The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-03-04
Montana Congresswoman
Confesses to Reporter That
She Likes Films.
WON WAGE INCREASE
Miss Rankin's Strategy Sc.
cured Better Pay for New
Zealand Women.
(From the New York Tribune.)


made a confession yesterday which
ought to Danish any lingering suspi-
cion that she wears spats. spectacle.
and stiff shirts and patronizes a mil.
liner and a mOdiste of DR.. Mary
Walkers recommendation.
Miss Rankin--or Congressman elect
Rankin. if you are n stickler for titles
likes the movies. AS a settlement
worker, a suffrage lobbyist and a can
didate for a seat in the house she
found in the films just the right sort
of relaxation, and she doesn't think
her new prominence as the first rep
resentative of her sex in congress
means she must find another way to
spend her spare time.
It took an approximation Of third de-
gree methods to bring forth the Sc
cret. She was afraid she might be ac-
cused of frivolity and that the cause
might suffer in consequence
Even If / am able to have n lot of
fun at the movies. I'm not really friv-
olous. you know" she protested. I'm
keenly aware of what my election and
my subsequent doings mean to suf-
frage. It's a big responsibility"
Wears Pretty French Heels.
About the spats-and the stiff
doesn't wear them. AS she sat in
Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw's drawing
room there wasn't anything about her
that man reporter could single out
as not distinctly feminine and in the
mode. Her shoes were notably small
French heels. Her chestnut hair was
not barbered. but coiffed--pompadour
Her gown was soft and clingy-
striped effect--and the throat and
neck that showed in liberal expanse
above it were pleasantly rounded.
The Honorable Miss Rankin is
booked to lecture in Carnegie Hall
Friday night. In heralds which have
been gotten out advertising the lecture
sketch of the cOngressman's career
Miss Rankin sees no reason for coin
Ing an awkward word like congress-
woman to fit her case) is sketched at
considerable length. 1t is set forth
that Miss Rankin was graduated from
the University OF Montana in 1902
subsequently attended the New York
School of Philanthropy, was in charge
OF the campaign that won suffrage in
her native state. lobbied in several
other states and worked through two
congressional sessions in the interest
OF national suffrage.
Her New Zealand Experience.
Point No. s is this:
Went to New Zealand to study the
social and Industrial conditions in
what is reputed to be the best gov
erned country in the world"
There should be a ninth point, CIV
ing the Hon. Miss Rankin credit for
raising the wages of New Zealand
seamstresses from six shilling to ten
shillings a day--a point that could be
written into movie scenario entitled,
say. THE American Dressmaker"
A sawmill and big ranch owned
by Miss Rankin's father precluded any
possibility she ever would have to
work for living. So when she went
to New Zealand last winter she car
ried letter of credit more than ample
to meet the expenses of first class
travel.
Miss Rankin regarded the letter of
credit as a drawback. and resolved to
earn her own living as n means of
getting in closer touch with condi-
I IL
had had an all round practical train
Ing in the domestic arts. Sewing had
been her forte. and she had no hest
tation In describing herself as n first
class American dressmaker' when she
filed her al plication with IN employ
ment agency in Auckland
Miss kansin'S first employer--by
that time she Was established as "Jen-
ny in n cooperative home abbrevi-
ated as the Girls F'riendly"-wanted
some beach frOckS made. Five shill-
ings day was the offered remunera-
ton.
But l never worked in America for
less than H. said Miss Rankin.
Eight shillings was the compromise
price. A weeks work completed the
beach gowns. Jenny" got her next
Job by advertising. There were plenty
of people ready to employ an Ameri
can modiste who considered her serv-
ices worth no less than j. shillings a
day. and after that Jenny had vaca-
tons only when she chose to take
them.
Girls Know a Friend.
There was some jealousy in the
Girls Friendly" at first But 1t
couldn't be denied that Jenny" wasn't
made proud by her success. She even
went SO far as to share her ideas and
to suggest that increased wages could
be had by any sewing girl who hon
estly thought herself worth more than
five or six shillings a day and asked
for 1t.
Gradually wages went up during
"Jenny's" four months in New Zealand.
She left one day without revealing she
was anything but what she had ap-
peared.
Auckland heard no more of Jenny"