The Washington herald., 1920-11-02
WOMEN AT WAR
FOR NEW BILLS
Mothers and Babies Needs
Taken Up in Letter to
Congress.
mo TIME IS TO BE LOST
Leagues State Branches
| Working Hard In Election,
! Says Constance Drexel.
NO TIME IS TO BE LOST
by CONSTANCE DREXEL.

Having obtained votes for women
by winning their way through Con-
gress and State legislatures, those
who did il are already planning
similar campaign for other reforms
women are anxious to obtain. wash
ington may be dead as the ancient
door nail at this moment, but in the
office of the National League of
Women Voters typewriters and
mimeograph machines are clicking
necessarily and feminine brains are
working feverishly.
They are not concerning them
selves very much with the election
returns so anxiOusly awaited in the
rest of the country, but are planning
things so that there will be great
surprise awaiting congressman and
Senators on their arrival in Wash
ington for the opening of Congress
on December 6.
Haven't the suffragists promised
that their first concern after OBJ
tanning the vote would be the well
fare of mothers and babies? The
National League OF Women Voters,
daughter organization Of the Ma
tionRl American Woman Suffrage
Association, is proving it. Every
Representative and Senator will find
his desk piled high with letters
and kilograms about mothers and
babies. The object will be to con-
vince the lawmakers that the wOm-
en- of the country want them to
pass the Sheppard -Towner bill right
away.
Working in Election.
1t is true that many individual
members of State branches of the
League of Women Voters are work
ing hard in the elections. 1t is
also true that some branches, like
the New York state League of
Women Voters and the New York
City League of Women Voters are
opposing certain candidates.
But the National League of Wom-
en- Voters here in Washington is
concerning itself with the speedy
passage of the following bills al
ready in the hands OF Congress
namely:
The Sheppard Towner bill 0n-
fancy and maternity welfare).
The Smith Towner bill (doalinG
with educatiOn).
Rogers bill independent citizen
ship for married womcn:)
Curtis-Gard bill concerning chile
labor in District of COlumbia.)
Kenyon kendriCk bill rcgulLtinE
meat packing Industry
The Sheppard -Towner bill is the one
which Is being pushed the hardest
Briefly. it provides for instruction
! in the hygiene of maternity and in
fancy and the household arts es
sential to the wcll-be of mother
and child; it provides for consulta
| tion ccnters and medical and nurs
| ing care for mothers and infants, a
| home or at hospital. The act is t
be administered by a Federal boart
on which are represented the L. :
Bureau of Education and the l. )
! Public Health Service. The act CALI
for a Federal appropriation OF 81.
! o0O, 900 to be annually increased un-
! til II reaches $4.0O0,00O. 1t will b.
| apportIoned among the States in th'
proportion which their population
| bears to the total population of tn
United States. provided that esct
/ State appropriates a like sum.
| Immediate Passage Sought.
This last provision is one of tn
reasons for stressing the immediat
passage of the bill the moment thi
| Congress convenes in December
| This is because 1921 is the yea
when most of the state Legislature
meet. If the bill does not pass Cop
gress in time for the various State