FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[483]The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise except that for members of Parliament. Local suffrage is restricted to spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.[484]These were classified in groups: (1) The general list (2) Wives of clergymen and church dignitaries. This list was headed by Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Thomson, the wives of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. (3) Officials, including ladies who are Poor Law Guardians and members of School Boards. (4) Education, including the names of such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as Mrs. Wm. Grey, Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick—the Mistress of Girton, the Principal of Newnham College, upwards of sixty university lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of High Schools, upwards of eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were omitted for want of space the names of over 200 other women engaged in the teaching profession. (5) Registered medical practitioners, headed by Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M. D.; Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, M. D., and Mrs. Scharlieb, M. D., together with a number of ladies engaged in the department of nursing. (6) Social and philanthropic workers. (7) Literature, including Miss Anna Swanwick, Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Miss S. D. Collet, Miss Olive Schreiner, Mrs. Emily Crawford, Miss Amelia B. Edwards. (7) Art and music. (8) Landowners, women engaged in business and working women, the latter class represented by the secretaries of nine women trades' societies, and over 180 individual signatures of women artisans.[485]The text of the Bill was as follows:(1) This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women) Act, 1897.(2) On and after the passing of this Act every woman who is the inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house, tenement or building within the borough or county where such occupation exists, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in the list of voters for such borough or county in which she is so qualified as aforesaid, and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in Parliament.Provided always that such woman is not subject to any legal incapacity which would disqualify a male voter.[486]The first petition for woman suffrage presented to Parliament, in 1867, was signed by only 1,499 women. The petition of 1873 was signed by 11,000 women. The petition presented to the members of the last Parliament was signed by 257,796 women. [Eds.[487]No reference has been made in the above table to the various Factory Acts which impose restrictions on women's labour—these belong to a different department—but whether their interference with the labor of women be for good or for evil, that interference is an additional argument for allowing them a voice in the election of representatives.[488]In 1877 New Zealand granted School Suffrage to women, and in 1886 Municipal Suffrage.[489]In 1880 South Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.[490]In 1871 West Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.[491]In 1867 New South Wales granted Municipal Suffrage to women.[492]In 1869 Victoria granted Municipal Suffrage to women.[493]The first number ofThe Australian Woman's Spherewas published in Melbourne, September 1, 1900. It is edited by Miss Vida Goldstein and appears monthly.[494]In 1886 Queensland granted Municipal Suffrage to Women.[495]Tasmania granted Municipal Suffrage to women in 1884.[496]This portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the History from a chapter written by Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards for "The Women of Canada, Their Life and Work," a handbook prepared by the National Council of Women, at the request of the Canadian Government, for the Paris Exposition of 1900.[497]In the city of Vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster, may vote for municipal officers, and all women possessing the other necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all municipal officers and upon all municipal questions. Married women may vote in the election of School Trustees. It has recently been decided that a man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in his own right, may be allowed to vote in municipal matters if his wife be a property owner or a householder. [Eds.

[483]The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise except that for members of Parliament. Local suffrage is restricted to spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.

[483]The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise except that for members of Parliament. Local suffrage is restricted to spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.

[484]These were classified in groups: (1) The general list (2) Wives of clergymen and church dignitaries. This list was headed by Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Thomson, the wives of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. (3) Officials, including ladies who are Poor Law Guardians and members of School Boards. (4) Education, including the names of such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as Mrs. Wm. Grey, Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick—the Mistress of Girton, the Principal of Newnham College, upwards of sixty university lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of High Schools, upwards of eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were omitted for want of space the names of over 200 other women engaged in the teaching profession. (5) Registered medical practitioners, headed by Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M. D.; Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, M. D., and Mrs. Scharlieb, M. D., together with a number of ladies engaged in the department of nursing. (6) Social and philanthropic workers. (7) Literature, including Miss Anna Swanwick, Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Miss S. D. Collet, Miss Olive Schreiner, Mrs. Emily Crawford, Miss Amelia B. Edwards. (7) Art and music. (8) Landowners, women engaged in business and working women, the latter class represented by the secretaries of nine women trades' societies, and over 180 individual signatures of women artisans.

[484]These were classified in groups: (1) The general list (2) Wives of clergymen and church dignitaries. This list was headed by Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Thomson, the wives of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. (3) Officials, including ladies who are Poor Law Guardians and members of School Boards. (4) Education, including the names of such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as Mrs. Wm. Grey, Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick—the Mistress of Girton, the Principal of Newnham College, upwards of sixty university lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of High Schools, upwards of eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were omitted for want of space the names of over 200 other women engaged in the teaching profession. (5) Registered medical practitioners, headed by Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M. D.; Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, M. D., and Mrs. Scharlieb, M. D., together with a number of ladies engaged in the department of nursing. (6) Social and philanthropic workers. (7) Literature, including Miss Anna Swanwick, Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Miss S. D. Collet, Miss Olive Schreiner, Mrs. Emily Crawford, Miss Amelia B. Edwards. (7) Art and music. (8) Landowners, women engaged in business and working women, the latter class represented by the secretaries of nine women trades' societies, and over 180 individual signatures of women artisans.

[485]The text of the Bill was as follows:(1) This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women) Act, 1897.(2) On and after the passing of this Act every woman who is the inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house, tenement or building within the borough or county where such occupation exists, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in the list of voters for such borough or county in which she is so qualified as aforesaid, and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in Parliament.Provided always that such woman is not subject to any legal incapacity which would disqualify a male voter.

[485]The text of the Bill was as follows:

(1) This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women) Act, 1897.

(2) On and after the passing of this Act every woman who is the inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house, tenement or building within the borough or county where such occupation exists, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in the list of voters for such borough or county in which she is so qualified as aforesaid, and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in Parliament.

Provided always that such woman is not subject to any legal incapacity which would disqualify a male voter.

[486]The first petition for woman suffrage presented to Parliament, in 1867, was signed by only 1,499 women. The petition of 1873 was signed by 11,000 women. The petition presented to the members of the last Parliament was signed by 257,796 women. [Eds.

[486]The first petition for woman suffrage presented to Parliament, in 1867, was signed by only 1,499 women. The petition of 1873 was signed by 11,000 women. The petition presented to the members of the last Parliament was signed by 257,796 women. [Eds.

[487]No reference has been made in the above table to the various Factory Acts which impose restrictions on women's labour—these belong to a different department—but whether their interference with the labor of women be for good or for evil, that interference is an additional argument for allowing them a voice in the election of representatives.

[487]No reference has been made in the above table to the various Factory Acts which impose restrictions on women's labour—these belong to a different department—but whether their interference with the labor of women be for good or for evil, that interference is an additional argument for allowing them a voice in the election of representatives.

[488]In 1877 New Zealand granted School Suffrage to women, and in 1886 Municipal Suffrage.

[488]In 1877 New Zealand granted School Suffrage to women, and in 1886 Municipal Suffrage.

