t cities.
The Associated Charities have also been responsible for the greater part of the social legislation which has placed Oregon in the front rank of the states along this line. The law providing that insane patients on their way to the asylum at Salem, shall be in charge of the trained attendants from the asylum, instead of in the hands of sheriffs or their deputies, was sponsored by the organization. The juvenile court law, the child labor law, the wife desertion law, the inter- mediate and parole law for first offenders, all owe their first inception to the group of people identified with the Associated Charities. The present officers and board of directors are as follows: President, Thos. N. Strong; vice-presi- dent, I. N. Fleischner; secretary, Wfm. R. Walpole; registrar, Mrs. MilHe R. Trumbull.
THE PORTLAND WOMEN's UNION.
Its motto: "Not what we give, but what we share."
This society does not pose as a charity, but as the friend, protector and help to working women. Every woman and girl coming to Portland in the north- west, should be informed that under the hospitable roof of this society's home they are safe, and have a protector strong enough, ready and willing to see that they are treated honorably and justly at any place they are sent to.
This society was organized on May i, 1887. It is not a charity, nor is it a business enterprise seeking to make profit. Its object and aim is to furnish a home for working girls with board, lodging, congenial society, books, music and simple entertainment at actual cost, with such surroundings as will be moral and uplifting. In all this it has proved a great success, and the ladies who organized and built it up are entitled to the highest credit. No money or profit is to be made off of any inmate, but everything is to be done to find safe and healthy work and homes, with protection while they are in the city.
The boarding house home was opened in October of the same year in the house then just vacated by the Children's Home; and purchased by the union from the Ladies' ReHef Society, for the sum of $2,000.
After repairing and furnishing, the house was opened October the first, same year, with room for twenty guests, by putting two in a room. Boarding, room, washing, with all the privileges and reasonable restraints of a cultivated home were furnished the guests, at rates varying very little from that day to this, at $3.50 to $5.25 a week, with an abundance of good food, home cooking, and well served in a large, clean comfortable dining room.
The conditions on which guests were accepted, were then, as now, self-sup- porting young women of good moral character, earning moderate wages, and without home ties in the city; although no woman, old or young, of whatever class, need or condition, was ever turned away without help, an effort always being made to put her into the position best suited for her.
Strange as it may seem, the idea of a home for women only was at first op- posed by the very people it was designed to help, for the reason, as it was as- sumed, that such a home would interfere with the liberty of young women. But all criticism and opposition speedily disappeared, as it was seen that the move- ment had the best reasons in the world to justify its existence. The boarding house was the first and most prominent feature to attract attention ; but as time passed and experience increased, it was seen that the union was affording social and educational advantages of the highest importance to the guests. And from that time down to the present, its work in promoting the welfare and happiness of all those who came under its protecting influence has not only constantly in- creased, but has been even more largely appreciated.
And from the Women's Union was developed "The Women's Exchange"; a branch of the work of the society which afforded to workers at home an oppor- tunity to sell the work of their hands for money, and thus bring in support and home comforts which could not otherwise have been reached. Commencing with a small showcase in the Hotel Portland for the display of such ne
