Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-01-25
OKLAHOMA KATE AND REFORMS.
= HERPLuCk HAS PUT THROUGH

c, mpleted the letters to all the social
workers, she went back to Oklahoma
and went on the stump. She talkeI all
over the State; she talked in halls,
aud she talked on -loap-boXes, She
made forty-four speeches inside OF
three weeks.
People said that her appeal was
. largely personal" that she "swayed
tie emotions" OF her hearers, and made
them vote for cnild-laDor bill wheth-
CT they wanted to or not; and she re
Plies to such criticism that that was
exactly what she had been trying TO
idv T.
What with speeches and inVestiga-
lions, and personal appeals, Kate
bernard, alone and unaided in her own
State, secured 81 votes Of the 112 A.
the constitutional Convention, and
P'her constitution" went through.
Judge Lindsey drafted Juvenile court
.laN for the new State. at Oklahoma
tKate's" request; A. j. Mckelvey went
laut to Oklahoma to help Kate Barn:
s1rc on the Child Labor Bill. The Kus-
!; ell Sage Foundation sent Samuel
iParrows out to Oklahoma to help the
Oklahoma girl draw up the right sort
of prison laws. Into the making
of 0klahoma's statehood went compul-
cory education, the prohibition of child
slal or. prison iaws-the things that
kate BARNARD but, there. .s.....
And she saw to it that the Office OF
Commissioner Of Charities and. Correc.
lions, to which she was elected .tmme.
diately after it's creation was no mere
honor with, a nice little pension at
'tached. About that time she wass Of
fGied $780, a year to take business
position, b tnher friends are quite SIRE
she would have declined salary four
times as large rather than give up the
public career she had started upon. To
conclude: II. ..--5sE.~ e..
The "kate Planks." ~. .>- :.
In the ten years that have passed
since Kate Barnard put throuSp = .>
are still known as "the Kate planis,'.
ard helped to make her State, she
has worked harder than ever, not only
f.. Oklahoma, but in neighborihE
States as, wen. Kansas knows her be-
cause of her merciless exposures of
rrison and mining conditions there
four years ago: Arizona has looked to
her for Help And lately she has done
national work in connec-
ton with the Prison Labor gonnHit.
tees contract labor" activities. She
has even Joined the Federation Of.
Labor, and organized the workmen OF
her State. And sic succeeded a short
tine ago in restoring S2,000,00o to the
inaians and prosecuting the men who
tried to deprive the Governments
wards" OF their, oil lands.
However frankly she tells you that
she depends on prayer, to win her sue:
cess; however far out on the seas Of
enthusiasm her eagerness may sweep
her, e very short conversation with
sOklahoma Kate" is enough to con-
vince any one of her practical good
sense, CT her executive ability, of the
,olid economic basis on which she
Guilds her reforms. 1 She aims, she
says, at scientific statecraft; she
wants to put humanity on the level
Of Importance with finance and law
and she is doing it by the simplest
md sanest of economic methods.
There are, among other possible
's'crusades," two things of which the
young state of Oklahoma stands espe-
cially in need. They are, the State |
Charity Commissioner says, prison re-
form and pure milk The particular
sort of prison reform that is sought in !
Oklahoma is in the latter care" of |
convicts whose sentences have ex-
PRED; the need for. pure milk is con-
centrated in busy Oklahoma City, |
where, according to social workers,
thousands of children have suffered in |
the Lest year because Of the scarcity |
of. really good milk. To the ordinary
oniooker'ss mind there does not seem |
to be much possible connection be-
tween nourishment for children and
care for convicts. 1t has remained for |
Miss Barnard to propose solution of |
the two problems together, and to give |
pure milk to the children of Oklahoma |
City by putting oklahoma's convicts
to work.