ANNIVERSARY NUMBER 1919 



91 



MRS. JOSEPH P. 



HEILBROSX. SECRETARY WOMXXS 

 CLI-B 19 18- IP JO 



Civic and Penology Committees were named 

 and Day Nursery work largely extended. 

 In 1914,' Mrs. E. G. Saleeby came to the 

 presidency. The year was fruitful of re- 

 sult: a third day nursery was opened; three 

 police matrons installed in the Luneta Police 

 Station to care for women pending trial; an 

 industrial teacher for the insane and feeble 

 minded women supplied to San Lazaro 

 Hospital and a woman's school, through the 

 assistance of the Bureau of Education, 

 opened in Bilibid Prison. A very signal 

 success was scored by the Penology Commit- 

 tee in securing legislation which established 

 the profit-sharing plan in Bilibid and other 

 prisons under its jurisdiction. At the in- 

 stance of Vice Governor Martin, the Legisla- 

 ture passed Bill No. 2489. It gives back to 

 each worker fifty per centum of earnings, at 

 the time of release or before to support of 

 dependent members of family upon the re- 

 quest of the prisoner. This is a long step 

 and puts the Philippine Islands abreast of 

 modern penology reform. 



Arrangements were effected with the 

 Bureau of Labor to maintain a special section 

 for women seeking employment, to be known 

 as "Women's Free Employment Agency," 

 and the work put in charge of a woman em- 

 ployee; and an agreement was also made with 

 the Director of Civil Service to certify, after 

 three months, to the Director of Labor, lists 

 of Civil Service eligibles who had not been 

 placed in the classified service. This with 

 a view to expediting opportunity to secure 

 work for mercantile sources and to give 

 merchants an opportunity to find equipped 

 material through the Labor Bureau. 



A Little Mother's League was formed and 

 did good service. The beautiful operetta 

 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," was 

 staged as a benefit for the Day Nurseries, 

 by Alice Widney Conant, with such artistic 

 perfection as to call for a second performance 

 and win the hearts of the children and those 

 older children their parents. 



At Christmas, each year, it has been the 

 Club's practice to appropriate generously 

 for orphans, defectives, delinquents and 

 lepers, special committees being appointed 

 to handle the varied activities. 



In 1915, the Club joined the Federation 

 of Women's Clubs, U. S. A., and has been 



since represented, at the annual meetings, 

 by some Manila member on a visit home. It 

 is said that the veterans listen with unfeigned 

 astonishment to the accomplishments of 

 "sisters under the skin," ten thousand miles 

 removed. The work of sending donations 

 for Lafayette Kits began in this year and 

 was kept up for the duration of the war; and 

 the Club also adopted a French orphan, 

 which it continues to support. It is hoped 

 later to erect a monument to her, entirely 

 the gift of her countrywomen. 



The idea of establishing Provincial Wo- 

 men's Clubs was first broached by Laura L. 

 Shuman, a charter member. Printed litera- 

 ture in English and Spanish was sent broad- 

 cast and club members began making provin- 

 cial trips to interest provincial women. It 

 was new and the appeal to the mother heart 

 of womankind met with quick response. 



In 1916, Mrs. A. S. Crossfield was elected 

 President. L'nder her guidance the plan 

 for free legal aid for indigent women was un- 

 dertaken by two young Filipinas, and no 

 phase of the Club's work has been more 

 zealously carried on. These women lawyers 

 have given time and professional aid, without 

 money and without price, to their less for- 

 tunate countrywomen, the Club merely sup- 

 plying moral support and necessary station- 

 ery. In 1916.-31 cases were settled; in 1917, 

 42 cases; and in 1918, 103 cases, or a total 

 of 176, in all. Twenty-six were fought 

 through the Courts, 129 settled extra-judi- 

 cially and 21 are still pending. 



The Club went on record also as favorable 

 to the establishment of a Juvenile or Minors' 

 Court and has every year since renewed its 

 efforts to secure the court by petitioning and 

 sending delegations to the Philippine Legisla- 

 ture. 



