Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-11-10
LOST: ONE BRIGHT SPIRIT
OF PROGRESSIVE FEMINlSM!
We Shall Listen With Both Ears While
Suffrage Leaders Explain Gang Land
slides Here and In New York


rs MISS ALICE PAUL in the auditorium &?
Or Mrs. o. II. =. Belmont?
VIII either Of these gifted representatives
Of the National Womcn's Party kindly step
forward to the stage and tell the assembled
ladies and gentlemen what has become of
the shining spirit Of progressive femnism
which was to have saved the country on
| election days?
The delegates from New York, who have
Just arrived with the dreadful tidings OF
another devastating victory Of tho powers
! of darkness in their commune, will please
| cease weeping. This is not n musical comedy
and others in the hall desire to hear the
speakers.
The chair viewingswith concern what has
| just happened at the polls in Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and Manhattan, may be par
doncd for reminding the audience OF the
many happy assurances extended to the
country by Miss Paul. Mrs. Belmont and
others when the White House was being
pickct"d for the vote 1t would be idle TO
deny that tho political millennium Of which
these ladies talked 50 thrilingly is still quite
aS far off nS il was in til" day, Of oar re.
vcr"d President lIurri~on
II is for that reason that this meeting
Tho chair again asks that members of the
delegation from Manhattan control their
grief and bcgs that they emulate the silent
stocism Of the Philadelphia contingent
may deem it wise after hearing the nd.
dresses. to name a standing committee and
provide funds with q view to seeking out
the place in which tho shining spirit of
G., Al
being to b" immolatcd.
The chair refuses to believe that tho s. S.
.. i. +. was nothing but a fgmcnt of
dream that began with Susan J.. Anthony.
j. it thCr"forn in captivity: Has it lost its
way: Is it held in thrall BY the husbands
Of the land? Our esteemed tOwnsman, Mr..
Ware. used often to contend that wOmrns
habit Of obedience to the mon Of their fami-
lies would ever prevail even in the matter
Of the franchise. The chair is not yet ready
70 express concurrence with that view. And
there is an even more interesting aspect Of
the general question of practical suffrage
suggested in Il survey of the recent vote in
our beloved city.
It is plain that such ladies sought places
in the - Hhenl, 1900 minor Judiciary cncoun-
tered not only apathy among voters of their
own sex. They seem to have encountered
actual nntaGonism. Such votes as they rr-
""iv"d were obviously the gift Of instructed
battalons working under the direction Of
ward strutcgists.
Even more tragicaIIy suggestive is the
fate Of Mrs. Jennie G. Van Ness, repre-
sentative from Essex County in the State
Legislatures Of New Jersey. Mrs Van Ness
has the distinction Of being the only person
in the United States who took the VolstCad
act at its face value. This estimate does not
exclude Mr.. Nolstcad himself. Mrs. Van
Ness formulated the dry law now in force
in New Jersey.
II was Il law which actually would have
stamped out all liquor traffic The author
cried out for the support of women in the
campaign that has just ended. She rested her
case with tho women voters in district that
IS accustomed to boast of it4 intelligence. its
prosperity and its womrn's clubs. She was
overwhelmed. She was annihlatcd. The
shining spirit of progressive fCminism, ladies'
and gentlemen, was not at the polls in
New Jersey.
1t may have been golfng or shopping or
teaching the children their lessons Cor.
tanly it didn't help Mrs. Van Ness in her
hour Of need
1t j. needless now to remind this audience
that it was not at the polls in Philadelphia
o. in New York. Women may have voted.
but they did not vote in the manner pre-.
dictnd 10y Miss Paul, Mrs. Belmont and
other able spokcSwomen for the suffrage
principle.
The Gang that was all thrrc for the Ware
slate masculine. II had virtually no
opposition. Had the women voted they
could have saved the day for honest and
forward minded candidates in New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
i will be said, perhaps. that thorc was
no central issue involved in these local clcc.
tionN to inspire the interest Of feminine
voters, Bat Miss Paul and Mrs. Belmont.
vino will TAX" the platform in moment.
will max" NO sIrh cAcus"S. You may be- sure.
They know, and they know that womcn
voters shouId know. that the politics of the
country receives it's inspiration and takes
its color from ward elections like those thot
have just been carried by the most cynical
and ruthless profit taking combines ever
organized in the land Of the free and the
home If the brave.
Let us hope that the distingui,ncd guests
who fortunately are present may be able
to tell us what is wrong and when the bright
spirit 81 progressive fcminism may br OK
ppc,eI to light our way to better times
Indies and g"ntlemen Miss Paul. Mrs.
Belmont.