New-York tribune., 1913-11-09

| later tHdn HulSudy HOOll'
What is the matter with the Women's
Club?
on every hand we hear it said:
"Oh, the clubs are dying out. ] never
go any more"
Why is it that after a few years Of
tremendous enthusiasm for club life. most
women suddenly tire of it and go in for
some direct professional or charitable
work, or suffrage?
Mrs Mildred Manly Easton, president
of Life as a Fine Art Club. thinks the
clubs have served their purpose in the
process of womans development. They
had their day, and now women have
grown bevond them.
CLUBS were necessary to get women
out of their own little narrow sphere.
she said. In her home every woman is
a little queen. 1t is necessary for her to
get out and find herself in the midst os
two hundred other little queens all talk
ing back and stepping on each others
trains.
"The clubs have failed to develop
women's brains, however. The average
clubwoman to-day has either sieve or
rubber ball brain II It's sieve every
thing goes dripping down right through
It, and when she gets home from club
meeting she can't remember to save her
life a word that the lecturer said. II she
has a rubber ball brain things just hit
her and bound right off again.
Women used TO go TO clubs just to be
amused They liked to see what the
other women were going to wear and If
there was fight over a chairmanship
Of a committee they just thrilled all over
with Joy, because that was real SEN
sation, which was what they were look
ing for Clubs will have to become more
serious if they are to continue as pow
er in wOmen's lives. | believe they are.
: think the old-fashioned club, where we
Agent Just for entertainment will die, but
that in its place we should have a vital,
powerful organization Of women, that will
really accomplish something worth while.
Instead of thirty or forty little clubs, we
shall have one big federation. well or
ganized.
ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE.
Women will come to see themselves
impersonally-put themselves in their own
place in the big scheme of life. They Will
begin TO be human beings, in other words,
and think. At present the woman who
lust drifts along, eating. dressing, going
TO the theatre. is nothing but an animal IN
clothes That is the difference between
human beings and animals, isn't 1.-THE
capacity to think? Well, then women VIII
become human beings and will think out
their life plan If they are TO be supported
by men, they will reason they must earn
their keep II they aren't willing TO keep
house and bring up children and train
servants. they will reason that they must
support themselves, so out they'll go INTO
the business world.
THAT is my answer After the CLUBS
the economic independence of women"
THE club for clubs sake movement Is
certainly dying out" says Mrs. John
Fowler Trow, president OF Post Parlia-
ment and clubdom's Gibraltar OF parNa-
n,entarv procedure. who has been watch
ing the club movement for many years
"The club which exists merely for women
who want 10 read papers in costly clothes
and drink tea in fashionable hotels-that
kind OF club is doomed. Women are too
busy to waste their time that way now
In the beginning clubs sprang up
everywhere because the idea of organiza-
ton appealed so strongly TO women IN
general because their ordinary analrS
we're so unorganized. The best example
of this passion for organization is the
Daughters of the American Revolution
with chapters all over the country, To-
dsv. the majority OF those local chapters
have difficulty in finding anything to do.
Women have carried organization to its
Snoit. and to-day we are feeling the re-
action.
"To.dav we do not care how thoroughly
a club is organized, nor how exalted its
list Of patronesses, II we don't get our
rooney's worth out of IL. We are begin
ming 10 look upon our club not as the
supreme object OF life but as an invest
ment. Just like opera tickets. is it worth
while?" We ask. II we don't think we
shall get enough enjoyment out OF 1t to
nav we do not join. II we do we know
what we are getting; for instance the
women who Join certain club know that
for their sl5 they will get five dances ana
six lunches. followed by a programme
that will give them something definite In
the wav of information or instruction.
Most clubs leave their members at the
end of the year with the digestion OF
those who have eaten hash for SIX
months.
GREAT SPEAKERS.
Another reason why the CLUBS must
take a different tack is the entertainments
nroblem. They must get over thinking II
is am honor to distinguished person 10
he invited TO address them. In the past
those clubs felt no compunctions what
-. about asking the great writer's