The log cabin Democrat., 1916-10-03
TRACES ORIGIN OF
 WOMAN SUFFRAGE
Continued from Saturdays dailv)

Continued from Saturdays daily) The burdens of a few generations ago incumbent upon the women of the household having been frightened, some leisure time was left to the wom- en, or certain classes of them. Not having to work, they cast about for something to occupy it. Their op- portunities for classic or fine arts education had been few and groups of women began to meet together at stated intervals as clubs, to consider some specified subject. In the early
 days Of the women's clubs, these sub
 Jects tended to develop, and indeed,
 the whole purpose of the club was to
 develop the members along intellectual and cultural lines. But it is difficult matter indeed, to maintain a high pitch of interest in such abstract, in- tangible matters when there are oth- CTS more vital, at least more immedi ately vital, near at hand, and our la
 dies began to discuss the things they
 saw about them: the dirty streets and
 weedy alleys, the pitiful condition of
 the poor children in the crowded quar- ters of the cities, who had no place
 to play except those same dirty streets; shorter hours of labor for
 women, the tremendous need for clean
 social diversion for the poorer classes Tn the large cities; the bad quality of
 food that interruptions dealers foist-
 ed upon ignorant or helpless buyers;
 and they increasingly discussed these
 things in the club meetings and the
 culture club has undergone a meta
 morphosis, so that today, most of the
 clubs in the country, or at least those affiliated with the General Federation
 and organized for social service.
 Discussion shortly was succeeded by action with the result that we now
 have annual municipal "clean-up" days, and our towns and cities have awakened to sense and spirit of
 civic beauty and pride; there is a na
 tional association for the establishing
 of playgrounds, parks have been es- tablished where those who have no
 better place can get some wholesome
 recreation and amusement; libraries,
 travelling and stationary, have been
 established in factory districts and
 elsewhere. etc. Almost instinctively it
 seems, women have bitterly opposed
 the liquor traffic, and double stand
 ard of morals. In parenthesis, I should like to mention the present
 state of the liquor traffic in Arkan-
 sas. The bill initiated by the so-called
 Local Self-Government League, at
 tempting to repeal our statewide pro-
 hibition law, presents an opportunity
 to the organized club women of the state of Arkansas to do some very effective work. The bill is one of the
 most vicious pieces of attempted legis-
 lation conceivable. 1 think the clubs
 of the state would do well to devote
 one or more meetings to thorough
 study of the bill and its effects. An
 educational campaign, showing how
 completely it undoes the work of the
 prohibitionists for the last 30 years,
 in my judgment, will be the most ef
 fective method of fighting it. But
 know nothing about the clubs pur- poses and plans, so my suggestion
 may be entirely out of order. The
 parenthesis is closed. But, as one
 writer has put it, "The fact is that
 until the club women had been at
 work at practical things for long
 period of years, they did not realize
 the social value of their own activities.