[489]In 1880 South Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[489]In 1880 South Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[490]In 1871 West Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[490]In 1871 West Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[491]In 1867 New South Wales granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[491]In 1867 New South Wales granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[492]In 1869 Victoria granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[492]In 1869 Victoria granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[493]The first number ofThe Australian Woman's Spherewas published in Melbourne, September 1, 1900. It is edited by Miss Vida Goldstein and appears monthly.

[493]The first number ofThe Australian Woman's Spherewas published in Melbourne, September 1, 1900. It is edited by Miss Vida Goldstein and appears monthly.

[494]In 1886 Queensland granted Municipal Suffrage to Women.

[494]In 1886 Queensland granted Municipal Suffrage to Women.

[495]Tasmania granted Municipal Suffrage to women in 1884.

[495]Tasmania granted Municipal Suffrage to women in 1884.

[496]This portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the History from a chapter written by Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards for "The Women of Canada, Their Life and Work," a handbook prepared by the National Council of Women, at the request of the Canadian Government, for the Paris Exposition of 1900.

[496]This portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the History from a chapter written by Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards for "The Women of Canada, Their Life and Work," a handbook prepared by the National Council of Women, at the request of the Canadian Government, for the Paris Exposition of 1900.

[497]In the city of Vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster, may vote for municipal officers, and all women possessing the other necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all municipal officers and upon all municipal questions. Married women may vote in the election of School Trustees. It has recently been decided that a man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in his own right, may be allowed to vote in municipal matters if his wife be a property owner or a householder. [Eds.

[497]In the city of Vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster, may vote for municipal officers, and all women possessing the other necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all municipal officers and upon all municipal questions. Married women may vote in the election of School Trustees. It has recently been decided that a man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in his own right, may be allowed to vote in municipal matters if his wife be a property owner or a householder. [Eds.

In most of the countries of the world women possess some form of suffrage, but for many reasons it is almost impossible to define exactly in what it consists. Like suffrage for men it is largely based on property, and in most cases can be used only through a proxy. Generally the woman loses the franchise by marriage and the husband may vote by right of the wife's property. In Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy and Roumania the husband votes at local elections by right of the taxes paid by the wife, and in case of a widow this right belongs to the eldest son, grandson or great grandson, or if there is none, then to the son-in-law. The Italian electoral law of 1870 gave a widow the right to vote by proxy in Parliamentary elections. All the Italian universities are open to women.

The constitution of Germany says "every German" above twenty-five years of age shall have the Parliamentary Franchise, but no woman ever has been permitted to vote under it. There are, besides, twenty-five constitutions for the different States which form the Empire. By the wording of some of them, women landed proprietors undoubtedly are entitled to take part in elections. The Prussian code declares that the rights of the two sexes are equal, if no special laws fix an exception, and it gives the Parliamentary Franchise toevery onewho possesses the county or burgess suffrage. The by-laws which prescribe the qualifications for the latter in some instances exclude women and in others declare that women land holders may act as electors, but only "through a proctor" (proxy). Teachers undoubtedly, as State officials, are entitled to take part in local government. Some of the provinces allow women taxpayers to vote by proxy in the rural districts. Neither the Government nor public sentiment, however, looks with favor upon women electors. It is only in recent years that a few of the most advanced have begun to agitate the question in this country, which holds a most conservativeattitude towards women. They have recently been admitted to a few of the universities.

In most of the Prussian towns the property qualifications of the wife are accounted to the husband in order that he may take part in municipal elections. In Saxony women proprietors of landed estates, whether married or single, are entitled to a municipal vote but this can be exercised only by proxy, and for this purpose one of their male relatives must be invested with their property. In Saxony, Baden, Wurtemburg, Hesse, the Thuringian States and perhaps a few more, women are permitted to attend public political meetings and be members of political societies, but in all other German States they are excluded from both. They are thus prohibited from forming organizations to secure the franchise. In Westphalia since 1856, and Schleswig-Holstein since 1867, all qualified women have some form of suffrage by male proxy.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1862, women with property have a proxy vote in municipal and provincial elections and for members of the Lower House of the Parliament, but there are many restrictions to this law. In Bohemia, since 1873, women who are large landed proprietors have a proxy vote for members of the Imperial Parliament and the local Diet.

In Russia among the peasant class the representative of the household votes. The wife, if owner of the necessary amount of property, may select her husband as proxy, but he may also delegate his vote to the wife, and it is a common thing to see her take his place at elections and at village and country meetings of all kinds. In the cities and territorial assemblies, women, married or unmarried, possessing sufficient property, may vote by male proxy for members of the municipal and county assemblies. Property-owning women of the nobility may vote by proxy in the assemblies of the nobility. Part of the universities are open to them. There are 650 women physicians in Russia.

So far as can be learned women are not eligible to office in the above-mentioned countries with a very few exceptions.

In Finland, since 1865, widows and spinsters may vote at rural elections; since 1873 those who are rate-payers may vote at municipal elections. Since 1889 women are eligible as Guardiansof the Poor. In 1900 they were made eligible to all municipal offices. An influential Finnish Woman's Association with twenty branches is agitating for suffrage on the same terms as men.

In Holland there is no form of woman suffrage and the constitution of 1887 expressly prohibits it.

Women in Denmark have no franchise, but Premier Duentzer has announced that the first reform movement of the new Cabinet (1901) will be the extension of Municipal Suffrage to women.

In 1893, through the efforts of the Socialists, universal suffrage was granted to men in Belgium. While this gives to every man a vote, it permits to the married man, if he pays a small tax, two votes as the head of a family; if he pays tax on what would be about $2,000, or has a university degree, he is allowed three votes. The vast majority of those owning property or possessing university degrees belong to the established (Catholic) Church, and the Socialists soon found themselves out-voted by a minority. They then instituted a new movement demanding "one man, one vote," and the Government, which is Catholic, said: "If you compel this we will enfranchise women," believing that this would strengthen its power. At this writing the contest is going on and becoming more violent.

Switzerland, whose pride is its absolutely republican form of government, allows no woman a vote on any question or for the election of any officer. They are admitted to the universities.

In France, in 1898, unmarried women engaged in commerce (including market women, etc.) were given a vote for Judges of the Tribunals of Commerce. A Woman Suffrage Society has just been formed in Paris which is attracting considerable attention. Women are admitted to the highest institutions of learning.

The laws in all the countries thus far mentioned are most unjust to women and especially to wives.

Women in Sweden have voted in church matters since 1736. It was provided in 1862 that women who are rate-payers may vote directly or by proxy, as they choose, for all officers except for members of the Parliament. Indirectly they have a voice in the election of the First Chamber or House of Lords, as they vote for the County Council which elects this body. They have School and Municipal Suffrage and that for Provincial representatives.The laws are very liberal to women. All of the educational institutions, the professions, occupations and many of the offices are open to them. They are members of the Boards of Education, Municipal Relief Committees and Parochial Boards. About six hundred have received university degrees.

