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Show . , , , , ; " ' . : Scene from "Baby Mine" which comes to the Thatcher Opera House on Saturday, Oci. 28th, direct from a Year's run at Daly's Theatre, N. Y BAD CITIZENSHIP OF GOOD WOMEN Address by MRS. E. D. BALL, of Logan. Among tho many nble pupers rend at the seventeenth annual meeting of the Utah Federation of Women's clubs held at Ogden last week, was rhe paper by Mrs. E. I). Hall of I.o-gun, I.o-gun, on the "Und Citizenship of llqod Women," 'which we are glad to publish pub-lish us it contains much that Is pertinent per-tinent for the women of Utah to consider. con-sider. It seems to mo that the keynote of this federation has ben the citizenship of women. That nvery woman hero has heard m much to rouse her more enthusiastic work along1 many Hues, that what I 'have to say, may seem hut a vain repetition. Hut since It 'Is jo generally acknowledged, that woman's wo-man's power when exerted nlong civic Hues, Is Untitle, perhaps It Is n subject on which too much eaunot bo snld. Dad citizenship, like ninny other vices, consists largely of hlns of omission. It Is uof what the good woman does, but what she leaves undone, un-done, that makes her a bad citizen. James Hryeo says the throe chief cuuses for a defective discharge of civic duty are, Indolence, private self Interest and a party spirit. It Is generally gen-erally conceded that women nro nffeUt ed In only a very small degrco by, pnity spirit or self Interest In polltp cal affairs, so by a process of ellnn (nation we find that her deficiencies In citizenship must ho laid to the door of Indolence. This Indolence, Indifference, apathy call It what ou may toward public affairs, Is a sin which easily besets us nil. A duty shared with muny'orh-or muny'orh-or people seems less a personal duly,' and when one sees that duty, being neglect,ed by others nil around her, the obligation becomes still weaker. The need for nction is then greater, but It Is only tho very best sort of cltlrcti who feels It so. In a woman's life, there are so many other Interests competing with public affairs, that she finds It easy to leave them for her neighbors to look after. Womin as a class, however, are mow proiwed on Tjuestlons of, "fijlU cfcfeprlvllfso. tcay?tUa'i,qvcrbufpr'ev igJftto world's" VlsjbrVna'.WWag. Hfg u strops fjgiflfor'tu'e-iballdlr The women of Utah have not Jthls battle to fight. We possess what wotnon olsowhere ore struggling for. Do wri appreciate It? Are we making tho host uso of It, or Is this ono of tho places where Indolence Interferes with the clvlo duty of n good womnn? It Is a known fact that bad wonien vote, that their votes can bo and nro controlled by corrupt politicians, thuii forming a menace to both woman's suffrage and tho community, Tlicro nro so many more good womcu than had oneB. that this is easily offset, if tho good and intelligent elomenl will do Its duty and appear at tho polls to east Its vote right. Hut unfortunately It is the refined, J intelligent, educated woman, whose Inlluence Is so much deeded, who nro most indolent In regard to political affnlis. It Is this class of women who must realize that with us of Utah It is not a question of "do wo want the bnllot?" but having it, whnt is our plain duty? And tho duty is not well dono If tho vote Is cast In n caroleso, thought less ninnnor. Too many women do not think for thomselvcs In this matter,' but veakly follow whero tho man of tho family lends. A day or two before election, Bhe says to hor husband, brother or fa ther, "Ahat Is all this contention ii bout? Who are ou going to vote for7'"in 'What Is this amendment the 'paper i-peaks of? Should 1 vote for 117 Are you going to vote for It?" 'And 'a brief statement of what he Is going to do with perhaps a still briefer brief-er statement of the Issue ut stake. Ht'ttlefc it for her without further 'tholight i r Interest. 'There are ether misuses of the ballot bal-lot - of w hlch n good woman is often guilty. She votes for a personal friend legnrdless of his qualifications for office, of-fice, .iiid still moro deplorable, docs not vote for the great moral reforms Nvhleh are supposed to he near to the hearts of tho women, Too many wonien nro not sufficiently sufficient-ly lntrii'Sted to know or to care whether their city government Is well or p'ooily admlnlsteied, whether graft and 'corruption are diverting tho jnoneU'.f.bshoijld he spent In public Impiovciucuts or not. These same charges can with equal truth be laid at the door of many gcorl men, so ure really no aigumcnt against woman's suffrage. Hut our question today is, wheio Is tho gooj voinan falling In citizenship? And in VegJi'd to her ballot these aio some of tho points on which woman's civic conscience needs arousing. Out the casting of the vote Is real ly only'io. small part of one's citizen-shiji. citizen-shiji. Citlcnship In Its broader sense Is mi Intelligent and active Intel est In the affairs of