NAWSA SUBJECT FILE VAN WINKLE, MINA Christmas Greetings and best wishes for the New Year Mrs. Abraham Van Winkle 2311 Connecticut Avenue Washington, D. C. © UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD STUDIO, WASHINGTON [*(Mrs) Mina C. Van Winkle Director Woman's Bureau Metropolitan Police*] [*JAN 25 1920*] [*A-1114-6*] [*Mrs M. Van Winkle*] [*2 col Sun 110 J*] [*FULL LENGTH*] [*Please return to Mrs W. O. Pinkhurst 553 Little Building Boston*] WARNING: Copyright license to reproduce this photograph in your publication is granted on the condition that the price quoted is paid and that the following copyright line be printed underneath each reproduction. COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD WASHINGTON DC [?] SERVICE NOT TO BE SYNDICATED. [REDO???????] FOR YOUR EYES ONLY THIS PHOTO MUST NOT BE ADVERTISING PURPOSES WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION 16 THE WOMAN CITIZEN Editorially Speaking Attacking Women THE cry of "Wolf! Wolf!" when there is no danger is as old as the hills. If all the fear of the "Reds" in this country is based on such absurdities as the following, it will cease to interest anyone. If there is any danger from Bolshevist sources, such hysterical outbreaks are a menace to public security. In the WOMAN CITIZEN of March 21 an editorial was printed, entitled, "Are Mothers Safe?" We reprint the greater part of it. We ask every woman who sees this if she finds a hidden menace in it; then to read the following extract from an editorial in the Woman Patriot of May 1, which devotes several thousand words to denouncing it: "ARE MOTHERS SAFE?" (Reprinted from the "Woman Citizen") "It is safe to say that not one of the women's organizations in the International Council, and not one of the leaders of these organizations, is 'red' in any sense of the word, and that not one has any leaning whatever toward Bolshevism or Sovietism. Moreover, while all of them are ardent in their desire to end all war, under present conditions they believe in adequate measures of defense. "Most of these gentlemen who are so concerned about the activities of women believe in motherhood. To the masculine mind there is something beautiful and touching in the solicitude and care which a mother gives her child. Most men revere the material spirit, when it is expended on the children of one's own flesh and blood. What they do not yet comprehend is that the maternal instinct is deeply implanted in all women, whether mothers or not, and that it never ceases to find channels of expression, even when one's own children have grown up. "In early days the childless woman was thrown back on herself and often became embittered. The woman past middle life, as her children went out from her care, grew old before her time. The modern woman is mothering the world. Has any mother ever done more for her children than many women in social service like Julia Lathrop, Lillian Wald, Grace Abbott and many other unmarried women? Did any grandmother of olden times ever put the rich experience of her own motherhood into effective service for others as is being done today by such women as Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Thomas G. Winter and other women leaders? "Fortunate indeed are the women of today with the endless opportunities of putting their maternal gifts into full service, but vastly more fortunate is the world that has released this power for the benefit of mankind. "But how are we going to convince men that women's organizations are not dictated to from Moscow!" "STEPMOTHERING THE WORLD" (Reprinted from the "Woman Patriot") "Not All the Communism Is Made in Moscow" ". . . This is the essence of Communism whether made in Moscow or New York. Alexandra Kollontay, first Bolshevik Commissar of Social Welfare, in her 'Communism and the Family' makes that so plain that even the women who don't know that motherhood 'is a condition and not a theory' can understand. "Sir Paul Dukes, Great Britain's most eminent investigator of Russian conditions, wrote: " 'That central tragedy of the Bolshevist regime of Russia is an organized effort to subvert and corrupt the minds of children. Mme. Kollontay's writings can leave no doubt on that score, even in the minds of the skeptical. The idea is to remove children at an early age from parental care and bring them up in colonies.'—(N. Y. Times, July 16, 1921.) "The WOMAN CITIZEN, in trying to make out that 'mothering the world' is equivalent to 'the maternal spirit, when it is expended on the children of one's own flesh and blood' is doing exactly in part what Kollontay wrote in 1919 should be done. It 'no longer differentiates between yours and mine' in motherhood. In fact, in the editorial mentioned, it entirely overlooks any difference, and bases the editorial on a trick plea that 'the maternal instinct is deeply implanted in all women whether mothers or not,' a plea not based on fact and utterly Communistic in so far as it implies that wholesale vicarious 'mothering' is equivalent to the real mission of motherhood. "The WOMAN CITIZEN reveals its warped idea of wholesale social motherhood further: 'Has any mother ever done more for her children than many women in social service, like Julia Lathrop, Lillian