New-York tribune., 1920-07-10
Suffra agists Assail
Attack on Cause by
Western Woman
Letter of Miss Annie Book
to Tennessee Legislator Is
Declared Falsehood and
Reveals Old Propaganda

Miss Annie Book, Of Los Angeles, has
written a letter to Tennessee legis-
lator declaring woman suffrage in
California to be total failure, max
ing women immoral and men puppets.
1t was like the good old times at
headquarters yesterday when the suf-
fragists heard about the letter. The
secretaries went rummaging through
dusty old files and found references
to the activities of Miss Annie Book
as far back as 1918. They found a
Angeles Suffrage Society declaring
Miss Book to be totally negligible"
person and her statements untrue.
Then Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait,
president of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association. had a
conference with Mrs. Robert j. Bur-
dette, member of the Republican Ma
tional Committee on Platforms and
Policies, who happened to be in New
York resting from her labors at the
Chicago convention. Mrs. Burdette
consented to fire few broadsides at
her old enemy and to set the world
right once more on the state Of woman
suffrage in California.
Never a Prominent Worker
"Miss Annie Book was never a
prominent worker for woman suffrage"
She said. 81 remember her we'll the
fornia. That was 1911. She was a
tourist. That letter which she wrote
the other day was word for word
Identical with letters she wrote then.
It wasn't true then, and it isn't true
now.
at is not true that women are in
politics for the sake of the offices.
have known only two women who were
personally anxious to hold office. We
have four women members OF the
Legislature this year, but none of them
sought the office. The office was
forced upon them by persons who
realized their capabilities and insisted
that they accept the candidacy. OF
course, once nominated they had TO 90
a certain amount Of campaigning. In
1914. the next year after Miss Books
letter was first written, there were
seven hundred candidates for office in
California. Twenty of these We're
women, but only six were on the
regular Republican or Democratic
tickets"
Endorsement by California
Miss Books letter said that if the
men of California had a chance to vote
on the subject again they would defea'
it. In reply to this, Mrs. burdeSee
quoted the resolution adopted py tne
Legislature Of California, in lslo' al
follows:
amply justifies the adoption of woman
suffrage in 1911; that so successful has
been the operation Of woman suffrage
that it Is generally conceded that were
the question to be again voted upon
by the people Of this state, 1T woulc
be Reimbursed by an overwhelming
vote, and that woman suffrage is one
of the important factors contributing
to the marked social, political and IN
fdustrial advancement made by our peo-
ple in recent years, and that any as
paragement Of the cause of woman sui
| frage attempted elsewhere, has nj
basis in fact and is signally disprcveo
by the acknowledged intelligence anc
discrimination shown by women voters
| in settling Of our great political prob
| lens at the polls"
| Another element which added to The
old-home week feature of the meeting
| at suffrage headquarters yesterday was
| the news that the Constitutional League
had asked the Secretary of State tx
refrain from proclaimSng the ratifica
tion Of the suffrage amendment wheI
the thirty-sixth state shall have rati
fed.
at is amusing, and it is heartening
| too" said Mrs. Gait. Probably the gen
eral public is not SO familiar with thu
t Constitutional League as suffragist
ere. II is composed Of the same groul
of white-haired men antis with who's
representatives we became acquainted
at suffrage hearings in Washington il
1918 and 1919. The valiant name which
this group gave itself in 1917 did no
serve to camoufage the purpose TO,
which it was organized. That purpos,