Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-22

whether he likes it or not. and the wise
ones of the masculine gender, not will
| ing to be claSSed among the hopeless
back numbers, are beginning to climb
up on the band wagon before it is too
| late"
I'VE Of Washington do not ridicule
WOmens clubs" he continued. "They have
always stood for higher things. They
have grown with the growth of the Ma
tional Capital Their influence is deep
reaching, their actions disintereSted.
There never was time when the world
was i'm greater need of the active agency
of women in furtherance of the better
ment of social and economic conditions,
nor when the general trend of thought
was better disposed for their attainment
than at present.
In responding to the welcomes. Mrs.
Pennybacser traced the growth OF the
Women's Federation. She declared those
i'm Washington we're the composite citi-
zens of The. land. She said that all study
is futile unless it leads to action, and that
the .'noblest voca ton that can come to us
is the business Of being a woman.
Roses Not Welcome.
At the conclusion Of her address Mrs.
Pennybacker was presented with an i'm
mense bunch of American beauty roses.
1t was laid on the presiding officers Ia
BILE and pointing to it Mrs. Pennybacker
said: 1T is the unwritten rule of the
federation that this sort of thing should
never happen.
Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon of Indianap-
oils Ind delivered the principal address
of the evening 1t was on Housing Re-
form" She outlined in rapid succession
the things which are found in the Sums;
the little echildren with dirty faces
and clothes which 'can never be gotten
cleaner than a blush gray; the filth in
the yards; the dirty halls and broken
down stairNays.
All that has been done in the way of
housing reform she declared. was merely
a drop in the bucket. There are so
many houses which are entirely UNFIT for
home making Housing reform must be-
gin with simple. prosaic and better
things The matter will have to be
dealth with in a practical. business way.
She urged the delegates. when they
got back home. 10 go to work in the III
terests of the poor people in the Sums
Sanitat ton and cleanliness is needed, she
said. Mrs. Bacon told of her first trip
through the slums. and OF seeing the
"horrid conditions and smelly places
1t made her heart ache so, she declared
that she could hardly get back TO her
home quick enough to clasp her own
children in her arms to be sure that they
did not have such surroundings.
Making Big Profits.
She said that it had been pointed out
to her that it was hard to get landlords
to improve these properties They We're
already making % per cent on three
slum properties and that was enough.
She told the women that when they re
turned they should get busy obtaining
laws for the Improvement of such prop
erty before the land on which it stands
becomes more valuable than the people.
After her trip through the Sums she
declared. sha was told there were no laws
by which landlords could be compelled to
improve the property.
Then why don't YOU get laws passed
| by some of those men who do thingS:
Mrs. Bacon said she asked item.
Mrs. Bacon spoke of the effect of these
slum conditions where a mother and
father and eight ten children often
lived in one room. No one can visit
such places without knowing that they
breed vice and destroy families.
She said that housing reform provides
for light. air sanitation. improv ements
water drainage, etc.
Housing reform now is not only popu-
lar, but fashionable" she concluded.