Chairmen of Departments.—1. American Citizenship, Mrs. Frederick P. Bagley, Boston; 2. Protection of Women in Industry, Miss Mary McDowell, Chicago; 3. Child Welfare, Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, Austin (Tex.); Social Hygiene, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, Hartford (Conn.); 5. Unification of Laws Concerning Civil Status of Women, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Chicago; 6. Improvement in Election Laws and Methods, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, New York; 7. Food Supply and Demand, Mrs. Edward P. Costigan, Washington, D. C.; 8. Research, Mrs. Mary Sumner Boyd, New York.
The recommendations of the Committee on Plans for Citizenship Schools, appointed by the National Suffrage Association, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, chairman, were adopted as follows:
1. That a normal school be held in the most available large city in each State, to which every county shall be asked to send one or more representatives, the school to be open to all local people. 2. That no State shall feel that it has approached the task of training for citizenship which has not had at least one school in every county, followed by schools in as many townships and wards as possible, with the ultimate aim of reaching the women of every election district. 3. That minimum requirement of a citizenship school should include (a) the study of local, State and national government; (b) the technique of voting and election laws; (c) organization and platform of political parties; (d) the League of Women Voters—its aims, its platforms, its plans of work. 4. That each State employ a director for citizenship schools to be under the direction of the national director of such schools. 5. That the States urge the assistance of State universities through summer schools, extension departments and active participation by professors from these departments to make the teaching of citizenship of real benefit to the State. 6. That the States invite the cooperation of local men who are experienced in public affairs and that every agency, including that of publicity, be employed which will tend to increased interest in the teaching of citizenship. 7. That the States try to make the study of citizenship compulsory in the public schools from the primary grades up.
The following resolutions were adopted: 1. That a copy of the legislative program as selected by the Board of Directors shall be submitted to all State presidents and presidents of national women's organizations for approval, and that a deputation from the League of Women Voters be sent to the conventions of two at least of the dominant political parties to present this program to the delegates and to chairmen of the Resolutions Committees if announced in advance, leaders of these parties having been previously interviewed or circularized. 2. That the recommendations of the standing committees as accepted by the convention be referred to the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters; after consultation with the chairmen the Board in turn to pass on its recommendations to the State chairmen with the request that they use as many of them as possible. 3. That resolutions relating to Federal legislation, after submission to the National Board, be considered binding; that resolutions affecting State legislation be considered recommendations to be submitted to States. 4. That in order to create a better understanding of the purposes of the League of Women Voters and its relation to other national organizations of women, the directors of the league make the purposes of the league exceedingly clear to local groups—namely, that its function is for the purpose of fostering education in citizenship and of supporting improved legislation; that as far as possible organizations already existing and doing similar work be used and asked to cooperate in the work of educating women to an understanding of these purposes; that a Committee on Congressional Legislation be created with headquarters in Washington and that in addition to a chairman the committee be made up of a representative from each of the great national organizations of women.
It was moved by Mrs. John L. Pyle (S. D.), seconded by Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton (O.) and carried by the convention that, Whereas, all women citizens of the United States would today be fully enfranchised had not James W. Wadsworth, Jr., misrepresented his State and his party when continuously and repeatedly voting, working and manœuvering against the proposed 19th Amendment to the Federal Constitution, be it Resolved, That we, representing the enfranchised women of the country, extend to the women of New York our appreciation and our help in their patriotic work of determining to send to the U. S. Senate to succeed the said James W. Wadsworth, Jr., a modern-minded Senator who will be capable of comprehending the great American principles of freedom and democracy.
Before the convention opened there were eight conferences followed by dinners presided over by the chairmen of the departments. The voting members of each conference were the chairman and forty-eight State members and representatives of other agencies doing the same work. The purpose of each conference was to formulate a legislative program combining the best judgment and experience of all workers for the same cause. This program was presented to the convention of the League of Women Voters for its consideration and after adoption it became the platform to which the league was pledged. These conferences were open to visitors without speaking or voting privileges.
The program as submitted by the chairmen, approved by the conferences and amended and adopted by the convention was as follows: Women in Industry, Mrs. Raymond Robins; recommendations presented by Miss Grace Abbott (Ills.):
I. We affirm our belief in the right of the workers to bargain collectively through trade unions and we regard the organization of working women as especially important because of the peculiar handicaps from which they suffer in the labor market.
II. We call attention to the fact that it is still necessary for us to urge that wages should be paid on the basis of occupation and not on sex.
III. We recommend to Congress and the Federal Government: 1. The establishment in the U. S. Department of Labor of a permanent Women's Bureau with a woman as chief and an appropriation adequate for the investigation of all matters pertaining to wage earning women and the determination of standards and policies which will promote their welfare, improve their working conditions and increase their efficiency. 2. The appointment of women in the Mediation and Conciliation Service of the U. S. Department of Labor and on any industrial commission or tribunal which may hereafter be created. 3. The establishment of a Joint Federal and State Employment Service with women's departments under the direction of technically qualified women. 4. The adoption of a national constitutional amendment giving to Congress the power to establish minimum labor standards and the enactment by Congress of a Child Labor Law extending the application of the present Federal child labor tax laws, raising the age minimum for general employment from 14 to 15 years and the age for employment at night to 18 years. 5. Recognizing the importance of a world-wide standardization of industry we favor the participation of the United States in the International Labor Conference and the appointment of a woman delegate to the next conference.