MONTREAL SCHOOL FOR THE BLINDMONTREAL SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
MONTREAL SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
MONTREAL DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTEMONTREAL DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTE
MONTREAL DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTE
NAZARETH ASYLUM FOR THE BLINDNAZARETH ASYLUM FOR THE BLIND
NAZARETH ASYLUM FOR THE BLIND
MACKAY INSTITUTION FOR THE PROTESTANT DEAF-MUTES AND THE BLINDMACKAY INSTITUTION FOR THE PROTESTANT DEAF-MUTES AND THE BLIND
MACKAY INSTITUTION FOR THE PROTESTANT DEAF-MUTES AND THE BLIND
A library of books in the raised type has been established. A workshop for the training of blind adults in broom-making was opened on December 1, 1908.
On June 4, 1910, an act to incorporate “The Montreal Association for the Blind” was passed by the provincial legislature. The principal incorporators were Sir Edward Clouston, Baronet; Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, K.C.V.O.; Sir Melbourne Tait; Sir William Macdonald; Sir Hugh Graham; W.M. Aitken; George Smithers; Charles W. Lindsay; Philip E. Layton; H.F. Armstrong; E.B. Busteed, K.C.; Septimus Fraser, and other persons.
During the next four years Mr. and Mrs. Layton were actively engaged as treasurer and secretary of the society in collecting funds for the erection of a school for the English-speaking blind and a sum sufficient for the purpose was raised. A piece of land 8½ acres in extent was purchased at Sherbrooke Street, at the corner of Notre Dame de Grâce, in 1910, and in 1912 the school was built and opened for the admission of pupils in October of that year. It was almost entirely furnished by donations of friends. The official opening by the Premier of the Province, Sir Lomer Gouin, took place in October, 1913. Thirty-two pupils have been enrolled since that date. Funds have been raised during the present year, 1914, for the erection on the school grounds of an industrial home for the adult blind, and the building is now in progress and will be ready for occupation on March 1, 1915. This building will accommodate about twenty-five to thirty adults. Various trades will be taught and the boarding accommodations will be a great boon to the sightless workmen.
THE SCHOOL FOR CRIPPLES(Children’s Memorial Hospital)
The Montreal movement for a school for cripples is of especial sociological interest as a further instance of the trend of modern educational impulse.
Less than a year after the founding of the Children’s Memorial Hospital, in 1904, the members of the committee of that institution realized the dire ignorance of most of the little patients who were brought to the hospital for treatment, some having never attended school, others having attended school during but short and broken periods of their young lives.
A school was shortly organized in connection with the hospital for the young patients in the temporary quarters, 500 Guy Street. The scholars studied reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, grammar and geography; in one or two instances shorthand, typewriting and music have been commenced. Some of these pupils could sew, knit, crochet embroidery and make bead chains.
The aim of the committee of the Children’s Memorial Hospital after the removal of the patients in 1909 to the new hospital has been to have a separate school building on its grounds on Cedar Avenue, which school would be not only the school for the resident patients but also the school to which the crippled and deformed children of Montreal and the surrounding vicinities would be brought every morning in special conveyances, and there receive instruction which would fit them to become independent and useful citizens as they grew to manhood and womanhood. The children would receive their mid-day lunch at the school and later in the afternoon be conveyed to their respective homes.
The first step taken was in approaching the Protestant School Commissioners, who gave permission for a collection to be taken by children in their schools for the School for Cripples.
The second step was that of forming a committee and having collecting cards printed. After the gracious permission was accorded by the Protestant School Board of Montreal, and that of Westmount, upwards of twenty thousand of these collecting cards were distributed to the scholars attending the schools under the control of these respective boards. The school inspectors of the Province of Quebec rendered valuable assistance, also supplying lists with the names of the schools and the teachers under their inspectorates. These schools were supplied with collecting cards also, together with a number of private schools and academies in Montreal and the surrounding districts. As a result of the efforts of the school children of the province and the kind supervision of the principals and teachers, a very large sum was collected.
The committee for the organization of the School for Cripples held its first meeting in February, 1910. At the last meeting which was held in May, a deputation, composed of the following members of the committee: Mr. C.J. Binmore, Mr. W.D. Lighthall, His Honor Mr. Recorder Weir, D.C.L., Doctor Rexford,—was appointed to attend a meeting of the committee of the Children’s Memorial Hospital, which was held the week after. At this meeting the following report, read by Mr. C.J. Binmore, recommended that provision should be made for three distinct divisions of children.
1. The inmates of the hospital who are able to go from the wards to the class-rooms.
2. The pupils who may be brought daily to the school from their homes.
3. The children resident in the hospital who are either temporarily or permanently unable to leave their cots.
The school has at last, in September, 1914, been completed in the grounds of the Children’s Memorial Hospital at the foot of the hill adjoining Cedar Avenue, and is ready for formal opening. It will have two departments, one for the hospital crippled children and the other for the same unfortunate class from the city. It will be taught on the same efficient lines as those employed in the city schools. But special vocational training will be added to equip the handicapped children for the battle of life.
The board of management, separate from that of the hospital, is as follows: President, McKenzie Forbes, M.D.; vice president, Rev. Herbert Symonds, D.D.; Mr. C.J. Binmore, treasurer; Miss Sarah Tyndale, and Mr. W.D. Lighthall, K.C., honorary solicitor.
VI
IMMIGRATION WORK
EARLY ACTIVITIES—YEAR OF CHOLERA—DOMINION AGENCY—THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL IMMIGRATION SOCIETY—CATHOLIC IMMIGRATION HOME.
Writing in 1839 Mr. Newton Bosworth, in “Hochelaga Depicta,” says that“the citizens of Montreal are distinguished by one feature which is highly honourable to them, standing out as it does in pleasing and strong relief—and that is a habit of active benevolence. Perhaps there is no place where in proportion to the number and wealth of the inhabitants more has been done to relieve the wretched and support the weak by deeds of real charity than in this city—and this not by thoughtless and indiscriminate profusion, but in the exercise of cautious and painstaking administration.” As an illustration of this fact he quotes, “On the authority of Nathaniel Gould, Esq., London, a warm and steady friend to Canada, that the Montreal Emigrant Society during the past year (1832) forwarded to their destination, or otherwise relieved, 10,744 of these poor creatures at an expense of £2,126 11s 4d. Too much praise cannot be bestowed on the exertions of those pure philanthropists, who during a season of much distress and danger gave up their time, money and health to so worthy a purpose.” The last quoted writer is speaking of the year of the cholera epidemic of 1832.
