The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-01
BY MRS. ANONYMOUS

! k the most original. Nothing hkt | the organiza tion she founded has eveI l been seen before or since on the fact of the earth. and if the women never noticed her. her project did appeal tc | the men.
 | She hsd the advantage of beginnins ! her operations during the World wal when the fine art of founding reached | it's highest point of perfection in Amer | ica. Founders sprang up like mush rooms in the night and women join ! ed bv the thousands. No draft wal necessary.
 Scarcely had the war started ir Europe before 2 room was engaged al a big New York hotel by a patriotic ! foresighted. kind hearted woman, who i at her own expense. launched cam I paign" for organizing the League foI Marrying Maimed Soldiers. You see one had to sign a pledge to marry one of them cr get somebody to do it.
 Some cold bIooded people were rude enough to suggest that the poor soldiers would have quite enough to bear. But the Ieaguers said those peo- pie were probably German spies trying to break up the league. It was all in the bylaws that it was for the benefit of the race. We just couldn't let the race die out you know. especially when the dues were only ten dollars a year Of course, in those days the German spies were everywhere.
 $500. 900 For the Innoeents Everybody remembers those hectic days of hcrrifying predictions that the Germans were coming over to attack | us on the Atlantic seaboard. It was during those anxious times that the sister of the founder of the League for Marrying Maimed Soldiers launched a campaign to raise $500 900 to buy automobiles to get the innocents safe Iy from the seaboard to the haven of the Rocky mountains Tn case the Ger mans really came.
 For causes of that sort money sim ply rolled in. If there was any protest from the Rockies ! never heard of it. I suppose all of the ahle-bodied men were safe in the trenches and the oth- CTS did not have spirit enough to pro- test against the pouring in of the in- nOcents.
 We'll. it was in those trying and exciting days that Mrs. Howard Gould got right into the middle of the spot light. Mrs. Gould was once starred by the celebrated Buffalo Bill-or any how. he spent a lot of money trying to star her. As Viola Kathrine Clem- mons she rose to the dizzy heights of vaudeville. in the days when ysude- vile was in it's pure state. And then the marrisSs with Howard Gould in 1898. The other GOulds took it for granted that Kathrine had a sort of 2 circus complex and that they would not find her company congenial. They never took the pains of find out. What ever may be said of the Gould tempera- ment, it IS not tainted with any poetic streak But 1t was as if they had said to Howard;
 You may tame and refine your Kate
 if you will.
 But the scent of the sawdust will cling
 round her still.
 She Wanted a Career
 A matter of fact, there is much to admire in the personality and in the character of this remarkable wom- an. and had they given her chance she would. doubtless. have upheld T number of the best-known-and per hans some of the best-of the Gould traditions. But they didn't give her that chance They disliked her at long distance. Kathrine didn't dislike them but she disliked the Gould mental at titude toward her-disliked 1t cordially, almost enthusiastically.
 Rut Kathrine Clemmons is not vim dictive. She is not mean. Her idea of making the Goulds sit up and take notice was to do something worthy of their notice. to achieve a position so high and so fine that they would be compelled tn respect and to admire her. She Craved neither their society nor their affection. but their respect she did want and their good will she felt that she deserved.
 She got over the ambition to be @ociety Iionesg. That spell didn't last long. Besides. she soon saw, as she herself expressed it. there's nothing to that silly social hfe-nothing a-tall. She wanted Career-a highly respect sbla. nationally recognized career. She was done forever with the stage and sN that on it was. She wanted pres tige-the sort that would get her pie rure in the newspapers so that the Goulds would have it with their break fast food every other morning or SO. Front page prestige, you know. 1es. she would tower above even the Goulds THGEQSHINNS. De At ch4i hCAC Nlihl thV most diligent gossip could find nothing to criticize She had 2 modest room al the BiItmore Howard and Caesar were in the same class SD far as their vives-and even Px-wives-were con cerned.
 How To Be a President
 The war was in full swing. Women were knitting and parading, and there
 uaIOrn ala0 none of them welcomed Mrs. Gould. Somehow she didn't fit. In the first pIace she didn't want to he a mere pri- vsts in the ranks She was perfectly willing to spend Gould money which came to her in the form of alimony. But she wanted to be president of something or other.
 Well. all right" she said. While I'm showing the Goulds I might just as we'll show these women. too. I'll found an organization of my own and I'll elect myself president
 And that's what she did,
 But where Mrs. Gould's organization differed from any other one under the sun was in the fact that she needed no members at all. No money was collected for dues. There were hand some offices. first in Washington and then st Fifth avenue and Forty-second street in New York City. There were velvet carpets and mahogany furniture, and there were files and file clerks. and half dozen busy little Steno- zraphers. But Mrs. Gould paid for all of these things out of her alimony.
 To the Ends Of the Earth
 The stationery was particularly i'm rressive. IL was de luxe in quality.