Evening star., 1933-04-25
SAYS DAYS ISSUES
DEMAND STUDY
Head of League of Women
Voters Addresses Opening
of Three.Day Session.

Women voters throughout the country
should take time to study and digest
the great issues of the day, and the
emergency measures advocated by the
administration, Miss Belle Sherwin,
president of the League Of Women
Voters, told the general council Of the
league, holding its biennial three-day
session at the Hotel Washington today.
Miss Sherwin declared "as individuals
We may applaud the bold leadership
that dares great experiments in great
emergencies. AS an organization we
require time to develop knowledge and
understanding among our members"
Responsibility Need Stressed.
Miss Sherwin suggested the need for
more individual responsibility in form
ing understanding public opinion on
the great emergencies Of the day.
1T is true" she said. that the Presi-
dent cannot put through great remedial
measures without the support of men
and women living in our communities
who comprehend the purpose and
methods proposed. Action which may
bring relief depends on understanding
OF the facts and on the cumulative force
of opinion generated in communities.
This is true whether the means OF
unemployment insurance and changes
in the State system of taxation, or is
found in administrative reforms for
economy and the reduction of deficits
In city halls and schools. Even inter-
national questions which do not oriqi-
nate in communities must be cOmpre-
hended there before they can be settled.
Already Federal measures involving
great changes in policy have been intro
duced which the league as an organi-
zation is not prepared to espouse or
oppose"
She reported that within the last
year the league has aided in the rau-
f1cation of the lame duck" amend
ment, and pushed ratification of the
child labor amendment in four State
Legislatures, making 10 in all. State
leagues, she said, have a record Of CIV
ing impetus to hours of work" legis-
lation, workmen's compensation, mini
mum wage legislation for women and
children and laws providing more ade-
Quately and equitably for school rev.
enues and defense of State welfare
divisions.
Government Trends Outlined.
Outlining the trends of government
of today, and the fundamental tend
encies at work affecting our national
life, Prof. Charles E. Merriam of the
University of Chicago told the council
that they lead to the conclusion that
the democracy of the next period will
concern itself seriously with such prob
lens as minimum standards of living,
including education, housing, health,
leisure and recreation and with the
stabilization of employment with social
Insurance of various types.
There is ground" he said, ito antjci-
cipate less emphasis on the pecuniary
and purely profit making elements in
social organization and more on tech
nological and scientific. There is every
reason to anticipate changes in the
mechanism of democratic government,
including areas of government and
methods of representation, types of
public administration and forms of re-
sporsibility.''
This afternoon Prof. Edward S. Rob-
1nson of Yale University will speak on
Trends of the Voters Mind" from an
analysis of special prediction survey
made last October in conjunction with
the League of Women Voters.
First Lady Dinner Guest.
All sessions of the three-day gathering
will be executive, except the dinner,
which will be held tomorrow night at
the Washington Hotel, at which Mrs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt will be guest of
Raymond Moley, Assistant Secretary of
State, and Miss Marion Edwards Park,
president of Bryn Mawr College.
ranks of women voters are attending the
sasSiOps