New-York tribune., 1920-03-11

take favorable action on the ratifica-
tion bill.
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait, president
Of the National American Woman Suf-
frage Association, hailed the victory In
West Virginia last night as the end
of the suffrage struggle. Her statement
read:
"People who have followed the
course Of woman suffrage from the
outside with Indifference, or small un-
derstanding of what has been at stake,
will have no comprehension OF the
real message which the West Virginia
victory carries to women. 10 us II
means that the nation is won, that
the seventy-year struggle is over, that
the women of America are enfranchised
women. West Virginia is the thirty
fourth state to ratify. The Governors
of Delaware and Washington have al
ready called special sessions for those
states. We know that they will ratify.
We are sure that Connecticut likewise
will, for good measure. We have come
to the end, the attainment, after a
struggle which for seventy years has
known not a moments respite. Three
generations Of women have been, en-
quilted in it and given their best to it..
Suffrage is won!
i H6 WORDS arg 6lMplc, DuC Luey
thrill as few words do or can.
"And now whatever comes out Of
granting the suffrage to women, 1t is
safe to predict that it will never be
responsible for any Offering to the gen
eraI welfare except those things which
have been we'll considered and intelli-
gently indorsed. Suffragists have had
training which few men or women
have had and it has led them to q
knowledge Of mass psychology, an un-
derstandfng Of the individual and a
familiarity with public questions which
few groups of people possess. All this
will now be directed toward making
the ballot telling and useful agency
for the good of the nation"
Miss Hay Sure Of Victory
Miss Mary Garrett Hay, chairman
of tho New York City League Of Women
Voters and chairman of the executive
committee Of the Women's National
Republican Committee, declared that
Vermont and Connecticut would ratify
before Election Day.
"Of course, it won't matter whether
they do nor not, as their women will
vote anyway when thirty-six states
sure these two Republican states will
not consent to be the only states out
side the solid South which fail to
ratjfy. They will want their women
to vote with the consent Of their own
legislatures"
The suffrage amendment was passed
by the United States Senate on June
4, 1919. The Twelfth Amendment,
dealing with the method of electing
the President Of the United States,
holds the record for swift ratification,
as it was ratifed> in 1904 in nine
months and thirteen days by thirteen
states. In the nine months since the
suffrage amendment passed it has been
ratified by thirty-four states.
In that time only six states have
taken unfavorable action upon it..
These are all Southern States-Ala-
bama, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi,
South Carolina and Virginia. The
other states have had no sessions Of
the legislatures during this period
Swift as ratification has been, how
ever, it has already cost the women of
New Hampshire their chance to vote
in the Presidential primaries, which
took place Monday. The primaries in
North Dakota take place March 16
and in South Dakota March 23 before
ratification can be completed, but the
women there already have the vote, SO
their participation in the primaries
will not depend on Federal enactment.