Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-20
LADY FROM MONTANA
TELLS REFORM PLANS
Congresswoman Will Work at
Home for Mothers Pensions
and Rural Schools

Congressman Miss Jeanette Rankin, of
Montana, the first woman 10 hold office in
the national House Of Representatives who
Is to speak tonight at Moose Hall. 1914 North
Broad street, arrived in Philadelphia this
afternoon.
Miss Rankin was met at the west Phila-
delphia station, Thirty-second and Market
streets, by n reception committee Of the Ed
ucational Club of South Philadelphia, under
whose auspices she will speak. She was
entertained at a woman suffrage reception
at 11Oi Spruce street.
To meet Miss Rankin is to have dis
PEELED any notion that public life has rem
dered her "~unwomanly."
OF charming personality. she Is easy and
gracious of manner, and impresscs immedi-
ately as a woman whom men and women
alike would be glad to have as a friend.
OF medium size and tastcfully dressed, she
Is animated in gesture and speech, and is
full of western vivacity. ana Is in her prime,
in spite of the fact that her hair is
fast turning gray.
Has u Ready smile
II is In Miss Rankin's most characteristic
feature, her ready smile, that lies her power
of appeal. If to meet her IL to feel her
womanly charm, to talk with her or hear her
lecture is to realize that, coupled with It, is
a clear and intelligent mind and an cagerness
TO do her full part In the great IN ,vcmCnts
Tor civic hetterment.
Miss Rankin. upon returning to Montana,
is not to give UP her public career. For many
years before coming East she was prominent
in the welfare work Of her State, and to this
work she will return.
II have a large program planned for my
return" she said this afternoon, "and | shall
go on working for the betterment Of local
conditions. One of the chief matters to de
mand my attention at present is the care Of
the feeble-minded in which there Is need for
much reform in my state. Educational work,
too, Is one of the chief problems presenting
itself to the people of Montana, and l am
planning to devote much time to assisting in
the task now on hand Of bettcring the sys-
TEN OF rural schools.
Another question which is being agitated
there is the mothers pension. l believe that
this pension should be based on service and
not on poverty, and / shall work toward aC-
complishing needed reforms along this line.
The theory of those Of us who are working
in this field Is that the mother should be
pensioncd II she is doing service, and that
the matter of her financial condition should
not be taken into consideration. The ques-
ton of the fathers position, also, does not
enter % the matter.
Fifty Years Behind
my interests in general come under the
head, which I have chosen as my subject for
tonight, Democracy and Government II
is the greater voice Of the people In the
government, and the consequent betterment
of conditions that we should have had nifty
years ago. But as they did not come fifty
years ago, and, in fact, have not come now,
we must work for them. The war has
brought many changes in conditions, as, for
instance, in the problem of better housing,
which Is one Of the foremost to be con-
sidered In the work OF civic Improvement"
At the reception this afternoon. those who
received were Miss Mary II. lngham, Penn
sylvania chairman Of the National Womans
party: Miss Mary A. Burnham, an active
member of the same organization Mrs. Cor
nelius Stevenson. president of the Acorn
Club Miss Shellia Clayton, head nurse OF
the Philadelphia Hospital and member Of
the Council of National Defense Miss Anna
Davies. head worker of the College Settle
ment Mrs. Edward w. Biddle, Mrs. Wilfred
Lewis. of Haverford. president of the 'execu-
tive committee of the Woman's Medical Col
lege Miss Mary McMurtrie and Miss Car
oline Katzenstein.
The meeting tonight will be for the bene-
fit of the work carried on by the Educational
Club, which provides special study for young
men and women who otherwise would have
no opportunities for such work.