Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-08
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
Two Instances cited Where Woman's
. Intuition Plays a Poor Second to
knowledge and Experience
BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE

TNHE first board meeting ever sat through
L was woman's committee in charge OF
sectarian orphanage was on 2 sub
committee Of that board. not officially a
board member. but one of the junior officials
OF an auxiliary known as 'The Young
Ladies' Aid"
I was sixteen and full of notions how
orphans should be taken care of. and scorn-
fnl of the way they were being treated BY
the matron and her underlngs. My APP
pearance at the board meeting was to TESTIFY
what l had observed as to the. way the
children were punished. Some OF the boys
were much too old for the matron to tackle
unaided. Whipping was her most success.
ful form of punishment, and she found II
easier on the whole to get" the bigger
children while they were in the bathtub.
l had not seen this performance. but the
tales of 1t had reached me. and was nsken
to produce "hcarsay' as well as hrst hand
information. The children had apparently
been freer in their talk with me than with
the lady managers
The point about the episode was that
never from the first was the matron allowed
to have part In the proceedings as bear
ing her testimony or giving her viewpoint.
1t was many years ago--1 do not know
II the institution still survivcs-and no one
thought in those days that n paid official
safely. could be admitted to the councils
of board meeting. Any information she
had to give on the orphanage always came
same one Of the board, who was either her
sworn enemy or her prejudlced friend.
TT WAS not until considerably later in
4 my varied career as n committee member
that / was made aware that to intrust an
official with the responsibility Of an organ
ization and then Danish him from the
councils of the directorate gave him an
anomalous position with his subordinates
and made his position with the board more
often defensive than co operative.
1t took an actual experience of seeing
the thing worked to convince me that the
old-fashioned way Of regarding paid Of
hcial rs some. one to be treated ms different
in trustworthiness from a volunteer official
was unfair and clumsy.
The organization where l saw it tried
out-against my vote at first and finally
with my relieved apprOva!-was the Public
Baths Association. and the official in ques-
tion was B. +. Ross the super intendent.
He was n young man who had been,
think, clerk or accountant in grocery
business and who had become ION the side"
very active ms n follower of Henry George
in the Single Tax propaganda.
/ have the impression that he was some
what radical at that period. certainly very
enthusiastic in questions pertaining to labor,
and that when he came into the employ
of the Public Baths Association as the boss
of its first bathhouse he was perhaps at
n crisis in his career.
He promised to become IN admirable
superintendent and very fair and sensible
employer of men. There also seemed
possibility that with those gifts latent, but
not encouraged, he might persuade himself
that his duty in life was to become an agi-
tator along soCalistic lines. l do not say
this was actually the probability but
viewed from the outside it seemed at least
a possibility.
1t was at this point that the subject of
his being included in the directorate as n
means Of giving him greater scope and
more personal interest In the enterprise was
discussed by the Executive Committee, and
because Of my ignorance it was peremptorily
opposed By me.
To my astonishmcnt I was screnely over
ruled. and Is. +. Ross became Il member of
the board that was employing him as super
ntcndent.
He Is still member of that board and
Is still superintendent. and it is probably
due more to him than to any other factor
in the organization that 1t is the most sue
cessful institution of its kind in the coun-
try, probably. in the world