might contribute to their own advancement. Portland newspapers of 1893 tell of an entertainment benefit to be given at the South Mt. Tabor Schoolhouse to aid the library associations of South Mt. Tabor and Russellville. The Young Men's Library Association dramatic club of Albina announced an upcoming play entitled "Nevada: or The Lost Mine" which would be performed to benefit the free public reading room they were setting up in their neighborhood. Politics The Populist Party, which would later join forces with the Democrats to nominate William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896, was already an influencing factor in Portland politics in the early '90s. The party's numbers had grown dramatically in the months preceding the presidential election of 1892, and it nominated a full slate of candidates for the municipal election of the following June. None of the Populists won (they had elected one candidate the previous year), but the party's active presence in Portland demonstrated the interest of a substantial number of residents in such "radical" ideas as the eight-hour day for workers, the vote for women, and municipal ownership of electric utilities. Women In January, 1893, Abigail Scott Duni- way, Oregon's leading suffragette, wrote her son that she had just been to Salem to lobby for removal of the words "white male" from the Oregon constitution. Duniway was again becoming active in women's issues after a hiatus of several years. How much her efforts, and those of other suffragettes, were needed in Portland is well illustrated by an account carried in the Oregonian on July 20. The obviously amused (and obviously male) reporter tells of "three representatives of the fair sex" who insisted, despite "time-honored precedent," in participating in city council proceedings. Mary Woodcock, a businesswoman, wanted to complain about the lack of street improvements to her property. The mayor would not let her speak, and her protest that her payment of taxes to the city gave her the right was ignored. The other women, Mrs. E.M. Winnie and Mrs. Orilla Read, had slightly better luck. They were allowed to state their complaints, but the council paid them little heed. Women in Portland were not letting denial of their political rights (and sometimes their dignity) stand in the way of some remarkable personal and organizational achievements. One of the city's leading suffragettes was Dr. Mary Thompson, who, more than twenty years before, had been Portland's first woman physician. Her medical practice had been so successful that she was able to retire in 1883 and devote herself to women's rights and a host of community activities. Her example may help to explain why in 1910, when relatively few women in the United States were entering professional careers, eight percent of Portland's physicians and surgeons were female. For young women fortunate enough to have jobs in 1893, pay scales were abysmally low, but an organization called the Women's Union was a great help to those who wanted or needed to be financially independent. Formed in 1887, the Union provided women with board, lodging, books, music and entertainment at actual cost—about $3.50 to $5.25 a week. Within a few years of its founding, the Union had two successful spinoffs. The first was its night school, which began with twenty women and soon proved so popular that a demand arose that men be admitted as well. Eventually, the program was taken over and continued by the public school system. The second spinoff was the Women's Exchange, which provided a market for needlework and artwork that women could do in their own homes. This program, too, was highly successful, and eventually it operated separately from its parent organization. The Women's Union was still serving the community in 1910 when Dr. Emma J. Welty described its self-reliant operations to Portland historian Joseph Gaston: It has been the policy of the Union to appeal to the public for money as infrequently as possible. . . . The Union's money affairs have been managed by the women themselves, and have been uncommonly well managed. They meet all their expenses, have no debts, and have a good property in their name. 1933 One day in August, Oregon $tate Highway Commissioner Leslie Scott was visited in his Portland office by nine men and three women of the Unemployed Citizens League (UCL). The nation was in the depths of depression, and it had been reported a few months earlier that more than 24,000 unemployed heads of households were on the rolls of the Portland Public Employment Bureau. A new president, Franklin Roosevelt, was attempting to deal with the crisis, and federal relief moneys were being made available—including six million dollars to Commissioner Scott's office to provide jobs in highway-related projects. The men and women of the Unemployed Citizens League wanted to know Scott's plans. He bluntly informed them that most highway work would soon end. He was not interested in unemployment, only in keeping the state government out of debt. When his visitors described instances of undernourished children whose fathers were out of work, the commissioner (according to a sworn deposition later filed with the county by the UCL) became even more rude: What did you do with your money anyway when you were making big wages? You just squandered it. You are right where you deserve to be. You wouldn't have sense enough to keep it if you did have it. As heir to the substantial estate of his late father (Harvey Scott), and as part- owner of the Oregonian Publishing Company, Leslie Scott apparently had considerable difficulty empathizing with his visitors and their cash flow problems. His attitude may have been extreme, but it was not unique among Portland's established government and business leaders. Ship owners, for example, were taking the position that longshoremen should be grateful for any kind of job at all. The men along the docks were finding their wages cut drastically, and some were being forced to work shifts of more than 36 hours. Those who protested were fired. Membership in the International Longshoremen's Association was growing rapidly during 1933, and the stage was being set for the devastating waterfront strike of the following year. On the other hand, many people in a position to help were doing what they could to alleviate hardships experienced by depression victims. The newspapers of 1933 tell of charitable programs sponsored by such groups as the Progressive Business Men's Club and the Portland Federation of Women's Organizations. (The latter body highlighted extremes of wealth by sponsoring a bridge, tea and style parade at the Meier & Frank department store auditorium for the benefit of the needy!) When the 33
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