The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1918-06-01
SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT
By JOHN ID. BARRY


BY JOHN d. BARRY
The suffragists in Washington are
getting impatient. The end Of the con-
gressional session is approaching, the
hot weather has arrived, and the fed
eral amendment has not as yet CO j.,
up in the senate. A few weeks ago it
came very near coming up, greatly t.
their CONSERVATION. They were not
ready and they did not believe the
time was ripe. The report now is that
they are shy of three votes. They are
hoping that the president will get
those votes for them and possibly
more. But some of them are recalling
that, though the president made an ef-
fort to bring the Democrats of the
house into line, he did not by any
means succeed lin winning them all
over. They take comfort in the
thought that he went to work at the
eleventh hour; in fact, the very day
before the vote was taken, when sew
eral of the Democratic representatives
had frankly declared to their constit-
uents their determined opposition
Since that time, the fact that the pres
ident Is in favor of the amendment
has sunk into the consciousness Of the
Democrats in the senate. Nevertheless,
some of them are still obstinate.
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait, who has
been working hard for the past year
in Washington, both for the war and
for suffrage, wants to go away and
wants to have the vote taken before
she goes. She says she would rather
have the bill brought up now than let
1t hang on any longer, even if it has
to meet defeat. It looks as if she
might have her way. Besides, many
Of the leading suffragists, belonging
to both of the parties working for: the
amendment, share her desire to have
the senate commit itself. The leaders
Of the Womens party say that if. the
amendment does meet defeat they will
start work the next day on a new
cam paign. Whether they mean that
they will resume picketing is not clear.
They are on their good behavior just
now and they are making no threats.
But that they feel no regret for their
picketing in the past is intimated in
the plan they are now considering
of calling the restaurant they are
about to open in their beautiful new
headquarters facing Jackson park The
Occoquan, the prison where so many
of them were sent and where Miss
Alice Paul and others went on a hun
ger strike.
The president and the members of
his cabinet have been receiving dele
ga MS Of suffragists recently. To one
the president expressed his warm ap-
! prevail of the amendment. The men,
beers of his cabinet, with some excep-
tions have been more guarded. hap
! pened to be present at a meeting be-
| tween a group of women from differ
ent parts of the country and Secretary
Lansing. No one could have been
more courteous than the secretary. He
listened intently to the plea of the
spokeswoman to the effect that the
women were getting tired of waiting
for political justice while they were
devotedly working in support of the
war. Though he had been suspected
of being unfriendly to suffrage, largely
| because his wife was an anti-suf-
fragist, he went so far as to say: II
am always ready to support Whatever
| the president faVOrS.
| In the secretary of labor the suf-
fragists have one. of the most ardent
supporters in the cabinet. He said to
a delegation the other day: Even
when I was a boy I believed that all
the people who were subject to the
laws ought to have voice in the
making of the laws. I am for the fed
eral amendment because the workers
for suffrage have concentrated on it
and have turned the suffrage work of
the country in that direction, thereby
weake. A,g the work for suffrage in
the states. But I don't believe that
it's the best way out. I should have
preferred working through the states.
state by state, as a more practical
method. The difficulties of putting
constitutional amendment through are
| enormous"
The women argue, however, that
in several Of the states the difficulties
of changing the state constitutions are
almost insuperable. They are follow
ing what they believe to be the easier
and the more effective way.