tlie city stuto and uutioii. And if one is possessed of this Intelligent, nctlve Interest, her vote will need no looking nftor. Women Wom-en are too often urged to vote as though that were tho whole of their duty. Rather should they bo advised to study these questions to become interested in the welfare of the community, com-munity, . politically, morally, and physically, and tho vote will follow as a matter of course. When 'we look nt this side of woman's wom-an's citizenship, It seems Illimitable, where do her duties begin and where do they end? Tho beginnig is unquestionably unques-tionably the home. The end. Is as fnr fts"her.Urac,.,s.rengtli and Intelligence will carry- Be"r",ln making the home llfo of Jfthl" T-orainunUy ' YoalUo the Ideals that make for the higher and nobler things of life. Tho betterment of tho community, through the hotter-ment hotter-ment of tho home, pnradoxlcnl as It may sound, Is tho first civic duty of the good woman. The homo In which system nnd simplicity sim-plicity nud culture reign, and in which thoro Is perfect companionship among nil Its inmates is the very basic lock of good citizenship for both men and women. W.mwin's first duty, ns well as her highest happiness, lies in milking such n home. Prom this Ideal homo go foith individuals, mode btrong and sweet for life's duties and besides this, theio radiates from U nn Inlluence which nffects tho whole community. Tho homo of perfect .sanitation .sani-tation nnd of ideal beauty is an inspiration in-spiration stronger than words to othor housemakcrs Tho homo which breathes breath-es the spirit of lovo and peace Is the real foundation of universal peace. Without peaceful homes, wo will never have n peaceful world. Homo peaco must precede International peaco. Hut ns a citizen a woman's work Is not complete when she has made tills ono perfect home. SanUary conditions, condi-tions, vvntor and food supply, and othor irobloras within the homo Itself nro of noccsslty related to and de-Continued de-Continued on Page. 7 Bad Citizenship of Good Women (Continued from Pago 1) pendent on tho conditions of the whole cummtinlty. And no honie can be perfect per-fect until environmental conditions, physical, moral nnd spiritual, suv-rounding suv-rounding It nre perfected. So while womnn's task as a citizen Is homo-making. homo-making. It must be hotno-mnklug in Its broadest sense. Rheta Chlldo Doir. In her Interesting discission of woman wo-man s work says, "home Is not contained con-tained within the four walls of an Individual In-dividual Jionio. HOME Is the community com-munity The city full of people Is tho FAMILY The public school Is the real NURSERY." If over Individual home were perfect, per-fect, there would bo no need for the great reform movements, but till that ideal Is reached, there Is n broad field for women's labor. There are many grent national movements In which women aro Interested, Inter-ested, working nnd accomplishing notable not-able results, and when our good woman wo-man who had been sitting at home regarding re-garding her citizenship Imlifferontl 1b aroused to some sunso of her duty as u cltieu, some of tlieso great questions ques-tions of which she reads in her newspaper news-paper nnd magazines, nre apt to call her. That Is good, for tho problem of the sweat-shop and child labor, the fight for .control of tuberculosis, the In teruutionnl peace movement, and othei great questions of tho nge, cannot be given too much aid They are deserving deser-ving of the best effort of nil citizens. Hut let not our good woman become so nbsorbed In these problems that alio overlooks the crying needs at her own door. They do not so Im-mediately Im-mediately affect her as defects near er home. What Is there In your own town, your own street, perhaps your own block, which needs correcting, Improving Im-proving or reforming? And whatever that nod Is. be sure It requires your Interest and Influence to bring it nbout. Hns your city the best possible water supply? Perhaps on no other nno condition does the health of your family and your community so much depend. If you have no good water, what can be done about It? Do not merely think nbout It, but tnlk about It, and do something. Hns our town a perfectly conducted conduct-ed sower system? Is all garbago properly pro-perly disposed of? Aro nil possible means being taken -a- provent the bleeding of tho house-fly? These nnd many other questions of sanitation are of prime importance. If thoy nre not being looked nfter, whoso fault Is it? Yours If you nre indolently leaving It for others to do. Do not complain because the city officials are not at-tending at-tending to nil these matters. Thoy will do m If the citizens really de-maud de-maud It of them. Aro your schools nil they might bo If you and other good women of the town were Interested In them und working to help them? Are they train-Ing train-Ing your boys and girls to meet tho conditions of life? Is tho daughter learning the principals of home-making and home-furnlshlng along with the other subjects of tho curriculum? Is your son being trained In tho fundamental fund-amental principals of tho Industries of his community? Is ho learning to appreciate the dignity of labor? 