In Norway, since 1889, in towns women with children may vote for school inspectors and be eligible to the school boards. In rural communes they are eligible as inspectors, and women who pay a school tax may vote on all school questions and officers, while those who pay no tax but have children may vote on all questions not involving expenditures. In 1884 a Woman Suffrage Association was formed under the leadership of Miss Gina Krog for the purpose of securing the Municipal Franchise. In 1890 a bill for this purpose received 44 out of 114 votes in the Parliament. It was then made an issue by the Liberal party. In 1895 a vote on Local Option was granted to women. In 1898 the Radical party secured universal suffrage for men without property restrictions. They then came to the assistance of women and were joined by a large number of Conservatives. In 1901 Municipal Suffrage was granted to all women who pay taxes on an income of 300 crowns ($71) in country districts and 400 in cities. If husband and wife together pay taxes on this amount both may vote. About 200,000 women thus became electors. Women are found in many offices, in most occupations and professions, and are admitted to all educational institutions.

Iceland, since 1882, grants Municipal Suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters; since 1886 all women have had a parish suffrage, which enables them to vote in the selection of the clergy, who have a prominent part in public affairs.

At the Cape of Good Hope women have a limited vote. In the tiny Island of Pitcairn, in the Southern Pacific, they have the same suffrage as men. This is doubtless true of many isolated localities whose records are little known. Among primitive peoples the government is generally in the hands of the most competent without regard to sex, and some of these are still under the reign of the Matriarchate, or the rule of mothers, to whom belong the property and the children. The early Spanish inhabitants of the North American continent placed much authority in the hands of women, and the same is true of the Indian tribes.

The most conspicuous and significant movement which challenges attention at the beginning of the new century is that toward organization, and the three great combinations which stand out most prominently in interest and importance are the organization of capital, the organization of labor and the organization of women. We scarcely can go back so far in history as not to find men banded together to protect their mutual interests, but associations of women are of very modern date. The oldest on record was formed in Philadelphia, in the closing days of the eighteenth century—Female Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor—which in 1798 established a house of industry in Arch St., known as the Home for Spinners. The society is still in active existence and gives employment to a large number of women. Church Missionary Societies of Women had their origin early in the century, but as mere annexes to those officered and managed by men. The first association to approach national prominence was the Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded in Boston in 1833, which almost cost the reputation of every one who joined it, so strong was the prejudice against any public action on the part of women. The American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless was established in New York in 1834, and still exists, having cared for 50,000 children. Later in this decade Female Bible Societies came into being to supply Bibles to penal and charitable institutions and to put them in various public places.

MRS. IDA HUSTED HARPER. Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, and Joint Editor with her of The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. IV.MRS. IDA HUSTED HARPER.Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, and Joint Editor with her of The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. IV.

From 1840 to 1850 the old Washingtonian Societies, composed entirely of men, were gradually replaced by the Sons of Temperance, and as they also were decidedly averse to receiving women into their organization, and as the latter were deeply interested in the subject, a few of them timidly formed the Daughtersof Temperance, in the face of extreme opposition on the part of both sexes. In the decade following commenced the agitation of the question of Woman Suffrage, and soon conventions in its interest began to be of frequent occurrence, to the joy of the newspapers, most of which treated them with ridicule and denunciation.

The decade ushered in by 1860 brought the long Civil War, during which, in the Sanitary Commission, the Woman's Loyal League, the Freedmen's Bureau and other associations, women displayed an unsuspected power of organization, and at its close their status in many ways was completely changed and greatly advanced.

In 1868 the country was electrified by the advent of Sorosis in New York City and the New England Woman's Club in Boston. These were the first societies formed by women purely for their own recreation and improvement—all others had been for the purpose of reforming the weak and sinful or assisting the needy and unfortunate—and they met with a storm of derision and protest from all parts of the country, which their founders courageously ignored. The last quarter of a century has witnessed so many organizations of women that it would be practically impossible to record even their names. Every village which is big enough for a church contains also a woman's club, and they exist in many country neighborhoods. In the larger cities single societies have from 500 to 1,000 members, and in a number handsome club houses have been built and furnished, some of them costing from $50,000 to $80,000.

From 1850 the annual conventions in the interest of Woman's Rights were called under the auspices of a Central Committee, but in 1869 the National and American Woman Suffrage Associations were formed. Five years later the Woman's Christian Temperance Union sprang into existence. There are now more than one hundred associations of women in the United States which are national in their form and aims, and a number have become international through their alliance with those of other countries. In 1888, in Washington City, the National Council of Women, a heroic undertaking, was founded to gather these vast and diverse organizations into one great body. By 1900sixteen had become thus affiliated, representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.

An International Council also was organized in 1888 to be composed of similar National Councils in various countries and to meet in a Congress every five years. At the close of the century fourteen National Councils had affiliated with the International, representing a membership of 6,000,000. This is not only immeasurably larger than any other association of women but is exceeded in size by very few organizations of men, and its two great Congresses—during the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, and at London in 1899—were occasions of world-wide interest and value.

Each of the more than one hundred national associations of women in the United States holds its annual, biennial or triennial convention in some one of the large cities, which is attended by delegates from all parts of the country. The sessions are presided over by a woman, discussions are carried on with due attention to parliamentary usage, a large amount of business is transacted with system and accuracy, and in every respect these meetings compare favorably with those conducted by men after centuries of experience. They are treated with the greatest respect by the newspapers which vie with each other in publishing pictures of the delegates, their addresses and extended and complimentary reports of the proceedings. The character of these national organizations, the scope of their objects and the extent of their achievements can in no way be so strikingly illustrated as by giving a list of the most important.[498]

The International Council of Womenwas organized March 31, 1888, in Washington, D. C., "to unite the women of all the countries in the world for the promotion of co-operative internationalism through the abatement of that prejudice which springs from ignoranceand which can be corrected only by that knowledge which results from personal acquaintance.

"In the first place its influence has united different organizations of the same country hitherto indifferent or inimical to each other; and in the second it has commenced the work of uniting the women of different nations and abating race prejudice. It has promoted the movement of peace and arbitration, and through its international committees it is forming a central bureau of information in regard to women's contribution to the work of the world."

It is composed at present of fourteen National Councils of as many different countries representing an individual membership of about 6,000,000 women. Its president is Mrs. May Wright Sewall, who was one of its founders.

The National Council of Womenwas organized in Washington, D. C., March 31, 1888. Its constitution is introduced by the following preamble:

"We, women of the United States, 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 in a confederation of workers committed to the overthrow of all forms of ignorance and injustice, and to the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law. This Council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and has no power over its auxiliaries beyond that of suggestion and sympathy; therefore, no society voting to become auxiliary shall thereby 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 utterance or act of the Council itself, beyond compliance with the terms of this constitution."

The scope of the Council's work is indicated by the heads of its departments: Home Life, Educational Interests, Church and Missionary Work, Temperance, Art, Moral Reform, Political Conditions, Philanthropy, Social Economics, Foreign Relations, Press, Organization; and by its standing committees: Citizenship, Domestic Science, Equal Pay for Equal Work, Dress Reform, Social Purity, Domestic Relations under the Law, Press, Care of Dependent and Delinquent Children, Peace and Universal Arbitration.

