The growth of organizations which are directed by women, wholly or
chiefly devoted to reforms in civic conditions, has been paralleled by
hardly any popular movement of recent years. The Women's Christian
Temperance Union, although hardly more than a juvenile among other great
organizations, is second to few of them in its potentiality for good.
Women's clubs are found everywhere, and, wherever found, for the most
part represent a serious purpose to find and apply right remedies to
existing civic and social evils. The Federation of Women's Clubs brings
all of these local movements into harmonious efforts for the upbuilding
of unselfish patriotism in the community and the highest virtue in the
home. The National Health Protective Association, whose second annual
meeting was recently held in Philadelphia, has already made a record for
itself, through its branches in many cities, which evidences not only a
reason for its existence, but the capacity and success which women have
brought to the solution of some of the most important problems of city
life, such as protection from contagious diseases, the supply of pure
water and pure milk, the prevention of food adulterations, improvements
in tenement conditions, provisions affecting the health of working
people, attention to the sick children of the very poor, and a score of
equally important matters. The chairman of this organization is Mrs.
Etta Osgood of Portland, Maine, and its leading members include Dr.
Lozier of New York, Mrs. A. J. Perry of Brooklyn, Mrs. Theo. F. Seward
of Orange, N. J., Mrs. Henry Birkenbine of Wayne, Pa., Mrs. L. E. Harvey
of Dayton, O., Miss Florence Parsons of Yonkers, N. Y., Mrs. J. E Weiks
of Buffalo, and Mrs. John H. Scribner of Philadelphia.
In the same city was also held, shortly after the meeting of the Health
Protective Association, the Triennial Convention of Working Women's
Societies. This gathering of earnest women was notable for the keenness
which its members brought to the discussion of questions affecting the
interests of working women, and the equal sincerity of their desire to
reach only just conclusions. Here is an opportunity for the bright women
who are at the head of the Federation of Women's Clubs to establish
reciprocal relations which will be fruitful in great good.