The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1915-12-03
WHY WOMEN ARE
INTERESTED IN WATERWAYS.

Extracts from an address just re-
ceived by Mrs. Rice A. Pierce from
the National President of the Ma
tional Rivers and Harbors Congress.
Address of Mrs. Jos. M. Strout at
National Rivers and Harbors Con-
gress.
This subject is found embodied in
several reasons.
First-Is it not a fact women's
sphere knows no limit?
Second-If we are to rely upon the
good Judgment of statement which
many times has been repeated, about
"the feathers weight of worth with
out woman in it," we have truisms
furnishing splendid reasons why wo-
men are interested in waterways.
Then, should you desire another
proof quite as good, we refer you to
that organized force among women,
seeking the improvement and santa
tion of waterways, which adds great
ly to womans power and opportuni-
ty, when public action is the object
desired.
We see prejudice which for years
bound woman to the past give way
to spirit of cooperation. In fact,
the change has been so great that
now almost every constructive meas
ure seeks woman's influence in the
shaping of public opinion. Why?
Because women do things for hu-
manity that men do not. The wo-
man influence gives a touch to ac-
tivities affecting not men, alone, but
women and children.
Meanwhile the thinking woman
acting on the side of large issues
in striving to improve conditions
gains broadened viewpoint of life.
In this connection we cannot call her
"a clinging vine," as she &as once
pictured; for to-day she is alert, ac-
cepting the situation or offering sug-
gestions, as the case may be, even
if she may not lay claim to a vote
or voter. Moreover, have we not
been told, time and time again, that
if we as a Nation are to rise to a
nobler civilization, woman must take
her place in all great movements for
n ~, ~, hotforI1oant
AS water is one of the essentials
to the maintenance of life, does it
not create of itself one Of the vital
problems of the day?
Why call for a better reason why
women are interested in waterways?
In transportation by waterways we
have an economic question for solu-
tion. However, you may be asking:
What have women to do with econo-
my, women who have been held re-
sponsible for much of the waste and
frivolity of the time, women who
have been slow to consider them
selves a part of the economic ques-
tion? ''All things are changing y
saith the prophet. Why not women?
Do we not, at the present time, al
low the female contingent to become
an important factor in our industrial
life? Do we not find them Tearing
monetary values conformity with
their brothers as we'll as seeking in
formation on the commercial aspect
of questions governing supply and
demand and legislation covering
many topics?
No sign could be more hopeful of
a successful outcome than the desire
on their part to study and apply the
conservation principle to matters
closely concerned with the pocket
book. More and more women are
making the family purchases hence
the greater amount of knowledge
they can obtain governing values and
cost the more creditable will be
their service to home and country.
Classified facts assure us that from
the economic standpoint, the pur-
chasing public is greatly benefited
when commodities used in every
home are shipped by water route.
This makes lower freight rate one
step nearer lower living rates. The
casual observer takes the matter of
the carrying charge into almost no
account when ordering the family
dinner and little appreciates the ex-
tent to which his interests are af-
fected. Besides, every human being
is consumer and pays his pro rata
tax on all articles moved for his
benefit.
The significance of European and
American waterways cannot be pass
ed by without notice; nor how the
Panama Canal and its commercial
possibilities have caused world
wide awakening to the enormous
asset we have in natures gift-"wa-
ter contains valuable data. Sure
ly the women of the land have not
overlooked these points
So much activity centers around
the word waterways that when we
haeona analvtieal then II ;e we find