Progressive Woman from Girard, Kansas • 4

1 4 THE PROGRESSIVE WOMAN I Women of America Unite for Colossal Peace Statue within the last few years, the growth of the trade union movement among women, the ii? Ife a I Pi in I II I i Mary E. Gurbutt The inspiration of one woman on last Easter morning launched the movement to unite the women of America to memorialize Congress for a peace statue to be erected at the entrance to the Panama Canal. The militarism of the country at that time was clamoring for fortifications at the canal. Why should not the women of the country offset that clamor with an earnest appeal for some inspiring symbol of peace there, that would speak to the nations of the world of that ideal of brotherhood and fraternity towards the realization of which all peace-loving people longingly look? This was the thought and desire that prompted the movement. It was not started without due consideration.

Men whose opinions were valuable were consulted, among them our state secretary of the peace association, and without exception all gave great encouragement to the plan. A committee of representative women of Los Angeles was immediately secured, under whose endorsement the movement was initiated. An appeal to the women of the United States was prepared. It was presented to the various local, county and state organizations of women throughout California, as far as possible in the short time intervening before the summer vacation. The response was almost universal.

At the present time clubs of women, in membership numbering 50,000 or more, have taken affirmative action for the erection of this statue. While little or no effort has been made to reach the women of other states as yet, several large and representative organizations, notably the National School Peace League, the summer school of the South, numbering 2,500 members, and several W. C. T. U.

state organizations have endorsed the movement. The outlook for an energetic and united effort for the attainment of our purpose is altogether encouraging. The completion of so gigantic an undertaking as the Panama Canal deserves some cnpriol unrl nimif rprntrnitirm mmmpnsnrate PROPOSED PEACE STATUE organizations, is proof enough to indicate that the working woman is waking up. Only a few years ago it was almost impossible to approach a girl who, let us say, worked in a department store, and talk unionism to her. For she, you must remember, was going to "business" and was receiving a "salary," if you please! Talking unionism to her meant insulting her, and who of us wants to listen to insults? But times are changing.

Today the American girl is beginning to see the class division even in this country, in spite of the fact that she was taught differently from her childhood on. It seems that the working woman of today feels the weight of toil now more than ever before. No wonder I The wages in the factory and sweatshops are going down, the conditions in the department stores are still worse, working from ten to eleven hours a day under a nervous strain, tired, sleepy and with scarcely enough to live on. The desire for good food and lots of clothes, the desire to rest, to enjoy, the desire for recreation and amusement is becoming ever greater among the working girls. That is why so many of them are looking for something that would better their miserable conditions NOW, and as a result they turn to the trade unions.

Once they are there we need not worry, for it does not take very long to graduate from the. school of trade unionism to the Socialist party. To my knowledge nothing helps so much to develop the mind of a working girl as. a strike. It is the first signal that stirs up the class consciousness within them.

It is the best food for their brains. A girl who fights on the battlefield of industry is apt to remain a fighter. A girl who hurts a scab will NEVER scab herself. A girl who gets arrested for peaceful picketing and spends a night in jail will sooner or later find out the reason why the police force and the city authorities are always on the side of the master class. The strike teaches them a lesson a lesson that does, first of all, away with selfishness and fills their hearts with the spirit of unity, of solidarity and self sacrifice.

It does not matter whether the strike is lost or won, she is not the girl of yesterday. The employer can't rely upon her to work for smaller wages, as he did before. She is not satisfied with the hope of matrimony any longer; she is learning to understand life and her place in society. Before long the working woman will find out that the only party that looks upon the woman as an equal, as a comrade, is the Socialist party. And so the fighting army of the working class, the awakened men and women, with the spirit of freedom in their souls, united under the banner of Socialism, will march onward to the land of peace and plenty for ALL.

Philadelphia, October, 1911. Your sample of the Progressive Woman for September just received. It is excellent. I enclose 50 cents in stamps, for which I want you to send a copy to each of the following. Fraternally yours, Oscar Anderson, North Dakota.

imperative at this time. At any moment a small body of powerful business interests may seek to plunge this country into war. Whatever will arouse and unite the peace sentiment of the people will be a force to counteract such an effort. Women especially should resolutely protest against modern warfare with all of its horrors. Whatever helps to cement the action of women in opposition to such barbaric methods is to be commended, and there is no doubt but what united action for peace statue at the canal will help to do this.

For that reason we sincerely hope for the cooperation of women everywhere in this movement. Any and every thing that will arouse women to take some definite stand against war and in favor of peace, and unite them in this stand, cannot but be of unquestionable value. THE WORKING WOMAN AND THE SOCIALIST PARTY By Pauline M. Newman, Organizer Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The working woman is slowly but surely awakening. She is beginning to realize her true position on the industrial field, and as a consequence is taking her place within the trade unions.

Many of them have already realized their position on the political field and have joined the political organization of the working class the Socialist party. At times some of us are apt to think that the working women are rather slow in awakening, slow in realizing the great power they possess, slow in understanding the present-day evils, and slow in accepting the remedy for these evils proposed by the Socialist party to UTILIZE THEIR POWER for their OWN EMANCIPATION. But those who think so are either pessimistically inclined or they don't watch the growth of our movement close enough to know better. The growth of the suffrage movement I with its importance. The building of this canal is one more achievement of civilization to bring the nations of the earth into closer relationship.

Every step in this direction lays 1 a surer foundation for that international peace and fraternity we desire to see consum- mated. As an educational agency, in the interest of a world-wide peace, as well as to com-i memorate this splendid piece of constructive work, such a statue as is proposed is eminently fitting. "As the 'Christ of the Andes' has been and is an inspiration to South I America, so a peace statue at the Panama Canal," writes the secretary of the World Federation League, "will be helpful in many ways." I If fortifications are to preserve peace, as Sj we are told by their advocates, then indeed some inspiring symbol of peace erected by i those who do not look upon the insignia of war with any favor will surely emphasize the sentiment which, we are told, actuates the fortification supporters. I There can be no incongruity in having both 1 forts and a peace statue erected at the jj as may appear at first thought. For the I great body of our peace-loving citizens to 1 express in a beautiful statue their sentiments is not simply desirable, it is.

it seems to us,.