THE DOMINION IMMIGRATION AGENCY
But immigration from the institutional point of view may be dated at about 1834, when the national societies, as recorded elsewhere, arose to safeguard the interests of their own country people coming to the city. These societies either had houses such as the St. Andrew’s Home or St. George’s Home to receive them, or they did it by providing them lodging and care otherwise.
The Dominion Government has long had its immigration agency in the city. Its home is now at 150 St. Antoine Street, where the new building with its detention hospital was publicly opened on May 1, 1914. Its previous locations were 306 St. Antoine Street, the late one, the former residence of a former mayor, C.S. Rodier; then 219 Cathedral Street; before that 183 Common Street; 517 St. James Street; then at a point opposite the Grand Trunk Station (St. Bonaventure) and at Point St. Charles, etc. The present agent, Mr. John Hoolahan, was appointed in 1893 and he was preceded by Mr. Daly, father and son.
THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL IMMIGRATION SOCIETY
An important philanthropic movement was started in 1882 under the title of the Women’s Protective Society, which was changed some years later to its present name, “The Women’s National Immigration Society.” Its first president was Mrs. Gillespie, who was succeeded at her death in 1913 by Mrs. H. Vincent Meridith. As Montreal is a port of importance, the sociological value of the movement is apparent.
As Montreal is a port of importance the sociological value of this movement is apparent.
The home of the society situated at 87 Osborne Street is recognized as a government receiving home for the Dominion of Canada, where all newly arrived women immigrants are given twenty-four hours free board and lodging. It has no business connection with any employment agency in Great Britain or Canada.
The object of the society is the receiving and protecting of newly arrived immigrant women irrespective of creed or nationality. Should they remain in Montreal they can board in the home at a low charge and assistance is given to them in every way possible to obtain employment. If they are going furtherafield help is given them in preparing for their journey and they are seen safely onto the trains.
From the foundation of the society in 1882 to December, 1913, 11,366 newly arrived immigrants have been registered on the books. In the first two years of the society’s existence those registered totaled 459, as compared with the figures for the last two years, 1,697. A comparison of these figures will show how greatly the work has increased.
An outstanding feature of the work is the receiving and assisting of large parties of immigrants brought out under the auspices of the “British Women’s Emigration Society” of London, England. These parties traveling under the care of experienced matrons have been coming to the home for the past twenty-four years and have grown rapidly of late years both in frequency of arrival and numbers. At the present time they usually consist of from forty to fifty persons, though on one day of August, 1912, a party of over ninety was received and catered for at the home, while waiting for trains for different points in the country.
Individual passengers are met by request at the steamers and trains and assisted with their arrangements for their further journeys. These form a very large class annually and as they usually prefer to go forward with as little delay as possible they are generally taken direct to the stations and are thus not included in the above totals which only cover those newly arrived immigrants registered at the home.
THE CATHOLIC IMMIGRATION HOME
A similar work to that of the last named association is now being performed by the Catholic Immigration Home at 450 Lagauchetière Street.
On April 10, 1913, their property was purchased, but numerous alterations had to be made to make it suitable for immigration work.
The Home has become very popular with the young women, strangers in a strange land, who look upon it as their home where they are well looked after by a competent matron.
On Saturday, June 28, 1913, the Home was officially opened for the reception of the immigrants. Among those present were the following: His Grace the Archbishop of Montreal; Hon. J.J. Guerin, John Hoolihan, dominion immigration agent; E. Marquette, provincial immigration agent; Denis Tansey, M.L. A.; Mr. E. Dufault, deputy minister of colonization, Quebec Government; J.B. Lambkin, dominion agent for the suppression of white slavery; W.G. Kennedy, president of St. Patrick’s Society; J.L.D. Mason, M.D.
Representatives of the Home meet the incoming steamers and trains, and assist the immigrants, both male and female, arriving in the city. The young women are protected at the Home, and saved from the evil of white slavery while employment is secured for them. It is managed by a board of life governors with a chaplain, the Rev. F.J. Singleton of St. Patrick’s Church. It has a matron and staff for the internal government.
Among other immigration activities may be mentioned the National Societies, Union Nationale Francaise de Montreal, St. Anthony’s Villa.
VII
HUMANITARIAN MOVEMENTS FOR BOYS
THE BOYS’ HOME—THE PATRONAGE DE ST. JOSEPH—THE BOY SCOUTS—PARKS AND PLAY GROUNDS ASSOCIATION.
THE BOYS’ HOME.
Among the striking developments of humanitarian efforts for boys there are several which stand out conspicuously.
The Boys’ Home of Montreal is a logical and lineal descendant of the “Infant School Association,” which established a schoolhouse on Barre Street in 1868 in connection with Zion Congregational Church, Mr. Charles Alexander, James Baylis, J. Dougall, Fred Perry and others being associated with the work.
