The Mena weekly star., 1917-05-24
SPLENDID TALK ON
 EQUAL SUFFRAGE
Miss Josephine Miller Addressed a Representative Audience at Court house-Polk County League
 Formed at Close. VI.

That was an intensely attentive
 and interested audience which gath
 cred .At the courthouse Wednesday
 to hear the address by Miss Jose
 mine Miller of Little Rock, National
 nrganazer for the Equal Suffrage
 I.eagtle, who, during her vacation
 from Red Cross nurse duty in the
 war zone in France is volunteering
 her services in the interest of the
 orcanization of County Equal Sui 4rage Leagues in Arkansas. 9The
 lime for advertising the meeting
 was very short, but thru the activ-
 ify of the Womans' Literary Club,
 inc officers of the Twentieth Gen.
 tury Mothers Club, and other or
 oanization, a splenddly representa-
 tke audience was brought together,
 and while many came to hear Miss
 Miller tell the story of her Red
 Cross experience, they were not
 greatly disappointed when she de-
 yoted most of her time to the uni yersal suffrage question.
 Miss Miller has a charming per-
 sonality, and a modest and pleasing
 Address, which at once captivates
 all those who come under the sound
 of her voice. Then, too, she pre-
 sents the plea of the suffragist with
 such simplicity and earnestness that il carries conviction even to him who does not want to believe in the doc Urine of equal suffrage.
 ' She reviewed at some length the
 development of the woman suffrage
 idea, pointing out with what pa
 tience women had worked and wait
 ed for the answer to their plea for
 Recognition as an equality with men,
 and that now. in this 20th Century,
 ibere were i9 states in which the women have been granted the bal
 lot. In her advocacy of the ballot
 for women, Miss Miller does not as .sume the attitude of the militant ssuffragette, but she discusses the .question entirely from the view point of the mother and the home .maker, stressing the idea that while |she believes thoroly that woman's sphere is in the home, she does not Believe that this sphere is circum- scribed by the yard fence, but that 3t extends to the schools, the village, Town, county and state and notion in (which that home is located, and that ehe wife and mother should have Something to say in the making of fhe laws of the city, county and state hnder which her children live, and 1that the mother should also have komething to say as to who shall be fhe chitd's teacher, and under what conditions children shall be housed |while in school.
 She plead earnestly for an equal bty of opportunity, coupled with an Fquality of responsibility that and |n0thing more, and suggested that |the three steps in the preliminary propaganda are, first. education, second, an equality of legal status, |and third. economic independence. At the close of the address she alrged the organization of Polk Bounty Equal Suffrage League, and the ready response with which this Suggestion was met indicated the in- terest that will be taken in the matter. The organization was per- fected by the election of the follow ing officers: Chairman. Mrs. Minor Pipkin; First Vice Chairman, Mrs. A.. H. Scoegins Second Vice Chairman, Mrs. T. R. Jones, Jr; Secretary, Mrs. N. R. 0neal; Treasurer, Mrs. E. J.. Baker; Chairroan of Membership Committee, Mrs. w J. Lauck; chairnan of Publicity Committee, Mrs F. J. Smith; Chairman of Pro- gram Committee, Mrs. s. M Rid ling. The first meeting of the local organization will be announced later.
 At the conclusion of the organiza- tion, she responded briefly to the urgent request to say something about her Red Cross experience, but did so reluctantly, for the experi- ence, she said, was such deadly monotony that she did not like to talk about it. She has been in the war zone in France. Servia and Bel- gium, and she has helped care for | he wounded and dying of all na- having passed thru sieges when there were stretches of 72 hours without sleep, but in July she Will return to the work, and in the meantime, instead of resting, she IS devoting her time and energies to equal suffrage league in the firm be- lief that wars will not cease until there will be universal equal suf- frage.