Wald, Grace Abbott and many other unmarried women?' "Of course every mother has. She has brought them into the world, something that never would have been done for them if left to these high salaried spinsters. No one denies that, in a sense, there are many unmarried women personally caring for children (usually of their 'own flesh and blood') with more tenderness than some few actual mothers. But these good sisters, daughters, cousins, aunts, etc., are not mothers and no theory can make them mothers until they meet the condition of motherhood, which is a fact, and not a title to be conferred at will. All women can not be mothers any more than all men can be heroes. But at least they can stop pretending to be mothers when unwilling or unable to meet the test required. "Nobody cares whether women's organizations are 'dictated to from Moscow'—or from Washington or New York—if they happen to advocate some of the same false and vicious doctrines, having the same effect, if adopted, as the Communist schemes for nationalization of children. It's not where your Communist doctrines come from, but where they will lead us if made a part of our Constitution, that matters to American parents. Had The WOMAN CITIZEN editorial been written by Alexandra Kollontay herself, it might have been more bold, but it could hardly have been more covertly Communistic than the insidious plea that internationalist women 'mothering the world' are as 'safe' as real mothers. (Italics are ours.—Ed.) For a Communist idea when properly labeled is no more dangerous than a poison with its red label, skull and cross-bones. It is when Communist poison is mixed with soothing syrup for babies, and called 'child welfare' or 'mothering the world' that it is most dangerous, for then, innocent persons swallow it without knowing what it is." What is the animus behind the vicious attacks that are being made on women by the editor of the Woman Patriot? Who is supplying the funds? No one can think that sensible men, like those comprising the National Manufacturers' Association, for example, actually believe them. They must know these things aren't true. What are they really afraid of? One might add, where is their sense of humor? ----- Attacking Club Women FROM a different direction, but as if animated by the same interests, comes an attack on all women's organizations working for social and community betterment. Corra Harris in the July Ladies' Home Journal, tells of the "Starlings," a club in the South originally organized for self-culture, which grew into a modern woman's club, and how, under a woman president with brains, "that most disturbing of all things in a woman," it had been for ten years "a nightmare of power and progress." Its last work had been to make the city fathers turn a valuable piece of land into a park, and it did not realize that it was responsible "when thirty youths, including several girls, had been arrested, charged with crimes including arson, murder and theft." Mrs. Harris says that the club saw no connection "between the development of woman's interest in the welfare of the whole world and the astounding increase in the youthful criminal class." "Apparently," she says, "it has never yet occurred to any efficient, public-spirited club woman that if all normal youths were so carefully guarded in their own homes . . . there would be no juvenile criminals." Mrs. Harris lays the crimes of this modern world at club women's doors because "their maternal instinct is no longer sacred to their own homes and families." The problem of youthful crime is a serious one. Mrs. Harris to the contrary, it is engaging the thought of many women and women's organizations. To lay the responsibility of such crimes at the door of the thoughtful, conscientious August 8, 1925 15 Policewomen in Conference By Mina C. Van Winkle PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POLICEWOMEN [This page is furnished by the International Association of Policewomen, which is solely responsible for what appears thereon, and for no other portion of THE WOMAN CITIZEN.] THE Eleventh Annual Conference of the International Association of Policewomen as a kindred group of the big National Conference recently met in Denver, Colorado. EX-GOVERNOR WILLIAM E. SWEET in his address "The State and Human Welfare," at the big conference, stood for a principle in education which, if practiced, would result in much prevention of delinquency and crime-"vocational rehabilitation for civilians as well as for ex-soldiers." In agreement with social workers he believes the public school to be the greatest social institution and education a social process. He advocated experimentation and research with public action following immediately and an extension of the police power in public interest. MR. WILLIAM J. CANDLISH, Denver's Police Chief, a lawyer, dwelt on home influence as the most potent thing in a child's life. Judge Ben Lindsey took part in the discussion and, as always, he was on the side of the child. DELEGATES from the women's organizations of Colorado were present at all of the conference meetings. The Women's Clubs of Denver gave a luncheon for the policewomen at the Elk's Club and many leading women of the state attended, including