On the Protestant School Commissioners taking up infant teaching, as the charter of the above association permitted other charitable work, by a resolution of May 5, 1870, in the Mechanics Hall, it was utilized for the promotion of work for waifs and strays, and in 1871 the association changed its name to the Boys’ Home of Montreal and established itself in the building erected by Mr. Charles Alexander, on Mountain Street, known as the Shaftesbury Hall, after the model of the Lord Shaftesbury homes in England. The work commenced on February 1, 1871, with twelve boys, to whom were added six others next day. They were street boys of all religions and each boy paid ten cents for supper, bed and breakfast. These were a rough lot and it caused Mr. John Ritchie, the first superintendent, some trouble to handle them. Still the work progressed. Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Dick took charge of the boys about 1882 and have continued in this work till today. The growth of this home from such humble beginnings is best told by its buildings. In 1886 the present centre building, costing $13,000, was built; in 1893 the north building for educational purposes; and in 1904 the new Alexander wing, costing $30,000, including gymnasium, swimming bath, etc., replaced the old Shaftesbury Hall. The work has overflowed so that the home was instrumental in fathering the Shawbridge Boys’ Farm. This had long been projected through the efforts of Mr. Alexander, the president, who had desired to accomplish some betterment of the miserable conditions, officially acknowledged, attaching to the care and reform of the Protestant juvenile delinquent in the Sherbrooke reformatory, which was nothing more than a part of the Sherbrooke jail. As early as 1902 the matter was brought before the board by Mr. J. R. Dick. In 1906 it was again urged that the Boys’ Home board was the right corporation to bring about the reform so long required, through the establishment of an industrial farm, which eventually opened its doors to the fourteen boys from Sherbrooke Reformatory on March 31, 1909, the contract with the government having been concluded on March 8, 1909. The first immediate step, however, was taken in 1906 by the corporation of the Boys’ Home through its farm committee under Mr. J.S. Buchan, with Messrs. S.M. Bayliss, Frederick Hague and C.S.J. Phillipps. In 1907 the Goodfellow Farm of 300 acres and cattle was purchased at Shawbridge, forty miles from the city on the Nominique Division of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It has a station also on the CanadianNorthern Quebec Railway, the farm being conveniently situated about a mile from the city. Its grounds were laid out under the direction of Professor Nobbs and Mr. F. Todd, with Mr. Cecil Burgess as the building architect. A simple inauguration was held in December, when the work was commenced. Mr. G.W. Mathews, late of the Kibble Institute, Paisley, Scotland, arrived in March, 1908, to take the position of superintendent on May 1st, when the farm came into the possession of the corporation. The formal opening of the Boys’ Farm took place on October 26, 1908. Its subsequent history belongs to the section on “Reformation.” The Boys’ Home, which still retains its original character, has merited the good will of the citizens. Since 1868 it has had only two presidents, Mr. Charles Alexander, who died on November 6, 1905, and Mr. J.E. Dougall, his successor.
PATRONAGE DE ST. JOSEPH
Although there are numberless forms of charity among the French-speaking population it was not till 1892 that young orphan boys of the apprentice class were specially catered for, when, on September 8th, the Patronage de St. Joseph was opened for such at the southeast corner of Dorchester Street and St. Charles Borromeo. The idea was conceived by the conference St. Laurent of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, under the direction of its president, M. Sénécal, and its chaplain, the Rev. M. Hébert. Shortly after six months the location was removed by an offer of land from the Seminary of St. Sulpice to the corner of Lagauchetière and St. George streets. The new dwelling was even still too small for the growing number of apprentices and through the generous assistance of M. Froidevaux great enlargements were added within four months to the first building. Two years later, in 1895, a third building was commenced, but was not utilized till May, 1897, by the act of the Rev. M. Colin, superior of the Seminary, who has made it possible by furnishing the necessary funds.
The work has given asylum since its twenty-two years of existence to more than fifteen hundred young boys learning their trades, either in the Brothers’ workshops or in the town, returning to the Patronage at night. At present ninety apprentices are housed and only inadequate means prevents more from being served.
Other activities for boys beyond these two representative institutions are connected with the churches and social works of the city with numerous clubs for mental, moral and physical uplift.
THE BOY SCOUTS
The scout movement, founded in England by Lieut.-Gen. Sir Robert S.S. Baden-Powell, for building boys into strong, virile manhood, is really organized clubdom for boys, bringing to them physical, moral and intellectual training. It was intended at first by the founder to be used by existing boys’ organizations, such as the Y.M.C.A., Boys’ Brigade, School and Cadet Corps, but it grew beyond those bounds.
The first permanent work in connection with the Boy Scout organization in Montreal was undertaken by Mr. Nigel Young during the winter and summer of1910. On September 2, 1910, Lieut.-Gen. Sir R.S.S. Baden-Powell, the Chief Scout and founder of the movement, visited Montreal and addressed a meeting of the citizens in the arena with the mayor, Doctor Guerin, in the chair. On the following day he reviewed the troop of the city and addressed the scoutmasters. The Chief Scout was accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Burland, who had the previous day been appointed commissioner for the Province of Quebec.
In July, 1912, eleven scouts and three scoutmasters were present at the rally and review held by His Majesty at Windsor during the coronation events. The whole Canadian contingent, numbering in all 136, was commanded by Lieut.-Col. Minden Cole, chairman of the Montreal council.
In the autumn of 1911 Mr. David Evans was appointed assistant commissioner and secretary for the province, since which time two others have held that office, Mr. Russell Patterson, in 1912-13, and Mr. Lordly, in 1914.
During the winter of 1911, through the efforts of the late Lieutenant-Colonel Whitehead, honorary treasurer of the Montreal Scout Council, a tract of land 300 acres in extent, with two fine lakes, was purchased in the Laurentian Mountains for a permanent camping ground for the scouts of the province. This has been improved and a new up-to-date men’s hall has been erected. A full equipment of tents, boats, etc., was supplied to accommodate 175 scouts at one time.
In September, 1914, Lieut.-Col. J. Burland resigned the commissionership of the province and his place has been taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Starke, appointed by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, chief scout for Canada.
At the present time there are in Montreal 12 local associations, 54 scout troops, 53 scoutmasters, 49 assistant scoutmasters, 1,423 scouts, 23 king scouts, and 3 silver cross scouts.
