The Suffragist, vol. 5, no. 55, January 17, 1917, p. 3

Boxes

VOL. $V, No. 55 The Published by Woman Suffnge o and the National Woman's Party sp Lafayette Square, Washington, D. C.

Control of Town Shifts from Men to Women

HE municipal government of Umatilla, Ore- T gon, has shifted from the hands of men to those of women as a result of the last town election. Mrs. Laura J. Starcher, wife of the retiring mayor, whom she defeated, took office January 11, with a woman recorder, woman treasurer and four councilwomen. In the appointment of committees Mrs. Starcher named only women, leaving the former members of the council entirely out of count.

“Several of the women are wives of former city officers and their election last December was the result of a last-hour coup," says the news dispatch.

Full Suffrage Advocated by Illinois Governor suffrage for the women of Illinois was urged by Governor Frank O. Lowden in his recent inaugural address at Springfield. He said that “under the decision of our courts, the Legislature may extend suffrage to women only for offices created by statute.

“The present law does not embrace all of the clective statutory offices and should be extended. It is an anomaly that women should have the right to vote for presidential electors and not for officers created by our state constitution. The anomaly, however, can be remedied only by a change in the constitution."

The Governor and the members of his party, the Republican, which gained control of the Legislature last November, was pledged to a new constitution for the state and it is believed that full suffrage for the women of the state will be one of the provisions of this constitution.

Women Lawyers May Join New York Bar Association

S a result of action taken by the New A York Bar Association January 12, women lawyers are eligible to membership in that organization. The by-laws of the association did not exclude women as members, but the question came to a vote on a motion by James Judge, a Brooklyn lawyer, who wanted the by-laws amended to exclude women specifically, thereby putting the state association on record alongside the New York City and Brooklyn associations, which do not admit women to membership.

Notes of the Week

The motion was defeated by a four to one vote. The defeat means that woman lawyers may become members of the State Bar Association. Two women presented their applications at the session.

Woman's Right to Make Affidavit OQuestioned M J. S. JENNINGS, state legislative chairman of the Congressional Union for

Virginia, writes us of her experience as a notary public of the State of Virginia: She says: “I have been a notary public in Virginia for fourteen years. Recently I took affidavit for use in a North Carolina suit. The paper was returned by the attorneys in the suit for an affidavit made by a man, because of the present agitation in that state over the question of women acting as notaries. As a matter of policy, it was deemed best to have a man take the affidavit, and one, holding the same authority I do, made the affidavit which has been accepted by the attorneys."

Laws Asked by Illinois Women SECOND session of the Illinois Woman's A Legislative Congress has been held recently in Chicago to impress upon the Illinois Legislature what laws are desired by the women of that state.

Two years ago, just prior to the opening of the 1915 Legislature, the women of Illinois held a conference, at the invitation of Lieutenant Governor Barratt O'Hara and a state commission, for the purpose of recommending measures to the General Assembly in which women were particularly interested. It was said to be the first gathering of the kind ever held in the United States.

Among the measures recommended by the present Congress for the consideration of the Legislature were many relating to women—b'lls fixing a minimum wage scale for women and minors and establishing an eight-hour day.

First Russian University Opened to Women OMEN will hereafter be admitted to Mos- W cow University, the oldest and most authoritative unmiversity in the Russian empire, on the same terms as men. The Russian ministry of education and the faculty council of

the university recently announced that hereafter women will be admitted in full equality with the men in all courses. Their diplomas will have equal standing and women graduates will be equally welcomed in important professional posts. .

Scandinavian Women's Organization Formed at Stockholm N important development of the women's A movement in the countries of Northern Europe is to be seen in the formation of the Federation of Northern Women's Rights Association.

The association recently held its first conference in Stockholm. Invitations had been sent out by the three Swedish women's societies to the various women's associations in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, asking them to send delegates to the conference.

The invitations were accepted, and in sp'te of the difficulties of traveling due to the war, delegates from all these countries made their way to Stockholm, and the proposed federation was duly formed. Its object is to bring about cooperation in work on behalf of the interests of women and children in the Scandinavian countries, and to enable women to confer together on these questions. The by-laws adopted were in substance as follows:

“The aim of the organization shall be cooperation in attending to the interests of women and children in the family, state and community.

“Women's rights associations (national associations) in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shall be entitled to join the organization, in which each country shall be represented by the boards or executive committees of those associations which have joined. shall be held at a date and place fixed by the organization, when questions of importance to women in the northern countries arise and claim discussion. A shall be held not less than once every thir year."

Women's work and women's wages were the subjects discussed by the conference at both its public and private sessions, and it was decided that commissions composed of delegates from each country should collect statistics regarding the condition of women's wages in their respective countries and that later the association as a whole should consider and draw up a common proposition for joint action.