IMPROVEMENT WORK OF CIVIC LEAGUE OF ST. PAUL. 297 



and it was only two weeks before the time the charter would be 

 adopted. A very successful canvass was made and forty-two meet- 

 ings were held and addressed by the most representative men in the 

 city. Twenty-five thousand slips were distributed ; then on the day 

 of the polls the boys of the high school, wearing white badges to 

 indicate their authority, were posted at the various polling places 

 in the city to distribute these slips under the auspices of the citizens' 

 committee. On the slips were' printed the words : "Vote for the' 

 charter." With a total vote of 22,857 we carried the charter by 

 17,845, whereas it required only 13,061. So we have home rule, no 

 matter what our charter is. 



In one or two other things the league has taken an active part 

 in outdoor work. The league conducted two play grounds last year 

 and one this, putting more money into the one we conducted this 

 summer, feeling it is better to do one thing well than to do a half 

 dozen things and slight some features of the work. 



Then we are also interested in the improvement of street car 

 lines, which work is stimulated by ward improvement associa- 

 tions. I do not think the women intend to keep up this street block 

 organization further. The idea is merely to arouse public sentiment 

 and help people to realize the way things ought to be done, and so 

 we hope the result of our outdoor work will be to have an improve- 

 ment association composed of both men and women, thinking they 

 would be interested in carrying on the work in the solution of so- 

 cial and economic problems. 



I have perhaps not mentioned all the things we are interested 

 in, but I have spoken of the general features of our work as it has 

 been carried on thus far. I think this gives you a complete idea so 

 far as I am able to present it to you of what we are trying to do. 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. C. M. Loring : I wish to impress upon your minds the im- 

 portance of the work done by the lady who has just spoken. The 

 fact is, as many of us must realize, that our Minnesota villages, a 

 great many of them, are a disgrace to the state. There has not been 

 the least movement made for their beautifying or for aesthetic im- 

 provement. These improvements come just through such organ- 

 izations as Mrs. Hamlin represents. The beginning of all those im- 

 provements is through those little associations that are started in 

 the neighborhood or in the villages. The village improvement as- 

 sociation is one of the most important organizations that you can 

 have in any village at the present day. It has been my good fortune 

 to have seen the effect of the work done by some of those organiza- 

 tions which were started under the most discouraging circumstances. 

 We all of us who have come from New England villages know how 

 beautiful most New England villages are.' The villages in the west 



