The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-05

1t has become almost a confirmed
habit with the press-especiaIly in New
York-to make fun of women in con-
vention There is nothing that men
like better than to read funny things
about wOmen's meetings; if they are
not true they know they should be-
And to a certain extent women in con-
Vention are apt to be inconsistent and
rather funny. The writer had the OPP
portunity of going straight from the
continental congress of the D. A. r. in
Washington to the United States con-
gress in session and comparing the
two. The woman's congress was rather
noisy and confusion reigned supreme at
times, but the United States congress
was unspeakable. The speaker, Mr.,
Cannon, raped for order, to which no.
BODY paid the slightest attention, then
he sat down apparently wrapped in OBJ
lVlon, and the clerk drOned away in a
ioud voice, but not loud enough to
drown the noise and confusion Most
or the members were reading the morn
1ng papers, many chairs were vacant,
ana when a man made a speech he
may have enjoyed it himself, but no
one knew what he was talking about
/ was aghast at this remarkable state
OF affairs and voiced my establishment
TO the members wife who took me to
the capitol. She replied that every
stranger felt just as l did, but her hus-
band had explained to her that the
reason of the apparent indifference was
that the proceedings of the previous
day are in print and on each members
desk when he reaches there in the
morning, and the programme is made
out every day and each one knows ex-
mo H.
attention to anything unless it is some
thing he is interested IN. 1 went back
10 the Woman'S congress with the firm
belief that it was model of peace and
order. The women do a great deal of
talking at once and the president has
to pound the table vigorously which,
after all, does not do a great deal of
good, but when a woman really starts
IN 10 make a speech she is invited to
the platform and does not speak until
order is restored. Then she is sure to
be heard The fact that nobody is
listening did not seem to make any
difference with the speeches in the
United States congress.
Some funny things occurred in the D.
A. r. congress; for instance, one wom-
an offered an amendment to the con-
stitution as follows: mo amendment
TO the constitution shall be amended"
etc. Then she went on to say that she
had been thinking about this and had
concluded it should be amended to
read, ETC., which was doing exactly
what her amendment said should not
be done. No one saw this until later,
when it created a laugh. The dressing
OF the women at the convention and
the orders and decorations of the va
rious societies to which they belong
are very gorgeous. There was a stout
little woman from New Jersey, who
was elected state regent and sat in one
of the boxes, whose gowns kept the
convention In a constant state of eX-
element. The members simply lived
from session to session, to see what
she would wear next. Her corSag e was
covered with diamond stars in the
evening, and her hats were dreams
Somebody sent her a bunch of Ameri-
car Beauty roses taller than she was
and when she put them beside her in
the box they completely concealed her
from view. A Buffalo woman. well
known socially in that city, wore the
largest diamonds in the congress- and
one from Chicago and another from
indianapolis fairly bIazed with Jewels
The Daughters were received one day
by President and Mrs. Roosevelt and
the former showed his teeth as each
woman came up and murmured De
lighted which is about the only thing
he ever says at public receptions Last
year the Daughters were much dis
pleased because Mrs. Roosevelt would
not receive them, but this being the
eve of a political campaign, it was
supposed she was advised to appear.
One Daughter-who would die of JOY
If she knew the papers called her girl
"a funny little spinster from New Jer-
sey, took the president to task for not
appearing at the great laying of the
corner stone the day before, and was
much criticised for her action by every
one concerned.
On the whole, however, the United
States congressman might take lessons
from the wOman's convention. 1t is a
great shock to ones ideas of the fitness
OF things to discover that all the bust
ness of a great government is done by
men who pay no attention to the pro-
ceedlngs and do not appear to vote in
telllgently on any subject save for
some bill that materially affects them.