New-York tribune., 1918-05-13
Senate's Delay on
Suffrage Is Called
Blow to War Work
Leaders Say Women Aid
ing National Defence
Need the Vote
(Specfa, Dispatch to The Tribuuel

tHpectdt DtSpdtch to The TrtbNTe)
WASHINGTON, May 1.-THE delay
OF the Senate in passing the Federal
amendment for woman suffrage came
as blow not only to the organized
sutfragists, but to the women who are
prominent in war service work for the
government here. Women who, as
heads of the industrial, nursing and
food conservation work hold the high
est positions open to women, united to-
day in protests against further delay
In the inevitable process of their en-
franchisement. They pointed out that
the women in industry and war work
were as truly a part of the national
defence as the soldiers in the trenches
and that the vote was e necessary part
of their equipment.
Miss Clara B. Noyes, newly elected
president of the American Nurses AS
sociation, and director of the Bureau
Of Field Nurses for the American Red
Cross, said:
"The war has brought to nurses an
enormous task and responsibility
Peace will bring them an even great
er responsibility, for upon them will
rest the greatest part in the task Of
reconstruction-the upbuilding of fam
lilies who suffer from the war.
Vote Will Be Indispensable
"The nurse will need every power and
influence possible. The vote-which
means recognition as citizen-will
be indispensable to her best work."
7 uor n,
of the Women in Industry Committee
of the Council Of National Defence,
said:
"No class in the nation is so legis-
lated for and about as women in in
dustry, yet they have no voice in max
ing the laws that govern them.
1.-TWO conditions peculiar to the war
emphasize the danger and injustice of
this fact. Thousands of women have
entered industry. This entrance of
women and war conditions in general
create a tendency to lower standards
Of work. Women need political power
to protect themselves and the stand
ards of the work which they have taken
over from the men. They will have
no direct influence in industry or in
the legislation concerning industry un-
til they have political power. Wom-
ans enfranchisement is an immediate
war necessity which will enable her to
give and do her best for America"
Women's Duties Becoming Heavier
Mrs. Hilda M. Richards, chief of the
women's division of the United States
Department of Labor, expressed the
need for suffrage legislation.
"No department feels more inti-
mately the need Of enfranchisement of
women than this one," she said. "Since
the first of the year we have placed
thirty thousand women in industry. A
great part of the work they are doing
is war work. Many of them aEe wives
of soldiers now forced to labor. These
women would be able to protect them
selves, and we would be able to protect
them and the standards of their work
if we had the legislation that will he
easy to procure when women vote.
women war workers are as i'm
portant to the winning of the war as
the men in the trenches, and they
should be as completely equipped as the
soldiers at the front for their new work.
The vote is a necessary part of their
equipment"
Miss Martha Van Rensselaer,. head Of
the home conservation division of the
food administration, declared the duties
of government are resting more and
more heavily upon women.
AS head of the woman's branch az
the industrial service section of the
ordnance department, Miss Mary Van
kleeck was emphatic in urging the
passage of the suffrage amendment in
the Senate "