Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-09
WOMEN KEEP DARK
POLITICAL SECRETS
FOR CAMPAIGN USE
Headquarters of Both Organi-
cations in Washington
Uncommunicative.
BY CAROLYN VANCE
Special Correspondent of Great Falls Tribune
CnnYIiEht. 1872. By The Great Eslla Trlhunk-

Washington. Oct. S.-Deep, dark
secrecy wells the feverish activities of
women in the Washington wigwams of
both parties. The two rival groups of
women, separated by only a few blocks
in the capital, have carefully screened
themselves from the prying, hostile
gaze of each other.
They bend over their seething polit-
ical cauldrons with tense muscles and
cryptic eyes, cooking up schemes to
win in the election. With the fatal
November Z only one month away, the
feminine political plots thicken. A
thin burbling stream of publicity mat
ter trickles from both headquarters.
The stream BUBBLES, but it doesn't
babble like the immortal brook, and
the real plans of the women remain
well masked.
And it has beer said that women
cant keep secrets.
Hungry reporters can tell you how
well they keep EN-. They have been
refused even a tiny sup from the
dainty dishes that are prepared. And
some of the women apparently are not
concerned whether reporters ever eat
or not.
Mo Eats" For Reporters
1--WE can't tell you all of our plans.
That would be giving away our side
to the democrats"
This from Mrs. Harriet Taylor
Upton. who has been always looked
upon as a tender-hearted. motherly
soul.
I'VE don't want publicity in this de-
partment at this stage of the game"
Mrs. Louise DOdson, grand organizer
of the republican women. looked up
with tired but not unkindly eyes from
her desk, piled high with correspond
ence. A steely look of determination
chased the WEAKNESS from her eyes
and she terminated the interview al
most before it began.
Being in play explained Mrs.
Newell Blair. the democrat leader, lis
different from what it was in the suf-
frage campaign. In those days we
used to tell everything we knew
sometimes before We knew it. But
now-well. you know we have some
state secrets"
They Keep Secrets
The women are having a beautiful
LlUDt httpibE thCOC SCtActcE Anu
being the custodian of state secrets is
positively too thrilling for words.
They are enjoying a reversion to their
little girl days when having secrets"
among each other was al e~cstatic di-
version.
After all. women are traditionally
the enigmatic sex and it is natural for
them to delight in mysteries and in
trigues. Active participation in poll
tics means that they can share in the
making of deep-laid plans that are
sprung upon their opponents at just
the right moment. And the women
are extracting the full flavor of en-
joyment from the game by being close
mouthed. making the oyster appear
like a chattering maggie in contrast.
They fight off the temptation to
loquacity in order TO earn the title "a
good politician
Terrific goings-on seem to be in
progress in both places. The air is
electric with activity. Women clerks,
their cohorts greatly augmented in the
last few weeks, bend over their tasks
with a devotion that seems rather
strange in Washington. Messengers
| scuttle in and out of the doors. The
postman bends low under the mail that
is destined for the women's political
headquarters. Telephone bells jingle.
The secretary of it all is rapturous
and romantic enough to make politics
as a career appeal strongly to the
feminine heart.