Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-24

! Every state in the country has one or
more organized bodies Of women, whose
| efforts are concentrated upon the pas
sage of laws directed toward the general
good of the women and children of the
| state In addition to these, the women
| are constantly using their efforts TO Sc
| cure the passage of federal laws for
| conditions affecting the whole country
which, if enacted by Congress, will OBJ
| viate the difficulties in the separate
| states
| \ number of different organizations OF
women have committees in Washington
| who visit the sessions of Congress regu.
| larly and report upon the matters likely
| to receive attention. Among the olls
recently presented to Congress in when
| the women of the country are acuVeiS
! interested are the Page bill which pro-
| vides for the co-oteration of the federal
government with the separate states IN
the establishment of vocational training
in the public schools of the country, and
the Owen bill. providing for the estab-
lShment of federal department OF
health. The passage of the bill provid-
ing for the establishment of the chill
dren's bureau was secured largely
through the influence of the women IN
the different states, who bombarded
their senators and representatives with
appeals and demands for it's support
The interstate liquor bill, passed at
the end of the Taft administration over
the Pre- s j.
Interstate Law dents veto.
Backed by Women. mort from the
temperance women of the country, who
were we'll represented at different COM
mittee meetings held for it's considera-
ton and exerted their influence upon the
members of both the House and the
Senate to secure it's passage. While the
passage of bill referring only to con-
ditons in the District of Columbia ordi-
narily has only local interest. a large
number of women from all parts of the
country have been working actively for
the passage of an eight-hour law for
working women in the District of Co
lumba since a similar bill is now before
a number of state legislatures and the
example of the District will be consid-
cred strong moral support.
A large proportion of the laws desired
by women deal with the conditions of
working women and children. The min
every state and so far has been secured
only by the women of Massachusetts.
who have been working valiantly for it
for years. At the opening of the pres
ent session of the legislature of Washing
ton one of the woman members intro
duced a bill providing that the minimum
wages to be paid to women in that state
should not fall below a dollar and a quar-
ter a day Women also are endeaVoring
to secure the passage of laws in the diff
ferent states which will limit the hours
of labor either per day or per week. 1t
is usually felt that the weekly limitation
allows greater liberty than the daily.
There are business emergencies in some
industries especially laundries, where it
seems necessary to keep the women at
work more than eight hours, or in some
instances more than Tine hours a day,
which can readily be met by permitting
the limitation to extend to hfty-four
hours per week, which is the time limit
desired by most women.
The efforts made for improved laws af-
fecting women and children who work