Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-11-30
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Women Who Get the Blame for Hav-
Ing Boosted Political Candidates
Would Like to Know What ls
Going on Behind Closed Doors
BY SARAH ID. LONYRIE

| SHORTLY after the primary elections In
| ~ this State a questionable was sent out to
| the Republican women leaders in the coun =
ties asking for data on election results. /
looked over number of those that were re-
| turned from tho counties with tho data sup.
piled. And I was amazed at the time with
the success which most women had had who
| were slated as candidates for various Offices
in the county primaries. In one county SO
| per cent Of the women put up had gotten on
| they Jared at the November election.
| The fact that the Republicans Of this
| County of Philadelphia failed to slate a sin :
gle woman candidate reflects not so much
on the power of woman in the community
as on the weakness arising out of the local
factions. "A plague upon both your
houses was the sentiment of many of the
city voters who thought Of themselves as
| Republicans rather than Varieties or Trai.
| ncr. Mayor ties on November T.
The citizens of Verona were no doubt just
as impatient and as cynical about the rights
| and wrongs of the Montagucs and Capulcts
! when 1t came to n show of hands in q street
| brawl.
| PCT It would be a mistake to misjudge
- Pennsylvania by the almost sullen lack
Of interest that marked Philadelphia Even
in the nearby counties. such as Bucks and
Montgomery and Chester, the womens pre-
| election activity and the women's vote
counted materially both for interest and
| results.
Meanwhile the thing that had been pre-
| dicted as q result of the woman's vote, by
both friends and enemies, has not yet for
| tunately matertalized, l. e., a woman party.
| Those who feared it as q threatening dan
| ger felt sure that causes and candidates and
sense of power would unite women to fight
men at the polls. Those who hoped such q
union would be possible believed that in no
| other way could women make their power
| felt at the polls.
The great majority believed what they also
hoped, viz, that voting would no longer be
| an affair of sex, but an affair of family, or
at least an affair Of individuals.
| 60 FAR. however, the male voter con-
| ~ tinues to pre.cmpt most of the Offices the.
| bulk of the party power. and 90 per cent Of
| the legislative programs, partly from habit.
: and partly from the cautious fear that the
| now voter is NOT yet ready for $3.50 basis
! except on paper.
| 1t took the combined force Of most Of the
| women clubs and organizations for welfare
| IN the nlted States to get the so-called
| Baby Bill" through Congress. though it
| involved only q little over 81 ,000,0 900 and
a minimum of Federal patronage in the way
| of officers. During the year and a half this
| bill was worrying in and out of committees
| and being shelved and taken down and busted
| and sent on again, however, the bills Of
! individual citizens and Of corporations and
! ct parties involving millions of dollars went
| through both houses with favoring impetus
| and became laws. This, which involved mil
| lions of babies and their mothers. the one
| thing the political women and the unpoliti
! cal women Of the country asked for, hung
! fire. and was grudgingly pared down to its
| minimum and allowed 10 pass without en-
| thusiasm.
| A Ii Of which goes to show that if the
| "A women of the country were, as they
country who hold tbc re;ns Of mower we're
| far from ready 70 shore that mower as mart
! of the peroujsite Of Tho vote
wouId like 70 know for instance inst
| how much the marty chiefs Republican, or
! Dcmu,rat, are taking the wcmcn into their
! rounsoIs at this iuucturc yyhiIc thpy orc dis.
rr,Sing tue candidates in this state for Gov
! rrDor or for United Stotes Senator. or for
| TnitcI States Rcnrcscntotiycs ar for tho
! rryf NIoyor. Both Rcnublicans and Demo.
Gratis have made n very hearty gesture of
| placing women on their State committees.
| wonder if in giving Them the onus of the
| un,nc Rnnubiran or Democratic commit.
| zee member thcv Lnye a'so given them Whnt
wouId make that uomc worth wbilo--o rcol
| kno,riedgr Of what IS l.oinp on behind closed
| doors and nm actual power 70 effect the com.
! ing choices. If they have kent them out of
| their real counscls. then. under the Drescnt
fire and real obIoouy there is REGARDING tbe
| name ''politclnn. it strikes ~ the mon
| have handed the women they have gone into
! pprtnersLip with in name only n red hot
I nokcr bv the wrong end For il must be a
! humilioting situation 10 get all the discredit
! there is in being mixed up with party roI-
! rics" and boost rather ouecred machine
| Win tLn strength of your name and vet bn
tanning on the wrong side Of the committee
| door no wiser than the newspapers AS 10
! what is Going on within
! POSSIBLY. however, the women who are