Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-16
gFFRAGE LEADERS
m BITTER FIGHT AT
COMMITTEE HEARING
Congressional Union Receives
Severe Jolt at Hands of
Opponents and Con-
+ greSsmen
pEMOCRATS RESENT RAPS
BY M'LISS

by M LlSO
vAsHINGTON. Dec. t6.-Members of
,hs National American Suffrage Associa-
.,nr and of the Congressional Union went
y. ,be mat in the committee room of
~. Judiciary Committee, in the House
.scs building today. and the national
.ssoclation came off with flying colors.
representative Taggart of Kansas,
,,o,,sed to a point of fire by the union
is,s' admission that they attacked the
norty in powor-the DemoCrats-took off
bis gloves, motaphoricallv speaking, in
handling Miss Alice Paul, chairman of
the union.
In a manner that left no doubt as to
,hs feeling among the Democrats regard
inc this organization, he brought out, by
means of his interrogatiOns. the fact that
,be Democrats in the House have been re-
inforced rather than diminished by the
vpIon's activities. and that the efforts of
me national association to get a favorable
hearing on the Susan B. Anthony amend
,nent we're being initiated against by the
srtlno of the union in antagonzing the
marty in power. Those suffragists who
have come here in the hope Of bringing
about coalition of the parent assoCia-
,lon, the national, with its unruly off
spring, the union, realized today that the
breach is wider than ever. And many of
those who rushed to the ranks of the
union after the defeat of the woman's
Acknowledgement amendments in the four
Eastern states at the last election are eX-
pected to flop back again.
From the looks of things it will he as
easy for a loyal National Association
member to walk hand in hand with a
Congressional Unionist as II would be
for Brahman to link arms with low
hpr
enthusiasts are not there" as far as Dr.
A. H. Shaw Is concerned.
Without referring to them by name,
Doctor Shaw, at yesterdays stormy
session, In upholding the policy fol-
lowed by the national association for
the last ij years, in considering the
Federal and State work interdependent
spoke with ill-concealed contempt of the
work done by the body of new recruits
who know virtually nothing of the
methods Of this work" and decried the
"mtancy" of their tactics in declaring
war on the political party in power. =
There are other and better methods
Of gaining our end" she said, emphati-
cally, than of estranging men, and |
would say to these women who are us
ing the 100000 Western women voters
as a threat. that the influence that these
voters have on the electors is the result
OF State action.
ITO these women vino are dcluding
themselves in the hope that after the
amendment passes Congress it will he easy
10 win the state Legislatures I cite Della
ware. The Delaware Legislature can
grant suffrage without submitting the
question tO the electorate and yet the
woman suffrage amendment last year was
defeated in the Delaware Legislature by
an overwhelming majority. You must get
down to the voter, after all, and the only
method producing practical results Is
State action in back of the Federal ac-
ton."
sutfra gists who have heard Doctor Shaw
speak at annual conventions for years
declare that today's address WIS the
most powerful she has ever made Re-
itersdng her disinclilfation to permit her
name to be used for the presidency again,
her talk partook of something in yhe ma
ture Of n farewell and emanated out of
her years of experience. which have made
her the mentor of the cause" today.
She gave counsel to those who are the
youngsters of the movement.
"The time has come" she said 'when
our organized machinery must be polti-
cal in its character and work along po-
lltical lines, directed by political leaders.
II we can but eliminate from our minds
the contempt which most of us feel for
the misuse and abuse of politics and po-
litical bOssism and remember that our
mission is to secure better government
than We now possess, that politics is
the science by which governments are
controlled that the science of govern
ment Is as holy as the science of religion,
that political leadership in itself is as
honorable as religious leadership, and that
there is no more sacred or more noble
vocation in the world than to be one with
the infinite in the government OF the
world then we will cease to regret the
change which has been wrought by the
toll and sacrifice of the pioneers"