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ITH the present demands on the time of the women of

this country in following the calls of society and fashion it is encouraging to find some. who are more interested in bettering the conditions surrounding those below them in the social scale, who are obliged by

circumstances or fate to work for their daily existence.

Those noble women are numerous in that sterling organization, the National Consumers' League, and in the State and city branches of that society throughout the country.

Organized for the purpose of securing the betterment of working conditions surrounding the laboring class, the league appeals to those who have the most influence, the consumers, to educate them in every possible way to the responsibility they bear in the matter by making their demand upon the manufacturers. That they have been successful in this work can readily be seen by the respect employers of large numbers of help have for the society. The following extract from the constitution of the National

tion of consumers ;therefore, the National Consumers' League also proposes to educate public opinion and to endeavor so to direct its force as to promote better conditions among the workers, while securing to the consumer exemption from the dangers attending unwholesome conditions. It further proposes to promote legislation, either State or Federal, whenever it may appear expedient. The National Consumers' League further recognizes and declares the following:

"That the interests of the community demand that all workers shall receive fair living wages, and that goods shall be produced under sanitary conditions.

"That the responsibility for some of the worst evils from which producers suffer rests with the consumers who seek the cheapest markets, regardless how cheapness is brought about.

"That it is, therefore, the duty of consumers to find out under what conditions the articles they purchase are produced and distributed, and insist that these conditions shall be wholesome and consistent with a respectable existence on the part of the workers."

"It shall be the special object of the National Consumers' League to secure adequate investigation of the conditions. under which goods are made, in order to enable purchasers to distinguish in favor of goods made in the well-ordered factory. The majority of employers are virtually helpless to maintain a high standard as to hours, wages and working conditions under the stress of competition, unless sustained by the co-opera

their responsibility, the members of the League saw the advantages of the same methods of procedure in the fight for pure food.

Appointed in the spring of 1905, the Food Committee of the National Consumers' League immediately labored for the passage of the Pure Food Law in Congress, which was accomplished in June, 1906, and for which the committee received high commendation from the supporters of the bill for their activity

in creating public sentiment in favor of this legislation.

The Food Committee was composed of earnest workers in this movement throughout the country, and at its head as national chairman was Miss Alice Lakey, of Cranford, N J., also chairman of the New Jersey State Food Committee of the Consumers' League, well

known as a tireless worker for the cause of pure food, and who has since proved her fitness for the position by the results. obtained since then.

the results of the Pure Food Bill in the Senate, and I am certain that you are pleased with the results. At this time I want to thank you for your great assistance in this matter. It still must take its chance in the House but the only danger there will be that the House will want a much more drastic measure." Dr. Harvey W. Wiley wrote March 1, 1906

"It certainly was a great victory. It was grand, encouraging, and far beyond our most sanguine expectations.

You

MRS. FREDERICK NATHAN, President Consumers' League of the City of New York.

Senator Heyburn wrote February 23, 1906, to Miss Lakey:

"You and your colleagues have assisted materially in creating public sentiment in favor of this legislation and I hope you will not spare your efforts until the Bill has passed the House."

Senator McCumber wrote February 23, 1906:

"By this time you are well aware of

it is the victory of the women of this country, whose influence was felt as irresistible, so I congratulate you and your associates on the work they have done."

Realizing the necessity of co-operation, the committee immediately secured the assistance of the Food Commissioner and prominent chemists in the different States as an Advisory Board, from whom they could get valuable information concerning their work. As stated by the committee at that time: "The effort of the committee will be to bring food officials and consumers in touch with each other, thus by a process of education to hasten the day when honest food, honestly labeled and produced and sold under conditions in accordance with the principles of the League, will be within reach of every housekeeper."

Miss Lakey has devoted her whole. time to this work,and by speeches among the women's clubs and before meetings of the food commissioners and by various interesting articles in prominent newspapers and magazines has aroused in the consumer an interest in this agitation that cannot fail of results.

In an article in the Outlook recently Miss Lakey writes:

"One of the most important results of the Pure Food Law is the awakening of many consumers to their responsibilities as buyers of food products. They

are studying labels and buying foods accordingly. With an intelligent consuming public to purchase goods, the Pure Food Law will in time accomplish its full purpose."

As recently as June, this year, Miss Lakey, while in New Hampshire resting from her arduous duties of the past year, published an article under the title, "The Pure Food Crisis," in which she appeals for President Taft's refusal to sign the Bowers decision in the noted controversy as to "What is Whiskey," and points out that the adoption of that decision will overthrow all the good work that the Pure Food Law has accomplished. In addition the committee has published and distributed judiciously many pamphlets and addresses on this subject which have taught the women of the country that they are responsible for conditions, and it only remains for them to read the labels and accept the output of only those manufacturers who prepare absolutely pure goods to prove to the producers the folly of trying to force on the public goods containing preservatives.

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The Consumers' League of York City has done wonderful work in the betterment of conditions for the working class, and in their campaign for pure food they have made great progress. With becoming modesty the chairman of the City Food Committee, Mrs. William G. Shailer, tries to evade any responsibility for their success in this line, and insists on bestowing upon her noble committee the credit for the great good accomplished.

