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Show 249 I have been interested in the addresses of the Peace Congress in that I have heard so few references to woman's part in war, but surely it is on us comes the burden. Think of the Civil "far! It took away the best men in the United States. The man of the ideal perished in the Civil \Var. That is true both North and South, that the man of the ideal, the man on whom we depend for our poetry and our art and our literature and our humanity, died in that great struggle between brothers. Go to any of the great national cemeteries and think what it means to the women of that generation. Think what it means in memory SIXTH SESSION WOMAN'S WORK FOR PEACE Tuesday Afternoon, May 4, l:30 o‘clock CHICAGO WOMAN'S CLUB MRS. ELLEN M. HENROTIN, Presiding to us today, "Mil" "'W " North and South, East and \Vest, we all can recall Mas, ITICNROTINZ LADIES: 1 am sure it is a great pleasure to see so many here. I believe I am a little late, but I was detained at a luncheon given to Mrs l‘hilip N. Moore, president of the General l'ederation of \\'onten‘s Clubs Mrs. Moore is making them a very interestingr address and therefore she and Mrs. Mead and Miss Addams will be a little late. Meanwhile l am goingr to speak a little about the progress of the peace movement and what 1 think it means to women. Not but that 1 think it means as u ell an immense amount to men, but I think it means more to women in this way, that it means the same thiner to every woman born into the world. No matter what her race. or what her country, or what her relatives, or anything else, are. peace means blessing to her. It means comfort in a nay. I think we women of the twentieth century can hardly realize what it mean- to l1\ to live in a period of comparative peace. \khen‘ you think of the lives of the women under the great hapriimn ( l must 0 nit \\ that l always in spite of my principles had : r-ntr.l.in;: hintimw fur Napuleonil think he strikes the the man of the ideal who perished in that great conflict. I am sure, too, that the Civil War had an immense influence on the economic and industrial condition of women. 50 many men died, so many heads of families, so many young)r husbands, and so many young husbands to be, that it left the women where they must support themselves, and aided that intlux of women into the competitive industrial life. And, again, the man who died in the war was usually the picked man, because war always wants your best. War does not want your undersized son, but wants your biggest and strongest and cleverest son, who has the best physique, and therefore, of course, more or less the best mental powers That is what war wants. It is not contented with the refuse of civilization; it wants the best you and I can give. Therefore the Civil \V'ar left an immense number of women and children dependent on their own exertions. It was a much greater factor in the entrance of women into the commercial and industrial life of this country than I think we realize unless we ltlitltjiltltlititl \xith a wirtain 1.1‘ matir t‘lCItK‘llllilJUt when you thn.k «it the li\'t~ tlint the \\tiltlt‘ll lwl under his reign, then you lttl. l mu sun. \tha'. tl i- to us to live in a period of compar- less will they consent to bear sons for cannons' mouths. (Ap- plause.) Certainly it is not in the statistics, but what is the meaning of the decreasing birth rate among the women of France? It means they are becomin;r too intelligent; they have been through the mill, Don't they read the story in the Napo- leonic wars? Of course they do. and are they going to pour out sons to die in that way? No, they will not do it. Germany is catching: on, as you may say, and more and more as the German atiw pram: 'lihe hit-hf l‘l nun in Trance tleCt‘t‘Zhetl several inelie». lllt uni) I'L‘lfllil'tlflt‘ll‘i the age down to fifteen. of y itr httle s: in til tiitmn going: into the army! Think liorti‘ thou, sand met. alone tari-hm in the mind Ruwian ea'npaiqir in one battle. And \\hi‘.<‘ we think of the agony of (hi li\inu. . we can hardly imagine - go back and think about it. Then there is another very interesting point, I think, and that is the birth rate. The more intelligent women become, the |