Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-29
DIFFICULT TO SET
A FAIR LIMIT To
WOMAN'S SPHERE
Senator Helen Ring Robinson De-
cIares She is Concerned in Every
thing Affecting the Home.
MOVEMENT is DOING GREAT GOOD
Asserts in Chautauqua Lecture Her
Belief Women and Men Are About
Fifty-Fifty in Everything.

WOman'S sphere includes everything |
that has to do with the maintenance
and protection of the home, therefore
she is entirely justified in demanding
the ballot in order to be in position
to help settle the questions that have |
a direct bearing upon home affairs. |
This was the position taken in her
lecture at the chautauqua last evening
by Helen Ring Robinson, first woman !
senator and whose home is in Denver
Mrs Robinson is a Larry Sherman
like sort of woman, tall and dellD-
crate, with pointed nose and chin. II
woman politicians were more common
she would be spotted for one any
where. Mrs t. b. Davis, president OF
the Rock Island Woman's club, pre-
scented here.
Senator Robinson said she had no
quarrel with men. They are peculiar,
but interesting and eminently useful.
After having spent some time in sizing
up both sides of the question she had
concluded that they and the women
were about fifty-ffty mentally, NOR
ally and in all the relations of life.
Advantage in Training.
Men have the advantage in that they
/ cooperate better than the women Men
are fighters and this has brought them
face to face with the necessity since
the primeval days of pulling together.
+ Women, on the other hand, never Co
operated TO any marked extent till the
advent of Frances Willard and her w.
/ c. T. L. movement.
/ Men always have fought to kill.
/ Woman, now that she is getting into
| the game, fights to save, especially to
| preserve the home. If you contend
| that the home is WOman's place, then
| you will have to cOncede her interest
/ in whatever affects the welfare of that
institution. Her place is in the home
/ during business hours, the speaker ad-
! mitted, but man should spend d good
| deal more time there than he is in the
habit of doing. The senator said she
/ had been made the subject Of a SEN
| sationaI newspaper story to the effect
/ that she had introduced in the Col
/ Orado Legislature a curfew bill to ap-
ply to husbands and fathers. While
/ she never actually presented it, she
! had threatened to do so and had the
I assurance of many senators of the
other sex that they would support it
/ if she did.
Clubs Accomplish Wonders.
During the so years that the wo-
! mans club movement has been in
! operation it has accomplished wonders.
/ 1t is barely at the Threshold of its
usefulness, the speaker declared. She
! gave in some detail the story of the
! origin of this work in a typical small
| city of the middle west, showing how
/ everything taken up had to do with
making better homes. City hOusekeep-
/ ing she called it. In a matter of about
/ fifteen years that city was transform
/ ed from one Of the most immoral and
worst kept in the country to a model
/ town. The WOmans' club in Rock Is
! land was commended for what it has
/ accomplished. A similar movement is
well under way in most other cities.
/ It can hardly be overdone There is
so much to be accomplished in clean
/ ing and beautifying, improving SANTA
ton, providing social centers, and in
/ countless other ways promoting the
1 health, happiness, morality and educa-
[ ton of the people that wOman's clubs
will be busy for many years without
/ taking up the broader economic Ques-
lions of the country. At last there is a
world mother to guide and feed and
teach the human race.
1 1t must not be assumed that woman
has no business considering the wider
questions which are banded about in
the political arena of men. The in
creased cost of living affects her Vi
tally, for it tends to deteriorate the
| home and degrade the nation It is
woman's business to do the buying for
the family OF the $4,000 900, 900
! spent in this country last year for
home maintenance, food and clothing.
it is safe to say that women spent So
! 100000 600. When cost of living ou-
runs the income the things that feed
the spirit are given up first. We buy
fewer books, pictures and recrea-
titons. Our bodies may be as well
nourished as ever, bu our minds suf-
fer.
Sugar Case in Point.
/ The speaker took the case of sugar
as one of the commodities which has
/ increased in price beyond all reason.
/ Sugar is one Of the four leading neces-
| stiles of life Women ought to study
| the reasons for its advance and try to
apply remedy The reason for the
/ high cost, in the opinion of the speak
er, was that which has caused most of
the similar increases in other COM
modities, namely, that its production
| and distribution are controlled by
/ trusts. There is no adequate reason
for price of 10 or II cents a pound
( for sugar Some saw if's