PARKS AND PLAY GROUNDS ASSOCIATION
A most important factor in the life of a city is the provision of open spaces and breathing places for the working classes, and especially for the children. In the winter of 1895-6 a few ladies founded the Parks’ Protective Association. Its first executive committee was: Mrs. N. Peterson, president; Mrs. Hugh Graham, Mrs. N.V. Meredith, Mrs. Frank Redpath, Mrs. John Cox, Mrs. Charles Hope, Mrs. F. Walton, Mrs. Kenneth Macpherson, Mrs. Charles Whitehead and Miss Edith Watt, honorary secretary. In April, 1900, its scope was enlarged by a larger association being formed, with men admitted to committee work, to carry on its work under the title of the “Parks and Playgrounds Association.” A special object of the new association is to promote public playgrounds for the children and urge the city authorities to do this. The association was incorporated in 1904. Its presidents have been: Sir William Hingston, Sir George Drummond and Sir Alexander Lacoste. It has fostered a growing sentiment in favour of public playgrounds and in 1913 it had seven of these under proper supervision. Admirable modern playing apparatus has been installed during the last two years. The movement has public favour and the association’s slogan of 1912 for “$1,000,000 for playgrounds” as the extent of a grant desired from the city hall, has had the result of urging the city to purchase a great quantity of land for definite further playground expansion. The city has now also undertaken the care and management of its own public playground property and the associationat present confines itself to its own playgrounds at Hibernia Road, and two others. Its record is very creditable as a voluntary public service.
VIII
HEBREW SOCIAL WORKS
BARON DE HIRSCH INSTITUTE—LADIES’ BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS—OTHER SOCIETIES.
The social work of the Hebrew as such may be treated separately as an indication of social endeavour on racial lines.
The philanthropic institutions of the Hebrews of Montreal have become numerous. The most important one is the “Baron de Hirsch Institute,” which was founded in 1863 under the name of “The Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society.” When afterwards the late Baron de Hirsch sent them large sums as a fund for assisting in the onerous work which had fallen on this society through the large influx of Jews from Eastern Europe in the ’80s they changed the name to “Baron de Hirsch Institute and Hebrew Benevolent Society.” Among its founders were Lawrence L. Levy, who was its first president, Isidor Ascher, Tucker David, Charles Levy, Lawrence Cohen, M. Gutman, Moise Schwob and S.E. Moss. Among its presidents have been Jacob L. Samuel, Lyon Silverman, Jacob G. Ascher, Lewis A. Hart, N. Friedman, Harris Vineberg, David A. Ansell, Mortimer Davis, Lyon Cohen and Samuel W. Jacobs, K.C. Mr. Ansell held office for fourteen years. It was during his administration that the large building on Bleury Street, now occupied by the institute was acquired. He was a very active worker in the cause of education and his name will always be especially identified with that branch of the work of the Baron de Hirsch Institute. He also was Consul General for Mexico. Each of the above-mentioned presidents in turn did yeoman service for the advancement of the institute, which has grown in importance from year to year.
The Ladies’ Hebrew Benevolent Society, founded in 1877, is the oldest and most important of the Hebrew women’s charity organizations. The Hebrew Free Loan Society, which was founded some years ago, largely through the efforts of Z. Fineberg, does splendid work in making loans to those requiring aid who refuse to take charity and who pay back the loans thus made as their condition improves. The Herzl Free Dispensary, the Hebrew Sheltering Home, the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association, the Hebrew Young Ladies’ Sewing Society all do noble work in their separate branches, and there are a large number of other equally meritorious Hebrew organizations doing work in every field of philanthropy.
IX
COOPERATIVE MOVEMENTS
WOMEN’S WORK—THE MONTREAL WOMEN’S CLUB—THE LOCAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN—LA FEDERATION NATIONALE—THE MONTREAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION—THE CITY IMPROVEMENT LEAGUE—THE CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION—THE CHILD WELFARE EXHIBITION—ITS LESSONS—THE MILK STATION MOVEMENT.
Up to 1892 charitable and social work was conducted busily and self-sacrificingly, but often without sufficient inter-relation between the workers of the variousinstitutions and bodies and churches. Accordingly the movements for cooperation which now began mark the beginning of a most fruitful epoch. The first signs of the new period were manifested by the foundation of the Montreal Women’s Club in 1892 and that of the local Council of Women in 1893, to be followed by La Fédération Nationale in 1907.
Lengthy notices are given of the women’s movements, for historically the period we are now in is peculiarly theirs. It is also indirectly a summing up of the very large part played by the women of Montreal in the charitable and humanitarian work of this city, as this chapter amply testifies.
THE MONTREAL WOMEN’S CLUB
The Montreal Women’s Club was founded by Mrs. Robert Reid, December 7, 1892—the object of the club being to promote agreeable and useful relations between women of artistic, literary, scientific and philanthropic tastes. The legal incorporation of this club was secured on April 4, 1893. The weekly programme, at first used as a means of personal culture, soon became an important factor in the life of its members, revealing to them abuses to be abolished or reforms to be instituted. To-day, like so many modern clubs of women originally of a literary origin, this club also is trying to assist in solving some of the many complex problems which affect childhood and womanhood, as regards industrial, educational, economic, civic and home conditions. The necessities soon arose for specialized efforts, hence the formation of the many standing committees, the success of whose work has brought credit to the club and much benefit to Montreal, through reforms promoted or actually initiated through the committees attached to departments bearing on “Home and Education,” “Social Science” and “Art and Literature.”
The first Social Science Committee, Medical Inspection of Schools (1902), laboured for four years, educating public opinion, and influencing other organizations whose consent was necessary before a system of medical inspection could be established.
The Hygiene Committee provides educative reports and recommendations along civic and natural lines of hygienic conditions.
The Moral and Social Reform Committee (1909) has given educative reports on the moral problem. This committee has been acquiring information, distributing literature, and through the publicity of the press seeking to make the public realize conditions as they are to-day in Montreal, caused by the influx of foreigners, overcrowding of tenements, poor wages, and lack of compulsory education.
The Forestry Committee (1908)—now Conservation—shows that the club has a national outlook.
The Juvenile Court Committee (1904) began its work by directing the movement in Montreal to assist in securing the passage of the Dominion Act, which established children’s courts (passed June, 1908). With the financial support of the club, this committee was the nucleus of the Children’s Aid Society of Montreal, formed in February, 1908. Subsequently when the Provincial Legislature adopted the Dominion Act, the City of Montreal agreed to its provisions, and then purchased and furnished the necessary detention home.
The Child Labour Committee (1906) took a very important part in the Child Welfare Exhibit of 1912.
The Civics Committee (1906) secured the placing of “anti-spitting” notices on street corners, and during 1912-1913 worked to secure the abolishment of the smoke nuisance, as well as for the suppression of noises caused by milk and coal carts, and by defective car wheels.
