The Washington herald., 1914-12-27
HOUSE TOMORROW
VOTES ON ISSUE.
Suffrage Amendment viii Be
Considered, and Defeated.
Too, Say Ants.
BLACKLIST HURT CAUSE
Indirect influence Preferable to Ballot.
Declare Opponents of Suffrage.
Congress Weary of Arguments.
By MRS. JOHN B. HERON,

By MRS. JOHN b. HERON,
Vice Presidcnt National Association Opposed TO
! Woman Suffage.
Tuesday, according to schedule. the
House of Representatives win vote on
what one OF its members calls the ''most
perplexing political issue OF the day
the question of votes for women"
This viii mark the first time in history
that the woman question in this shape
has been decided by the House. although
the Bristow- -Mondell amendment to the
Federal Constitution, the measure the
! Representatives will vote on. has been
introduced at every session OF Congress
since 1853. This is the old Susan b. An
thony BILL which. IL ratified by three
fourths Of the state legislatures and
passed by two-thirds vote Of both
branches Of Congress. would prohibit
! any States qualifying Its electorate ac-
/ cording TO SEX
| The terms OF the amendment are as
follows: THE right Of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be denisd
or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account OF SEX" and Con
gress shall have power by appropriate
legislation to enforce the provisions Of
this article"
senate Rejects Twice.
This bill has been defeated twice IN
the Senate. and its most hopeful advo-
Gates refuse to prophesy its victory IN
the House. Indeed, 1t Is conceded by
leaders that the vote on woman suffraga.
coming so soon after the overwhelming
de feat Of votes for women" in Ohio
Missouri. Nebraska, and North and
South Dakota at the last election, and
introduced by the party which has been
the subject of suffrage attack throughout
the last campaign, is a deliberate design
| to defeat this measure so signally that II
will not remain an issue in the next
! Presidential campaign. The suffragists
| recently acknowledged having spent more
than 5000 In the futile attempt to carry
! out their campaign threats to defeat the
Democrats at the last election.
Besides the declaration Of war against
the Democrats issued by the Congress
sional Union for Woman Suffrage, the
4, so-called militant faction" the Con-
gressional Committee of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association.
with the concurrence and approval ct
| the general board of that body. as ad-
mitted by DR.. Anna Howard Shaw, its
president. at the recent national con-
| vention, marked various candidates for
defeat on its ''blacklist''-which also was
Neither the war on the Democrats
nor the suffrage blacklist had the de-
sired effect at the November elections.
and both were the subject of much re-
morse at the Nashville convention. where
they were explained as mere publicity
stunts" and not really, truly meant"
you know. That is, the suffrsgists had
figured Il would be good advertising for
the cause" to compete with the war IN
Europe by carrying on a mimic political
war against the party in power" But
besides this, the National Association.
to show its boasted 'non-partisanship,"
included both Republicans and Demo
Gratis, sunragists and antis, on Its
blacklist"
BIackIist Hurt ..Cause."
The 'bIacklisted" members Of the SEN
ate and House were accused Of being
against humanitarian legislation"
which, OF course, is about the hardest
thing a body OF women can say about
male legislators. These men, however.
succeeded in proving their innocence 20
the public. and weFe returned victorious
at the polls. with the result that the
suffraGtsts spent almost two days at
their national convention (after the cleo
tom in criticising each other for ever
having gotten il up.
Then, naturally. the unfortunate pro-
ceeding was blamed on the ''newspapers''
you can always blame the newspapers,
you KNOWN having called 1t a BLACK
list" instead Of humanitarian certif-
cate, or whatever else the suffragists
rather would have II called now But IL
was not explained how an original Official
copy of the suffrage bulletin sent to
the newspapers contained the word
blacklist" in no uncertain termsi II is
just possible that since the suffragists
tried so hard to defeat the Democrats"
and to blacklist men like Senator
Lodge and Representative Mann, and
thereby revealed their puerile political
power, these men now are returning the
compliment by defeating the sufrragists.
Mann Smoked Out.
OF course Representative Mann. of
Illinois. who was blacklisted, since has
become an advocate of the cause. In
fact this was the only excuse offered
by the Originators of the blacklist"
when asked to explain at the conven-
tion what good 1t had done suffrage"
We'll. it smoked out the leader of the
opposition, Representative Mann, any
how" replied the chairman of the Con-
gressiOnal committee. This vigorously
was denied by the sufTragists of I'LL
nois. who claimed his conversion prior
to the issue of the "blacklist"-so there
you are.
The day after the blacklist" was
released, Chairman Henry, of the
House Rules Committee, refused point
blank to give suffrage another hearing
or permit a vote on IL in the House.
Now. however, everything is changed,
and the most vigorous opponents to
votes for women" blandly welcome a
chance to vote on it. Need we wonder
why?
Not q National Issue.
The suffragists have called their
question a national issue" in spite of
the fact that the leaders of the big
parties, whether suffragists or antis.
Republicans or Democrats, repeatedly
have told them il was a States
rights question. But after siXty-five
years of agitation and the recent proof
at the polls in five great States that
woman suffrage is one of the most un-
popular measures before the public,
persistence in asking for national in
reference, the continuous heckling Of
Congressman. and frequent delegations
to the President have made politicians
So sick of suffrage that they have ar
ranged to vote on II and get rid of it.
However, 1t is not likely that the vote
in the House will represent fairly either
the oDinionS of tho members or of the