Each of these departments and committees works along its special lines and at the annual executive meetings and the triennial Councils the reports of their work are discussed, their recommendations considered and every possible assistance rendered. The general public is invited to the evening sessions and valuable addresses are made by specialists on the above and other important subjects.

The Council is composed of sixteen national organizations, one State Council, six local councils—representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.

The National Woman's Christian Temperance Unionwasorganized in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 18-20, 1874, to carry the precepts of the following pledge into the practice of everyday life: "I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same."

Its object was further stated as follows: "To confirm and enforce the rationale of this pledge, we declare our purpose to educate the young; to form a better public sentiment; to reform, so far as possible, by religious, ethical and scientific means, the drinking classes; to seek the transforming power of divine grace for ourselves and all for whom we work, that they and we may wilfully transcend no law of pure and wholesome living; and finally we pledge ourselves to labor and to pray that all these principles, founded upon the Gospel of Christ, may be worked out into the Customs of Society and the Laws of the Land."

The W. C. T. U. is held to be the most perfectly organized body of women in existence. It originated the idea of Scientific Temperance Instruction in the public schools and has secured mandatory laws in every State and a federal law governing the District of Columbia, the Territories and all Indian and military schools supported by the Government; 16,000,000 children in the public schools receive instruction under these laws as to the nature and effect of alcohol and other narcotics on the human system. Through its efforts the quarterly temperance lesson was included in the International Sunday School Lesson Series in 1884, and a World's Universal Temperance Sunday was secured; 250,000 children are taught scientific reasons for temperance in the Loyal Temperance Legions, and all these children are pledged to total abstinence and trained as temperance workers. W. C. T. U. Schools of Methods are held in all Chautauqua gatherings.

This organization has largely influenced the change in public sentiment in regard to social drinking, equal suffrage, equal purity for both sexes, equal remuneration for work equally well done, equal educational, professional and industrial opportunities for women. It has been a chief factor in State campaigns for statutory prohibition, constitutional amendment, reform laws in general and those for the protection of women and children in particular, and in securing anti-gambling and anti-cigarette laws. It has been instrumental in raising the "age of protection" for girls in many States and in obtaining curfew laws in 400 towns and cities. It aided in securing the Anti-Canteen Amendment to the Army Bill (1900) which prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors at all army posts. It helped to inaugurate police matrons who are now required in nearly all the large cities of the United States. It organized Mothers' Meetings in thirty-seven States before any other society took up the work. Illinois alone has held 2,000 Mothers' Meetings in a single year.

It keeps a superintendent of legislation in Washington during the entire session of Congress to look after reform bills. It aided in preventing the repeal of the prohibitory law in Indian Territory,the resubmission of the prohibitory constitution of Maine, and in preserving the prohibitory law of Vermont. It has secured 20,000,000 signatures and attestations, including 7,000,000 on the Polyglot Petition to the governments of the world. Thousands of girls have been rescued from lives of shame and tens of thousands of men have signed the total abstinence pledge and been redeemed from inebriety through its efforts.

The association protests against the legalizing of all crimes, especially those of prostitution and liquor selling. It protests against the sale of liquor in Soldiers' Homes, where now an aggregate of $253,027 is spent annually for intoxicating liquors, and only about one-fifth of the soldiers' pension money is sent home to their families. It protests against the United States Government receiving a revenue for liquors sold within prohibitory territory, either local or State, and against all complicity of the Federal Government with the liquor traffic. It protests against lynching and lends its aid in favor of the enforcement of law. It works for the highest well-being of our soldiers and sailors and especially for suitable temperance canteens and a generous mess. It works for the protection of the home, especially against its chief enemy, the liquor traffic, and for the redemption of our Government from this curse, by the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes.

The organizing of this great society in the various States and Territories, and the systematizing of the work under forty different departments, is due to the efforts of Miss Frances E. Willard more than to any other one person, and its success is indebted largely to her ability and personal popularity. As its president until her death in 1898, she not only perfected the organization in this country, but originated the idea of the Polyglot Petition and of the World's W. C. T. U., which was organized under the auspices of that of the United States. It now includes fifty-eight different countries and has 500,000 members.

The official organ,The Union Signal, a weekly of sixteen pages, is issued by the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association of Chicago, which publishes alsoThe Young Crusaderand many books and leaflets. The National W. C. T. U. gives away 5,000,000 pages of literature per year, exclusive of that circulated by the States and different departments. It has received and expended since its organization in round numbers $400,000. This does not include the large expenditures of the various State and local unions.

Every State and Territory in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, has a W. C. T. U., and one is beginning in the Philippines. These are auxiliary to the National. It is organized locally in over 10,000 cities and towns. The Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union is called a branch, also the Loyal Temperance Legions among children. There are thirty-eight other departments, and it is usual to include the two branches and speak of forty departments. The membership paying dues is 300,000. There was a gain of 15,000 members this year above all losses.

The Frances E. Willard National Temperance Hospital and Training School for Nurses, in Chicago, is owned and controlled by an incorporated board of thirty trustees. Its basic principle is the cure of disease without the use of alcohol as an active medicinal agent. Eminent physicians are on the staff and every effort is made to have it rank with the very best of hospitals.

At the national convention in Washington, D. C., in 1900, fifty States and Territories were represented by 509 delegates. Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens succeeded Miss Willard as president.

The American National Red Cross Societywas organized March 1, 1882, with headquarters at Washington, D. C. Its object is the relief of suffering by war, pestilence, famine, flood, fires, and other calamities of sufficient magnitude to be deemed national in extent. It is governed by the provisions of the International Convention of Aug. 22, 1864, at Geneva, Switzerland.

Up to the present time relief has been given on fields as follows: Michigan forest fires, 1881, material and money, $80,000; Mississippi floods, 1882, money and seeds, $8,000; Mississippi floods, 1883, material and seeds, $18,500; Mississippi cyclone, 1883, money, $1,000; Balkan war, 1883, money, $500; Ohio and Mississippi river floods, 1884, food, clothing, tools, housefurnishings and feed for stock, $175,000; Texas famine, 1885, appropriations and contributions, $120,000; Charleston, S. C., earthquake, 1886, money, $500; Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, 1888, money and supplies, $85,000; Florida yellow fever epidemic, 1888, physicians and nurses, $15,000; Johnstown, Pa., flood disaster, 1889, money and all kinds of building material, furniture, etc., $250,000; Russian famine, 1891-2, food, $125,000; Pomeroy, Ia., cyclone, 1893, money and nurses, $2,700; South Carolina Islands hurricane and tidal wave disaster, money and all kinds of supplies, material, tools, seeds, lumber, $65,000; reconcentrado relief in Cuba, 1898-9, $500,000; American-Spanish War, 1898-9, $450,000; Galveston flood and hurricane, 1900, $120,000; total, $2,016,200.

Miss Clara Barton was its principal founder and has been its president continuously.

The Association of Collegiate Alumnaewas organized January 14, 1882; incorporated by special act of the Massachusetts Legislature, April 20, 1899, to unite the alumnae of different institutions for practical educational work.