The efforts of The Industrial Committee (1906) were principally directed to the continuance of the work of the Mary Laura Ferguson Girls’ Club.
The establishment in the city of a Consumers’ League has been promoted through this committee.
It also organizes lectures on its main subjects of intellectual and artistic culture. On the social side it has committees of courtesy, library and hospitality. In general it cooperates with all civic movements to make Montreal a better place in which to live.
The gifts to philanthropic work included grants to the relief funds of the Royal Edward Institute and the Victorian Order of Nurses.
The club is affiliated with the Local Council of Women, the Civic Improvement League and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, and is represented by delegates to the Parks and Playgrounds Association, and to the Child Welfare Moving Pictures Committee.
The club, this year attained its majority and celebrated the auspicious occasion by the usual Charter Day luncheon, entertaining as guests, the distinguished women of the National Council, in convention here. The felicitations and congratulations received, prove that the work, worth and earnest endeavours of the club have richly justified its existence.
The presidents of the club have been:
THE MONTREAL LOCAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN
The Local Council of Women was organized as a component part of the National Council of Women, which was founded by Lady Aberdeen, the wife of the Governor-General of the time. As the aims of the Montreal Local Council of Women are modelled on those of the National Council, the following preamble to the constitution of the latter will illustrate the spirit of the local phase of the same movement:
“We, Women of Canada, sincerely believing that the best good of our homes and nation will be advanced by our own greater unity of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organized movement of women will best conserve the highest good of the Family and the State, do hereby band ourselves together to further the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law.”
The general policy is thus stated:
“This Council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and has no power over the organizations which constitute it, beyond that of suggestion and sympathy; therefore, no Society voting to enter this Council shall render itself liable to be interfered with in respect to its complete organic unity, independence or methods of work, or be committed to any principle or method of any other Society, or to any act or utterance of the Council itself, beyond compliance with the terms of this Constitution.”
In 1893 the Local Council of Women of Montreal was founded on a similar basis in relation to the many separate associations, which, in its turn it should hope to draw together.
It is therefore an organization which aims to secure the united action, of both men and women and all existing organizations of women, into closer relations through organized effort. Each society entering the Local Council preserves its own independence in aim or method, and is not committed to any principle or method of any other society in the council, the object of which is to serve as a medium of communication and a means of prosecuting any work of common interest.
Believing, therefore, that the more intimate knowledge of one another’s work would result in larger mutual sympathy and greater unity of thought, and therefore in more effective action, the various women’s associations interested in philanthropy, religion, education, literature, art and social reform thus formed a local council, its date of organization being November 30, 1893. Thirty societies united at first, the majority of which still adhere. There are now fifty societies affiliated with the local council. The first president was Lady Drummond, who is still active in the work of the body. The first board consisted of the following officers, in addition to the president: Madame Thibaudeau, vice president; ex-officio vice president, president of all affiliated societies; Miss Fairley, late principal of Trafalgar Institute, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Clarke Murray, recording secretary; Mrs. Carus Wilson, associate secretary; and Mrs. Wurtele, treasurer. Subsequent presidents have been Mrs. John Cox (deceased), Mrs. Bovey, Miss Carrie M. Derick and Dr. Ritchie England, now presiding.
Among those who served either on the presidential board or as officers for many years after the establishment of the local council were: Mrs. H.C. Scott, who was early elected secretary and served for several years; Mrs. William MacNaughton, Mrs. Robert Reed, Mrs. Learmont, Mrs. John Cox, Mrs. Frank Redpath, Mme. Gérin-LaJoie, Mme. Beïgue, Mme. Dandurand, Mrs. Warwick Chipman and Mrs. John Savage. Mrs. William MacNaughton, Mrs. Plumptre, Mrs. Walton and Miss Helen Reed served as chairman of the presidential board when this body conducted affairs instead of a president. The following names have also appeared on the roll of officers during the early years, for long or short terms: Lady Hingston, Mrs. A.D. Durnford, Mrs. E. McNutt, Mrs. F. McLennan, Mrs. E. Hanson, Mrs. Gillespie, Mrs. John McDougall, Miss Galt, Mrs. Hugh Allan, Mrs. Wolferston Thomas, Mrs. J.F. Stevenson, Mrs. DeSola and Mrs. Leo.
The present officers are: Dr. Ritchie England, president; Mrs. Warwick Chipman, Mrs. N.C. Smillie and Mrs. J. Henderson, vice presidents; Mrs. Walter Lyman, corresponding secretary; Miss Eleanor Tatley, recording secretary; and Mrs. A.K. Fiske, treasurer.
Individual local members represent the local council of Montreal in the National Assembly on committees such as laws for the better protection of womenand children, the custodial care of feeble-minded women, work for dependent classes, finance, immigration, press, vacation schools and supervised play grounds, the equal moral standard and the prevention of traffic in women, on peace and arbitration, on public health, on education, covering problems of childhood.
It may be mentioned that the National Council was federated to the International Council in 1897. The value of this threefold relation established by so many women’s societies of Montreal makes their work likely to be very universally useful, for many questions suggested first at international or national meetings have been taken up locally andvice versa.
The publication of the many phases of the work that the Local Council of Women and the affiliated societies have enterprised in the civic life of Montreal, especially in the last twenty-one years, would fill many pages, but as there is no doubt that in the story of Montreal the action of women in every sphere of civic activity has done much for the uplift of the people, credit and notice must be given to this very important outlook on Montreal’s growth. Some of the particular activities of the council, therefore, may be recorded.
Its patriotic efforts have been of a two-fold nature, racial and imperial. Work for peace and arbitration was begun in 1894, and has continued as part of the work of the National Council. During the Boer War it gave aid to the volunteers and their families, and during the present war of 1914 it has worked in connection with the Canadian Patriotic Fund, the Canadian Women’s Fund, the Red Cross Society and work for unemployed.
It has worked to obtain reports, and has recommended local action, in regard to hygiene, education, labour, laws affecting women and children, the equal moral standard and prevention of traffic in women.