No better outline of their work can be presented than the following extract from the report of the Committee on Food Investigation at the last annual meeting:

"A year's work of investigation by this committee has emphasized the belief that there is urgent need for a vigorous campaign of education to awaken individual responsibility, to demand cleaner

conditions and greater care in the handling and sale of food. Of all the subjects which present themselves for investigation in the matter of pure food, we believe we begin in the right way when we appeal to the consumer to ask for cleanliness and purity, and to the shopkeeper to give the same. We have asked the Health Commissioner for more rigid inspection of stores and greater enforcement of the sanitary code relating to exposure of food on side-walks, street corners and open push-carts.

"In order to bring personal influence to bear upon store keepers who display food on side-walks, a systematic investigation has been begun, each member of the committee taking a district comprising a mile or more on the avenue nearest her home. Fifteen or more localities are now under inspection, the aim being to interest the more prosperous shopkeepers to set an example for cleanliness which keepers of smaller stores may be willing to emulate. They are asked to use their show windows for fresh goods which are not likely to be carefully washed or cooked, and relegate the canned and boxed goods to the sidewalks. In some cases they have complied, and have shown a willingness to work with us. The secretary of the Retail Grocers' Association, has promised us his cordial co-operation.

"The members of the Consumers' League group at the Hebrew Technical School are making an effort to improve conditions in their own neighborhoods in the lower east-side and are carrying on a systematic crusade against dirty shops. They are eager to bring about a sentiment against the push-cart and to educate their own families as well as the storekeepers. Our leaflet Sanitary Maxims and our circular letter, particularly directed to storekeepers, which quotes the sanitary codes relating to care of food, have been used in these neighborhoods.

"The supervisor of cooking in the public schools, Mrs. Williams, has helped the committee in this effort by requesting her teachers to give our literature to their pupils and urge them to join the ranks of the school leagues. To have the co-operation of all the teachers of domestic science is a step forward.

"The sub-committee on milk reports improved conditions in the milk question

MISS ALICE LAKEY, Chairman National Consumers' League Food Committee..

and evidence of a more general awakening to the danger of impure and unclean milk. Housekeepers have been frequently urged to return clean bottles to the milkman. Complaints of finding sediment in milk sold in Brooklyn have been investigated and sent to the proper authorities for investigation.

"The leaflet Sanitary Maxims' has been received with hearty approval by all who have read it, from Dr. Wiley who at once declared it should be put into the hand of every school child, to

the tenement dweller who returns for more to give to her relative or neighbor. It has been endorsed by teachers and professors and by health officials; it has been published in State Health Bulletins, Agricultural College Journals, other official organs and regular press sources -50,000 of these leaflets have been distributed to settlements, church societies, mothers' clubs, teachers of cooking and other workers. It has been translated into Italian, Yiddish and French, and published in the Bulletin of the French League which was distributed at the International Convention of Consumers' Leagues at Geneva in September, 1908. It is an invaluable messenger to give publicity to the cause of pure and clean food. Lately it has also been put into card form with colored rural scene and calendar to hang on the wall.

"A series of five conferences, educational in purpose, has been tendered the committee by Miss Lakey, Chairman National Food Committee. Dr. Thomas Darlington and Mr. Phillips, Secretary of the Milk Committee, have also spoken at these meetings. The National Food Committee has prepared a score card similar to that used at milk farms and dairies, and this card is now offered to Health Departments for adoption.

"In the opinion of the members of this committee the time is ripe for a more general agitation for reform in behalf of greater cleanliness, especially at this time when tuberculosis exhibits have attracted such wide-spread public notice, and so much is said and written about cleanliness being the keynote to prevention of that disease. It seems an opportune moment for a wide public protest against bad tenements and dirty homes, dirty shops and factories, dirty markets. and groceries and push-carts; dust covered food and unclean venders and clerks, unsanitary laundries, dirty cars and stations, inadequate street cleaning and all other unwholesome conditions which

may be classed as 'breeders of tuberculosis and disease.'

"Shall we not try to bring pressure to bear upon those in authority to rectify some of these abuses, omitting neither the individual consumer nor the official in the capacity of each to do his part for greater cleanliness?"

In their desire to do the greatest good to the greatest number, the committee has taken up the education of the growing children, and, under the supervision of Miss Miriam Birdseye, another active member of the committee, much has been accomplished by getting the children interested in the subject and getting them to spread the gospel of pure food in their homes and neighborhood. Making each a committee of one to further the conditions desired has aroused in them an interest which is far reaching, especially on the lower east-side, where, by their mode of living, the people require more watchfulness and care than in some other sections of the city.

It has been observed and commented on that the people of the poorer class are more easily aroused in this campaign for pure food than are those of the better class, and if the latter was awakened to their duty sooner would results be shown, and the enemies of pure food from a commercial viewpoint be made to realize that they must join the majority on their own accord, and not wait until legislation forces them to cease using preservatives in their output, as it eventually will do.

The League has done noble work in this campaign, and it is to be hoped that the interest aroused among the members will spread to every housekeeper, so that