From 1890 to 1901 the association gave fourteen $500 European fellowships (sharing two others) and ten $300 American fellowships. Among those holding the fellowships was the first woman admitted to the laboratory of the United States Fish Commission, the first woman to receive the Ph. D. degree from Yale, the first woman admitted to Göttingen University, the first woman permitted to work in the biological laboratory at Strasburg University, the first American woman to receive the degree of Ph. D. from any German university, and the first American woman to receive a Ph. D. from Göttingen and Heidelberg Universities.

The character of the work accomplished by those holding fellowships made it possible for the association to establish, three years ago, a Council to Accredit Women for Advanced Work in Foreign Universities. Any woman applicant, college graduate or otherwise, found qualified in work, character and serious purpose, receives a certificate properly signed and attested which will secure for her, if possible to any woman, the courtesy and privileges desired at a foreign university.

The organization contributes to the support of the Association for Maintaining the American Woman's Table at the Zoological Station at Naples and to that for Promoting Scientific Research by Women. The latter pays $500 annually for the support of the Woman's Table, and to promote research has just offered a prize of $1,000, which offer, it is expected, will be renewed biennially.

The A. C. A. Committee on Corporate Membership maintains a high standard of colleges whose graduates are admitted to this organization, which has done much in a quiet way to raise the standards of department work, equipment and endowment of American colleges admitting women.

For the past three years the association has published a magazine containing the addresses and reports given at its annual meetings. Among its other publications are statistics relative to the Health of College Women (1885); a Bibliography of the Higher Education of Women (1897); a full descriptive list of the fellowships for graduate study open to women in this country, together with a list of the undergraduate scholarships offered to women in the nineteen colleges belonging to the A. C. A. (1899). It will soon issue studies of the growth and development of colleges, a supplement to the Bibliography of the Higher Education of Women, a study of the child from the point of view of parents and teachers, and a comprehensive statistical investigation into the health, occupations and marriage-rate of college and non-college women.

The work of the national association is carried on largely by standing committees which are under the leadership of the women most notable in education—college presidents, deans and professors. Meanwhile, the president, six vice-presidents and presidents of the various branches, acting through a salaried secretary-treasurer, give coherency and support to the development of its various objects. In addition, each branch has committees which deal with local issues, such as public school work of all kinds, home economics, development of children, civil service reform, college settlements, etc. The investigation of the sanitary conditions of the Boston public schools, 1895-1896, started the wave of schoolhouse cleaning which has swept across the country and which has not stopped at schoolhouses but has included school boards and systems of school administration. The Chicago branch has just issued a summary of laws relating to compulsory education and child-labor in the United States, which shows the inadequacy of the first (except in three States) and the lack of correlation between the two which makes for lawlessness and crime. It is hoped thatthis summary will serve as a basis for agitation which shall not cease until compulsory education becomes a fact and not a theory.

The association has twenty-five branches and 3,000 members.

The Association for the Advancement of Womenwas organized in New York in October, 1873, at the very beginning of the club movement, to interest the women of the country in matters of high thought and in all undertakings found to be useful to society, and to promote their efficiency in these through sympathetic acquaintance and co-operation. It had a number of distinguished presidents and held congresses in many States, which almost invariably led to the formation of local clubs for study and mutual improvement, as well as to good works in other lines. Among the cities in which a congress was held were New York, Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Des Moines, Denver, Madison, St. Paul, Toronto, Baltimore, Memphis, Knoxville, Louisville, Atlanta and New Orleans. Many distinguished women were included in its membership and it had a strong influence in rendering possible the extensive formation of the women's clubs which are now so important a feature in American society. Its work is partly chronicled in two large volumes which give the papers presented and action taken at the meetings. The many great organizations of women in recent years have made further work on the part of the association unnecessary.

The General Federation of Women's Clubswas organized March 20, 1890, to bring into communication the various women's clubs in order that they may compare methods and become mutually helpful. The work is accomplished through three committees—Art, Education and Industries. Those on Art have used their influence toward its study and its application to the home, and also for the quickening of enthusiasm in horticulture and gardening, from which has developed the beautifying of public squares and school yards. In Education some of the most important results are the establishment of hundreds of traveling libraries, assistance in organizing and fostering kindergartens, encouragement of manual training in the public schools, and the formation of Mothers' Clubs for the study of child culture. The federation has worked with other organizations for the appointment of women on school boards and legislation for broader educational advantages for women. In fact, its work has ranged from kindergarten to university.

The Industrial Committee studies conditions surrounding wage-earning women and children and encourages co-operation between the woman of leisure and the one who is self-supporting, and the organization of laboring women in unions and clubs. One principal object is to eliminate the child from the factory and then to educate it. The Civic work has ranged from Health Protective Associations in cities to Village Improvement Societies.

There are thirty-six State Federations, eleven foreign clubs and nearly 700 individual clubs belonging to the federation, representing over 200,000 members (1900).

The National Association of Colored Womenwas organized July, 1896, to arouse all women, especially colored women, to a sense of their responsibility, both in molding the life of the home and in shaping the principles of the nation; to secure the co-operation of all women in whatever is undertaken in the interest of justice, purity and liberty; to inspire in all women, but especially in colored women, a desire to be useful in whatever field of labor they can work to the best advantage.

Kindergartens and day nurseries for the infants of working women have been established; mothers' meetings have been generally held and sewing classes formed; a sanitarium with a training school for nurses has been founded in New Orleans; ground purchased on which an Old Folks' Home is to be built in Memphis, and charity dispensed in various ways. Women on plantations in the "black belt" of Alabama have been taught how to make their huts decent and habitable with the small means at their command, and how to care for themselves and their families in accordance with the rules of health. Schools of Domestic Science are conducted, and a large branch is that of Business Women's Clubs. The Convict Lease System, "Jim Crow" Car Laws, Lynching and other barbarities are thoroughly discussed, in the hope that some remedy for these evils may be discovered. Statistics concerning the progress and achievements of colored people are being gathered. Musical clubs are formed to develop this inherent gift. An organ is published calledNotes, edited by Mrs. Booker T. Washington and an assistant in each State.

The association has 125 branches in twenty-six States and over 8,000 members.

The National Congress of Mothersheld its first public convention at Washington in February, 1897, and permanent organization was effected there in 1898. Its objects are to raise the standards of home life; to give young women opportunities to learn how to care for children; to bring into closer relations the home and the school; to surround the childhood of the whole world with that wise, loving care in the impressionable years of life which will develop good citizens.

Practical efforts have been made to accomplish all of these objects. Mothers have used their influence in behalf of free kindergartens in the public schools; in having school buildings properly constructed, lighted, heated and ventilated, and for shorter hours in school and less study outside. They have lent their efforts to the uplifting of the drama, since, rightfully used, it can be made a powerful educational factor, and have worked for a pure press, recognizing that it is the greatest material power in the world today. They have regarded their children first of all as future mothers and fathers, next as citizens, and they are demanding that public educational systems adopt their standards of values in the adjustment of curricula.

