The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-04-15
WOMEN HISS
THE PRESIDENT
FFRAeETTEs DIDN'T LIKE
STRAIGHT, True STATE.
MENT MADE.

4 SHIN TON ApFil ~ The
President Of the United States, the
ifrst executive of the nation ever To-
greet q convention Of women snffrag
lists. brayed the danger last night Of.
facing an army Of women who want
The ballot, had the courage to confess
his opinion, and was missed. soggreat
was the thrcng that sought admission
TO the hall that hundreds were turned
away. d i,
( President Taft was welconiri toS
Washington the delegates to the con-
gention Of the National American
Women Suffrage Association, He had.
frankly told them that ne was not
altogether in sympathy With the move
ment, and was explaining why he
could not subscribe fully i'd rs pTiE
ciples. He said he thought one Of the.
dangers in granting suffrage To women;
was that the women as a whole were
not interested in IT, and that the power
of the ballot, as far as woman Is cons
cerned. would be controlled by the
'tless desirable class
When these words fell from the
Presidents lips the walls Of the con.
yention hall echoed chorus of femt
nine hisse. 1t was no feeble demon
stration. The combined Kisses sound.
ed as if a wave on steam engine
had broken.
The Kissing.
. President Taft stood unmoyed on
the platform, for the kissing continued
but moment, and then, smiling as
he spoke, he answered the unfayor-
able greeting with this retort::
"Now, my dear ladies', you must
show yourselves of suffrage by exer-
cislng that degree Of restraint which
is necessary in the conductso of gov
eminent affairs by not kissing"
The women who had Kissed were re-
buked. The Presidents reply appa.
rently had taken hold. There were no.
more Kisses while the President con.
tinued his address, which he charac.
terized as "a confession on the
woman suffrage question. AT the CON
clusion of his talk he was enthusiass
tically applauded, and some of the
leaders of the convention expressed
to him their sincere regret over the
unpleasant incident, President Taft
assured them that he had not had
his feelings injured in the least.
In the course of his address the
President said:
%If could be sure that women as
Il class would exercise the franchise
| would be in, favor Of IT. At present
there EXISTS in my mind considerable
doubt. In certain States which have
tried the experiment, States in the
Rocky mountains where there As no
great concentration Of population to
cope with, equal suffrage has not
been a failure. 1t has not made, l
think, any distinct difference, though
1t is possible to say that ithas shown
some improvement in the conduct Of
public affairs. Permit me to say that
the task before you in establishing
your political rights is not in con-
vincing the men, but in convincing
your own class"
When the President had concluded
he shook hands with Rev. DR.. Anna
Howard Shaw, president of the as.
ISOLATION, and other leaders.
At the conclusion Of the session 1t
was announced that aipublic demon-
stratlon will be made by the delegates
in the open air this afternoon, proba,
bly, in front of the capitol.
1t is generally agreed that the hiss
ing. Of the President Will prove the
hardest blow the cause ever suffered
in America. Suffrage leaders are at
tempting to minimize the incident and
contend outsiders htssed being con.
fined to one part of the hall.
ut wasn't our people who Kissed
and hooted. recognized the demon