Mexico weekly ledger., 1918-06-06
WRITES FOR MAGAZINES
Unable to Speak English She Came to
St Louis and Lived the Life of
the Working Classes.

Miss Clara Taylor, r. NJ, TO a news
paper reporter Tuesday. II want to
get somewhere where I ran do more
good" Accordingly she has resigned
her position as prenatal instructor in
Washington University, st. Louis, and
is waiting for her cherished natural
iaztion papers, which are due July Is.
She is now the guest Of her brother,
Isadore Taylor, of this city.
"But why wait for the papers? ?" in.
quired the interviewer. "They are not
necessary for enrolment in On Amer
lean Red Cross Unit, are they
She smiled and explained in her
distinctively Russian accent that her
ambition was to work in either Rus
sia or France; and that being unuat-
uralized she feared the Government
would not permit her to cross the
seas but assign her to duty in Amer
lea.
Is Prominent Public Health Worker.
Born in Russia, among the tramp
led industrial classes, Miss Taylor has
since her childhood been interested
in the uplift of the great proletariat.
As early as 1905 she was an active
member Of the Red Gross, and did
her first work in the Massacre 9f
Odessa of that memorial year Of
revolution.
She scorns the idea that many people
have that the uprising was caused by
racial grievances. at was clog de-
vised by the corrupt administration
to prevent concentrated revolution
against the government" Miss Tay-
lor believes. Filling one-half of the
troops full of booze, the leaders di
rected this mob's attacks against the
other half of the population. Sobered
the men shuddered at the horrible
atrocities they had committed.
In 1906 she finished a course il
nursing at a Russian preparatory
school; and Immediately began hel
work of investigation and relief il
public health conditions. 1t wa;
largely through her aid that the Rus
sian government obtained staticticl
that rs per cent of the tea factory anc
Al per cent of the tobacco plants EN-
ployees were in tubercular condi
tion.
Continues Social Work in U. S.
Sailing with her brother, Isadore
of this city, she left tie older countf,
of oppression for a newer land o
freedom about II years ago. The,
stayed in New York only short tim
and then came straight through to 81
Louis.
| Without funds and not able to speal
English, she sought a position in
factory there. She soon lost her jo
for trying to organize the workmc1
and was obliged to wander from plan
to plant never keeping the same plac
for more than few weeks. 81 workc
in candy factories, glove factories
box factories, pants factories, and a
the other kinds of factories" sh
laughed, always with the purpose o
bettering public health, and constant
ly attending night school 10 learn tn
language"
And then, the same day that lisa
dore left st. Louis to accept pos
ton with the Pitcher Jewelry Con
pany, of Mexico, she started to da
school.
Contributes to American Magazine
In 1911 she graduated from Bt
thesda Hospital, and taking a Stat
examination, became a registere
nurse. A little later she completed
: course in the School Of Social EcoI
omy, a St. Louis branch of the I'm
versity Of Missouri.
Miss Taylor has for several yeal
been a regular contributor to the S
Louis Globe Trotter and her article
have appeared in the leading nation
, magazines of the United States. Des
Walter Williams, of the School
Journalism of the University of Mi
souri,, realizing her ability, recent
extended her a cordial invitation
: change her profession and be a jou
nalist instead of a nurse, she says.
Last summer the Ledger printed
} description of the Massacre of 19I
which came from her pen. She vel
vividly portrayed the atrocities
which she was witness during Il
great crisis.
A book written by her, which is
n direct line with the work Of the wor
= en- Of the National Council of Defen
! in saving children's lives, is now in t
! hands of the publishers with a Go
s ernment Endorsement. In it she I
views eight. hundred cases of her oV
= personal experience and demo
IS strates the crying need Of prs-medic
" work and workers. A part of Il
y book has already appeared in t
o Nurses Public Health Journal Of {
tober, 1917.
Has Relatives in Russia Now.
One of Miss Taylor's brothers "
killed in action in Russia in 1915; a
j. another was last heard Of as being
a town which was a short time lat
captured by the Germans. She has
sister in the ranks of the Red Gre
s. nurses in that unfortunate COUNT
IS and says she often longs to be the
Y too.
: In fact she is very confident Il
m President Wilson, whom she praii
s. as "preventor of working mans n
\. olution in this Country" will not
o. long in sending Red Cross Unit
Relief to the suffering Russians, W
,r whom he heartily sympathizes. To
L8 member Of such an expedition, {
states would be a realization Of !
in greatest hopes; but she adds that
IS eagerness to promote the health q
social conditions of the class fr
which she has risen might be satisf
in in the war wrecked homes Of Franc
,e Miss Taylor will leave ST. Lo