The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-05-15
new ONE is OUT.
Third Candidate for Federation
President Appears.
She Is Mrs. Alice Halderman
From Girard.
WHAT WILL BE EFFECT
May Help Mrs. May B. Brown of
Salina.
Mrs. Laura NJ. Johns Writes of
the Controversy.
HAT WILL BE EFFECT


president of the Kansas federatio of
Women's clubs which convenes In To-
peka Wednesday morning and which
VIII nold It's biennial election Thursday
morning The new candidate is Mrs
Alice Halderman Of Girard very well
known in Kansas club circles and one
OF the abiest women in the fedora ton
she is sister of Miss Jane Adams
of Hull House. Chicago, and like her
sister is deeply interested in philan-
TROPICAL and sociological movements
Mrs. HaIderman has served for a num-
Der Of years on the charities and con-
ference committee of the federation, of
which she is now chairman
There has been talk from the first
that the Third district Mrs. Halder-
manns district would furnish a candi-
date for president Of the federation
The Third has never had a president
and its candidate two years ago, Mrs.
Florence CoWley of Columbus, was de-
feated by Mrs. James M Lewis of
Kinsley, the present incumbent This
year, however. the friends of the Sec
ond district candidate. Mrs. Bustace II.
Brown Of Olathe have been claiming
the support of the Third district dele
gates. Soma of the Third district wo-
men have resented this, thinking the
Second, which has given the federation
a number Of state presidents. should
rather support a Third district wo-
man.
Mrs. Halderman's candidacy is an
nounced very late in the day, the other
two candidates, Mrs. Brown of Salina
and Mrs. Brown of Olathe having been
brought out week ago, and the an
nOuncement has OccaSiOned some sur
prise. Mrs. Eustace Brown of Olathe
has hitherto been regarded as the adj
ministration candidate since it has
been been stated that she would carry
out the policy Of Mrs Lewis But it
might naturally be supposed that Mrs.
Lewis would favor the candidacy of
Mrs. Halderman as the latter has held
one Of the most important chairman
ships in the federation during her adj
ministration and they are close friends.
1t has been charged that the Third dis
trict candidate, If one were brought out,
would run IN the interests OF the F1LLh
district candidate, Mrs. May Belevllle
Brown of Salina. in order to divide the
support of the Third, which the Olathe
Mrs. Brown friends had claimed for her,
but since the candidate turns out to be
Mrs. Halderman, who has been SO closely
identified with the present administrat ton,
the club women are wondering if her ap-
pearance in the race at this time is not an
adroit move on the part of the other fac
ton to prevent the Third from dividing on
the question of president and to retain it
either for Mrs. Halderman or Mrs Eus-
tace Brown Whether Mrs. Brown or
Mrs. Halderman would be sacrificed would
depend of course upon their comparative
strength But in any case the introduction
Of d third candidate will add much inter-
est to the contest
Mrs Haldern1an's candidacy has not
been formally announced, so far as is
known in Topeka, but a number of To-
pel1a women have been asked to support
her.
Mrs. Johns Replies.
Salina, Kan, May Is.
To the Editor of the State Journal:
The editorial from the Parsons Sun,
published in the Journal of May 10, !
needs some correction. Publications in
spired by personal enmity generally re-
quire some pruning. It is surprising
that men permit themselves to be led
out in public to tell so many things
they do not know and cannot in the
nature of the case be expected to know !
accurately, since they are not ION the
inside" of the organization to learn its
business and spirit.
The Sun says that Mrs. May Bellevle !
Browns candidacy for the preSider cy
of the Kansas Federation of Wornen's |
Clubs was brought about by Mrs. W. A. |
Johnston and Mrs. Laura NJ Johns. In
the interest of truth these two ladies
must disclaim this honor. It belongs
unquestiOnably to Mrs. Mary Vance
Humphrey of Junction City, the dean of
Woman's clubs in Kansas and one of the
best beloved of the prominent club wo-
men of the state. No woman in the
Kansas Federation has the interests of
woman's clubs more at heart than has
conservative, judiciOus Mrs Humphrey.
Mrs Humphrey did not consult Mrs.
Johns in the matter. The club to which !
Mrs Johns belongs did not give its en-
dorsement to Mrs. Brown until after
she had been endorsed by the Fifth dis
trict and by her own club. Mrs. John
stOn's advocacy of Mrs. Browns ca2di-
dacy began at the request of the Fifth
district women after the matter was
well under way. Honor to whom honor
is due.
The statement that anybody is try
ing to fOist woman suffrage upon the
federation by giving it d sufragist for
president is foolish enough to make |
any informed person smile, since to
elect a suffragist to that office would !
not only not be an innovation, but
would be to follow a. Kansas precedent !
older than the federation itself. With
one exception these presidents have
been suffra gists since away back at
the beginning of the organization Gun
der another name} that patron saint of
suffragists and club women alike, |
Sarah A Brown of Lawrence, was its
able presiding officer. And yet while
the organization has had for It's many
presidents women who were among
the most prominent ana earnest sur
fragists of the state the federation
has never been turned over to woman
suffrage. nor have any of these presl-
dents attempted to make the fedora
ton declare for Suffrage as para
mount issue" The danger of this
sort of subversion of the federation is
the bugabOe of small minds, and viii
not brighten those club women, suf-
fragists or anti-sudragistS, who know
the history of the federation, and the
good common sense and discretion of
the Kansas suffragfsts.
The most pronounced suffrag ists of
the state were in at the beginning of
the organization. and they have filled
the executive chair with great accepta-
biiitv leading loyalty along the lines
Of work which is the constitutionally
declared object of the federation and
vet holding with equal loyalty to their
own personal convictions. This the
present president. Mrs. Lewis, has
done. and yet she has not scrupled to
sneak hor mind" on the suffrage
question even in distinctive club gath
erines. Mrs May BelleviIle Brown
the candidate under discussion for the
Office which Mrs. Lewis vacates. has
probably done less work for woman's
acknowledgements than the brilliant
woman who has been the admired ex-
eclltive of the federation during the
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