Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-12-06
REPUBLICANS JOIN
IN DEMONSTRATION
Prolonged Cheering and Applause
Greet President as He Appears, with
WIN. Jennings Bryan and Cabinet
Members Leading Outburst.
T. X
The full text of President Will X
s. sons message will be found on 81
page five.
!. i. s. * i * II X u i y = u

Washington, Dec. 0.--President
Wilson's address to congress today
was marked by woman suffrage
! coup in the gallery, the first real
show of organized m,litancy in the
capital, and by the great demonstra
ton of congratulation to the presi-
dent, upon his reelection, in which
many Republicans joined with the
Democrats.
After acknowledging the prolonged
cheers and applause which greeted
his entrance to the hall of the house
of representatives, the president
launched into his address, renewing
the recommendation for railroad leg
islation, the corrupt practice act. and
had passed to his Recommendation
for broader government for Porto
Rico.
He was just about to begin, "The
present laws governing the island and
regulating the rights and privileges
of it's people are not just" when over
the rail of the gallery where sat a
party of woman suffrage leaders
there fluttered over the heads of an
amazed assembly of senators and rep
resentatives a silken banner of SUI
frage yellow, bearing in great black
letters, the inscription:
.'President Wilson. what will You
do for woman suffrage?'
The suffragists said afterward it
was their protest that the president
should plead with congress for
broader suffrage for men of Porto
Rico, while he did not mention their
own cause in his address.
AS the banner rippled downward,
the suffragists sat smiling and UNI
perturbed. Diminutive pages, raised
in the arms of men directly under the
gallery, grasped the edge of the BAN
ner and snatched it down.
President Merely Smiles.
The president, attracted by the stir,
looked Up from his reading, and ap
parently taking in the situation at a
glance. smiled broadly, and without
hesitation or interruption. turned his
eyes back to his manuscript and cor
tinued his address to the end with
out further demonstration.
Policemen and gallery guards sour
ried to where the women were seated
but contented themselves with watch
ing the party, to prevent further out
break.
When the joint session concluded.
the suffragists filed out unmolested.
by the police, who sale they had no
orders to arrest them.
AS it turned out. the women had
their plans laid with precision and
sprung their coup almost on the Sec
end. evidently having been in possess
sion OF an advance copy of the presi-
Dental address. They had timed the
document at the speed they expected
the president would make, and an
ticipated he would reach the Porto
Rido section in eight minutes.
Miss Vernon Leader.
Miss Mabel Vernon, who heckled
the president here at his American
Federation of Labor speech last July,
and who struggled the banner into
the gallery under her coat. kept the
time and gave the signal for the un-
furling of the banner. Before the
police could get to the gallery, the
sufragist press agent vas busy han1-
ing out Canned" reports Of the affair,
giving the names of the participants,
and interviews with each.
The consensus of their opinion was
voiced by Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, of
the Congressional Union for Woman
Suffrage, who declared the incident
was ian expression of the indignation
that women feel at the stupid and
senseless opposition to granting the
right of self government to pne half
the people of the United States"
Ten Women In Party.
The ten women who participated in
the ttoup marched off as acclaimed
heroines, to the Congressional Union
headquarters. where they held a re-
ception., Miss Mabel Vernon, Dr..
Caroline L. Spencer Of Colorado, Mrs.
Florence Bayard Hilles of Delaware,
Mrs. John Rodgers Of New York, Mrs.