The Washington herald., 1914-10-25


religious issues. Two sunragists voted
against the resolution, and several othsrs,
one the president OF one Of the largest
and oldest clubs In the federation, did
not vote at all
We were fighting against q lGwEsss tao
ton for the preservation Of our eonStien-
tion, regarded by the suffragists as
scrap Of paper"
II the English language IL capable OF
conveying thought clearly. IL convinces
the impartial reader Of Article II that
II should always be within the power Of
the federation to prevent the injection
of political and religious discussion and
action, which SO frequently creates dis
sension and destroys the most promising
and potential organizations. One promi-
nent ciubwoman from another State,
, member Of the first board OF the general
federation, said. 1T was the most law
less meeting I ever saw"
The "IndIyIduaI' Reason.
! Now, what astonIshes the candid In
spector Of the suffrage controversy in the
\ convention Is that the resolution did not
commit the federation, but merely the
! delegates as individuals. Naturally. Il
would have been much more impressive
\ II the federation could have been made
| to approve votes for women" But
/ Chis was impossible, and would have led
to the immediate division Of the fedora
tion. and the withdrawal Of those who
wished to maintain the original non pollti-
cal ideals Of the women's club move
ment
! AS individuals. the delegates could not
legally indorse anything, but the indorse-
ment could be proclaimed to 'fmpSsss"
] the legislators just as well as IL II had
/ been constitutiOnally adopted. Besides. it
served the purpose Of apparently leaving
| the federation still neutral-and thus
! quieting the numerous clubs who would
! not stand for a representative indorsS-
ment O. woman suffrage.
Those Who Were Instructed.
| But what about the instructed dele
| gates, the sincere Investigator will ask
Well, here is a statement showing how
! suffrage trickery covered that, too. In
recent letter. Mrs. Simeon II. Guilford.
a charter member OF the Twentieth Cen
tury Club Of Lansdowne, reveals how
that worked. Her club. she says. sent two
delegates instructed to vote for suffrage
and one to vote against it, notwithstand-
| ing the fact that at the last election IL
proved its opposition to woman suffrage
by refusing to elect officers who were
known 70 be suffragists. The club had
never Instructed its delegates before, and
the majority OF the members had not
been advised Of the meeting as being one
| This enabled a suffrage fraction of only
twenty-nins women IN a club Of 80 to sud
denly spring the proposition when they
had a slight majority IN a small quorum
! only sufficient to legally procsde. and
their prepared plan succeeded by seven
votes only-but registered two to one in
the convention in favor OF woman suf-
! rage. At q former meeting held in Swath-
more. committee was created by the
Federation to study woman suffrage. As
this committee was not created for advo-
| eating woman suffrage no objection was
made by any one to il, but when the report
Of the chairman OF the committee was
made, she did not confne it to report
OF the committees work In aiding the
study OF the subject, but added a strong
plea for woman suffrage and plainly
showed her committee had done all in its
power to promote votes for women. '
The president stated that she had ap-
pointed none but suffra gists on this COM
mittee, following the same ruling as on
the child labor committee. She placed
on this committee only those interested in
mittee was formed.
But these two committees are clearly
analogous. The child labor commit
tees object is to promote remedial and
protective legislation against child labor.
while the suffrage committee was created
study Of woman suffrage, not TO promote
the cause OF votes for women. The
resolution Of 1913 is explicit. II creates
a standing committee to furnish clubs
with data concerning suffrage. The res
oIution does not create a partisan body.
hut a nonpartisan committee to aid in
the study OF a broad and important suh-
Iject-
PartIsnnshIP Prevents Progress.
How does all this politics. such as the
suffragists are trying to inject into this
State Federation OF Pennsylvania Wom-
en- AFFECT the work for general advance
ment in which all women are interested
and united? California clubwomen have
given US the answer in unmistakable
terms
The California Federation OF Women :
Clubs passed the following resolution last
May. after a scant three years expe-
rience with woman suffrage in that
State: Resolved. That We protest
against using the influence and agencies
of State and district federation to fur
ther partisan and political interests. and
that we work for the moral and eduCa-
tional movements on which women stand
practically united
The anti-suffrage associations have cut
down all expenses to the minimum sinca
the beginning OF the terrible struggla
abroad, and they would gladly call a
truce of God on the franchise QueS-
= ton and close shop until the dreadful
war is over. II the suffra gists would dn
= the same With the many needs in EU-
rope and our own country demanding
, from our women all their time. strengt h
and sympathy, should We not expect that
/ instead Of crying to crowds from soap
, boxes and seeking political power. sufIra-
gists would Join with Us in the common
/ effort to help humanity