New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-13
WOMEN IN POLITICS.
OCTAVE THANET ON THE PICTURESQUE
GROUP OF WESTERN WORKERS.

THE RECENT RISE TO FAME OF MRS. FOSTER.
MRS LEASE. MRS COUGAR AND MRS. DIGGs.
1t was to be expected in an age that shows US
the woman lawyer and woman doctor. and Mrs'
Hetty Green. the woman Of business we should
have the woman politician. And she Is mere
Not as she has been here since Margaret Win
throp strengthened the heart of the FAMOUS
John. her husband. as the power behind the
throne. but as the power On the hustings anu
outside the polling booth. In short. palpaple
force not an invisible influe The woman
politician appeals directly to the voter. That Is
the typical woman politician she who has come
out in the open; Of course there are many OF
the old kind who help their husbands or their
country in a quieter way. The new woman
politician knows the thrill of cheers and has
felt the sweet delirium Of the orator when ne
beholds the spark in his. own soul kinding IN
the eyes upturned 70 him.
She has felt Also the tremendous fascination
of politics Every man politician knows IT, ad-
mits It, in spite of the periods OF moral revolt
and nausea when he is going about among Ms
friends swearing that he Is done with pohtics
forever. 1t is not in the rewards 'althousn
what game doesn't get an added excitement
from the big stakesD. il Is in the perilous oe-
light Of manipulating men and changing the
destinies of a nation. And the temperament OF
women makes such delight more perilous and
more intense.
A picturesque group of women have arisen in
the West Their personality is attractive
to a social student; but the reasons for their
coming on the stage are of deeper and more
vivid interest.
The most prominent Of Western women poll
tlcians Mrs Foster Mrs. Lease. Mrs Cougar
ri.-a
for wOman) are all of comparatively recent
fame unless it be Mrs. Foster. But Mrs. Foster
is the most conservative of them all. and won
her spurs a temperance worker, not as a
politician. drifting gradually into politics. She
is not only an eloquent speaker but very
adroit politician and an expert organizer. To
the eye she is a woman OF fine presence. with
winning manner To the ear she depends as
much on the souniness of her logic on the
persuasion of her appeals. In fact. judging from
her written speeches, Mrs. Foster would be
likely TO say to audience gently. modestly'
Come. now. let us reason together"
Mrs. Lease would exclaim with fiery wave
Of her long arms: Let me tell you what the
boodsucking tyrants Of monopoly have done to
us" and Mrs Cougar would brush a tear from
her fine eyes and beg the sympathizing audi
ence TO listen TO her tale Of woe. Mrs. Digs,
the other member Of the POpulist trio, is young
err a fiery little woman who sings her orator.
cal tomahawk as readily at cvil-dcers within
the Populists ranks as at the hosts Of sin with
out She is at present busy trying chase
the antelope otherwise His Excellency. Gov
ernor Lewelling) over the plain-and off the
ticket for the sake of the dear cause that we
all have at heart" She is said to equal Mrs.
Lease in impassioned arragnment and to be as
melodious and pathetic Mrs. Gougar-but
Mrs Cougars admirers dispute the latter claim.
Who had heard Of either Of these prOphetesses.
however five years ag)? Mrs Lease. it is true,
has been calling sinners to repentance and &C
cusing the present social order for longer than
five years Was it ten years ago that the I'M
known Kansas woman almost threw the w c.
r L. into Mysteries IN the staidest city Of the
United States? Even the printed reports OF
that meeting oxhilarating. Miss WIZARDS
tact. which is as oil upon the stormy waters
Of controversy. stilling them by magic, simply
melted and was gone under the flaming acids
Of the Kansas womans tongue Parliamentary
rules. which the sisters had sat up nights to
learn and toward which they showed the touch
ing reverence Of their sex. were elbowed aside
by the free lance from the West. She had come
2OO) miles to say the thoughts seething in her
fed from the hall: most Of them openly dlsap-
proved None the less she worked her will on
them. and did that which she came to do 1t
NAV be that it was a triumph, 1t certainly was
an advertisement.
Mrs. Lease stepped forth into the unique posi-
ton that she has since occupied in the public
mind: and the editors gave her right Of way in
the comic paragraphs The hand Of sympathy
was publicly extended to Mr.. Lease, and Mrs.
Lease was addressed by her Christian name;
she became a stock subject for joval saes
like a mother-in-law or the husband who comes
home late and tries to walk upstairs on his
head or the negro who steals chickens, or the
Bowery Hebrew.
II was a pillory that would have been a
crueller fate than death to many omen. One
may wonder how she who was good woman,
a modest woman. perhaps at that time sens-
tive woman took the pelting Of jeers and laugh
ter No word has been said against her
private character; Mr.. Lease appears TO be con-
tent with her a wife and a mother-and,
after all he is really the one who should know
best-yet the most notorious adventures would
hardly be treated with less respect.
II is impossible that 1t has not hurt hurt
atrociously l believe. let her carry il haughtily
as she may. that 1t hurts still To me. Mrs.
Lease is pathetic figure in that Philadelphia
convention. The public sympathy-that is, the
public feminine sympathy-weled up for Miss
willard Every ore saying, "Oh. poor Miss
willard" But Miss Frances Willard is quite
capable of taking Of herself She is as
little Of a helpless political chicken as David
| Bennett Hill And she knew all the time that
she had the sympathy Of her audience But
the audacious woman that shocked them-she
stood alor = l think Of how for months. prob
ably. she had saved dollar here and dime
there in woman's pathetic fashion 0or the
| Leases were poor and her husband had very
| likely added his small self-denas to hers
| in order that she might make that long jour
| ney think how great an event II was IN their
lives how the children talked about 1t, and the