Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-29
Women MiIitaristic?
Congress Questions

6outinucd From Pase One
. o00, 900 monthly. Outstanding certif-
oates of indebtedness exceed balances
Of cash.
Whispers Of Sixth Loan
The first whispers of n sixth loan
were abroad upon the morning airs to-
day. Naturally, IL we are to prepare
for new wars, we shall either have to
live more simply or find an inexpen-
sive way to military strength.
a It is not strange that Congress
which sincerely believes that perma
uent peace is impossible should be
thinking seriously of militarized
school system. And if anything can
convince Congress that there is and
always has been a practical side to
Mr., Wilson'S character and realistic
purpose in his plans it will be the
financial dilemma in which every hon
orable member who thinks at all now
wauders and gropes like lost soul.
As usual the various committees
which have set out to save the nation
are following the line of least resist
ance. They want to cut and economlze
at all hazards. Secretary Daniels
asked for S45 ,000, 900 for military aero
na,rtics. Much of this money was to
be spent in the development OF war
planes. The navy iiers will be lucky
if they get half the sum requested oV
the secretary. Congress, it may be re-
called, never was optimistic about ava
4 ton. 1t has always been able to re
fuse air appropriations cheerfully.
Suffragists will tell you that there
are venerable men in the Senate who
are not vet altogether reconciled TO
steam. And the day has come when
slffragist opinions are taken seriously
In Washington because the suffrage
amendment will go through the Senate
next week and not less than IA 4,OOO,OOO
women will vote at the next presidential
election.
This prospect and the prospect of eX-
tensive military training in the schools
of the country serve together to trouble
the minds of men who are charged with
the care and cultivation of political is
sues. What will the women of the
country think of school system even
mildly militarized?
And Women? What DO They Want?
Are women militaristic? No one
here seems to know. Even a senator
of the United tSates does not profess
an ability to read the mysteries Of
feminine disposition. A senator will
say mournfully. like any ordinary NOR
tai, that you never can tell. Mean
while any one who can tell definitely
whether women are militaristic at heart
will be received gladly in the high
councils of either great party.
The suffrage amendment has been
before the Senate for forty one years.
And there never has been a day in all
that time when one or more women
did not keep Il watch and a vigil in
the capitol corridors. The oldest sena-
tor cannot remember session when
women awere not waiting at Office doors
or elevator entrances to plead their
cause, to be avoided, snubbed or po-
litely reprimanded by members who. in
later years, found the pressure almost
unbearable.
''They used to come the old fash
ioned poke bonnets, said one venerable
senator.
And those that used to come are
dead, but others came after them. Often
I've been sorry that | didn't turn and
give them their vote. God knows
< they. cant do any worse with it than
the rest of us have done
Others came after the original sup
porters of the Anthony amendment and
they came in increasing numbers. For
years now their picket lines have been
familiar in the Senate corridors. They
waited at Office doors and at the ele-
yator entrances-urgent. frightened.
appealing, threatening, patient. but
never at peace.
Senators in later years would ride
from floor to floor in the elevators to
avoid watchers who waited them at the
different gates, only to find that wher-
ever they went woman who might be
young or old, spirited or tired, happy
or sad, met them with the monotOnous
& question that seldom changed.
Why didn't you vote for suffrage?''
Persistence Finally Victor
For two generations that simple query
has been dinned into the ears of tn,
senators who came and went. Som,
met it gruffly and ran away or fount
\ secret passages to their Office through
the labyrinth of the big building anC
thus found temporary peace. Others
stopped, politely, firmly refused AM
gave reasons that never convinced tn
pickets who smiled and put the sam
question in the same way at the mex
encounter.
It is fashionable outside of Wash
ington to suppose that the Nationa
Woman's party-that is, Miss AliC
Paul's association of militants-helpc
suffrage not at all and that the credi
for the gradual success of the vote
movement lies with the state associa
tons.
This is not altogether true The mil
itants, whatever you may think of thpi
method, were efficient They went a
their task with religious zeal. The
were seldom as impolite or headlong n
the reports of their activities made
appear. They stood and waited. The
wanted the Senate TO see them stan
and wait and they made it plain thG
there would suffragists standing an
waiting in the corridors if the vote wa
not granted, when the great buildin
fell to decay. The vote has been wo
by q sort of patience that men do M
have and cannot understand.
But for Senator Hoke Smith, Demo
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