Since 1894 the council has promoted progressive reform in nursing facilities leading up to the establishment of the Victorian Order of Nurses. It has engaged actively in the crusade against infantile mortality and that which led to the Pure Milk League, out of which grew the movement for milk stations, which finally received subsidies from the city. It engaged in the preliminary anti-tuberculosis movements which finally ended in the establishment of the Royal Edward Institute in 1909, and subsequent institutions.
The local council has dealt in all matters which affect civic life, even in municipal government. It has entered into various departments of civic government, such as public baths, clean streets, eradication of the smoke nuisance, inspection of schools, the civic hospital for contagious diseases, etc.
One of the first committees established to obtain the appointment of women on the school boards was that of the council, but this plan never reached fruition. Many investigations and petitions were made by the council regarding training of teachers, the further extension of domestic science and manual training, school hours, home lessons, etc., and reports on these subjects were carefully made out and submitted. The Home Reading Union was established by the council and for some years was carried on as a part of this body.
The Aberdeen Association, to supply literature to people living far from larger centres, had its inception through the council, which has worked efficiently for the promotion of art, music and literature. It was instrumental in introducing band concerts in the public squares, has succeeded in obtaining public daysat the Art Gallery, and has cooperated with the Natural History Society in matters of hygienic education.
The local council has done much to encourage Canadian handicrafts, having started through the attempt to help the Doukhabours. This work then passed from the council’s committee to the Women’s Art Society, and is now carried on by the Canadian Handicraft Guild, established for this purpose.
In 1896 a committee of the local council began to hold lectures on sex hygiene and advocated the suppression of impure literature, which work they still continue very effectively.
The Social Study Club, established between 1898 and 1902, which led up to the formation of the University Settlement, owes its existence to the Local Council, and as early as 1894 the latter body was considering the question of industrial education. Investigations into industrial conditions were made and reports presented to the Royal Commission. Laws affecting women and children, and labour conditions, have been promoted so that women factory inspectors and the amended shop act were obtained, and many other ameliorations for the women workers.
It has made careful study of the questions relating to special treatment of mentally defective children and the segregation of feeble-minded women of child-bearing age, while the matter of segregation of male defectives has also been considered.
The education of mentally defective children in the province has been studied and recommendations given to the provincial government, while another important matter which it has endeavoured to promote is compulsory education. Great interest has been taken in the recreational and social side of education, notably in the supervision of play grounds. At a meeting held under the auspices of the local council an outgrowth was the resolution to form a larger movement which developed from the already existing Parks Protective Association into a Parks and Playgrounds Association, as the new organization became in name, having the addition of women on its board.
Among other social reforms the council has secured the registration of births since 1899. Various jail and reformatory ameliorations, such as police matrons and assistance for discharged prisoners, have been accomplished, and the movement promoted which, through the efforts of the Montreal Women’s Club, led to the formation of the Children’s Aid Society, the chief result of which has been the establishment of the Juvenile Court. The preliminary agitation which ended in the formation of the Charity Organization Society was conducted by the local council, seven members of its executive becoming members of the first board of directors of the Charity Organization Society.
The cause of temperance has received careful attention from the council, in conjunction with the Fédération Nationale, so that 70,000 signatures were signed in favour of an amendment to the license law, the suggestion being adopted by Government.
Notably, since 1910, the local council with the Fédération Nationale and other women’s societies have cooperated with the Citizens’ Association and other bodies working for municipal reform. A large proportion of the 8,000 women voters of the city registered at the polls, showing the success of the new movement, which has been continued to 1914.
In 1912 the Child Welfare Exhibition found the local council from the first one of the coordinate cooperating societies organizing and carrying out the exhibition. In this the women’s societies of Montreal, French and English, took charge of the sections relating to their special aptitudes and previous experience. The council were represented on the executive and beyond special work in the exhibition, undertook the charge of the “Explainers” committee in English and Yiddish.
In aid of the combined women’s charities of Montreal the Local Council has cooperated with the Fédération Nationale in holding two successful tag days.
The council has also taken interest in the subject of immigration and suggested useful ameliorations.
The latest movement has been the promotion of the movement which led to the formation of the Montreal Suffrage Exhibition early in the same year.
The first concrete formation of the movement for women suffrage through the peaceful means of an educational campaign, took place on April 24, 1913, when at a meeting in the Stevenson Hall the officers for the Montreal Suffrage Association were elected as follows: President, Prof. Carrie M. Derick; vice presidents, Dean Walton, Mrs. C.B. Gordon, Reverend Dr. Symonds; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Oliver Smith; recording secretary, Mrs. John Scott; treasurer, Mrs. George Lyman; convenors of committees—legislative, Mr. C.M. Holt, K.C.; press, Mrs. F. Minden Cole; literature, Mrs. H.W. Weller; with an executive of Mrs. Walter Lyman, Miss Cartwright, Mrs. Alister Mitchell, Doctor Guthrie, Mrs. Macnaughton, Reverend Mr. Dickie, Mrs. Fenwick Williams, Mrs. Hayter Reed and Mrs. Rufus Smith.
Among the first to respond to the war call in the last days of August, 1914, was the Local Council of Women, which summoned its workers of the affiliated societies from their vacation homes to form together for the organization of the relief committees taken up in connection with the general patriotic fund of the Dominion.
LA FEDERATION NATIONALE
A second council of French-speaking women has since adopted similar methods for combined action in social work.
La Fédération Nationale St. Jean Baptiste is the name which a section of the ladies already connected with the St. Jean Baptiste Association took in 1907 with the idea of federating a number of existent women associations among the French-Canadians which arose in the winter of 1906-7 to meet various social problems peculiarly affecting women. While leaving to each association its own autonomy, a central board of delegates from each organization was formed with its central office in the Monument National. The association obtained a special charter in 1912 (3 George V) with a special seal “Vers La Justice par la Charité.” It still works, however, in union with the Men’s Association of St. Jean Baptiste. This union has been productive of great value for the life of the French-Canadian women in Montreal. It has made them study the principal obstacles to social, moral and intellectual progress in the various classes and callings in woman’s sphere.