They have established Mothers' Clubs in many communities, especiallyamong women whose opportunities for training of any kind have been meager; have seen that creches and free kindergartens are provided for the children of the poor; that reading rooms are open for the use of boys and girls; have urged that women should serve upon all school boards and those of all prisons and reformatory institutions; have taken the city fathers to task wherever laws pertaining to the cleanliness and health of a community are not enforced; have called mass meetings once a month to discuss questions pertaining to the welfare of the child; by precept and example have set forth the advantages of simplicity of dress and entertainment, and have interested themselves in all kinds of humane work.

State Congresses have been formed in nine States, exact membership not known. Mrs. Theodore W. Birney was the founder of the organization and has been its president continuously.

The National Woman's Relief Societywas organized March 17, 1842, at Nauvoo, Ills., being almost the oldest woman's society in existence. It became national in 1868 and was incorporated in 1892, to assist the needy, and to care for the afflicted, to lift up the fallen, to ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity, to encourage habits of industry and economy; to give special attention to those who have not had proper training for life, to sacredly care for the dying and the dead, to minister to the lonely, however lowly, in the spirit of grace and heavenly charity.

It has been a veritable school of instruction to thousands of women, and its organization is so perfect that it is comparatively easy to carry out any plan of work formed by the General Board. Donations are almost entirely by the members themselves, and they have working meetings, bazars and fairs occasionally to raise means for the needful purposes. Many of the branches have built houses for meetings and some also own houses for their poor instead of paying rent. Industries have been carried on to supply work to such as were able to do something for their own support. Of these the most notable is the silk industry in Utah. Over 100,000 bushels of wheat have been stored in granaries against a day of famine or scarcity. Hundreds of nurses and many midwives have been trained under the fostering care of the society. At present money is being raised by donation to erect a commodious building in Salt Lake City opposite the Temple, suitable for headquarters.

The society has 659 branches and 30,000 members in this and other countries and upon the islands of the sea. Mrs. Eliza R. Snow and Mrs. Zina D. H. Young have been the only two presidents.

The International Sunshine Societyhad its origin in the early nineties in a department edited by Mrs. Cynthia Westover Alden in the New YorkRecorder, which she afterwards carried into theTribune. It was first called the Shut-In Society, but the present name was adopted in 1896 and it was incorporated in 1900.

Its object is to incite its members to the performance of helpful deeds, and to thus bring happiness into the greatest possible number of hearts and homes. The membership fee consists of some act orsuggestion that will carry sunshine where it is needed. This may be the exchange of books, pictures, etc., loaning or giving useful articles, suggesting ideas for work that can be done by a "shut-in" and sending the materials for it, making holiday suggestions and a general exchange of helpful ideas.

There are many Sunshine libraries, some of them traveling, all over the United States and Canada. In Memphis there is a Sunshine Home for Aged Men, a Newsboys' Club House and a Lunch Room for Working Girls. Several branches have Sunshine wards in hospitals. The leading women's clubs have Sunshine Committees, and hundreds of churches have them in their King's Daughters' and Christian Endeavor Societies. Among the thousands of articles which have been placed where they will do the most good are pianos, sewing machines, invalid chairs, baby carriages, furniture and clothing of every description.

There are more than 100,000 members and over 2,000 well-organized branches. The society is officered and managed by women and they compose the immense majority of the members. Mrs. Alden has been the president continuously.

The National Council of Jewish Womenwas organized in Chicago in 1893, as a result of the Congress of Jewish Women, which was a branch of the Parliament of Religions held during the Columbian Exposition. Its objects are to bring about closer relations among Jewish women and a means of prosecuting work of common interest; to further united efforts in behalf of Judaism through a better knowledge of the Bible, Jewish literature and conditions. It has given much attention to social reform through preventive philanthropy and it affiliates with many organizations of women interested in the public welfare. The Council conducts manual training and industrial schools, sewing and household schools, kitchen gardens, kindergartens, mothers' clubs, boys' clubs, circulating libraries, reading rooms, free baths, employment bureaus, milk and ice depots for the poor, crippled children's classes and many other philanthropies.

During the Spanish-American War the Council contributed about $10,000 in money and goods, and in several cities was the first organization to undertake this relief work. It has sixty-three sections in various States and 6,000 members. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon has been president continuously.

The Women's National Indian Associationwas organized in March, 1879, for the civilization, education, enfranchisement and Christianization of the native Indians of the United States; the first society devoted exclusively to Indian advancement, to ask and labor for all these; to demand from the Government lands in severalty, citizenship, industrial teaching and education for the aborigines (1881), and these were granted in the passage of the Dawes Severalty Bill in February, 1887.

Besides its important work politically, beginning a movement which has gained 60,000 Indian citizens, at least 25,000 of whompay taxes and 10,000 of whom voted at the last elections, it has opened directly or indirectly Christian, educational and industrial instruction at forty-seven stations, or in as many tribes; has builded many Indian homes, starting civilized industries in these and in tribes, furnishing agricultural implements, sewing machines, looms, stock, etc., from a loan fund of $12,000. It has various other departments of help for red men—schools, libraries, temperance teaching, etc.—and has expended in all these (besides sending missionary boxes of supplies for the aged and helpless into seventy tribes) from $15,000 to $28,000 annually. It has now a House of Industries where women and girls are taught sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. Altogether forty-one buildings have been erected.

The Association has nearly 100 branches in between thirty and forty States and Territories and has several thousand members. Mrs. Amelia Stone Quinton was general secretary from the beginning for eight years, and has since been president continuously.

The National League of Women Workerswas organized April 29, 1897, in the interest of working women and their clubs. It is intended that the League shall stand as a central bureau of information, offering counsel and help when sought, but not placing restrictions upon any club. It has issued various publications, a monthly magazine,The Club Worker, a collection of songs, one of practical talks, another of plays and of entertainments; also a pamphlet entitled How to Start a Club. It has made a collection of all publications issued by the various auxiliary State associations and clubs, which are distributed free of charge to members. Between 8,000 and 9,000 publications are annually sold and distributed. The secretary each year visits from fifty to one hundred clubs to acquaint them with the work of other similar organizations. The League has collected data relating to the management of lunch clubs, vacation houses and co-operative homes for working women.

It is made up of five associations, and includes 100 clubs in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, with a membership of over 8,000.

The National Christian League for the Promotion of Social Puritywas organized in New York in October, 1885, and a national charter was obtained in 1889. Its object is to elevate opinion respecting the nature and claims of morality, with its equal obligation upon men and women, and to secure a practical recognition of its precepts on the part of the individual, the family and the nation; to organize the efforts of Christians in preventive, educational, reformatory and legislative effort in the interest of Social Purity. It uses every righteous means to free women and girls from financial dependence upon men, not only by seeking to raise the status of domestic service, but by teaching the advantages of self-support in every kind of legitimate business. During the past six years the League has secured employment directly for 3,300 applicants; it has supplied temporal and social benefits to thousands of distressed women; furnished more than 5,000,000 pages of literaturehelpful to all the people; prevented and stopped immoral shows and impure exhibitions; clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the shelterless.

