The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-12
FOR
 WOMEN PROVE
 MAGIC SLOGAN
Most Beautiful Suffragette in the World Draws Moral From Fire in Triangle Factory
Warner Hall Thronged With In. terested WOmen-LuncheOn at the Country Club

| They came in automobiles and in 1 the plebian trolley car. Some were
 adorned with holding plumes and smart evening gowns and some with
 sailor hats and shirt waists. But ii
 was the magic slogan, "Votes for Wo-
 men,, that attracted all these to War; l ner hall last night.
 1 It may be that some of the throng | came to see Senator Archie McNeil
 who had on his Hi Henry clothes and | who introduced the speakers in the
 suave manner which knocks 'em off their seats in election time. He ap- peared to be in right last evening, for ! one of the speakers said. ''No, we haven't lost faith in men. Take our chairman, for instance. I'm absolute | ly sure he would vote for a measure l egardless of how it would affect his | majority And the Senator didn't bat an eye.
 The opera glasses were aimed at
 Miss Tnez Milholland, the Vassar girl, 1 who was announced as the headliner. l She was gowned in pink and wore I fluffy thing over her shoulders. Miss | Milholland started by saying that Chairman McNeiI had erred when he announced that she is now a student | ia Columbia Law School. I'm not a student at Columbia Law School" she
 explained. "They wouldn't have such l inferior creatures as women" And l then everybody smiled because from | the front row Miss Milllolland looked | like Julia Marlowe and Maxine Elliott combined and you couldn't exactly call her inferior
 The Vassar girl scoffed at the req soning of the men who won't let wo- ! man vofe cited the CaSA of the
 recent big fire in Triangle factory in | New York to show that it might have been different if women had a chance l to help make the laws. Women ap- preciate life and want to safeguard | it, even at the expense of profit" she declared. The speaker said that wo- l men had protested about the crowded conditions in the Triangle factory long before the fire occurred. But" she remarked with depreciating smile, "wl,en you are outside the constitu- tion, all yoir~can do is talk" Mrs Thomas N. Hepburn of Hart ford, made a good opening speech, but there was considerable opposition from outside First a pianola down stairs played with great precision I'm an Honorary Member of the Patsy Club. Then band went by on the street outside and the blare of the horns was loud enough to wake the janitor. Next there was big racket from the floor below, which contains a gymna- sium. With painful regularity there would be a loud crash, an instant's silence and then another uproar. Per policemen. But Mrs. Hepburn kept right on with her remarks and they were all right. too.
 Col. Norris G. Osborne, editor of the New Haven Courier, chaperoned Sen- ator McNeil on the stage, and the 1 Colonel was soon called upon for a speech. He said: 'I suppose many of my friends will wonder what I am do- ing here tonight. I know absolutely nothing about the literature of this
 movement declared the speaker, "and I care nothing about it. The men can see things coming and the wise man is on the job when the ship comes in. ''Ga1lantry did not cause me to come
 here There are widows, wives and
 daughters who are taxpayers but have l no vote. I believe they should have
 the privilege. I don't care whether them. If they don't make better use
 of it than the men I'm sorry for them. l
 I can't differentiate between the men, l all powerful on the one hand, and wo- men, cIassed with lunattcs and felons, l
 on the other.
 "A whole lot of people of my &C., quaintance are worried because I am here tonight. There are those who l are praying for me and those who l agree that I have met salvation. In | college I was taught who was the l taxpayer Since I've been married
 I've learned who is the taxpayer, so | my views on the subject of suffrage l have changed.
 "The ultimate consumer has been | getting it in the neck ever since the 1 first laws of taxation were enacted l I'm tired of pushing women back to | the cradle to rock from in the morn 1 ing-I say 6, because at that time my 1 children awoke-Iln til late at night | She can take care of her husband and | children and still have time to devote | to the problems of life.
 What right have we to say to wo- men, Dear things, retain your sweet | and gentle charm and we will make the laws?' If any men here think they are superior to women, take my word for it, it's not so.
 When the colonel had bowed to the applause, Miss Emily Pierson was in troduced. She made a stirring speech in which she complained that ''the men always decide what we want and | then give it to us and call it chivalry."
 It would remind you of campaign | times to hear Dr. Anna Howard Shaw | speak. She was the last speaker and | how she did talk. Dr. Shaw is a | polished orator with the ready anec- dote and the fiuency of Chauncey | Depew or Simeon Ford. The chivalry idea didn't appeal to her very much. | ''Chivalry is present where justice is 1 absent she declared. The speaker | recalled that the case of a prominent l man who was chairman of a suffra ge meeting in a, New York state town | They thought this man was in favor | of .he cause but there was a slight | commotiOn when he opened up by | saying that women ought not to be- smirch themselves by getting mixed | up in politics. He reached the climax by saying that it would be like brush
 ing the bloom from a peach to give l woman the ballot, You can brush | the bloom from a woman, but give | her five minutes and the opportunity | and she'll put it back again." was | pr. Shaw's comment
 One of the things that the spec tators remembered was the statem ent | of one of the earlier speakers Mrs | Hepburn. regarding John J. Splain, al New Haven theatrical manager. She l sa.id
 Hast week in Hartford we had the 1 hearing on woman suffrage. Four teen people appeared to sneak for th a