Evening star., 1942-12-27
Women's S Institute
Takes Big Role in
St. Paul Civic Life
Organization Founded
By Publisher Boosts
City's RetoiI Trade
By ADOLPH JOHNSON,


BY ADOLPH JOHNSON,
Associated Press Correspondent.
ST. PAUL, Dec. 27.-"Ladies and
and ladies'"
That was the amazed salutation
of one somewhat disconnected speak
er who found himself before an
audience of 12000-all women.
The women make up one of the
most powerful groups in st. Pauls
Women's Institute.
And it was a mans idea that it
be organized!
These women make their greatest
visible impact on civil life when,
six afternoons and evenings a year,
they gather in the Municipal Au-
ditorium, but they WELD a strong
influence throughout the year.
Sponsored BY Publisher.
The institute was set up at the
suggestion and under the sponsorship
of B. H. Ridder, publisher of the St.
Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press.
The possibilities of the power
which lies in Women's hands" he
declared, when that power is turned
to some specific goal, are unlimit-
ed"
1t was more than a happy acci-
dent that the institute was set up
when 1t was. In the words of Miss
Agnes Kennedy, institute secretary
and program chairman, st. Paul was
suffering from bad inferiority
complex" and was increasingly over
shadoWed by its younger and larger
neighbor, Minneapolis.
Approaching the problem from the
hard-headed businessman's view
point and using business methods,
Mr.. Ridder engaged economic ex-
perts to conduct a survey. The sur
vey revealed the basic, grim fact
that st. Paul women were spending
in the neighborhood of Sl0,00O,O0O
year in Minneapolis.
Went Right to Work.
Mr.. Ridder gave scant time to
viewing with alarm. He decided
something should be done about it.
That something was the institute.
Mr. Ridder enlisted the help of a
dozen or so leaders in women's &C
tivities and organized a committee
of 500 representing cross-section
of the city's women. Together they
founded the Women's Institute Ito
promote the cultural. social and civic
progress of this community
But women had been organized
before for similar purposes and had
failed, so the astute Mr.. Ridder and
his advisers provided necessary
sugar coating The statement of
purpose went on and to present a
series of five educational and en-
tertainment events"
The institute got under way in
1889 with Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
as the first guest speaker. BY the
end of the year bank deposits had
risen 10 per cent and retail store
sales were up to IA per cent for
each month over the corresponding
month of the preceding year And
no one disputed the institutes claim
for a major share Of the credit then
or during the following years when
the upward trend continued
Audience Totals 120CO.
The institute began with 5000
members. An equal number of
guests was invited to each meeting
from surrounding towns This year
1t was necessary to expand the audi
toriums seating capacity to accom-
modate an audience totaling 10000
with the greater proportion now st.
Paul women.
In the process of improving
buyer and seller relationships and
improving the city as a retail CEN
ter the institute found time to carry
on nearly a score of civic projects
and gain for itself representation
on the city planning board and the
United Civic Council
The institute sponsored home
Christmas lighting contests, anti
weed campaigns, parking lot i'm
provement program and contin-
uing cleanup campaign, with every
lot beauty spot" as its slogan.
The cleanup campaign is con-
Quoted through block chairmen-
one for every block in the city,
setup which proved to be made to
order when the Office of Civilian De-
fense was created. The block Or
ganization was promptly turned over
to the OCD and many of the block
chairmen became victory aides.
Makes Up Deficit.
And recently, during the news
aper-sponsored scrap campaign,
when each institute member was
asked to bring a pound of scrap in
her purse to an auditorium gather
ing, bulging handbags yielded a total
of 10000 pounds of scrap.
Following Mrs Roosevelt on in
stitute programs have been such
women as Mrs. j. Borden Hartman.
then Minister to Norway: Malvina
Hoffman, sculptress; Actresses Jane
Cowl and Oracle Fields: Gladys
Swarthout and Grace Moore, sing
ers, and Margaret Culkin Banning,
Ilka Chase, Jan Struther and Fam