The Part Taken by Women in American History/The Woman's National Rivers and Harbors Congress
The Woman's National Rivers and Harbors Congress.
By Mary M. North.
The Woman's National Rivers and Harbors Congress is as truly a patriotic organization as any that exists, for it is built upon the never-dying principle of love of country. The organization came into existence through the efforts of a few women in Shreveport, Louisiana, June 29, 1908. Three women of that city were made officers, Mrs. Hoyle Tomkies, president; Mrs. Frances Shuttleworth, recording secretary, and Mrs. A. B. Avery, corresponding secretary. The object of the organization, which works hand in hand with that of The National Rivers and Harbors Congress, fostered by the leading men of the nation, is to secure for our posterity the conservation of all our natural resources, and in particular to preserve and develop two of the greatest, waterways and forests, for it has been said by an eminent scientist, "no forests, no rivers."
The number of members at the time of organization was seven, and in about a year there was enrolled through individual and club membership, more than twenty-two thousand, and this because the object of the association is so vital. At the first convention held in Washington, D. C., which had a fine representation, The National Rivers and Harbors Congress' Bill was endorsed, which called for an annual appropriation from Congress of fifty million dollars for ten years for waterway improvement, instead of a wasteful policy of appropriating small sums biennially for this purpose. The Woman's National Rivers and Harbors Congress is having conservation taught in the public schools.
At the meeting held last December, in Washington, D. C., the following officers were elected to serve two years: President, Mrs. A. Barton Miller, Charleston, S. C.; First Vice-President, Mrs. Herbert Knox Smith, Washington, D. C.; Second Vice-President, Mrs. F. H. Newell, Washington, D. C.; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Elmer G. Laurence, Cincinnati, Ohio; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Mary M. North, Snow Hill, Maryland; Treasurer, Mrs. William Brison, Muscogee, Oklahoma; Auditor, Mrs. H. R. Whiteside, Louisville, Ky.; Vice-Presidents-at-large, Mrs. Hoyle Tomkies, Shreveport, La.; Mrs. E. A. Housman, Brookfield Center, Conn.; Mrs. de B. Randolph Keim, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Alabama :
Mrs. J. W. Hunter,
619 Lauderdale St., Selma.
Arkansas :
Mrs. Marshall H. Patterson,
Augusta.
California :
Mrs. Lovell White,
2245 Sacramento St., San Francisco.
Colorado :
Mrs. D. W. Collins, Pueblo.
Delaware :
Mrs. Geo. W. Marshall, Milford.
Hawaii :
Mrs. B. J. Dillingham,
Honolulu.
Idaho :
Mrs. E. C. Atwood, Hailey.
Illinois :
Mrs. Fred Bowes,
1542 Adams St., West, Chicago.
Indiana:
Mrs. Virginia Sharpe-Patterson,
505 E. Mulberry St., Kokomo.
Kentucky :
Miss Mary Lafon,
1337 Fourth St., Louisville.
Maine :
Mrs. Joseph M. Strout,
83 Pleasant Ave., Portland.
Maryland :
Mrs. Emma D. Crockett,
Pocomoke City.
Massachusetts :
Mrs. Theodore C. Bates,
29 Harvard, Worcester.
Missouri :
Mrs. John H. Curran,
816 Wright Building, St. Louis.
New Jersey :
Mrs. J. E. Sudderley,
11 Columbia Ave., Arlington.
New Hampshire :
Mrs. J. H. Dearborn,
Suncock.
New York:
Mrs. William dimming Story,
119 E. 19th St., New York City.
North Dakota:
Mrs. J. J. Robson,
Langdon.
North Carolina:
Mrs. E. J. Hale,
Fayetteville.
Oklahoma :
Mrs. Lilah D. Lindsay,
Tulsa.
Oregon :
Mrs. Robert Lutke,
301 N. 24th St., Portland.
Ohio:
Mrs. J. F. Ellison,
2327 Ashland Ave., Cincinnati.
Pennsylvania :
Mrs. Thomas M. Rees,
225 Negley Ave., Pittsburgh.
Rhode Island:
Mrs. Richard Jackson Barker,
The Outlook, Tiverton.
South Carolina :
Mrs. Reid Whitford,
164 Rutledge St., Charleston.
South Dakota:
Miss Marjorie M. Breeden,
910 Euclid St., Pierre.
Tennessee :
Mrs. Eugene Crutcher,
817 Lischey Ave., Nashville.
Texas :
Mrs. J. W. Dosemus,
Bryan.
Virginia:
Miss Katharine Stuart,
719 King St., Alexandria.
Washington :
Mrs. Charles B. Dunning,
1238 South Wall Street, Spokane.
West Virginia:
Mrs. Guy R. C. Allen,
Wheeling.
"The organization has for its object the development of the meritorious waterways and harbors, the preservation of the forests, and the conservation of all the natural resources of the nation. It stands for the establishment by the Federal Government of a definite waterway policy for the improvement of all approved rivers and harbors of the entire country, also for the adoption of such a policy as will secure not only forest reserves, but general forest development."
The slogan is "Together for Permanent National Welfare."