New York, April 4. -- Child labor in China is shocking, according to Miss Jane Addams, who spoke recently at a luncheon given in her honor by the Women's City Club in the grand ballroom of the Hotel Commodore. One thousand women rose to their feet in a body as a tribute to Miss Addams, who was called "one of the greatest citizens of the world."
Although Miss Addams spoke on Oriental women, from observations made during a recent visit to the Far East, she dwelt particularly upon child welfare. She said that in Shanghai, especially, child labor was general, and although there were Europeans on the governing board of city commissioners, there virtually was nothing done in the way of factory inspection.
She paid a tribute to the missionaries in China, standing up for the little girls in the face of keen opposition, by declaring that they would not teach the boys unless the same education were afforded the girls. She also said that the Young Woman's Christian Association was a very useful organization in the Orient.
In speaking of the emancipation of women in India, Miss Addams said that many were taking advantage of the free medical courses for women and she told of a maternity hospital at which the mother was permitted to bring her entire family during her confinement. An apartment for the family was set aside and even the mother-in-law was included in the family circle.
As to voting in India, she said that if there was a perfectly good husband at the head of the house the women of the household could not vote. She told of the numerous women's social and welfare clubs and said that they all wanted to show the rest of the world that they could carry on the Government just as successfully as the English. In Korea and Japan, Miss Addams said, the women were not talking suffrage, for they knew it was rather remote, but were working for higher education for women.
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