Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1913-08-01
Women Carrying Petitions
Swoop Down On Nation
al Capitol
ASK FOR, THE BALLOT
Senator Owen Declares in Speech
That WOmen's Claim Must Be
Considered With Dignity.

state in the Union. which besieged |
the Senate chamber and bombarded
senators with petitions bearing thous-
ands of signatures, urging considera-
ton of woman suffrage constitu
tional amendment.
The siege OF the Senate was the eli
max to demonstration, in the course
of which hundreds of women paraded
from Hyattsville, Md, through the
country roads and the city streets,
down Pennsylvania avenue and
through the Capitol grounds. Members
of the senate woman's suffrage com
mittee, which already has favorably
reported the suffrage amendment, met
the petition bearers land rode to the
Capitol with them.
Senate Committee Heads Parade.
Miss Alice Paul, chairman of the
legislative committee of the Nationa.
American Woman's Suffrage Associa-
tiCn, officers of the association, and
the senate committee, headed the pa
rade. At the Capitol it disbanded and
a cloud of feminity fluttered into
the senate wing. The dignifed hush
Of the imposing marble room just off
the Senate chamber was shattered by
the demands of women( from. various
states, that their cards be taken to
their senator's. The pages were busy
for an hour hurrying senators from
the chamber to meet their "constitu-
ents' armed with petitions.
After the petitions had been pre-
sented, the delegation flocked to the
galleries, where seats had been re-
served and the woman suffrage sup
porters on the floor of the senate took
charge of the demonstration. Senators
Owen, Ashurst. Poindexter. Jones,
Works, Lane, Smoot, Clapp, Thomas,
Shafroth and Hollis made brief ad-
dresses endorsing the petitions.
Claims Women Must Be Recognized.
Senator Owen officially presented
the petition to the senate
THE reasons for this request on
the part of the women of the coun-
try" he said, ARE overwhelming and
unanswerable, and the time has come
when they must be considered with
dignity, with unbiased mind, free from
prejudice or passion, in the interest of
the human race.
Il do not appeal to men from a
party standpoint, or call their atten-
ton to the effect which they may be
expected to follow if either one of the
great parties should go so far as to in
suit the three million women who now
have the full suffrage in America by
contemptuously denying a right so
obviously just and SO obviously nee
essary to the welfare, the progress
and the happiness of the people of
America, but l will remind you that a
great party with high ideals. casting
over four million votes last year, de-
clared for woman suffrage, and the
question cannot longer be ignored"
Prepare For Onslaught Early.
Undaunted by roads deep in mud as
the result of yesterdays storm, near
~ 800 sufragists gathered today at
Hyattsville, Ind, for their trip from
that hamlet to the Capitol, where they
will present petitions to the Senate
asking for constitutional amend
nent providing for universal suffrage.
Il Officers and members of the Stations
al American Woman's Suffrage Asso-
citation were astir early today in prep
Y aration for the event. Joining them
with welcoming the arriving pilgrims
were committee from the Federal
sWoman's Equality Association, which
included number of wives of menu
Y bers of Congress.
Several senator's and representatives
had given their words that they would
be present to deliver brief addresses
OF encouragement to the women be-
4 fore the automobile parade started
y for the national capitol. Arrange
ments had been made for more than
!, sixty motor cars in the line, and SUP
erintendent of Police Sylvester had a
i strong force of mounted and bicvcle
police at the district line to meet and
escort the women. Arrangements had
been made for the parking of the auto
mobiles in front of the Capitol, and
the women had planned to separate
! into state groups for the purpose of
missionary work.
The anti7suffragists issued state
ment today from the headquarters of
the National Woman Suffrage, in
which the automobile onslaught to the