The Detroit times., 1911-05-04
Domination of Machines Friends in
Detroit Federation Responsible
For Recent Attack on Her, Mrs.
+. G. Osborn Declares.
She Made II Plain in School Board
Campaign That She Acted on
Own Responsibility.

ment, wednesday, relative 10 snS
matter;
In view OF the prominence given IN
Y the press TO the recent aetion OF the
Federation Of Women's clubs In re-
I, questing me to make a statement 10
the press that in my work In the re-
cent school board campaign was ho'
authorized In what i did by the teueI
\ the following statement In Jusuncaloh
OF my refusal TO comply with that re-
: quest.
informed, was In lieu OF more drastic
action contemplated. and was proposed
by q member not unfriendly 10 me as
{ last resort to head on the more un-
AZ viewed the matter, there were
two good and sufficient reasons way
should not comply with this demand.
In the nrst place ! na1 nos aetinq
for the federation, or In It's name, Inc
facts In regard to this are as t9lioWs:
During the election campaign gave
these i carefully wrote out In full and
they were printed as l wrote them; 1
siGned my name TO these artclas Win
out any title or club identincation anu AZ,
they were given TO the papers as my
personal contributions.
The first and fourth articles Were
printed In The Times and the Journal,
and the other two were puohsheo an
the three evening papers. the Journal
4 Times and News. There was no state
ment made by me In any OF these ar
ficles that / was acting for the Ieder-
alton. or as a member OF IT, When
,,resented the second article to the
three papers I personally requested the
managing editors not to connect me
with the federation. This did because
article had. In its editorial introduce
ton. Identified me as chairman OF the
civic Improvement committee OF the
federation. For this OF course, I was
IN no way responsible Further; IN
correction OF this reference, TOOK
pains in the FIRST sentence OF my next
article to say that had been chairman
OF the civic improvement eominit lei ~
the federation last year. clearly imply
y ing that / was not this year Ana on
this same day there appeared In the
Journal a prominent statement that
the chairman OF the civic itnpS was Mrs
J. e. Bowles. This correction was SUP
plemented by at least one other stare
ment that had been chairman OF the
40 that the public was not. felt sure.
under any misapprehension In the mat
ter My articles were all stated In
such way that there could De no
mistake that was acting In my pm
The federation letter. sent out from
my committee last year, for winch 4
am criticized for pubi,shi I,Sr was TS mol.
: nseessary part OF the explanation Of
q low bid received on elemsntAry text
books last fall for the first time, which
had resulted n sue esn, nat TO the
+ text book companies throughout -the
q United States. II can In no sense De re-
garded as a private matter. and Sas
However, I should not have hssitated
70 comply with the demand made OF me
TO make statement TO the press as
nvowing any connection OF my work
In the election with the federaiion.
even though had not assumed In any
4 way that such was the case, and al
though 1 should have done so at the
risk Of sRpssr ans s oe59rs RSS r e
rarded the demand as made In good
faith and not dictated by outside In
fiuences. But l know that this action
troll. which has dominated the fsder-
alton during the past year. and that
had II not been for this influence, the
matter would never have been given
Ever since the women's clubs began
n few years TO give serious attention
70 the unsatisfactory conditions exist
Ing In our schools and .,ns among . oshe,
TO remove an active saloonkeeper from
the principalship Of a night school. thai
machine has been actively engaged ~
ssssmpsng to sssnas S0ntrG cd
n those individuals active In promotint
& Improved conditions.
The federation's voting organization
A. such as TO make y easy TOT an asnus'
"a Of three delegates from each CLUB
{rrespective OF the size OF the clubs
and hence it's makeup Is somewha
venfions. and may be manipulated II
ere sarne way by those politically In
ciined. The school board machine 1,
. oroficient In such manipulation, ant
Secfed with the school system. or who
" relatives or close friends who are
IS - made apparent how the federation
- come under Its control As yar . sn'
~ years IN carrying on free ieetur,
.-.,rse IN the public school buildin Is
|hIo work was hampered and obstruct
- IN charge last year went to tn,
<'<<<@rfnfendents office to make ar
& xemsnts for the years work, ate
~@n (/nR its errand, IL was answered
~6y' have your Well how did yor
x<& IL the Treppa natter"
~ superintendent had member
lid FORMER president OF the echoo
u 81 present TO act as spokesman, fol
q ~Iways does such things by proxy
"a r1o~Sible. 80 that technically he cal
~ 4 that he did not do IL. In return
<<< @6ox OF candy'--the right OF th'
"a ~ = BE undertaking as a free Lecture
rnurne--they were plainly INFORMED
<K1f they must not cTtticise any actor
~ The political school administration
~~>n though saloonkeepers were EN-
1loved as principals.
T'his the pressure has been applied
~ the federation In this and othe
. - ffarr. ,untii those members who ar
~~< rnted by expediency have capitulat
"a for the time being.
tfavinG been able In the manne
above Indicated, to get control thi
veal OF the Federation. the Martindal
In0uence first of all saw to IL that
80 dropped from the chairmanship o
are civic Improvement committee l
I.a tried 20 have my work or las
Year dfscredited, and has succeeded Il
[.vfno N characterized In the press b.
member OF the present federation
board. the wife OF the supervise
81 schools. as "humiliating," torture,
b etc And, recently, In connection wit
the present matter. the head OF tn
schools has endeavored to have aetloi
taken by the federation calculated Z
humlllafe me before the public an
cast cloud upon my work, and winch
~ has been shown. only partially sue
realize that this is only a beginnin
Of what may be expected from thi
rource. and 4 hope the public, in Iudg
inE these matters, will realize tn
10 those we'll informed on the meth
eds Of the school board machine, thos
which have recited Are eharacteristi
sanitation. and there II every expecta
Ton that II will not hesitate 20 Eo I
ANY, lenxfh 20 crush opposition. A
&~@1inn naper said advisedly In n
<1ltorleI during tho recent campaigI