New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-03
HIS CONVICTIONS

Mrs. Ida Hustled Harper exhibits 4
cruelty most unfemiuine III her search
inc analysis Of Mr.. ROoSevelt's record
on the woman suffrage question. puD-
lished in The Tribune yesterday. other
SuffraGiStS may consent 10 be hypno-
tiZed by spectacular and emphatic dee
larations AT a moment when women
voters are much in demand. but MIS-.
Harper refuses 10 lose her equilibrium
and persists in applying the acid test
10 the colonels proclaimed convictions.
As q result she uncovers On amusing
history az twistings and turnings and
OF sweeping assertions M one moment
and exactly contrary sweeping asser-
tons az another.
In Norway in 1910 Mr. Roosevelt de
clared thar ne and Mrs. Roosevelt had
always believed in the suffrage for
women. At Carnegie Hall in 1911 he
parted the suffragettes by telling them
10 20 and convert his wife and daugh-
tiers. for he was the only one IN the
family who believed in woman sur
frage A couple of years ago he wrote
q letter read in an ant-suffrage meet
in. declaring that b. was unable 70
see any special improvement in the
condition of women in the woman sur
frace states And again last Febru-
arv h. wrote that the effect Of suffrage
would be much less than the enthusi-
ssts believed and that he had never
been able 10 take very heated in
'1erest in H." Up in Vermont the other
dav he said that study OF what had
beel done in the equal suffrage states
gradually turned him into a believer
but TWO years ago in Norway he had
AWAY" been a believer. In Vermont
ne said ne grew 10 believe through
nndinC the women who aided him 20
crapple with social and industrial
problems were believers. Yet a few
months before he wrote that most OF
the women he knew best were against
II because they took their duties seri-
Ously. Therefore ne proposed the ref
erendum Of the question 10 women,
gave that out a. his settled conviction,
wrote il into bis speech for the Pro
gressive convention and only cut 1t out
az the last minute when Judge Lind
sev told him il would not suit the sur
frauSts. Nevertheless he had told
Judge Lindsey some weeks before al
Oyster BAY that ne was for suffrage
without any qualification whatever.
After following through that maze
and more Of the same sort II Is not
strange that Mrs. Harper thinks II
would be folly for the women sufrag-
ISIS 10 tie themselves up 20 a candi-
date who seems so little 70 know his
own real beliefs Nr Roosevelt can
hvpnotize himself as well a. others
His habit Of mind is such that what
he finds convenient 20 believe az any
particular moment he believes with a
certainty that all who doubt II are
villains and is sure that ne always has
believed il. II he finds the suffrage
cause impracticable be viii be sure IN
few months that q referendum Is the
thing and point 10 his previous sug'
gestion- along that line as proof OF his
answering conservatism on the sub
iecr. Alr. Roosevelt can be as adapt
able on the suffrage question as be has
been on the negro question. on Cana
dian reciprocity and on court review
OF railroad regulation. but 10 isn't just
kind Of Mrs Harper 10 force this on
the attention Of the hattered enthusi-
asts Of her sex. huttering over the invi-
tation 10 walk into his parlor-for his
SuStenance.