Arizona republican., 1910-04-15
THEY KISSED
 PRIEST. TAFT Delegates To Women Sui. fragists' Convention HE UTTERED TELLING RtBUkt
An Observation Smilingly Made That Some Women Were Not Qualified by Temperament to Have a Voice in Public Affairs.

Washington. April. 14-President Taft, first chief executive of the I nation to greet a convention of ,wo- man suffragists. tonight had the courage to confess his opinion. and
 was hissed. The president was well coming to Washington the delegates to the convention of the Woman Ma t;ona! Suffrage association. He told them frankly that he was not alto gether ir sympathy with the move ment. explaining why he did not sub scribe fully to it's principles. He said he thought one of the dangers of granting suffrage to women was that women, as whole, were not
 interested in it, and the ballot. as far as women were concerned. would be controlled by the less desirab ble class
 His words were followed by a cho-
 rus of feminine misses. not a feeble
 demonstration of protest
 The president stood unmoved dur
 ing the demonstration. and then snlii-
 ingly said: Now. my dear ladies,
 you must show yourselves capable
 of suffrage by exercising some de-
 gree of restraint necessary in the
 conduct of government affairs by not
 hissing.'
 The women who hissed were re-
 buked The presidents reply appar- ently had taken hold. The presi-
 dent continued his address. which he
 characterized as m. confession" on the question.
 At the conclusion of his talk. he
 was applauded. The leaders of the convention expressed sincere regret at the unpleasant incident Mir. Taft assured them that his feelings were not injured in the least.
 ''I am not entirely certain" said the president. after he had been cour- teously presented to the convention by Rachael Foster Avery. vice presi- dent of the association. that I ought 90 have come tonight, but your com mittee assured me I should be. well come even if I did not support all the vie"s which are to be advanced in this convention. But, l consider that this movement represents a suf- ficient part Of the intelligence of the community to justify my coming and welcoming you to Washington.
 The difficulty l expect to encoun- ter is this: At least the difficulty which occurs to me as the judge of my own feelings when my interest in a campaign IS aroused. towit: When was sixteen years old. and gradu- ated froII tne high school took for my graduation subject. Woman Suffrage. and at that time | was as strong an advocate of woman suf frage SIS any delegate to this conven- tinr I had read much on womafl suffrage aud my father was a suf- fragist."
 The women cheered at this point. The hall was a mass of waving hand kcrchiefs hut tho waving ceased when the president said with emphasis: So at that time I was orthodox. But in actual experience I have modified my views OF the subject. In the first place. proper republican gov ernn,,nt we approve and support because en the whole every intelli- genr clasS--,hat is. every set of in- ,li.iduals similarly situated in the intelligent enough to know what is interests afe-is bet ter qualified tc determine how those interests shall bc cared for and pre- than any other class however altruistic.
 "'rhsre is ahother qualification. which is that the class which has suffrage should care enough for their interests to take part in the exercise Of political power if conferred upon ther, IT they do not then it seems to me that the danger is. if the power of suffrage is granted. it will be ex- ercised by that part of the class which is less desirable
 Tia. was the signal for the up- heavai The leaders of the conven- tion who sat on the platform sur re Ending the Tresident blushed as the hisies burst from their comrades lips Those in the audience who ] did not hiss frantically endeavored to restrain their sisters. when the president tool, the situation in his own hands. and told the women what he thought of their action. ~ He did no. speak st all angrily.
 If | could he sure" he continued, that women as class would ex- ercise the franchise, I would be in favor Of it At present there exists in my mind considerable doubt. Per nit Eie to say the task before you in establishing your political rights is nor in convincing the men, but in your own class. Even if [ disagree with you. not in prin- ciple, but in the application of it to