The League has Hospital Auxiliaries, Social Culture Clubs, Industrial Homes with training for Italians and other foreigners; members in nearly every State and Territory—in Europe, China, Japan, India and South America. It was founded by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis, who has been its president continuously.

The Young Ladies' National Mutual Improvement Associationwas organized at Salt Lake City in June, 1869. Associations were formed in different States, and these were gradually grouped into "stake" or county societies, each one presided over by a president and her board of workers. On June 19, 1880, an organization of these "stakes" was effected and a general president elected. The object is mutual improvement for all, in spiritual, mental and physical conditions.

It is an educational association and has bettered the condition of thousands of girls, leading them toward the light, cultivating unselfishness, a love of humanity, and a desire to help the world; it has given to all its members a deeper, truer, purer education than they could otherwise have obtained. While not strictly a beneficiary organization, it disburses several thousand dollars a year. It owns considerable property, including houses and libraries.

The association has 507 branches and 22,000 members in ten States and Territories and a number of foreign countries. Mrs. Elmina Shepard Taylor has been president since 1878.

The National Kindergarten Unionwas organized in July, 1892, to unite kindergarten interests; to promote the establishment of kindergartens, and to elevate the standard of their training and teaching. It has instituted more friendly relations between kindergartners, bringing together the conservative and radical elements upon a common platform. A broader conception of the principles of Froebel and their relation to education in general has been promoted, thus enlarging the scope of the kindergarten idea and widening its influence. There are at present seventy branches with 6,000 members.

The Woman's Prison Association and Isaac T. Hopper Homewas organized by Mr. Hopper in 1845 in New York and incorporated in 1854. It was afterwards sustained for many years by his daughter, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons. Its object is the amelioration of the condition of women prisoners, the improvement of prison discipline and the government of prisons in respect to women; also the support and encouragement of women convicts after their release. The association has secured in New York the searching of women prisoners by women; a law requiring police matrons; one providing a Reformatory for Women and Girls, and others of like import. The Home is in a large measure self-supporting. From this first organization a number of similar ones have been established and the condition of women prisoners has been much improved.

The National Household Economic Associationwas organized in March, 1893, to promote a scientific knowledge of the care of children, and of the economic and hygienic value of food, fuel and clothing; to inculcate an intelligent knowledge of sanitary conditions in the home, and to urge the recognition of housekeeping as a business or trade which is worthy of highest thought and effort. This was the first organization to present Household Economics in a comprehensive form as an important and profound science. The existence of home departments in nearly every woman's club may be directly or indirectly traced to its influence. From Maine to California women have received from it broader and better views of home and home life. It has vice-presidents in twenty-nine States.

The National Woman's Keeley Rescue Leaguewas organized Sept. 18, 1893, to restore the victim of inebriety and drugs to health and happiness and to aid the unfortunate inebriate to become a self-supporting citizen instead of an object of charity; to visit the families of inebriates and by every means possible aid them to a higher and better life. It has brought sunshine and happiness into more than one thousand desolate homes, and enabled the heads of these homes to become self-supporting. Husbands and wives who have been driven asunder by the curse of drink have been re-united. Thousands of children who would have been thrown upon the world or into charitable institutions have been saved and are now cared for in well-provided homes. Many a family has been kept from becoming a charge upon charity, and the current of many a human life has been turned in wholesome channels.

The League pays for a man's treatment at the time he enters a Keeley Institute, taking his note (properly secured by the indorsement of some friend, when possible), and requiring him to pay back in monthly installments or as his circumstances will permit. This creates a revolving fund to be used over and over again. It has its friendly visitors looking after the family while he is taking the treatment and endeavors to have employment for him upon his return. Men who have been sent to the work-house repeatedly have been permanently reclaimed. The League has eighteen branches and 650 members.

The National Federation of Musical Clubswas organized January, 1898, to bring into communication the various musical societies that they may compare methods of work and become mutually helpful; and to arrange in different sections of the country Biennial Musical Festivals. It works for the musical life of the nation by creating a musical atmosphere, studying composers and their works and bringing the best talent in various lines to interpret and illustrate these studies. Large, strong clubs have been helpful in sending their members to those smaller in numbers and weaker financially. Two Musical Festivals have been held, national in character, one in St. Louis in May, 1899, the other in Cleveland in May, 1901, with every possible artistic advantage of the highest talent.

There are branches in thirty-two States and Canada; 160 clubs are federated with 12,000 members.

The Needlework Guild of Americawas organized April, 1885, to collect new garments and distribute them to hospitals, homes and other charities, and to extend its usefulness by the organization of branches. It has distributed to hospitals, homes and other charities in the United States about 2,500,000 new garments. This includes the results of two or three special collections for national disasters. It has 308 branches in this country.

RELIGIOUS:

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Churchwas organized March 23, 1869. Its object is to engage and unite the efforts of Christian women in sending missionaries to the women in foreign mission fields of the church and in supporting them and the native Christian teachers, and all forms of work carried on by the society. It has collected and disbursed $5,454,700; sent to foreign fields 365 missionaries, and established a great educational work for women throughout the Orient. The first woman's college in Asia, at Lucknow, India, was founded by this society. It sent the first fully equipped medical woman to the mission fields of the East, and built the first hospitals for women in India, China and Korea. Nineteen hospitals and dispensaries are supported by the society, and 246 missionaries in Africa, Burmah, Bulgaria, China, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South America and the Philippines, while twenty-four medical women are now in the field. There are 18,000 girls and women in its various schools.

The society has eleven branches, covering the whole United States, 5,410 auxiliaries, and 171,765 members. Mrs. Cyrus D. Foss is president.

The Woman's Home Missionary Society of the M. E. Churchwas organized July 10, 1880, to enlist and organize the efforts of Christian women in behalf of the needy and destitute women and children of all sections of the United States, without distinction of race, and to co-operate with the other societies and agencies of the church in educational and missionary work. The total receipts from July, 1880, to July, 1900, were $2,782,773; total value of property, $736,152. This property consists of twenty industrial homes and schools, six mission homes, two immigrant homes, three children's homes, six centers of city mission work, five deaconess and missionary training schools, twenty-eight deaconess homes, four rest homes for deaconesses and missionaries.

The Society has eighty-nine conferences, 2,500 auxiliary societies, 59,000 adult members and 13,500 children. The Deaconess Department was established in 1888. There are now (1901) 1,160 deaconesses with $1,600,000 invested in real estate connected with their work. Mrs. Clinton D. Fisk is president.

The Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Protestant Churchwas organized Feb. 14, 1879, to bring the heathen to Christ. It has established schools, built churches and done a valuable work especially among girls. It has twenty branches and about 3,000 members. Mrs. F. A. Brown of Cardington, O., is serving her twenty-first year as president.

The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Societywas organized April 3, 1871. The leading object is the Christianization of women in foreign lands by furnishing support through the American Baptist Missionary Union to Christian women employed by said Union as missionaries, native teachers or Bible readers, together with the facilities needed for their work. Its missionaries have been sent to Burmah, Assam, India, China, Japan and Africa. The home constituency is found in the Baptist churches of the New England and Middle Atlantic States.

