The Cordova daily times., 1920-05-14
FRIDAY, MAY IA, 1920
STUDY IN HUMAN NATURE

Political picketing, often of the peaceful sort and more often with militant accompanimelts is running epidemic in Washington again and the thousands of tourists who make the capital their Mecca all year slowly parading about the streets bearing banners with wide variety of inscriptions.
 Seemingly, every cause which wish es to impress it's demands, argu- ments or protests on "the powers that be" ultimately adopts the picketing system which was first introduced in the capital by a branch of the woman suffragists about ten years ago. The latest to adopt tie methOd are women espousing the cause of Irish freedom and they have directed their protests against the British embassy. Their campaign has caused somewhat of a furry because it is not without it's international aspects.
 The British embassy for instance, is foreign territory. Whether the side walk in front of it is American terri tory, no one has essayed to decide. Moreover, there is Q federal law which penalizes any person who assaults" 8 diplomatic representative of friendly power. Whether the picket ing of the embassy is an annoyance to the British diplomats, and whether ar annoyance is an assualt within the technical meaning Of the law is an additional question.
 Then there is involved the question of preserving the public peace, for disturbances often grow out of the picketing. Often, some woman. pass erby, expresses her disagreement with the banners the pickets bear by ripp- ing them to bits and pedestrian and them to bits and the pedestrian and the picket have a scrimmage, with sometimes regular old fashioned hair pulling. The police patrol clangs up, both parties to the quarrel arc hur- ried off to the station house. Relief pickets immediately arrive. The pO- lice court gets another case.
 The personnel of the picketing forces furnishes an interesting study in human nature. They are women apparently from all walks of life. Many bear evidences of breeding, ed wcation and social position. Others are women who appear to be of the opposite types. Every picketing cam paign brings out new charges that many pickets are "hired' for the work by others who are willing to provide substitutes and do not wish to picket in the streets in all sorts of weather.
 The suffrage pickets who made record getting arrested, tanning the police court docket and finally having hunger strike, patterned after their British sisters, were composed appar- entIy of women of all classes. Many whose names are nationally known did picket duty, spent nights in a police station cell and finally did time in the work house. Some of them, if the truth were known, were freed by husbands who disapproved ef their actions. There was more than one case of a husband prOmis- ing the authorities he would under take the responsibility of making his wife "be good" and more cases of stormy scenes at the workhouse when the husband arrived to take the wife home over her protests.
 With the adoption by Congress of the resolution for the woman suffrage amendment to the constitution, the suffragist laid off, but they had fired an example in local association of negroes who were demanding the dis missal of a man of their race from the local school administration. So the the streets surrounding the school ad- ministration building bearing banners. Their picketing, however, was inter- mittert, and the negro educator to whom they objected still holds his job
 British humor all but broke up the