The Washington herald., 1915-10-27

suffrage parade in New York last
Saturday, and Washington sufragtsts
had reason to congratulate themselve.
on so charming a representative
1T was one of the most inspiring
experiences have ever had" said Mrs.
Clagett. but it was no child's under
! taking. We began at half past two
in the afternoon on the lower east
side of the city and did not stop
marching till a quarter after seven.
We were then at Fifth avenue and Sixty
second street We had gone through
every sort of New York street, marched
past the crowded tenement houses where
the large majority OF the population are
OF foreign birth. through the Bowery
with its crowds OF eager. curious
spectators peering at us from every
window and standing FIVE and six deep
along the curbstone. standing on
boxes and crowding the doorsteps."
And what good does such a demon
stration do?" I asked Mrs. Clagett.
The good that any advertising does
Five years ago suffrage was some
thing that few people had even heard
way. The foreign born population OF
a city like New York had had almost
no chance to hear about II. To the
majority of city folk 1t would still
be nothing very definite II II were not
for the enormous publicity campaign
which the women working for suf-
frage have undertaken. Don't imagine
for minute that the women who
are working for suffrage enjoy all
hard. trying work.
But it is the sort of thing that helps
the cause more than anything else. /
myself don't believe that we can ever
sway public opinion merely by per-
sonal appeal. Circular letters and all
that sort of thing help. but the thing
that appeals to the public. the thing
that gives the timid sympathizer the
courage of his conviction is great
thrilling spectacle. To see thousand
and thousands of women. and thou
sands of men. representative men and
men of high position. marching
through the streets of the country's
largest city is enough to give the timid
ones the jolt that they need.
1T is really one of the most wonder
full pieces OF advertising that has ever
been achieved in this country. I'm
agine what it would cost for us to
have bought the publicity that this
parade alone gave us-and dignified
publicity it was. too. Imagine what
we would have had to pay for the
amount of space on the first pages
of every New York paper that we had
Sunday morning. Imagine what IL
would have cost to have bought the
space that the photographs in the
picture supplements of the papers gave
the parade. 1t simply could not have
been bought at any price. There Is no
political party in the country that has
ever achieved such e triumph of pub
licity. We sometimes grow discour-
aged and think that We are pouring
money in a hole. But every cent spent
has been invested in an undertaking
that pays a hundredfold.
For my own part. I do not ex-
pect a victory for suffrage in New
York State on next Tuesday. although
a fter the excitement of the parade on
Saturday victory was predicted. but
even IL We do not win the work has
all been worth while. Personally
feel that the defeat in New Jersey
and the defeat that may come in New
York will only show more strongly
than ever that suffrage must come by
a Federal amendment. Mrs. Clagett
admitted that this was a mooted ques-
ton among politicians who favor suf-
frage, and that il was one that pre-
sented many difficulties in the South.
but she was firm in her conviction
that a suffrage amendment will be the
quickest way to win the vote for
women in New Jersey and other East
ern States"
Among the other prominent wash
ington women who marched in New
York last Saturday were Mrs. George
OdeII, Mrs. ellison Gardner. Mrs John
]. White, and Miss Doris Stevens