Anna Agnes Maley, First Woman to Run for Washington Governor, 1912
Random News from the Newspapers on Microfilm Collection: Anna Agnes Maley, First Woman to Run for Washington Governor, 1912
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From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:
The microfilm reel found at random this week contained The Clayton News-Letter, a publication that served the Stevens County community of Clayton for a little over a year, 1912-1913. The town was so named in recognition of the rich clay deposits in the area, a source for their main industries of brick and sewer pipes. Clayton had a large Italian American population of craftsmen, producing the well known Northwest artist Leno Prestini (1906-1963). By no means a propaganda sheet, The Clayton News-Letter included a regular column devoted to socialism tucked between the advertisements, local gossip, and hard news. This was prior to World War I and the subsequent Red Scare. In the issue for August 15, 1912, the column featured coverage of a lecture by one of Washington State's most overlooked political figures, Anna Agnes Maley. It is interesting her run for Washington State Governor is not mentioned:SOCIALISTS' COLUMN
Socialist Lecture a Success
"Miss Anna A. Maley spoke to a good-sized audience of appreciative and attentive listeners at the school house on the evening of Aug. 7."
"Miss Maley has a very pleasing personality, earnest manner and clear delivery, and sets forth her subject in such a plain, convincing manner that none could avoid understanding her." "Not one of her hearers left the house without understanding what Socialism meant, if he did not know before. The general verdict was that her lecture was a good one; that she showed remarkable keenness and perception and a deep knowledge of the subject under discussion, and had a clever way of clinching an argument and proving every assertion made." "Among other things Miss Maley spoke of the much-abused word 'prosperity.' She said that the capitalists gauge prosperity by the amount of profits they rake in and the number of markets they can control; that the Socialists judge of prosperity by the amount of the products of their labor which the workers can succeed in realizing, claiming that ALL the products of their toil rightfully belong to them." "She spoke about the present socialization of the schools, post offices, fire departments, public roads, etc., and said that we have yet a step further to go and socialize the industries; for she argued that if the schools, which grind out food for the brain, are publicly owned, why should not flour mills and other factories, which grind out food for the body, also be so owned?" "She argued that every one is a Socialist by nature, but only a few had found it out." "She said the average farmer thinks he is independent on his own farm, whereas, in reality, he is as bad off as the wage slave in a factory, and is taxed on every hand-- indirectly, perhaps, without his realizing it-- through the capitalist profit system; for the capitalists use him for a tool and get him both coming and going, both in buying and selling." Notice to Socialists
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