The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-13

If Governor Holcomb had been present at the brilliant Republican dinner last night at the StratfieId given by the members of the Con- necticut Woman's Suffrage assOcia~ tion in commemoratiOn of the fiftieth anniversary, and listened with inter est to the none too complimentary remarks made about his tactics in ex- ercising his will power against the calling of a special session of the leg islature for the ratification of the sui frage amendment, he would have wondered whether those tactics would ever win him the gubernatorial chair again. Is it because he is so obstl- nate and dares use that characteristic in matter of such great importance? It is because he really does not feel the necessity and progressiveness of the measure that he refuses to call special session, or is 1t because he stands by the will of members of the reactionary wing of the Republican party and does as they say and wish?
 Those were the questions brought up by the suffra gists at the banquet last night and each one was classed as a probable reason, but not one Re publican present who had been called upon to tellsof his sentiments towards woman suffrage, declared it justif1a bIe for the governor to be so obdu rate, obstinate and unmovable towards the passage of the suffrage amend ment in the state.
 U. Henry Roraback and his crowd are responsible for this,'' declared Senator John B. Dillon of Shelton, in forceful, threatening tones, that rang through the entire hall. He is re- sponsible for the defeat of the calling of a special session. As the chair man of the state central committee he is the only one who did all in his power to prevent the calling of the session.
 'I tell you." he continued with vigor, "Roraback and his crowd never passed any progressive act since they were in power, and if you suffragists are looking for the trubIe, and wish to find the reason why a session is not called, turn to ROraback."
 Miss Katherine Ludington, presi- dent, presided at the meeting, and called on various Republicans for in formal talks. Then came the great event of the evening. Miss Ludlng- ton presented ex-President William Howard Taft, suffragist. The entire audience stood up and loudly ap- p1auded the honored and distinguish ed guest.
 MT. Taft made 1t plain from the
 
 favor of woman suffrage, even when a lad in his "teens." He said he was brought up in a family atmosphere favoring woman suffrage and had re- tained that idea through his life. He said he saw no fit reason why a spe- cia1 session should not be called in Connecticut and good naturedly ad- vised the suffra gists to keep up their work with the hope that perhaps a session will be called.
 MT. Taft said in part:
 "In 1915, after I had been heck1ed at good many meetings as to what my opinion was on the subject of woman suffrage, I wrote an article for the Saturday Evening Post, at tempting to define my attitude, and 3n that I reached the conclusion that while I saw that woman suffrage was coming, and that I believed 1t would have advantages, and that it would strengthen the government with all the people by increasing the propor- ton of all the people who directed its course, I nevertheless thought 1t would be wiser to delay its coming with view of securing more educa- ton and better preparation for the exercise of the ballot for the average woman. I have now changed my mind on this subject because of the experience of the last four years There are three reasons which led me to this change.
 First, the great work which wo- men developed a capacity to do in this country and in the European countries during the war. It is not too much to say that the women, ex- cept in fighting in the trenches, did their full part in the war, women for men. They did it in the factories they did it on the farms; they did ii in numberless fields of activities, nee essary in order that the men at the front might have those things without which they could not live, endure ol fight. The women showed a power ot