The sun., 1908-04-26
WASHINGTON WOMEN REBEL
A MOVE no BREAK THE BONDS
or. OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE.
The toagresdOnal Club Formed 70 MTtigate
tns social order 1t the CapltOI-Maybe
N Future Women Won't Have 70 Make
Hundreds OF Calls As They DO Now.

first Of lts kind but must continue TO be
the only one. SO long as the United States
has only one Congress there can be only
one Congressional Club Hike this.
Tia object Of the new organization is
purely social According to the Constitu-
tion Of the club 1t is TO promote acqusint-
anceshlp among its members, 10 facilitate
their social intercourse and 10 provide a
place OF meeting which may help to secure
for them the advantages Of life In the
national capital
People who know Warrington can read
volumes between those few innocent lines.
They detect there q very bright little gim-
mer Of hope for the members OF the newly
organized club.
The womans side Of official life In Wash
ington Is becoming more and more OF
grind, a wearing, incessant grind. Every
body admits II, everybody deplores it. But
nobody seems to have the courage, or per-
haps IL is the courage and the power, TO
break the shaokles.
Az for the organizers OF the new club,
probably nothing was further from their
thoughts than the introduction OF a radical
change in the social order Of things, The
possibility which is now being read into
the situation seems to have occurred stimuli
taneously to a good many women Of the
Official set. They saw in the club loophole
Of escapes. Now everybody is taking sur
reptHous squints through that loophole
and signing with antioipatory relief at the
same time.
The membership is to be composed OF
sthe women OF the immediate families OF
the Senator's. Representatives and eI-
members In Congress and Of such other
persons not exceeding one hundred In
number-in the various branches OF the
Federal Government ss shall be considered
eligible by the committee on membership
The wife Of the President OF the United
States and Of the Vice-President win always
be invited to become honorary members.
While all the details have not been per-
fected the club has become a fact The
president is Mrs James Brock Perkins Of
New York and the first vice-president Mrs.
Henry Cabot Lodge Of Massachusetts, The
other vice-presidents in their order are
Mrs. John Sharp Williams Of Mississippi.
Mrs. Champ Clark OF Missouri, Mrs, Joseph
NJ. Dixon Of Montana and Mrs. Julius Kahn
Of California. Mrs. j. Sloat Fassett Of New
York is recording secretary. Mrs. Thomas
Spight Of Mississippi is the corresponding
secretary and Miss Wood Of New Jersey is
the treasurer.
Roughly speaking, the initiation fee will
he $40, and the annual dues t2S for resident
- AZ H.. 49,, ,.s,.id and Y,apoIDara p,,t thara
are some rather complex notifications Of
these provisions. II Senator or Repre-
tentative has several female relatives in
his immediate family-by which, in this
case. il is to be understood that they are
living under his roof-only one initiation
fee Is required for the family.
That is 10 say II member OF Con-
gress brings his wife, mother and two or
three daughters to Washington for the
session oil This feminine contingent can
Join the new club for one initiation fee Of
$40. Having Joined, the wife would pay
the annual dues Of S16, while the others
would be required TO pay only IS each a
year. But only the members paying dues
Of s25 have a vote.
As the wife and the family OF Congress
man do not always come TO Washington on
for an entire session some provision had TO
be made TO cover this point. member
Of the club may therefore be resident or
nonresident from year to year, according
to her changing plans. II she comes for
the whole session she pays her 325 dues. II
che comes for visit OF few weeks only she
pays the regular nonresident dues OF IS
and has the privileges Of the club during
the time Of her visit
The provision admitting wives Of eX-
members OF Congress is an important one.
Il won't make any difference how long her
husband may have been out Of public life,
a woman may join the Congressional Club
az freely 40 II she had just become Mrs.
Honorable
II an ungrateful constituency shelves a
man in the midst Of his lsbors for the people
no such fate is meted out 10 his wife by the
Congressional Club II he dies and she
chooses 10 make Washington her home she
viii havs her membership in the club as a
permanent link with her old oficial asso-
ciahons
Now for the glimmer Of hope which some
Of the women who are talking about the
new club profess to see In it. There are
several phases Of the social grind Of ofioial
Washington which are making work for
the wrinkle eradicators. but the worst OF
them all is the calling phase,
Women In other cities have absolutely
no conoeption Of the size TO which this bug
bear has grown. Plain, unadulterated
calling in New York has been pretty much
relegated 70 the limbo Of outGown social
usages. In Warrington Il ID the Old Man
OF the Sea which society carries around
on its back.
A New Yorker who visited Washington
this season declared In disgust that he
simply weut around peddhng his cards
from door 10 door. 1t is twenty times worse
for the women-abovs ell, for the women
in official circles.
They make hundreds and hundreds Of
calls each season. One woman told re-
Gently Of making $500 calls last season,
which was very short. This year she will
probably get up to 5000.
OF course these calls mean absolutely
nothing but q mere form. They last only
a few minutes, exceptin the case Of the new
recruits Who have not learned Washington
expedition and who are therefore always
dragging around on their interminal CALL
ing bouts.
There Is half the time an III concealed
doubt in the mind sf the hostess as to her
visitors identity. and the two usually part
with a sigh OF relief. having shown OF TO
the worst possible advantage In each case.
IThav NAV aven cordially dislike zach other