Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-02
MISS ANTHONY'S BACHELORS
Her Suggestion Of Name for Elderly
Unmarried Women.
High Priestess of the SuGragists Dis
cusses the SituatiOn-The Petf-
lions to Congress.

| Miss Antflony-"Aunt Susan'-was saying
| this morning when The Star reporter was
| shown into the MISUNDERSTANDING sane
| tum of the high priestess of suffrage. A
| lady who was calling had just remarked
| that some elderly single women of her ac-
| quaintance objected to being called old
| maids: that they abhorred the term maid
| en- lady" and scoffed at the title ''spinster.'
| Now. what shall call them" she asked,
| plaintively.
! We'll. now, 1 am not sensitive on the
| subject replied Aunt Susan. but you
| might call US bachelor girls and let it go
| at that And then she laughed like
| maid of eighteen. instead of an octogena-
| rian. on the eve of her eightieth birthday
anniversary.
The secret Of my vigor?" she repeated
| after one who queried to the fountain
| at which she had drank eternal youth
| There is no secret, my dear. Live close to
nature, have faith in humankind. be tenn
perate in all things. have purpose in life,
and hold yourself to its achievement.
Sixty years of trial OF these ought to
make one pretty sure of their efficacy. for
Miss Anthony is simply eighty years
young" and she was but twenty when she
began to build up her faith in humankind.
Some Strong Petitions.
Congress may or may not be quaking as
it looks forward to the hearing which it
.
suffrage girls but certain it is that some
thing is going to drop. Miss Anthony has
some of the strongest petitions that were
ever presented to Congress She has cords
of them-not gathered at random, but petit
tons from workfngmen in conventions
sembled, from trades unions. from every
source imaginable, representing over O.O0O
voters. asking for the enfranchsement of
women.
"Once I fought for these things, begged
for them, laboriously gathered them
name at a time. Now they come. in very
many instances, unasked.' said Miss An
thOny. "Oh, the cause of women is grow
ing, and it will yet crush out all opposition.
What / want now is that our new possess
sions should come to US right. the ballot
in the hand of men and women alike.
There are so many men in Congress who
are concerned just now about our wrestling
territory from certain people whom We de-
sire to govern without their consent. Now,
| want to find out how deep this feeling lies
in the hearts of these Mortified and con-
science-stricken members of Congress who
harp upon the powers derived from the
consent of the governed If Aguinaldo is
being mistreated and the birthright of his
people taken away from them, what has
been done to me and my sisters for 10 these
many years. who form a good half of
the civiiZat ton of this continent? We have
never consented to be governed, nor has
our consent ever been asked
Are you an expansionSt?'
Il am neither pro anti, was the
quick response to this query. Il am for
all that enlightens and uplifts. Expansion
is a settled fact. My concern now is for
the women of Hawaii and of the Philip
pines. The men who will most largely go
TO those islands for many years will be
fortune hunters and adventures, who seek
wealth. These men will not be good law
makers, for they do not know what good
law is. Yet they will go to make up the
civilization. and will make the laws in
those new lands of ours.
Fair Show for Women.
Here is the chance to give women a
fair show. Let them help to make the
laws; give them the ballot, and my word
for it. they will give a good account of
themselves. They have better right to
the ballot. for they will be more interested
in good clean government and the protec-
ton of their homes. Governments derive
their just powers from the consent of the
governed say these senators and represen-
tatives in Congress, and then weep and
vail the woes of people who, per-
haps. do not know what government
means. Charity begins at home Give the
women of your own land the freedom you
would thrust upon the ignorant, half-civil-
lied men of other lands. and then extend
these liberty conserving rights to men and
women alike in our new possessions. Tn
til the women Of this land given the
franchise consent of the governed is a
mere catch phrase"
Miss Anthony looks for of the most
important meetings of the fifty years of
the suffrage movement She sees light
ahead and thinks there is much to inspire
the faithful in the great advance that the
woman's cause has made in the half CEN
fury just closing. During the last summer
Miss Anthony spent some weeks in Eng
land, where she attended the international
council of women, presided over by COun-
tess Aberdeen, and she was deeply i'm
pressed with the strides that suffrage has
made in the more conservative foreign
countries There were Representatives from
ten nations in that great body of women,
and in all these countries women have
gained partial suffrage, with full franchise
in three. all since 1870. This Miss An
thony and Countess Aberdeen both believe,
is the outgrowth of the seed sown by the
earnest. active women of the American Ma
tional Woman Suffrage Association
Miss AnthOny's Retirement.
The chief interest of the convention this
year centers in the retirement of Miss An
thOny from the presidency. She will be
eighty years old February Is, and she feels
that younger women should now direct at
fairs. Miss Anthony will direct all her en-
ergies now to the securing of a large en-
dowment fund for the national organiza-
ton. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait, it is
thought, will be the choice for president.
The meetings will be held in the Church
of Our Father, corner of 18th and streets,
beginning February and lasting till the
14th. They will be public. as usual.