the President of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Herbert Munroe, the State President of the W.C.T.U., Mrs. Adriana C. Hungerford, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, State Superintendent of Schools, and the kindly, motherly Mrs. W. E. Collett was toastmistress. Every speech was burdened with the thought that Denver must soon have a Woman's Bureau in the Police Department. THE CONFERENCE DELEGATES were only slightly aware of the tremendous emotional undercurrent in Colorado. The Klan controls both political parties, one branch of the legislature and both the state and city governments. To oppose the Klan, the "Constitutionalists," largely Protestant in membership, were organized. They see the Klan a super-government, destructive of the principles which are the foundation of our country and of the liberty which is the heritage of our people. Faint rumblings of this conflict were heard in the City Hall where we met, but questions relative thereto were unwelcome. AN INTERESTING FEATURE was the Joint Session with the National Probation Association. Four viewpoints for the care of difficult and delinquent children were presented: "The Attendance Officer," by Mr. Newton Hegel, Minneapolis; "The Probation Officer," by Mr. Baxter, Detroit; "The Visiting Teacher," by Miss Elizabeth McMechen, Berkeley, California, and "The Police Officer," by Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle, Washington, D. C. JUDGE HULBERT, of the Detroit Juvenile Court, was an excellent Chairman and has demonstrated that he knows how to cooperate in his Court-where policewomen clear all complaints against or on behalf of children and where all other agencies are pressed into service when their assistance will help the issue. DR. C. C. CARSTENS, of the Child Welfare League of America, at our banquet delivered an inspiring message and Dr. Ellen C. Potter, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Board of Public Welfare and a member of our International Council, pledged her help to advance the movement for more policewomen. Miss Jessie F. Binford, Secretary of the Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, member of our Advisory Committee and of the Delinquency Committee of the National Conference of Social Work, presided when Dr. Miriam Van Waters, Referee of the Los Angeles Juvenile Court, urged policewomen to fix and jealously safeguard high standards. MISS MARY BERG, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, gave an account of assistance by the "Business and Professional Women" who paid her expenses to the conference, supported her in closing the objectionable dance halls in her town, helped to secure law for control of the commercial recreation and provided a model dance hall, attractively decorated, a good orchestra and a dancing teacher. The opening ball was so well attended it netted four hundred dollars profit. MRS. E. W. HARRIS, Director of the Seattle Woman's Bureau, secured funds from the Mayor to send her associate, Mrs. M. R. Dahnken, to Denver. If policewomen could reach Mayors of cities personally, or through women's organizations, more of them would be permitted to attend gatherings which result in improved community service. MISS ELEANORE L. HUTZEL, Director of Detroit's Police Department's "Women's Division," gave a detailed account of its service. Her explanation of the handling of sex offenders by the health authorities and the policemen indicated discrimination against women in spite of the fact that male customers outnumber the women twelve to one. In most American cities men are the aggressors- street women seldom seek their own clients because the legal hazards are too great. A rational demand on the Health Department by the organized women of Detroit will, no doubt, result in equal administration of the communicable disease law. EXCELLENT ADDRESSES were made by Mrs. Mabel Rockwell, of the Chicago Police Department, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, member of our Advisory Committee; Miss Inah M. Peterson, of the Wichita Woman's Bureau; Judge George Day, of the Juvenile Court, Hartford, Connecticut, and by Dr. Mary B. Harris, our Field Executive Secretary. APPROVED RESOLUTIONS having general significance were in substance as follows: 1. To invite and urge the International Association of Police Chiefs to send delegates next year and to participate in the program. 2. To appoint a committee for the study of means of affording greater protection to boys and girls through more adequate patrolling of public parks and pleasure boats. 3. To oppose the distribution of obscene and salacious literature and to urge all policewomen to make a concerted effort to eradicate this evil. 4. To recommend that a National Bureau of Missing Persons be established in the Department of Justice. 5. After reviewing the film "Lilies of the Streets" it was unanimously condemned and the Secretary was instructed to notify the Police Department and the Women's Clubs of New York City that the film is a libel on good police procedure, police detention, the courts of the city of New York and upon the generally accepted preventive-protective service of policewomen. 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