On the Decay of Municipal Representative Government.
Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth. “On the Decay of Municipal Representative Government: A Chapter of Personal Experience (wrapper title).” London: Published by the Moral Reform Union, (1885). First edition. 8vo, original printed wrappers (evidently removed from a larger nonce volume, with chipping to the wrappers along the spine and the wrappers loosening), 16 pages. Small traces of binding paper adhering to the front wrapper; some chipping to the wrappers, soiling and darkening; a good, sound copy.
The medical and social pioneer Blackwell's detailed first-person account of her fight against a Corporation Bill that enacted punitive measures against the poor and "re-enacted the obsolete regulation which regards vice as female"_"I am glad to say that the first note of serious public alarm was sounded by the Medical Profession, who, finding they were to be turned into family spies by this Bill, refused to submit." Blackwell's fight was unsuccessful and she here proposes a campaign of municipal political education: "Our modern prophets, Herbert Spencer, John Ruskin, and many another seeker for truth, must be earnestly listened to: not as gods, but as men who with human limitations, nevertheless through evil and good report, never swerve from the steadfast unselfish search for truth. ... To all women voters, to all our poorer ratepayers, I earnestly recommend the formation of a union for the study of municipal rights and duties, and I hope that my humble but earnest effort in this direction will enlist the sympathy and guidance of all those truth-seers most able to help us."
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