The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, April 06, 1901, Page 4, Image 4

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    THE 60UR1BR.
common field of effort loses Us signifi
cance when discrimination is made be
tween the two classes of workers
therein. "Women of today have a con
ception of public ethics which makes
them keen to sense and quick to re
pudiate the old need of puerile and
specious praise. They want approval
for their work. Not because women
have done that work, but because It is
good work. "When it not good work
they want the same healthy, invigor
ating disapproval given to men under
the same circumstances.
Third The best work of women is
always exhibited with men's work,
while it is only their less successful
efforts which are shown as women's
work.
This is the natural and lawful su
premacy of individuality over sex.
Fine grade artists, artisans and best
workers of all kinds among women
want their productions classed with
the world's work, not with specialized
portions of it. If they compete they
will compete with all, not with a part.
Hence, all the best work done by wom
en goes to enhance the quality of the
general exhibit and the woman's de
partment becomes a pitiful display of
minor. Inferior al trivial Industries.
Fourth In human society progress
is from separate interests to unified
Interests, and in the evolution of
world's fairs progress is from men's
exhibits and women's exhibits to hu
man exhibits.
In the coming world's fair it must
be the chief desideratum to present
In each variety of activity, the very
climax idea of that activity, be it prac
tical, scientific, philosophical or re
ligious. With a less comprehensive
goal than this there is no reason for
the fair. With this in mind it Is im
possible to overestimate the signifi
cance of the standpoint of these resolu
tions. Practically it stands for the
comradeships, the mutual strengthen
ing of men and women; scientifically
it represents the conservation of en
ergy and the identity of forces; philos
ophically it is the synthesis of divers
ity in unity; religiously it is the gath
ering of separated consciousnesses in
to one consciousness the unity of the
race. It is the best possible expres
sion, at once superbly subtle and mag
nificently practical, of the brotherhood
of man and its great correlation, the
fatherhood of God. Granting this it is
perhaps not too much to say that in
the judgment of many this standpoint
and others of like nature are the very
crux of the significance of the World's
fair. Back of all the mixed motives,
the politics civic-social, back of the
hideous scarry side of human nature
wihch such an understanding is bound
to reveal, stands the "power which
makes for righteousness," the power
of mind and spirit, which will use all
these as means to its own divine end.
If history records of our world's fair
nothing more than this standpoint as
one of the main-springs of its action,
it will stand out among the other
great conventions of this era as hav
ing enunciated a universal principle,
a climax of the race-mind, a mountain
peak of the world-spirit.
Mrs. Edwin Harrison, president of
the Missouri Federation of Women's
clubs, has sent to Mrs. Draper-Smith,
president of the N. F. W. C, the fol
lowing matter pertaining to the cele
bration of the Louisiana Purchase at
the World's fair to be held in St. Louis
in 1903.
The resolutions adopted by the Mil
waukee biennial concerning the ques
tion are:
Resolved, That the women of the
Federated clubs, included in the states
of the original "Louisiana Purchase,"
arrange for a suitable celebration in
1903 of the 100th anniversary of the
event of this purchase by the United
States.
That, the program for such meeting
be of a patriotic character suitable to
the occasion, the time, place and pro
gram be decided upon by a committee
chosen for this purpose.
Resolved, That the state of Missouri
in its proposed fair having taken the
initiative, the states belonging to the
original Louisiana Purchase act in
conjunction with the Missouri Feder
ated clubs, for the successful comple
tion of this project, and
Resolved, That the Louisiana Pur
chase being of such great importance
to the entire United States, these Fed
crated clubs invite those of all the
other states and territories to unite
with them in such celebration, and in
taking the necessary measures for
some suitable permanent memorial of
this event.
In order to give time for a fitting
consummation of this plan, this me
morial is respectfully submitted to the
federation of 1900.
a permanent memorial. I herewith ex
tend to the members of the Louisiana
Purchase committee an invitation to
convene in St. Louis October 15, 1901.
An invitation has been extended to the
officers and directors of the G. F. W. C.
to meet in counsel with the committee
at this time. Fraternally yours,
Laura S. Harrison.
President M. F. W. C.
half a million to one million dollars.
A library, to be housed at some cen
tral point in a monument to archi
tectural art, and prepared to put su
perior books at the service of the en
tire territory by post or express.
An endowment fund for vacation
play grounds.
A statue of Thomas Jefferson.
Mrs. Harrison's communication to
Mrs. Smith:
My Dear Madame President: At the
conference of delegates from the
Louisiana purchase states, convened
at Kansas City, January 17-18, a res
olution was adopted which provided
that the state federations of women's
clubs included in the Louisiana pur
chase be requested to take measures
to obtain the vote of their federated
clubs on the questions embodied in the
resolutions adopted at the Milwaukee
biennial concerning the World's fair
celebration, and the permanent me
morial which is to commemorate the
great event of the original Louisiana
Purchase.
This resolution further recommend
ed that in order to accomplish this
successfully, a copy of these resolu
tions and a list of the projects which
were presented at the Kansas City
conference for the permanent me
morial, be sent to each state president
with the request that copies of these
be sent to all cf the federated clubs
of her state.
The questions to be considered are
the choice of time, place and program
for the suitable celebration of the
Louisiana Purchase and the selection
of the project for the permanent me
morial which may be deemed most de
sirable and expedient.
Inasmuch as the amount to be ex
pended must be determined by the
clubs, it will also be incumbent upon
each state federation to adopt meas
ures for ascertaining approximately
the amount it will be able to contri
bute to the general fund.