In 1917, Mrs. N. M. Saleeby was drafted, 

 in spite of her energetic protest for president, 

 Mrs. Crossfield refusing re-election. The 

 Civic Committee began an expansion that 

 was like a harvest, to grow riper by the 

 gleaning. The Municipal Board offered it 

 50,000 square meters of vacant land for vege- 

 table planting and this land was taken over 

 and assigned to schools and individuals, 

 after soil analysis and irrigation possibilities 

 had been investigated by the proper tech- 

 nical experts. 



July 23rd the most sensational page in the 

 Club's existence was written, when a special 

 meeting was called to consider a letter ad- 

 dressed to it by Elwood S. Brown, Secretary 

 of the Y. M. C. A., relative to vice conditions 

 said to exist at suburban cabarets. This 

 letter had the full endorsement of the Board 

 of Directors of the Y. M. C. A., also the 

 Director of Health, Dr. J. D. Long. After 

 a full discussion, a resolution pledging co- 

 operation in the fight against vice was adopted. 



The position taken was abundantly justi- 

 fied, when in 1918, the federal and civil 

 authorities completely abolished the danc- 

 ing feature in cabarets. 



On Occupation Day, August 13, the Civic 

 Committee staged a Food Production and 

 Preparedness Parade two miles long. In 

 it every Department and Bureau of the 

 Government was represented and all the 

 other organizations of women and the major- 

 ity of the large mercantile firms. It sig- 

 nalized a campaign for home production of 

 necessary food throughout the islands and 

 swept down the Escolta and up the Bagunv- 

 bayan drive like an army with banners. Out- 

 side of religious processions, it was the first 

 appearance of women in Manila in a public 

 parade and it was proper that, as such, it 

 should be in defense of the home. 



In 1918, Mrs. C. G. Wrentmore was elected 

 President, and in her opening address called 

 for patriotic response to the Red Cross 



MISS BESSIE A. DWYER, VICE-PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN- 

 OP THE PENOLOGY COMMITTEE OF THE WOMAN'S CLUB 



throughout the year. At the next meeting 

 the Club was addressed by Governor-General 

 Harrison, Mr. John Switzer of the Pacific 

 Commercial Co., and Col. John Bellinger, 

 Department Quartermaster, U. S. A., on 

 food production problems. The Club took 

 its stand as against waste, and for abstinence 

 from wines and liquors. In August of this 

 year, Chairman C. N. Duffy requested the 

 Woman's Club to manage the woman's com- 

 mittees of the 4th Liberty Loan. Mrs. 

 H. B. Pond was placed in full charge of the 

 Club part of the drive. Work was auspi- 

 ciously begun by calling a woman's mass 

 meeting in the historic Marble Hall of the 

 Ayuntamiento, on Sept. 28. It was address- 

 ed by the Governor-General, Col. Hartigan, 

 Mrs. Calderon, Mrs. Vamenta and Miss 

 Dwyer and a large sum realized for bonds. 

 Women from every rank of life were present, 

 not a few nuns leading their pupils in possibly 

 their first excursion into the realm of the 

 new woman. They came with college and 

 school colors flying and they poured out 

 money, like water, for the cause. A woman's 

 section of a great 4th Liberty Loan Parade 

 was drilled by Army officers and marched, 

 the .Filipina ladies wearing red and blue 

 dresses and the Americans and Europeans 

 white. They created a veritable sensation. 



Later in the year, the Club, moved by 

 medical revelations and by humanitarian 

 motives, began work along social hygiene 

 lines and opened the fight by petitioning the 

 Legislature to add venereal diseases to the 

 list of contagious diseases that must be 

 reported by physicians. Literature and 

 posters were distributed and the gospel of 

 the single standard in morals carried to the 

 provincial clubs with the purpose of enlisting 

 their support. 



The Welfare Board was requested to name 

 five pensionados, three at least to be women, 

 to go to the United States to study welfare 

 work. The resolution met with success and 

 young women will be named. 



(Concluded on page 94) 



