Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-01
why Women Picket.

The National Womans' Party has
sent out the following;
For nearly seventy years women
have worked for enfranchisement.
They have held enormous mass meet
ings in large cities, and have address,
ed tiny groups in the remoter towns;
they have held innumerable street
meetings and many great professions;
they have rolled up huge petitions to
Congress. aggregating millions or
name; they have sent to the President
deputation after deputation of women
representing every walk of life. The
question of woman suffrage is prob
ably better known and more widely
approved than any political question
which Congress has acted favorably
upon for the past five years. Last
January a deputation of women wait
ed upon President Wilson, urging him
to stop the waste of energy and life
that was being expended in the long
struggle to establish democracy for
women. His reply was that women
must concert public opinion" in ia
vor of their freedom.
Since that date women have realized
that they needed to make a more con-
slant, direct, and public appeal to the
President. as head of the government,
for Justice Every day since January
10. 1917, through the cold of winter
and the heat of summer, women have
stood at the gates of the White House
holding in their hands their suffrage
banner of purple, white and gold
For five months they were allowed
to stand there in peace. But last
month the District police began to ar
rest them for holding the same ban
ners in the same place.
Please understand that there is no
law against holding banner at the
gate of the White House The charge
brought by the District police against
the suffragists is the technical charge
of "obstructing traffic"
Everyone who has followed the his
tory of the suffrage activity at the
Capital knows that this charge is
brought by the police to compel
women to withdraw from the White
House their demand for suffrage. The
fact is that the appeal of women for
democracy at this time is highly en-
barrassing to the government. Poll
ticians are asking the people to sacri-
flee everything and everybody for
democracy" and many men and
women are ready to sacrifice every
thing for democracy: but they are not
willing to permit the government TO
spend the life-blood of the nation for
democracy somewhere in Europe
while that same government refuses
to assist the peaceful and orderly es-
adjustment of democracy in our own
country
Women are not asking the govern
ment TO do the impossible. Congress
could easily pass the suffrage amend
ment if the President gave his sup
port. More than half the Senators and
nearly half the House are already
pledged to our amendment Many
Senators and Representatives oppose
suffrage only because the President
opposes ii. If the President should
declare for national suffrage he could
undoubtedly influence enough votes
to secure the passage of the amend
ment through Congress; and this VIC
tory for democracy could be accom-
plished without struggle or grief,
without the loss of a single life, or
any waste of national wealth.
But instead OF assisting women to
win freedom. the government is try
ing to intimidate those who ask for
freedom And the women are de-
termined to go on asking for it, know
ing well that the very effort of the
government to suppress them is carry
ing their message all the more clear
iy to tie whole people.