The Washington herald., 1914-11-08
SUFFRAGE meet
10 BE IMPORTANT
Delegates at Nashville Gather
ing Have Many Big Ques-
tons to Decide.
SOCIAL ACTIVITY TABOO
Women Will Hardly Decide to Allow
Congressional Union to Invade States
Where 1t Is Not Wanted.

frage will absorb the entire attention
Of delegates to the forty-sixth annual
convention of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association at Nash
vile, Tenn. November Il to II.
The i've hundred women VINO win rep
resent the thousand or more branches
Of the national association in forty-three
States, would, they say, never consider
leaving their homes, and in many cases
their important work, merely to amuse
Themselves, to meet their friends, and
enjoy Southern hospitality, nor yet To
argue the merits of woman suffrage.
They will travel to Nashville prtmar-
ny because winning the vote has be-
come specialized business, needing ex-
perts in every line, and these experts
can learn much from one another.
From the time the executive council
goes into conference at the Hermitage
Hotel on the morning Of November u
until after the final board meeting on
November Is the business of the asso-
ciation will be paramount to every othel
consideration. The delegate who Is un'
willing to sit through three sessions OF
the convention each day, attend confer
ences until in the morning and begin
answering the telephone at s. will be con-
sidered a mere trifier.
DR. Anna Howard Shaw. the national
president Is popularity supposed not 10
sleep at all during convention week, and
abe does her best to keep the delegates
from wasting valuable moments.
One Massachusetts, woman on her way
home last year sighed:
'Tt's been a great convention, but
wish I hadn't had a new evening dress
made for. It. / never had time to un-
pack, much less wear IL"
The convention program sounds harm
less enough, with reports Of the Con-
gressionaI committee, the executive sec
retary, and the press bureau, a discus
sion Of the National Suffrage Publishing
Company, the vote on the constitutional
amendments and the election Of officers;
but every one who has ever been to sur
sfrage convention knows that all of these
duH TOPICS will be dramatiZed into live
issues when such women as Jane Ad-
dams, Mrs Desha Breckenridge, and
Miss Laura Clay, OF Kentucky; Miss
Kate Gordon, OF New Orleans; N. Carey
Tbomas. president Of Bryn Mawr: Mrs.
Grace Wilbur Trout, and Mrs Catherine
Waugh McCulloch, OF Illinois; MIS-
Maude Wood Park, Of Boston; Miss
Hannah Patterson, Of Pennsylvania; MIS-
Donald R. Hooker. Of Baltimore; Mrs.
Harriet Stanton Blatch, and Mrs. O. d
p. Belmont, of New York. get the floor.
Consider Important Questions.
what shall the national association do?
Shall II devote itself entirely to securing
a Federal amendment or snail II con-
slider Congressional work at the present
time chiefly as good publicity and Put
the emphasis on helping the state cam
paigns by serving as q clearing house
for information, literature, SPEAKERS anu
idaar On orE-arizatiou? Shall the enatonal,
IN order TO further its interests, send
workers into the States whenever It
wishes to raise money and influence legis-
lators?
ways worked in the States only with the
co-operation and consent Of the States
presidents The Congressional Union, an
organization started by Miss Alice Paul
and Miss Lucy Burns. last year when
they were at the head Of the Congress
sional committee Of the national asso-
citation, believes in working in any State
even though the State SunraSe Associa-
ton disapproves-
This difference of opinion was one rea-
son why Miss Lucy Burns refused to
serve on this years Congressional com
nittee Of the national association.
1t is also one reason why the execu-
tive committee of the national aSsocia-
ton refused to admit the Congressional
Union as an auxiliary to the donaL
Board to Reflect Attitude.
How these questions will be presented
to the delegates is uncertain They may
come up when Mrs. Medill Mccormick
Of Chicago, chairman Of the Congression-
al Committee, reads her report They
probably will not be settled until the
new board Is elected.
II the delegates think clearly, the per-
sonrel Of the board will reflect their at
tituos on the whole subject Of Congress
sional amendment work, the attitude Of
thu National Association toward parties,
and the attitude of the national toward
the State associations which are its
branches
DR.. Shaw will, IT is assumed, accept the
nomination for the presidency, without
considering her own inclinatlons. When
Susan 3. Anthony was dying, DR.. Shaw
promised her to serve the National Asso-
citation in any way il called upon her
and she has, ever since 1904. been elected
president. Dr. Shaw can undoubtedly car
~ the election this year, even though
Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, of Chicago,
and Mrs. Maude Wood Park, Of Boston.
should be persuaded to run against her.
The question is: What kind OF board
will she haveT' VIII the delegates elect
national officers who will be so in sym
pathy with the Unions policy that they
viii appoint Miss Paul and Miss Burns
on the Congressional Committee Of the
National Association. and will give that
committee full power to do as 1t pleases,
e@oS~AosS-NAA
by results?
This would mean not only that the
Congressional committee would work in
the states in whatever manner they d.
sired, irrespective of the branches ana
the organization work 1t would mean
that the Congressional committee woulo
oppose the Democratic party because OF
its failure to further a suffrage amend
ment to the Constitution of the United
States.
for very few suffragists, even the most
ardent admirers Of Miss Paul and Misa
Burns, are willing to have their own
states Invaded without their consent, ano
the policy Of opposition to the Demo
cratic party is being attacked by suffra-
Eists everywhere but especially by those
in the equal suffrage States and the
Suffrage campaign States
The alternative of surrounding DR.
shaw with a board who approve Of
policies radically different from thost
she believes in and those the nationa
association has up to this time Endorsed
Is for the delegates to elect board who
VIII work for Federal amendment with.
out conflicting with the State campaigns
ana who viii promise to adhere to non
partisan policy. In that case, next yearsi
Congressional committee would have Il
submit TO the restraints put upon II by
the board. Just as Mrs Medill McCor-
miekss committee has done this year.
All suffragists, whether they believe IL
the policies the national has up to thii
time held. whether they are strong pro-
unionists or whether they are believers