The introduction of Kindergartens into the public schools received the assistance of all the women's societies in the District. In 1898 a bill passed Congress appropriating $15,000 with which to make the experiment. This proving successful an annual appropriation of $25,000 was made.[218]
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Mrs. Clinton Smith, president, has secured the suppression of liquor selling in the café of the new Library of Congress, and a large number of most beneficent measures. In December, 1900, the national convention of the W. C. T. U. was held in Washington and among the strongest resolutions adopted were those declaring for woman suffrage and the abolishment of the army canteen. A bill for the latter purpose passed the House while the convention was in session, and soon afterwards passed the Senate.
The District Federation of Women's Clubs includes eleven affiliated organizations comprising nearly four thousand women.
Mrs. Julius C. Burrows (Mich.) is among the most prominent of the many women engaged in philanthropic work. Largely under her direction the Training School for Nurses connected with the Garfield Memorial Hospital has become one of the best in the country.
Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby has long owned and published the Woman's Tribune. Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood for a number of years has edited the American Magazine, the official organ of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood is associate editor of The Peacemaker.
Dr. Anita Newcombe McGee was the first woman in the United States commissioned as surgeon, with the rank of lieutenant and the privilege of wearing shoulder straps. She examined most of the women nurses who volunteered their services in Cuba and the Philippines.
All of the women mentioned above are members of the suffrage association, and those engaged in public work of all kinds are, almost without exception, advocates of woman suffrage.
During the Spanish-American War the women of the District, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the District Federation of Women's Clubs, united in their services. Pleasant headquarters were opened in different localities. Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, Mrs. James B. Tanner and many other loyal Red Cross women answered the call of Clara Barton, and assisted daily through the long, hot summer of 1898 in contributing to the comfort of the soldiers when passing through Washington or while stationed at Camp Alger; and also in sending supplies for the comfort of those at the front. There were no castes, creeds or factions in this great work of patriotism.