Having obtained the vote of the
clubs on these questions, each state
federation is then requested to elect
and instruct a representative to serve
as a member of a permanent commit
tee, which is to consist of one repre
sentative from each state or territory
included in the Louisiana Purchase.
The name and address of this member
of the committee shall be forwarded
to the president of the Missouri state
federation.
It shall be the duty of this commit
tee to determine the time, place and
program of the meeting which is to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
Louisiana Purchase, to decide upon
the permanent memorial, to determine
where it shall be located, to manage
the funds and to make all necessary
arrangements for carrying into effect
the resolutions adopted by the general
federation at Milwaukee and by the
conference of delegates from the Lou
isiana Purchase states at Kansas City.
Enclosed please find copy of the res
olutions and list of thirteen plans for
The following were the projects pre
sented "at the Kansas City conference
for a permanent memorial in commem
oration of the Louisiana Purchase:
The erection of a model tenement
house, which shall be constructed on
scientific principles and which shall
be altruistic, artistic and utilitarian.
In order not to entail responsibility
on future generations it shall be con
ducted on a self-supporting basis.
The erection of an industrial normal
school, to include in its course of study
education for motherhood, manual
training, various branches of domestic
science and the endowment of special
chairs along other industrial lines.
The shares are to be held by the Lou
isiana Purchase state federations, and
the students are to be elected by them
in proportion to their scholarship rep
resentation. The erection of a museum, to be lo
cated in the Mississippi valley, and
designed both architecturally and cor
porately to admit of growth and ex
tension, to be modeled after the Com
mercial museum of Philadelphia, the
value of which is being each year made
more manifest in bringing to the hum
blest citizen a knowledge of the
world's sources in every known prod
uct in all its phases of growth and de
velopment This museum should gath
er to itself everything pertaining to
the history of this section of country
and should be made educational to
such an extent that a walk through its
aisles would give more information
than years of study and travel.
The erection of a monument to in
clude statues of the three notable men
who negotiated the Louisiana Pur
chaseThomas Jefferson, Robert R.
Livingstone and the Emperor Napo
leonwith bas-reliefs which shall be
characteristic of the history, resources
and progress of the country.
The erection of a permanent histori
cal society building, to be used for
collecting and preserving such ma
terial as may be deemed useful fo.- the
instruction and education of future
generations, and which shall tend to
the encouragement and promotion of
territorial pride and patriotism the
building to be used during
the World's fair celebration as a wom
an's building and to be placed in
charge of the women of the Louisiana
Purchase states, so that they may act
as hostesses for their guests from all
parts of the world.
The erection of a building of chari
ties and corrections so thoroughly en
dowed and equipped as to form a cen
tre for the most advanced thought
along all lines of philanthropy and re
form. A Washington monument to be
erected by small sums, from every
source.
A fountain with group of statuary,
composed of characters historical and
typical; the monument to be decorated
with a frieze of the coats of arms of
the Louisiana Purchase states foun
tains to be placed on four sides.
A triumphal arch built of stones
from the seventeen states of the Louis
iana Purchase, with Missouri the key
stone of the arch.
The endowment of a chair for teach
ing the science of motherhood in some
institution of learning.
An industrial normal school for the
training of the colored people.
A womans' club house to cost from
dub Women and Schools.
(Mrs. W. M. Morning.)
The patron's meetings or clubs
which have sprung up in such num
bers, form but another mile stone on
the road which the woman's club
movement has travelled during the
last quarter of a century. Their im
mediate predecessors were the home
department and child study depart
ments of the clubs, and the remote an
cestor of all was the sewing circle of
ye olden days which gathered pennies
for the heathen and which, from a so
cial point of view, was all too often
but the central point from which the
town's gossip was distributed.
After the manner in which all suc
cessful social movements come into be
ing, these clubs owe their existence,
not to the cultured few, but to a gen
eral intelligent demand on the part of
parents for a greater knowledge of the
trend of modern educational thought,
and a closer touch with the teacher
who, for almost half the day, has the
child's mental and moral possibilities
in her hands.
We say parents, but, of course, all
understand that the mothers are the
promoters and managers of these gath
erings. The busy life of the average
American man of family precludes
aught but an occasional participation.
The father's interest and aid, behind
the scenes as it were, has however
been most admirable. But who can
blame us for a self-congratulatory feel
ing that we are the progenitors of this
interest and that the submerged half
have started a movement which in the
very near future may make the child's
environment outside the school room a
matter of active public interest as well
as his environment inside.
After heredity has played its part
in the child's life, the great moulder
of its future for good or evil is its
home. But there are two other factors
which do much in the making of either
a good or a bad citizen from that child.
Its associations and its school life.
Until recently each of these factors
has performed its work with but little
relation to the other. In the majority
of homes but little was known of the
leal character of the child's comrades.
It was probably ascertained that they
were from so-called good families and
were not themselves of notoriously bad
reputation. But the hard-working
mother of the past rarely called into
close compan.onship with herself the
companions of her child. His plays
and amusements were outside her ken.
With the broadening of the life of the
woman of today, has come a partial re
lease from the round of duties which
held her grandmother in thrall. She is
no longer sole caterer to the family.
The laundry work, the baking, the
sewing, no longer must be done under
her roof. With this relief has come a
vast increase In her sense of her du
ties to the world at large, and a keener
realization that the duties which she
owes her own child are supreme over
all.
A few years ago the contact of home
and school or anything like co-operation
between these two powers in a
child's life was the exception. To this
may be attributed much of the lethar
gic condition which existed in our pub
lic school for generations. Teachers
share the foibles of the rest of human
kind, and play the better their Impor
tant part In the drama of life, if they
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