Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-11-22
"PICKETS ARE BEHIND
THE TIMES"
An Answer To Tribute To Womsn's
Consistency.
(C0mmunicated-

read an article in a recent issue en-
titled "A Tribute TO Woman's Con-
stancy.s
The latter part of the first para
graph in the article in question states
that a letter which follows is partic-
ularly interesting as showing the
growing unanimity Of feeling con-
corning picketing by both branches
OF suffrage"
As a matter Of fact all that the let
ter shows is the attitude of one
woman of a certain State league
which is affiliated with the National
Womans Suffrage Association. The
most careful reader finds nothing to
indicate that the great national or
ganization of suffragists. whose mem
bership numbers over two million,
and whose 49th annual convention Is
scheduled to convene in Washington,
ID. c.. December 18th. endorses pick
citing or any of the methods of the
radicals, heretofore known as the
Congressional Union" at present
.The National Woman's Party"
VIII you kindly print the enclosed
clipping, which is an editorial from
"The woman's Citizen" Of November
II, the official organ of the n A. w.
S. A. AS this editorial sets forth the
views OF the President Of the National
Suffrage Association, / think the pub
lie may accept it as the real feeling"
of the oldest and largest and sanest
body of suffragists in America.
MRS. ROBERT MOSS.
Pickets Are Behind The Times.
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait has
characterized the picket tactics at
Washington as behind the times"
and she is right The pickets show
an involved psychology that seems to
keep their eyes turned inward on their
own resentments and prevents their
seeing the progress of events. They
are simply not abreast of the times
in regard to suffrage
Mrs Gait has repeatedly pointed
out that every worthy cause that
comes to final triumph knows three
stages: ID the stage of agitation;
Cd the stage of argument; CD the
stage of final surrender.
The pickets are just two laps be-
hind They have lapsed back into the
stage of agitation after suffrage has
passed on into the stage of final sur
render They represent the women
who became discouraged by the long
drawn struggle along the old lines,
lost heart at exactly the wrong mo-
ment and decided that the whole bat
tie had to be fought over again, and
the beginning be made from the
ground up. Susan B. Anthony faced
fine and Imprisonment for principles
sake away back in 1872, but that was
in a day when ii took startling agi-
tation to secure attention to the suf-
frage message. You would never
have found Susan B. Anthony tagging
behind the times and trying to fit 1872
methods to 1917 Miss Anthony wa
always able to keep up. The pickets
are not able to. They could not take
in, in advance, the imminence of vic
tory in New York State They
challenge the National American
Woman Suffrage Associations policy
and method on the score of the Fed
eral Amendment. They challenged
the New York State campaign. But
New York is won and the Federal
Amendment will be won We are out
to win. That is what policy and
method must come to with us. We
are not out to teach men lessons, or
to embarrass the President, or to re-
lieve our own moods of belligerency
We are out to get suffrage and we are
getting it. We consider that picket
methods don't get it. They are old
timey. We consider that the pickets
are back in the stunt era of suffrage.
Suffrage is not won today by stunts,
but by well-planned political cam
paigning.
The trouble with the picket party is
that its followers are too pessimistic
They doubt over much. They cannot
see the victory because Of the red
blur of battle in their own eyes.
Their Representatives and sympathiz-
ers have been heard to say that the
war has torn down all the suffrage
structure of the past, torn down all
hope for suffrage or for any other
piece of constructive democracy for
a hundred years to come. 1t is
another instance of their inability to
read wartime psychology. The war
has extended and intensified the ma
tional feeling for democracy, extend
Il - y tol- -,
Suffrage is won Democracy is won
If the pickets will but stop their OBJ
structionists tactics the Federal
Amendment is won.
What they ought to do is cheer up
and catch up.
For the last decade suffrage has
been in transition from the stage of
agitation to the stage of argument
So far as New York is concerned the
transition was completed by the cam
paign of 1915. The campaign of 1917
has been the stage of final surrender.
That is why the Interpolation of
picket tactics into the suffrage pro-
gram is so untimely and was so hard
10 combat in the New York campaign.
New York men really wanted to give
in They had reached the point where
all they asked was one more reason
for captivating. Just for good meas
ure, just to give them soft spot to
fall on. The pickets supplied them
with just the opposite. They made
surrender difficult instead of easy.
They would have made it impossible