The total number of American missionaries supported for a longer or shorter time is 142. Of these seventy-eight are now connected with the society, 112 native Bible women employed as visitors in homes, and 367 boarding and day schools with more than 14,000 pupils are maintained. Many women who have been taught in these schools are exerting a strong influence as Christian wives, mothers and teachers. The medical missionaries have cared for souls and bodies alike. One of these doctors reports 17,000 treatments at her dispensary during the last year. Large sums of money have also been expended for mission work of various kinds under the care of the wives of missionaries. The total amount raised and expended in thirty years is over $2,000,000.

There are numerous auxiliary circles, including about 34,000 women, besides 10,000 younger women organized in guilds.

The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Societyof the West was organized May 9, 1871, for the elevation and Christianization of the women of foreign lands by furnishing support to Christian women employed as missionaries, to native teachers and to Bible women, together with the facilities needed for their work. It supports 177 schools, 5,337 pupils, 159 teachers and 94 Bible women. In the medical department it has two hospitals, two dispensaries, twenty medical students and three helpers; 597 patients were treated in the hospitals during the past year and 6,130 outside patients. The amount raised since organization is $885,279, and 105 missionaries have been sent out. There are 1,530 auxiliaries.

The Woman's Baptist Home Mission Societywas organized Feb. 1, 1877, to aid in spreading the gospel and to Christianize homes by means of house-to-house visitation and by missions and schools with special reference to exceptional populations in the United States, and among neighboring countries. The missionary training school was organized Sept. 5, 1881, and located at the headquarters of the society, now in Chicago. The same year records the first issue of the monthly organ,Tidings, which has grownfrom a four-page circular to a thirty-two-page magazine, with a monthly circulation of 13,500 copies. The training school has enrolled 518 students. The Society supports also two training schools for negro workers—Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., and the Caroline Bishop School in Dallas, Texas. It has employed on its own fields 159 missionaries among foreign populations in this country from Europe, Indians, Negroes, Chinese, Syrians (from Asia), Mexicans, Cubans, Porto Ricans and Americans.

The missionaries report, for the year, besides work along many other lines, 80,635 visits in homes. During the twenty-four years the visits reported aggregate 1,152,950, and from the headquarters of the Society have gone 6,478,544 pages of literature. The total cash receipts have been $1,034,104. Besides providing for its own distinctive work, the Society has aided the American Baptist Home Missionary Society from 1882 until 1901 to an extent represented by a total of $91,288.

Figures have a certain value, but the best fruit is seen in the results of the work of the missionaries on the fields, through the visits in homes, women's meetings, children's meetings, industrial schools, parents' conferences, Bible bands, fireside schools, training classes, and the circulation of pure, wholesome literature. Through this womanly ministry uncounted lives have been transformed and a multitude of abodes have become Christian homes. There are 2,807 auxiliaries and about 60,000 members.

The Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Societywas organized Nov. 14, 1878, for the evangelization of the women among the freed people, the heathen, immigrants and the new settlements of the West, and for evangelizing and educating the women and children in any part of North America. The amount raised during the last year was $38,000; fifty-seven teachers, missionaries and Bible women are supported among colored people, Indians, Mexicans, Mormons, Chinese, Alaskans and French Catholics.

The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Societywas organized June 12, 1873, to conduct home and foreign missions. This is believed to be the only Woman's Missionary Society (with possibly the exception of the Christian and the Friends') which from the beginning has been entirely independent and not an auxiliary organization. It has furnished eleven women missionaries for India, one of whom is a professor in the Theological School and two are physicians, and supports a large number of schools, many native and Bible women and extensive zenana work. Besides this it aids all other women missionaries of its denominational conference board by annual appropriations for their local work among women and children at the various stations occupied by Free Baptists. The Rhode Island Kindergarten Hall, the Widows' Home and the Sinclair Orphanage, all located at Benares, province of Orissa, India, are the property of this society.

Its home missionary work is connected with Storer College, Harper's Ferry, W. Va., to which it has furnished thirteen teachers,besides contributing largely to the erection and equipment of two of the main buildings. Its receipts have been about $200,000. It has a permanent fund of about $42,000.

The society has twenty-five State organizations, others in Canada and India, with between 8,000 and 9,000 members.

The Woman's Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Southwestwas organized at St. Louis in April, 1877; originally to create and foster a practical and intelligent interest in the spiritual condition of women and children in our own land and in heathen lands. Since the close of its fourteenth year its work has been for foreign missions only, being one of the seven woman's auxiliaries to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America. It has given to the cause of missions $249,618, and has had missionaries, as teachers or physicians, in India, China, Japan, Korea, Siam, Persia and South America. The record of their work has been of a nature sufficiently encouraging to warrant continued and larger support. The Board has 605 branches or auxiliary societies and 13,776 members.

The Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Churchwas organized in December, 1878, to establish and maintain Christian schools among those near home. It has eleven stations in Alaska, eighteen among the Indians, twenty-seven among the Mexicans, thirty-one among the Mormons, forty among the mountaineers, six among the foreigners in this country, five among the Porto Ricans, making a total of 138, with 425 missionaries and teachers and 9,337 pupils.

The Board has secured to the Presbyterian church $750,000 worth of property and has expended about $3,500,000 since organization. Two magazines are published, theHome Mission Monthly, andOver Sea and Landfor the young, the latter jointly with the Foreign Societies. It has about 5,000 auxiliary societies with about 100,000 members.

The Christian Woman's Board of Missionswas organized Oct. 22, 1874, to maintain preachers and teachers for religious instruction; to encourage and cultivate a missionary spirit and effort in the churches; to disseminate missionary intelligence and secure systematic contributions for such purposes; to establish and maintain schools for the education of both sexes.

Fields: The United States, Jamaica, India, Mexico and Porto Rico. Work: University Bible lectureships, Michigan, Virginia, Kansas, Calcutta, India; eighteen schools, four orphanage schools, two kindergartens, four orphanages with 500 children, one Chinese mission, one hospital, three dispensaries, one leper mission, thirty mission stations outside the United States; 135 missionaries, besides native teachers, evangelists, Bible women and other helpers; $900,000 raised during twenty-six years; income last year, $106,728. Its publications areMissionary Tidings, circulation 13,500;Junior Builders, same circulation; leaflets, calendars, manuals, songbooks, etc. Property values: United States, $120,000; India, $60,300; Jamaica, $38,550; Porto Rico, $10,000; total, $229,650; amount of endowment funds, $85,000.

This is purely a woman's organization; funds are raised and disbursed, fields entered and work outlined and managed without connection with any "parent board," although relations with other organizations of the church are most cordial. There are thirty-six State organizations, 1,750 auxiliaries, forty-five young ladies' circles, 374 mission bands, 1,711 junior societies of Christian Endeavor, 177 intermediate societies and 40,000 members of auxiliaries.

The Woman's State Home Missionary Organization of the Congregational Churchrepresents a slow but steady growth during the past thirty years. Branches exist now in forty-two States and Territories. The last report available, that of 1897, showed $100,768 collected that year and disbursed for the usual home missionary purposes.


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