The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-06-05

1t was in this year that Miss Alice Paul and
Miss Lucy Burns identified themselves with the
national association. Miss Paul was made chair
man of the congressional committee and Miss
Burns her chief assistant. The former, young
pale faced girl third suffrage fighter
of American Quaker stock, had served term
in Holloway jail for her militant activities under
the guidance of Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, then
the head of the WOmen's Social and Political
union Of Great Britain
Miss Paul and Miss Burns did not long re-
main with the national association. They organ
tied the Congressional union lines similar to
those on which the Pankhurst organization was
formed. In 1916 this became known as the Ma
tOnal Woman's party
The WOman's party leaders. the ''pcketing slf-
fragists," they often called, began to
work for the passage Of the eighteenth amend
ment, but they followed an entirely different
course. They adopted militant tactics they staged
the spectacular. Their success hay in a psyche
logical analysis of mems character hitherto not
considered in the suffrage campaign. "hey I'M
derstood the dislike, almost fear that men have
of being ridicued. And the Womans party lead
ers played on that fear. They caused senators
and representatives to be laughed at and ridi-
culed whenever they could, and they did not
draw the line at the president.
The Womans party organizers went to prison.
and Miss Paul was forcibly fed Her followers
ready and willing to submit to the same
treatment. Many of them did go to O.coGuan,
where they were treated like ordinary prisoners.
They told of their treatment in detail after they
were released and later they organized the "Pris-
on Special" a train which toured the country
and carried most of the women who had been I'M
prisoned for having pcketed the White House.
Both organizations have had representatives
in each of the states where the eighteenth amend
melt was to come before the state Legislature,
whether in regular or special session.
The League of Women Voters has been cr'ti-
cized as tending to keep women out of tho plr-
ties. AT the Chicago convention Mrs. Gait said
in reply:
For go years we have been appealing IT, the
parties for the vote. Is If possible for us now to
remain outside of those parties and obtain the
things wish without petitoning them?
IF we are still to be petitioners, what was the
idea of getting the vote?
More and more the parties are becoming The
powers in this country Instead of appealing 10
them. 1t is better to get the inside and get the
things you desire.
You'll discover that yur Illusions VIII he
shattered and. if you not careful your be
lulled into the satisfaction IF having reached the
political penumbra' where most of the men are
But if you keep going yOull find little denser
thing farther That is the 'numbra.' In that
you'll find the who doing things. form
not be so welcome there but that is the place TO
60 You'll find the real thing in the center, with
the door locked tight. You VIII have to open it,
OF the long, hard struggle Tor woman suffrage.
Mrs. Gait said In part:
I'VE should be glad and grateful today, hut
more we should be proud-proud that the years
of organized endeavor have been clean, construc-
tive, conscientious.
an every corner it sowed TIE seeds of justice
ctol To brp ~, hor n has
aided boys in high schools with their essays In
debates and later heard their confident votes Of
YES in legislatures. Reporters assigned to our
Washington conventions went on the first day
with contempt and ridicue in their hearts. but
went ont the last day to our cause and later
became editors of newspapers ana spoke to thou
sands In our behalf through Influential editorial
columns. Little girls came to our meetings lis
tened and accepted and later as mature women
became intrepid leaders
During these years it has rarely had a sal
aired officer and even then she has been paid less
than her earning capacity elsewhere. It has
been an army of volunteers who have estimat ed
no sacrifice too great, no service too difficult
1T has had great. peerless women in its ranks
all down the decades. Brave Abigail Adams with
her gentle threats of rebellion. Ernestine Rose
striving for property rights for women. Abby
Kelly fighting for free speech against mob
armed with rotten eggs. The Grimke sisters pro-
testing against taxstion without representation.
Silver-voiced Lucy Stone lacking up her own
handbills for meeting. of her own arrangement
DIR. Elizabeth Blackwell pretending not to care,
although the women of Geneva scorned Der, the
first woman medical student
"very gentle and winsome AEtoinette Brown
standing unmoved before the convention of cler-
gymen transformed into disorderly mob because
woman had been duly elected a delegate to
their temperance convention.
elizabeth Cady Stanton. with her matchless
state papers. Glorious Susan B. Anthony whose
indomitable will kept things stirring for 10 years
and more. And greatest Of them oil. with her
transcendent gifts, Anna Howard Shaw