The evening world., 1917-05-10
A WoMAN's COMMITTEE REcoq
NIZED BY GOVERNMENT.

The committee IS the one organi-
cation for directing women's activi-
ties recognized by the Government"
DIR, Shaw told me. Its members are
not chosen to represent special So
cieties or movements, and IL Is strict
ly non-partisan.'
Then DIR. Shaw said something for
which l have been waiting impa-
tiently.
"A great deal OF the registration OF
women for various activities has been
utterly useless" she remarked with
| commendable candor. women have
rushed forward in large numbers and
pledged themselves TO do the things
they wanted to do and not the things
that needed TO be done. FOr exam
pie, large numbers of women have
volunteered to drive motor cars for
the Government, although nobody
seems to know that corps OF women
motorists will be needed. l myself
have been asked Ia register by six
different societies, to pledge myself to
do anything from running an auto
! mobile to running q printing press.
~ understand that the lists OF pos
sible occupations for women during
time of war have been based on tho
work done by women abroad. But al
though we are In the war-a fact
many OF us are slow in realizing-the
| demands upon women for a long time
TO come will be very different from
the demands upon French n Eng
lish women. There Is important work
close at hand for women to do, so
why encourage their registration for
far-off and perhaps never-to-be-
needed tasks? The consequence is
lthat many women are growing dis
couraged, and others are realizing
that Il viii take a long time TO train
for the work they have offered 10 dc
In an outburst OF enthusiasm One
roman In Chicago wrote me the Other
day, we are being asked to knit and
sew for our country, and then the
things we make are being stored
away. Why should we knit for stor-
ago?' SO far much OF the registra.
ton of women has been badly handled
and is worthless" repeated DIR. Shaw
with emphasis.
"And what Is your committee goina
to do to remedy matters?" | asked.
"You viii understand that tho plan
l outline for you are tentative" ahl
replied. "But we may take up regis
tration i'm n practical. helpful fashion
First of all, however, we shall appoln
in each State n woman TO act as Tom
porary Chairman OF all the women.
organizations IN that state, TO lnVlt
their leaders TO a conference and ar
range that women wishing to do spe
cial sorts OF work be put in touc'
with the recognized leaders OF tina
~work-that women who wish TO nurse
for example, be assigned to the Rcl
Cross. We don't want to create an.
more organizations. but to see Ia
those existing cooperate helpfully in
stead of duplicating and conflicting
Mrs. William Grant Brown Is to b
Temporary Chairman for the State q
New York"
and do you suppose that you wi
induce them all TO work together?
| asked-not, l hope, too specifically.
u believe that they will work undo
a head which they know the Govern
nent has appointed" Dr. Shaw as
seNted. ANY society that refuses I
cooperate with the others we simpl
shall not recogniZe-that Is all, III
women who are eager for indlvidu,
credit seldom are hard workers. TheI
may be thousands OF them who wi
drop out, but tncro r thousand
who viii stick,
Also, tentatively. tho committe
plans TO take up food production, II
consumption, temporary storage an
distribution. We shall deal with III
problem of women in industry, the
wages and tho standards OF labor.
Miss Nestor, on "a committee.