The works undertaken by committees from the associations federated, suchas those of the office employèes, shop workers, telephone operators, factory workers, the teachers and others, are divided into three classes, charitable, economical and educational. Thecharitableworks are those which had the relief and aid of the neighbor as their goal, and thus their committees are engaged on church, hospital and social betterment bodies. Theeconomicalare those which develop the women’s interest in bettering their material conditions, while theeducationalare those which aim at the uplift and development of the individual. The movement is sanely progressive. It has effected many reforms in social conditions; it has attacked the evil of alcoholism and it has opposed movements destructive of the home life; while it has fostered all it builds up its well-being. In the great Child Welfare Exhibition of Montreal in 1912 it played a conspicuous part. Imitating other modern women’s movements it has held its congresses at regular intervals and it has gathered around the movement a body of writers and social experts well able to be of great value to the development of French-Canadian womanhood. The transactions of its congresses are printed, as well as those of its various committees in the annual reports of the works of the federated association.
It has an official organ called “La Bonne Parole,” issued monthly, which began in February, 1913. Among its chief writers is Madame Gérin Lajoie, its editor, and one of the most vigorous organizers of the fédération acting as its first secretary, with Madame Beïque as its first president. Madame Gérin Lajoie is now its president. The administration of the association is conducted by an executive committee with an inner “bureau de direction.” The executive includes the delegates of the various associations who elect the board of directors who control the organization. The following list of officers published in the report of 1911 may be reproduced as showing the constitution and personnel of this modern woman’s movement:
Déléguées des œuvres fédérées:
THE CITY IMPROVEMENT LEAGUE
We have recorded movements of concentrated efforts through the cooperation of women associations; the year 1909 saw similar efforts mostly by men, viz., the organization of the City Improvement League and the Citizens’ Association. Both arose through dissatisfaction among the citizens with the municipal government, the former endeavouring to assist in promoting better hygienic, æsthetic and civic progress.
The City Improvement League of Montreal was founded on March 9, 1909, at a meeting held in the medico-chirurgical rooms. It grew directly out of the success of the anti-tuberculosis crusade held in the city shortly before, and its object, in the words of its original constitution, was “to unite the efforts of all who are trying to improve and to cultivate the spirit of right citizenship in order to make Montreal clean, healthful and beautiful.”
The league was designed to effect this, by becoming a central clearing house and bureau of intercommunication for existing city betterment societies, or for individual citizens anxious to assist the city, so that by economizing energy, time, money, by federation, by surveying the whole field of municipal activities, by the prevention of overlapping and by filling up of gaps and by judicious dovetailing of effort, a central and solid unifying organization might be found to put the force of all the societies behind any particular one or individual cause, and thus to make the strongest possible appeal when needed to the authorities and to public opinion.
The league was formally inaugurated at the Board of Trade assembly rooms on April 12th, being presided over by His Excellency the Governor-General.
The audience and the speakers were widely representative of cosmopolitan city life. All present hailed the new movement as likely to be of permanent value in uplifting the city which had long been suffering from a lowness of civic probity in high places, consequent upon a supine apathy and neglect of civic pride in the people generally, so that many scandals flourished openly unchallenged and unchecked.
The league seemed to provide the antidote for the hour by an appeal for the increased cultivation of an enlightened civic consciousness of responsibility in the citizens, and met with an immediate and warm welcome, notably in the press.
The league has since promoted and carried out useful reforms. Its especial successes have been the establishment of the Metropolitan Parks Commission, and the initiation and the call of the Child Welfare Exhibition, which came from the league, which, on January 27, 1910, discussed the matter, at the suggestion of Mrs. J.B. Learmont, and by resolution encouraged the secretary to proceed to New York to visit the first Child Welfare Exhibition then being held there, and to report concerning the possibility of some adaptable form for the conditions in Montreal. On February 17th, on a favorable demonstration of its feasibility, the secretary was thereupon empowered to call a meeting of the betterment associations for the city. On May 24th a meeting of delegates of sixty societies approvedthe holding of a Child Welfare Exhibition in the course of 1912. A joint meeting was held on April 25th of English and French-speaking organizations, called in the rooms of the St. Jean Baptiste Association, when Dr. J.G. Adami, Mr. Olivar Asselin and Dr. W.H. Atherton were appointed to draw up a scheme to suit the English and French communities of Montreal. This was placed before the latter on May 16th in the Monument Nationale. The scheme was adopted and the patrons, honorary presidents and vice presidents and the active executive board were elected.
Finally the Child Welfare Exhibition was carried out in October, 1912, by the special cooperation of coordinate associations of women, notably those of the Local Council of Women, La Fédération Nationale and the many associations affiliated with each of these.
The League has led the van in the city planning and better housing movements for the working classes and as an offshoot the Greater Montreal City Planning and Housing Association arose in 1912 to further promote these desired reforms. It initiated the City Cleaning Day adopted by the municipality in 1911 and 1912 and with the Montreal Publicity Association organized the larger “Clean-up Week” of 1913. The league has cooperated with many business, national, civic and women’s societies for municipal reform and general city progress, and has largely helped to develop the sense of combined citizenship in common causes throughout the various sections of the cosmopolitan city of today, and to foster a common civic pride. The league has had a wide outlook and has worked for a league of city improvement associations of Canada. At the International City Planning Congress, held in Toronto in 1914, it advocated the establishment of a Dominion town planning and housing bureau, which has already been partially established. Among its officers have been, since 1909: President, J. G, Adami, M.D., D. Sc.; vice presidents, Mrs. J.B. Learmont, Madame Archer, Madame Beïque, Prof. Leigh R. Gregor, Hon. J.J. Guerin, M.D., Messrs. U.H. Dandurand, J.V. Desaulniers, Farquhar Robertson; honorary secretaries, Prof. J.A. Dale, M.A., Messrs. Olivar Asselin, A. Lesage, M.D., J.U. Emard, K.C., C.H. Gould; honorary treasurers, Farquhar Robertson, J.F. Boulais, N.P., and the executive secretary, W.H. Atherton, Ph. D.
THE CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION
The “Citizens’ Association,” which was organized in 1909 by the best and most representative citizens of Montreal, was a sequent of the various other associations then either existent, moribund or actually dead, among business men in the past whose aims were to seek charter reform for better municipal government. It arose out of the dissatisfactory state of municipal politics at this date.
