Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-12-07
SUFFRAGE !. ! |||D-
DRESS fine ONE
DR.. Fife McCollum Jones, an Inter-
esting Speaker Who is Entirely
1mbued With Popular
Subject.
At uN1yE !; = CHURCH re-
Meeting Changed to the Church on
Account # Library lib Being
Closed.

I.5 x1VSVuAv WANNA "a 0SAAA6 .#G.st
IT. 81 ~ z
Closed.
A fair sized audience was present at
the Uniyersalist church Saturday
afternoon at O'Clock to listen. to an
address on Equal Suffrage" by Pr.
Ef1e McColluml Jones OF Waterloo,
who has been holding meetings in the
Universalist church Of this city. The
closing of the Kendall Young Library
made necessary the change Of location
for the. address. 81
DR.: Jones has rare personality
which dominates any theme she may
choose and always impels the closest
attention of her audience. Whether
or not her listeners all agreed with
her upon her standpoint upon the
suffrage question, they were united in
thinking it the clearest exposition Of
the subject ever given in this city. I,
Mrs. F. e. Whitley. president of the
Iowa Federation of clubs introduced
the speaker, and DR.. Jones plunged at
once into the subject which is SO vital
to many women.
Women have been in the process of
evolution for ages. Since before 1863
they labored under extreme difficulty
in procuring an education. When
Mary A. Livermore was educated, a
ruling had been made in Boston that
maids might attend high school be-
fore 8 o'clock in the morning and after
5 o'clock in the afternoon" provided
the teachers were willing to stay in
the school room and bother with them.
Industrial changes in the world,
AYERS DR.. Jones. were not made pos
sible until this generation. Eight out
of every twenty women in the world
are earning their own living and often
more than their own; girls support
ing aged PARENTS deserted wives
widows with children dependent upon
them. Once in while one hears the
statement that the women are crowd
ing the men out of business. AS a
rule. woman is there for the same
reason men are--to earn living. Her
wages are, however, geared to q lower
standard than a mans. Industry
would be paralyzed tomorrow II all
the women now employed should stop
work. Another reason woman is in
1.-THE business worldsis because there
| are not enough homes to go around.
Women are incurably domestic. Down
i'm her heart, every woman wants q
home; she would like a husband in
that home; she wants children OF her
own, but there are not enough decent
men to 60 around. Education and in
dependence has made them want .
man they can at least hold up, II they
| do not lean on them!
It was not so long ago that woman
would marry anybody rather than be
an old maid. It is written in the stars
| that women have taken their places
permanently in business. DR.. Jones
spoke of the terrible fire in shirt
waist factory of New York three or
four years ago in which so many
girls roasted to death because the fire
prevention laws had not been OBJ
served. Those men-the owners OF
that factory got off with fines OF SIS
each in the New York courts and are
now operating another factory Just as
devoid Of fire protection! It is Just
such things as these that Equal
Suffrage proposes to set right. @
The women in this community are
voiceless in regard to taxation. One
third the large income tax payers are
women. They want by way Of the
ballot, decent Industrial conditions.
One half the business homes in Web
ster City as we'll as other Iowa towns,
have no toilet facilities for women.
Provision for safety and sanitary sur
roundings, is made for those whose
opinion counts-the voters. Women
want fair pay. When they do piece
I OF work as we'll as man. they want
mans pay. 1t is more difficult foe
women to economic in the matter OF
dress, than for men, but their wages
| in Iowa are not geared to cover that
discrepancy.
There are those who say women
would not know how to vote II she
| could. If they can do any worse than
the men have done 1t, Dr. Jones would
like to see them. This.is not spin
ster's or soured woman's campaign,
asserted the speaker; the state 'asso-
to, it Is the motto of the knights