The Washington herald., 1914-01-30
w OMAN And THE HOME
WOMEN OF BIG
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Miss Kate Barnard is One Of the Most
Interesting Women in
BY MARY B.-MULLErT.

BY NARY b. MULLETT.
tcopuisht. fsz.)
Miss Kate Barnard-"Oklahoma Kate"
they call her in own state-is one Of
the most interesting characters in the
country. Imagine a frail looking woman
being In control Of all the prisons. all
the charitable institutions, all the re-
formatories. Of a great commonwealth. 1t
is amazing even In this modern age.
Kate Barnard Is young : not half
even younger than she really Is: partly
because she isn't as big as the average
sixteen-year-old girl: partly because In
spite Of certain sad seriousness about
her. she has the simplicity of a child.
She Ia essentially a product Of the new
Southwest. for she has never lived in any
other part of the country. But though
her environment has had much to do
with molding her character. the most
potent influence In her life has been
her father. When she was ten years
old. he wrote in her autograph album:
Let faith. hope and charity be the
theme Of your whole life"
Rigidly. indeed. has Kate Barnard OBJ
served this injunction. She declares now
that II Is because of her father that
she Is liable to forego love. home. and
material pleasures. and to become a
voice for those who suffer In the gutter
OF human existence"
The First Step.
The first step toward her present career
was when. In competition with 500 other
applicants, she was made the represents
tive Of Oklahoma at the ST. Louis exposi-
ton. At the great congresses held there
she was able to study humanitarian work
and to fit herself to make II her career
On her return to Oklahoma. she began by
helping the immigrants. who were pour
ing into the territory. Mere girl. as she
was. she was the matron of the United
Provident Association and little
mother to hundreds in Oklahoma City.
She succeeded in getting the wages of
street workers raised from SIS to s.. .
a day. and she helped to organize a Fed
eral Union for working men.
Mutually. in a new country like that,
this soon made her a political influence
to be reckoned with. And when Okla
homa became a State. this girl was
shrewd enough and brave enough to use
the power she had acquired. Amba ssador
Bryce said OF Oklahomas constitution
that II was the finest document of hu-
man liberty written since the "DecIara-
ton of Independence of the Constitution
OF Switzerland" And no little credit for
making 1t such is due to the activities Of
one little woman-Kate Barnard.
Used Political Methods.
In doing her work she used political
methods-but they were honest ones.
About this time the farmers and work.
ing men. representing g. 600 voters, held
a convention in order to protect their own
interests in the adoption of the new
constitution. Miss Barnard went to the
convention and promised to support their
measures IL they would agree to endorse
her three demands. These were for a
child-labor platform. a compulsory educa-
ton platform, and the establishment of
a department OF charities.
She stayed two days: and before she
left, the bargain had been made. Then
she conferred with the head OF the DEM
ocratic campaign and got his promise to
include her three demands In the Dem
ocratic platform. This done, she took
the stump and helped elect a Democratic
majority to the convention which wrote
the Constitution. As a natural sequence
OF her efforts she was made the candi-
date for commissioner OF the department
OF charities in the first election and had
the satisfaction of leading her ticket by
500 votes.
1t is characteristic Of her that. upon
taking office. she insisted on having her
salary OF 5000 reduced to $4,000. After
four years of service. the legislature again
raised il to $500. but after a season of
bad drought, she handed the surplus to a
poor tenant. Another example OF her de-
votion to principle is in her allowing =
piece of her own property to stand empty,
rather than let II be occupied for. pur-
poses she could not approve of.
II was Kate Barnard that exposed the
conditions existing in the Lansing CKahs)
penitentiary; an expose which stirred the
whole country to interest and, better still.
to action. She figured too in a big prison
reform fight in Arizona in 1872, coming
out victorious. That same year she sue
ceeded in having restored 100000 to the
Indians of her own State and in prose-
cutting the men who had defrauded them.
She has secured legislation embodying
the most advanced sociological ideals.
When she wants a law. she goes to the
highest experts on that particular sub
ject to have her bill drafted. This is the
course she has followed in getting the
present Oklahoma laws concerning juven-
lie courts, child labor. education. prison
reform. and treatment of the insane and
feeble-minded. Her achievements would
have been remarkable IL they had been
accomplished by a seasoned lawmaker.
hut Wnen tney must De loOked al as tne
work of frail young woman. they are
simply amazing. 1t is a wonderful DEM
onstration of what can be done by entire
conservation to an overmastering purpose
carried out with tact and shrewd COM
mon sense. Miss Barnard says that her
philosophy Of life is summed up in this
sentence: THE most sublime purpose for
which a human life can be expended is
the promotion of human progress" That.
without any question. is the purpose to
which she Is devoting her own existence