The Washington herald., 1920-04-07

Special to The washington Herald.
Charleston. w. Va. Aprn g.
When the snow falls In this old
town Of cramped streets, immense
chimneys and quaint porches It
quickly melts along a narrow path
that leads diagonally across the
/ the street from the Jail to the court
house, which footway John Brown
the abolitionist. trod during his
trial some threescore years ago. In
stead Of q miracle psoving Brown
tc be a saint, inquiry. unfortunately
for those who revel In the super
natural. develops the information
that the courthouse gets Its heat
from the Jail. and the heat-convey-
ing pipes run under the street
creating the snow-barren strip.
I relate charieston's pet story for
the reason that paths to the court
houses Of West Virginia may short
ly become symbolical of another
freedom-woman suffrage. Imagine
II you can 100000 women projecting
themselves for registration over
the mountains and through the val
leys of the state in the direction OF
fifty-five county courthouses. and
you have q vivid picture that brings
despair to Mrs. Ellis A. Yost, rati-
fication chairman Of the West Vir-
ginia Equal Suffrage Association.
and her associates.
Women on Their own Initiative.
The decision of the West Vir-
ginia legislature to await woman's
suffrage ratification before making
provision to register women for the
primaries" said Mrs Yost, has put
all our women upon their own tnf-
tiative. Bills were presented for
enrolling the women at the same
time men were being enrolled. but
they died in the Legislature. How
ever, by going to the county court
house late corners can vote"
Mrs. Yost got out her copy of the
West Virginia election laws and
read aloud that the report of the
registrar must be made to the coun-
ty court before the first Monday in
May and kept open until fve days
before the primary election. which
comes during the last week in May,
ito strike of or add thereto. as the
right may appear" She continued:
"Of course, we will be able to vote
in the general election in the event
of national ratification, as the
county judges have to place the
registration books with the regis
trars in each precinct, who shall
again sit for two days and register
legal voters who have not been
registered and who appear and ap-
ply to be registered. Many women,
who would have voted had their
names been taken in the usual way.
will not. fear. avail themselves of
this privilege. and equal suffrage
for West Virginia will not show our
women's full strength In the COM
ing election"
BIoch's Race for zone Woman"
! I was curious to know II State
Senator Jesse Bloch's race to
Charleston from California to cash
! his deciding vote for equal suffrage
was a compliment to "one woman"
or to "all women" and after talk
| ing with his wife, a statuesque.
handsome brunette and mother of
three beautiful children. must con-
clude that 1t was the singular ap-
peal rather than the plural urge
| that gave him national fame. Said
Mrs. Bloch: Il am an indifferent
woman suffragist. While my hus-
band always discusses his political
problems with me before deciding.
try never to interfere. 1 cannot
say Jesse has done anything in his
public career of which I dis
approve"
I must digress for a paragraph to
tell of the supreme satisfaction a
local hardware merchant has over
/ the Bloch episode. He said, with a
wide grin: My wife has been after
me for years to cut out the use o.
tobacco. Other day / came hom',
and asked: You are glad woman's
suffrage has Gomez She replied:
Better late than never Then 1
popped my surprise: You wom-
en- would never have got IL but
for Bloch, and he is a tobacco man
! ufacturer.' She amt said a word
against t55acco since. and last
night let ne smoke in the parlor." B"
Miss Katherine Ludington. a di-
! rector Of the board of the National
League of Women Voters. which
was born on the day that the Ma
| tional American Woman Suffrage
Association died, said to me: "Our
constitution gives as it's object to
foster education in citizenship and
to support improved citizenship
We urge every woman to become
an enrolled voter. but the league
will be allied with and support no
party. We are nOnpartisan in pol
icy and multipartisan in member
ship. Each State will have a branch
of the locals"
Miss Caroline 1. Reilly. headquar-
ters secretary of the league in
Washington. told me that the or
ganized women went as far as they
could toward universal compulsory
training by favoring universal
both sexes from the age of six to
eighteen" She was quite certain
that the disapproval of Senator
Wadsworth did not indicate the the