Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-06
MSS RANKIN ASSAIkED
AND LAUDED BY WOMEN
Mrs. Horace Brock, Suffrage
Foe, Derides Congresswoman
as Unpatriotic
Ry M'LISS

Loud cries OF Nople! mashinceht
,ru. are proud Of her." relieved only by
t,nv solo-issuneS from the home-of
..rraitorv' "It's just what we expected
=. berw characterized the comments OF
,-oyninent women on the first vote cast in
C,nqress by the first woman ever to sit
there.
Mil,tarist women, pacifist women suffra-
Its and lust women, with a single excep-
.,.r ore standing solidly behind Miss Jean
matte Rankin, who, aften grueling all day
.,a all night sitting in the House of Repre-
..nta,ives. allied herself with an overwhem-
.a,v unpopular side by voting against the
,,sasure that will send us to war with
Germany.
Tho single exception comes from the anti
suffragsts.
Rrstling with Joy and with an exultant
,o,s in her voice, Mrs. Horace Brock. presi-
Asnt Of the antisuffragist association Of
pennsylvania held Miss Rankin's vote up
=. scorn and declared that the first woman
in Congress had covered herself at the earll-
A., onportunity with disgrace and shame
.xactly as the antisuffraglsts had pre-
dIcted she would.
or il lust what you would expect suf-
t,.oist TO do" she said, vindictively. "They
.ra ali socialists. Socialists have no patriot
lam Suffragists have neither patriotism
nor religion. The antsuffragists have stood
souare for preparedness and for their co an
.rv for more than a year. We are the loyal
ones. Miss Rankin's vote shows what we
r,ay expect from women in politics.
other women were as profoundly moved
a. Mrs Brock, bat somewhat differently.
"It was noble of Miss Rankin" said Mrs
Elmer f, Melick, extension secretary of the
American Red Cross and an ardent pre-
Daredness advocate. "Of course, do not
understand or sympathize with her attl-
tude I cannot see how any one can be
sor neace at this time, but Miss Rankin
bsa shown the courage of her convictions.
She has not feared to make herself un-
nopular at the outset. She was strong and
voted the way she believed. 1t is great
triumnh for woman. She has demonstrated
tbat she can rise above party and popular
onin;on TO do what she considers right.
tisr vote was particularly unselfsh in the
fact that she is unmarried and has no sons
whom she might have wanted to protect
from war"
In the opinion of Mrs. George A. Piersol,
former chairman of the Woman Suffragist
Party, the stand Miss Rankin took was
big and magnificent.
BIG, MAGNIFICENT
From the description of her manner or
casting her vote" Mrs. rIersol said, TT was
nMin to see that she did what she did with
hsr eyes open. She had no illusions about
the unpopularty that might accrue to her
from allying herself with the so-called
Sniserable pacifists.' II she Is human. she
would have liked to throw her vote in the
popular SCALE She was torn between her
knowledge of what the majority In the
country wanted and her conviction that war
gets us nowhere. She was not womanish'
in the sense that so many expect us to be
.womansh', but she was big, magnificent.
have great hopes of her."
1T proves what we have been contendng
all along" was the comment Of Mrs. Fred
erick Drinker, secretary of the Woman's
Suffrage Party, that the woman In poll
tics will not be bipartisan, but will vote ex-
actly as she thinks right. 1 may not SYM
pathize with Miss Rankn's views, but her
action was entirely praiseworthy. She
might have made a big hit by voting
yes, and she didn't do it. She's real. She's
there"
The suffragists as an organization will
not send a telegram to the first Congress
woman but many in the ranks who hold
her views opposing war; or who wish to
felcitate her on the brave stand she took,
have already done so, it was said at suf-
frage headquarters.