WOMEN: Castles & Soap

Mrs. Hiram Cole Houghton of Red Oak, Iowa, president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, stepped up last week to say something about the girls. She told a meeting in Philadelphia: “We bear a greater responsibility than ever before for the preservation of our American way of life, because, first, there are so many of us; second, we live longer than men; third, we have 92 labor-saving devices to give us more leisure time to think about the affairs, events and problems of our times. We spend about 85¢ out of every dollar going for consumer goods (and we suggest what men should do with the remaining 15¢). We own most of the factories, stores, utilities and ‘natural resources’ … As voters, women now have a clear national majority of the franchise . . . Women are . . . principally responsible for the education of the young of both sexes . . . Women inspire men to do those things which they would not do for themselves alone. I submit that men do not build houses or castles or beautiful churches or diesel trains, or even make soap, for themselves. They do it for, or because of, women.” As a result of all this, said Mrs. Houghton, “women were never so important as in the year 1951.”