Its lines are along those of civic vigilance and it aims at the suppression of attempts at corruption or malversation at the city hall by watching the conduct of those responsible and by seeing to it that future candidates coming up for municipal election should be honest and respected citizens. Its earliest work was the promotion of the amended charter which established the Board of Control system and of securing a “clean slate” at the election of 1910, as already told. It has also promoted reforms for the better regulation of public utilities and for better city management and administrative progress. It has endeavoured to act as a clearing house for other associations having a civic political tendency. In 1913, it sought to promote a simplification of the ward system and at thebeginning of 1914 to secure a good representative slate in the municipal elections, but without the dramatic success of 1910. The career of such an organization is necessarily chequered, but good men stand by organized effort for the public good. While its activities should primarily be placed in the constitutional or municipal sections of this history, yet as sociological progress depends so much on good municipal government, it deserves record here as an adjunct of the bodies enumerated.
One gratifying aspect of the movements of late years has been the growth of the spirit of civic cooperation through the central representative associations of a now complex city life.
CHILD WELFARE EXHIBITION
References have been made to the great Child Welfare Exhibition of 1912. This took place in the Drill Hall on Craig Street, opposite the Champ de Mars, on October 8th and lasted for a fortnight. It was the work of all the social workers acting for their institutions of every class—national or religious—in the city. The movement arose out of a desire to combat, by a dramatic object lesson, the evils of infantile mortality, then becoming to be realized more and more in an ever-growing and congested city. But the welfare of the older child or the young person under tutelage was also illustrated by charts and lectures and living demonstrations of what was being done along progressive educational lines at home as well as abroad. It was practically an exhibition of modern social endeavour centering around the home of the children, in their city environment. While it was modelled on a similar exhibition in New York in 1910, it had a peculiar Montreal aspect, as it was conducted largely on local lines and embraced the phases of local endeavour. It had lessons, however, for the Dominion, in bringing to the attention the need of regard for human conservation as well as that of our forest and animal resources. The municipal, provincial and federal governments by gifts of $5,000 each, assisted local subscribers in the organization of the exhibition so that it was able to be thrown open to the public for a fortnight free of charge, with the result that as a public educative movement it surpassed anything previously attempted, at least, in Canada. Thousands of parents crowded the immense hall and annexes daily, as well as large numbers of civic officials, teachers, medical and professional men, clergymen and religious men and women in their habits. It has been the most notable public exhibition in the history of the city and was marked by the spirit of universal cooperation in a degree very gratifying to the promoters.
The exhibition paved the way to the immediate success of many forward movements already existing, notably those for better library and playground accommodations for the city, and the establishment of milk stations or gouttes de lait. As this latter was among the primary by-products of the main thesis of the exhibition which sought to lessen the dangers of infantile life, productive of infantile mortality, this may be now specially noticed. In 1913, from May 11th to the 13th, there was held the first convention of the French “Gouttes de lait,” which outlined hygienic ameliorations through organized educational campaigns that will be of great future value to the virility of our people. Similar movements were initiated or continued among the English-speaking sections.
To mark its approbation of the movement the municipal authorities largely came to the rescue by subsidizing the efforts of the social organizations of the city.
MILK STATION MOVEMENT
The following table of results obtained at each (subsidized) milk depot in 1913 may fitly sum up this notice:
X
MOVEMENTS FOR SAILORS AND SOLDIERS
THE MONTREAL SAILORS’ INSTITUTE—THE CATHOLIC SAILORS’ CLUB—THE SOLDIERS’ WIVES’ LEAGUE—THE DAUGHTERS OF THE EMPIRE—THE “LAST POST” IMPERIAL NAVAL AND MILITARY CONTINGENCY FUND.
MONTREAL SAILORS’ INSTITUTE
Montreal is well equipped in its seamen’s charities, having two institutions which supplement one another harmoniously in helping the seamen.
Philanthropic work among the sailors coming to Montreal can be traced back to the year 1836-7. “Rev. Father” Osgoode, a representative of the American Seamen’s Friends’ Society, who had associated with him, among others, Mr. J.A. Mathewson and Mr. J.T. Dutton, started the work in a little building called “The Bethel,” situated at the entrance to the canal at the foot of McGill Street.
Father Osgoode dying in 1850, the work was continued by the Rev. Samuel Massey and the Y.M.C.A., until in 1862 the Montreal Sailors’ Institute was organized with Mr. Hugh Allan as president. Among the founders were Messrs. J.P. Clarke, P.S. Ross, Charles Alexander, John Ritchie and others. Rooms were engaged on McGill Street and Mr. David Linton was installed as superintendent. These rooms served the purposes of the institute only for a few years when larger premises were secured on St. Paul Street, where the institute was housed until 1875.
In 1869 the Montreal Sailors’ Institute was incorporated by special act of the Quebec Legislature, with the following officers: President, Mr. Andrew Allan; vice presidents, Messrs. George Moffatt and John McLennan; treasurer, Mr. John Rankin; secretary, Mr. P.S. Ross; and a board of management of twenty gentlemen, prominent in shipping circles.
The rooms on McGill Street having been outgrown, in 1875 the two upper flats of Boyer’s Block, corner of Commissioners Street and Custom House Square, were rented and Mr. John Ritchie engaged as manager.
Upon the death of Mr. Ritchie in 1888, Mr. J. Ritchie Bell was appointed manager. The need of a building suitably situated and specially adapted for the purposes of the work had been constantly kept in mind from the beginning and many attempts had been made to secure such. In 1897 this was accomplished. The institute purchased the “Montreal House” an hotel which had been famous in the early days. This was rebuilt and in May, 1898, the institute moved into its own home. Continued growth of the shipping of the port made it necessary to enlarge the premises. This was done in 1907 when the adjoining property was purchased and the accommodation doubled, so that today the Sailors’ Institute has a building in which to carry on its work, conveniently situated on the water front, with an equipment which compares favourably with that of most of the great seaports of the world.
THE CATHOLIC SAILORS’ CLUB