Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1916-09-09

great many technical difficulties in
running il.
Women and Slavery.
And then something happened. A
great question arose in this country
which, though complicated with legal
elements. was at bottom humane
question. and nothing but a question
OF humanity That was the slavery
question. and is ii not significant that
il was then. and then for the first Time
that women became prominent In pol
itics in America?
Those prominent ia that day are
10 few that you can almost name them
over in a brief catalogue, but, never
theless, they began to play part IN
writing. not only, but in public
speech, which was very novel part
for women to play in America; and
after the Civil War had settled some
OF what seemed to be To most difficult
legal questions of our system, the life
OF the Nation began not only to I'M
fold, but to accumulate.
life in he United states was q
comparativcN simple matter at the
tinss Of the Civil War There was none
Of that underground struggle which Is
now so manifest to those who look
only q little way beneath the surface.
Stories such as Doctor Davis has told
tonight were uncommon In those sim
plier days. The pressure OF low
wages. the agony OF obscure and un-
remunerated toll did not exist y
America in anything like the same
proportions that they exist now
Texture Of Life Changes
And as our life has unfolded and
accumulated, as the contacts OF II
have become hot as the populations
have assembled IN the city, and the
cool spaces OF the country have been
supplanted by the feverish urban
areas, the whole nature of our po-
litical questions has been altered.
They have ceased to be legal ques-
lions They have more and more be-
come social questions, questions with
regard to the relations OF human be-
ings 20 one another-not merely
their legal relations but their neral
and spiritual relations TO one another.
And this has been most character
istic Of American life in the last few
decades. and as these questions have
assumed greater and greater promi-
nence, the movement which this asso-
citation represents has gathered cumu-
lative force.
80 that, II anybody asks himself
what does this gathering force mean,
II he knows anything about the his
tory of the country, he knows that II
means something that has not only
come to stay, but has come with con-
quering power.
Suffrage viii Prevail.
Il get a little impatient sometimes
about the discussion OF the channels
and methods by which II is to prevail
II is going to prevail, and that is a
very superficial and ignorant view Of
II which attributes II to mere social
unrest. II Is not merely because the
women have seen visions OF duty, and
that Is something which we not only
cannot resist but, II we.be true Amer
leans. we do not wish to resist Be-
cause America took It's origin in vi
sions OF the human spirit, in aspira.
tons for the deepest sort of liberty Of
the mind and OF the heart, and as vi
sions Of that sort come up to the
sight OF those who are spiritually
minded in America, America comes
more and more into her birthright
and into the perfection of her de-
velopment.
80 that what we have to realize
In dealing with forces o. this sort is
that we are dealing with the substance
OF life Itself
Il have felt as I sat there tonight
the wholesome contagion of the Occa-
sion. Almost every other time that
I ever visited Atlantic City I came TO
fight somebody | hardly know how
TO conduct myself when have not
come to fight against anybody, but
with somebody"