The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-07-30
THE WoMEN'S CONFERENCE.
PHASES or THE RECENT MIC GATH
ERgxG IN LONDON.
C0unetl Dia Very Little and Yes
Accomplished . Great Deal
Florenee HaywarGs CritSeism.

~ roRENcE HAYWARD. the
e.: ' e: e: e: ); 6; !:
LONDON. July A-The inter-
national conference u women dia one
wise thing. Il ala no. hamper Itself by
calling itself a peace congress II it had
the probabilities are that its delegates
would cave .ndnigei in the sort OF dis
cstsslons that. from all can hear. add 20
the unconscious hunor Of The gathering
cf beiligerensly peaceful gentlemen AT The
Hague
As IL Is. the wonen's gathering PRO-
gressed more smoothly than most people
expected. though. 10 be quite frank. there
we're some episodes thai saved the days
from menotonous anna ability. AT one Of
the meetings n Titled chairwoman vacated
the chair in the midst OF the session. be-
cause the discussion was not beng car
ried ous on the lines which she thought
advisable. and her wellknown opinions
on the subject were not. she thought be-
Ing sufficiently considered aud deferred TO-
Now a chairman OF the male persuasion
handicaps himself with the idea that a
chairman sinks his individuality In his
office, and his personal opinions in his
3mpersonal discharge Of the duties OF the
moment. To the merely male mind a
chairman is a sort of orchestral director
who impersonaiiy conducts a motive pow
er. which. without personal motive APP
Plies the poser 10 keep the machine a.
going. The mind feminine can not. or else
does no', or a; any rate will not regard
anything whatsoever from the non-intf-
vidual point Of view. For us the lnper-
sonai does not exist. and this defect-or
faculty, II You choose TO call IL so--is at
the same moment our hane and our safe
guard Some OF US regard it our bane
In that IL prevents las from becoming
really masculine the rest of us look on
IL as our safeguard in that IL keeps us
undeniah.y feminine. Lady Mary wortley
Montagu to the contrary Notwithstanding
There are only two sexes, and l for one,
am glad of 1t. l do not say that we
women are either superior to you men.
or inferior; l say We are different. Selah.
Amen So mote Ii be.
Next 10 the chairwoman who pu, the
accent on the woman instead OF the chair
the most entertaining personess was a
feminine who described herself as an
Afro-American professor of esocution /
DID not quite make out whether the Afro
American part of the phrase was an apoI-
ogy or boast. but there was no, much
doubt as To the estimate that the lady
placed upon herself as a teacher of ths,
art which seem sto accomplish the most In
the way OF making It's professors entirely
pleased with themselves. For at a session
or the dramatic section. and after a dis
eussien participated In by undoubted and
shining lights OF the stage the Afro
Ameraeaness gave Ii as her candid opin-
ion that none of the speakers at the in
;erna;ional congress OF women knew how
10 speak. She said. however, that she
could teach them. and would and then
and there proceeded 10 distribute her
| handbills. Thus came we again to the
eternal personal.
From journalistic point OF view the
most characteristic of the happenings was
the position taken as TO the newspaper
people present. All who were not dele
gates-and most OF them were not-bought
and paid for their tickets OF admission
Now, the journalistic mind becomes so
ifnbued. not to say tainted. with the idea
and habit of free admission that wnen
the knights and ladies of the pen found
themselves actually buying tickets like
other folks they arrogated to themselves
the ways Of other folks. and just sat
there and listened for minutes at time
without putting a word on paper As
matter OF detail. there was no paper to
put word on. nor any pencil to do IL
with, but this is outside the main story
Well. when IL was discovered that the
journalists were sitting there doing moth
! Ing. like the rest Of the audience. they
were nightly taken tn task and some OF
them dlt not better the situation by ex-
plaining that the moment anything was
said of importance II would certainly be
set down. II was Of no use to try and
explain that short OF publishing a Sunday
edition every day in the week. no paper
could give a fun account Of all and every
thing that WAS being said at each OF the
i've halls where meetings We're going on
simultaneously. The Congressional Rec
ord itself would have had nervous pros
-
not convince those eloquent ladies of that.
or that there was one or two other things
going on In other places IN the world
which the general public might like 20
hear about from day To DAY. The only
woman who really solved the question
was the correspondent OF an American
paper, who tore up her press ticket which
cost shiljIngs and s pence and bought
an ordinary ticket for and 6. and thus
At an outlay az something less than 81
bought the legal and moral right 10 ait in
the seats ri the mighty few who attend
ed as entirely disluterssted spectators
Once, but once only, ] believe, did the
perSonalsm of the sselegateS take n really
siisagreeable form II was when some one
from oar own suffFage-ridfen country I'M
dsrfook 10 give the reasons against the
extension ~ the suffrage 80 women. She
was interrupted and ordered stopped by
ers quite forgetting that the main object
~ the conference was the comparing and
discussing IF views on various subjects
ard the fact that thoAe views could not
be compared discussed until they s7es .
stated. For the moment az least they fof
got or ignored the Inherent difference be-
tween conference and a convention. and
& was only when the chairwonan remind
81 them w.th force cf speech and firrsnese
ef manner taat the delegate from the
land * the too-fTee tas regards self gov
ernrnsntl was permitted IN finish her re-
marks
Beiuv a strictly practical and unitarian
so~r % person. I have yertlsrei 20 wonder
sust what The Industrial Conference ~
Women has amounted to- what r. has ar
earnu1fehed r. may seem contradiction
- say tlsss white II has not definitely a.
cnynpIishetf ANYTHING. e has amounted 70
= great deal In the nature ~ tts c.rgarst-
cation II could rot accomplish anything
~ he very simple reason that IL had no
authority Ike she mems peace confer
ence as Tho Nsr1ge nothing thar she dele