study law ior
herself.
1t was largely through Mrs. Kclley's in
flucncc that the most perfect example OF the
woman legal point Of view vas embodied IN
lcgisation In 1899 the Illinois law 10 limit
the hours of work for women was declared
unconstitutional by the llnoi, Supreme
Court on the ground tina; it intcrtcrcd with
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