1b he learning to create with his own In-dlvUlunl In-dlvUlunl efforts und to take prldo In thiB creutlon? If not what can you do nbout It? Have ou libraries and rending rooms for the young people? Playgrounds Play-grounds for tho children? Aro your Juvenile courts receiving nil the help and encouragement you enn glvo them? Are the streets of your city clean nnd well kept? Aro they as beautiful as the community enn nf-tord nf-tord to make them? Hns tho terrible Nvhlto slave traffic reached youi community? com-munity? We hnve all recently been awakened to the fact that this awful traffic In young girls has such a hold In our cities that It will require the combined efforts of all good citizens to erndlato It. Many of our women have gone valiantly to work, but there are Jet otheis who must be mnde to realize the Imminence of this dnn-ger dnn-ger und the need of their persona! help. Wc of tho smaller towns are apt to think of this as one of the dangers of the city which does not touch our small communities. Hut It reaches farther than wo know, nnd no place Is safe from It. The girls of the smallest town need to be kept iwny from tho city and to make the town attractive Is to help in this. At least see that girls are Informed of Womons club US three city conditions, dangers und toinptn tlons. If thoy do go theie. and thus protect them and help to lift the burden bur-den of jour city slstols who are tiding tid-ing to look after the weak and Ignorant Ignor-ant ones there. These ate only n few or the Import nnt problems which aro staring every good and thoughtful cltien In the fuco. And when the good woman begins be-gins to' see tho fullness of the responsibilities re-sponsibilities which me resting on her as n citl.on, she will look about to see how she may most effectively go to work to help to do hor share. Then comes the great question of HOW? Of cojirso she cun Influence those in her Immediate ciicle by talking and stirring up Interest In tlieso problems Sho can attend tho caucuses and primaries pri-maries as well as conscientiously enst her vote for good laws and good of flclnls who are Interested nnd who will do their best to curry out tlieso reforms, but bow little can one woman wo-man alono do. It Is In nnswer to this question of HOW from thousnnds of women that we find tho culture club turning to social service. For It Is through organization that women of the country me able to express their opinions und desires und hoo them forming Into better Inws and a better administration. Hotter administration Is mote needed need-ed than better laws. Tho good citizen never ceases her active Jnterest In affairs. Sho Is not satisfied when she hns voted for n good law. but continues con-tinues to be Interested In Its enforcement. enforce-ment. It Is easier to get a hundred women to vote for some reform measure, meas-ure, such as prohibition, control of tho social evil, suppression of the white slave truffle, or an Improved form of government for her city, thnn to get one to lift her finger or open her purse to help enforce thut law. It Is not uncommon to see a wnvo of enthusiasm roll over the community, commun-ity, which ends in the enactment of Mime stringent law of reform. The law once passed, Interest died out nnd the conditions are not merely as bad, but worso thnn before. The lnw ' liHd better never be written thnn to full In enforcement. We know that ono of tho most ef-, fective arguments against nny lnw I for the Improvement of existing conditions condi-tions Ib that the law If enacted enn-not enn-not or will not be enforced. It Is hero more thnn nt tho polls, thnt tho actively good citizen Is needed, need-ed, nnd where the good womnn most signally falls. It Is only through nct-ive nct-ive organized effort, flnnnclnl ns well as moral support, that tho laws of ro form character enn be enforced, nnd tho good women must rise to their duty In this direction. In short, the Individual woman to bo n good citizen citi-zen must lay aside Indolence, must perfect her home, nnd her community nnd In order to work effectively, sho must work through organization. For work In tho town no moro effective ef-fective woman's orgnnlzntlon exists thnn her club turned toward social service, for state and national work, thqse clubs gathered Into federations. We hnvo learned much during this meeting of what such clubs nro doing nnd aro striving to do, which speaks well foiMho citizenship of some women. wo-men. Let every ono of us bestir ourselves our-selves to grcnter understanding, Interest Inter-est and activity In public affairs, nnd Inspire other women about us to do the same, until there nro no good women In Utah who nro not also good citizens. |
