New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-02
Beware Women acihsts
The Question of Admitting Woman
Cc;egate to the Conference

Lsc;eyatc to the Conference
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The controversy among the
women on the question of admitting
woman to the disarmament confer
ence is regret.able for more reasons
than one. 1t may be no bitterer dispute
than men are wont to engage in with
more nonchalence, however,, but the
issue is of great Importance.
Congresswoman Robertson estimated
correctly the difficulty of finding the
right woman for the place. There are
many women of l>und and sane views,
but the word disarmament" attracts a
different sort-the radicals and peace
fanatics. Both men and women furnish
to-day some fragrant examples of ths
kind Of moral obliquity that makes no
distinction, in war, between the ag-
gressor and the defender. Logically
this is the whole story. Every civ ed
person condemns war as such, but every
rational mind knows that war is not
an end in itself, but product of other
barbarities In this connection 1.-The
female of the species is more deadly
than the male; in the minds of many
pacifi and womanliness appear to
fit one another, to the detriment of
common sense.
If woman is to sit in the confer
ence she must realize that the aim
is not one-uided disarmament, but
chiefly the finding of some just way
to reduce the causes of war and avoid
the rivalries or aggressions that lead
to it. Pacifisni, as we know it to-day,
is not the remedy, and the pacifst
w.man has not the well-poised mind
necessary to place among experienced
statesmen. The League of Woman
Voters, with its boast of non-partisan-
ship, is not the field in which to find
such mind. The organization was
formed in good faith, no doubt, for
educational purposes, but the delusion
of on-partisanship has attracted
every undesirable element among
women voters. Mrs. Feickert, of New
Jersey, was unjustly censured for her
discovery and announcement of that
fact. craftsmanship is not necessarily
narrow. Under our system any voter
can work more effectually through
party Affiliations. 1t is a question of
fixed principles. An organization Of
independent voters seems to be i'm
possible, or at least futile.
This is made manifest by the fact
that some women suggested by the
league as eligible FOR the conferences
were high in the councils of the Won
ans Peace Party before and during
the war. 1t is not clearly understood
that this organization was dangerous
agent of German propaganda in war
time The fact has been strenuousiy
denied, but any doubter has only to
discover a file of "The Four Lights"
the official organ of the Woman's Peace
Party. l investigated this publication
and exposed it, through the Vigilantes.
One feature was two parallel columns
headed, What Our Friends Say" and
what Our Enemies Say" The first
consisted of "militarstic' utterances
of the Allies; the otter of fine sen.i-
ments craftily put forth by the Ger
mans. My own acquaintance with the
paper was before we entefsd the war;
after that believe it was quietly
stopped. 1t had to be. Ny conclusion is
that no woman who had any connection
with the Woman's Peace Party should
sit in this world-important conference,
and I applaud Miss Robertson's sturdy,
common sense.
MARION CoUTHoUY SMITH
East Orange. N. j., Aug. 80. 1871