The New York herald., 1922-04-20
LADY ASTOR, GREETED
WARMLY, SAYS: WAKE UP

War Veterans OF America. and Herbert
j. Riley, president Of Overseas Club.
At the dinner also will be the Hon. Mrs.
Alfred Lyttleton. chairman OF the
women's committee of the English
Speaking Union OF the British Empire.
who arrived with Lady Astor on the
Olympic.
viscount Astor will accompany his
wife Saturday morning to Baltimore
and will probably return to New York
with her on Tuesday. when Lady Astor
is coping here for the day She will
rejoin the delegates to the convention
Of the National League OF Women
Voters Wednesday morning.
Speech of Lady Astor.
Lady Astors speech. In full. was as
follows:
II know that this welcome has nothing
to do with me. Ever since first entered
the Mother Of Parliaments I realized
that ceased to be a person and had
become a symbol The safe thing about
being a symbol Is this-vou realize that
you of yourself can do nothing but that
what you symbolic. gives you courage
end strength and should give you wis
DOM | certainly have received courage
and strength. l won't say too much
about wisdom.
My entrance into the House of Com
mons was not. as some thought. in the
nature of a revolution. 1t was simply
evolution. II Is rather interesting how
1t came about. My husband was the
one who started me off on this down.
ward career-from home to the House.
II have helped the cause OF women,
he is the one to thahk-not me.
He is strange and remarkable man.
First. it was strange to urge your
wife to take up public life. especially
as he is most domesticated man, but
the truth is he is a born social reformer.
He has avoided the pitfalls which so
many well to do men fall into. He
doesn't think that you can right wrongs
with philanthropy. He realizes that one
must go to the bottom of the causes
OF wrongs and not simply gild 1t up.
Helped Husband I'm His Work.
| For eleven years I had helped him
with his work at Plymouth. Mine was
the more personal side. ] found out the
wrongs and he tried to right them. 1t
was wonderful and happy combination
and ] often wish that it was still going
on. However, am not here to tell you
of his work. but it is interesting in so
far that it shows you how it came about
that stood for Parliament at all.
Unless he had been the kind of man
that he was I don't believe that the first
woman member of the oldest Parliament
! irr the world would have come from
Plymouth--and that would have been a
pity. Plymouth Is an ideal port to sail
from or to. 1t has been bidding God
speed to so many voyagers. ] felt that
| was embarking on a voyage of faith,
but when / arrived at my destination
4 g. ~ 49, \
upon me more as a pirate than a pill
| grim.
"A woman in the House of Commons !
1t was almost enough to have broken
up the House. ] don't blame thcm-it
was equally hard on the woman as it
was on them
Jobs Forced Upon Her.
II might add that, being the first
woman, I had to take up many causes
which no one would call exactly popu-
lar. also had to 60 up against a
prejudice Of generations. but / must
say their decency has never failed,
though my manners must have been
| somewhat of a trial"
After relating these incidents of her
political career. Lady Astor turned to
the more personal side of her political
4 life
Some women have always been In
politics and not done badly ether she
said. 1T was when we had the Lam
castrian kings that 1t was said the
kings were made kings by Act OF Par
liament-they did rule by means or
/ Parliament. fa
Then Henry the Eighth accepted the
principles of the Lancastrians TO rule
by Parliament. but he wanted that
principle in an entirely different way.
He made Parliament the engine of his
will. He pressed or frightened 1t into
\ doing anything he wished.
Under his guidance Parliament de-
fed and crushed all other powers spirit
ually and temporarily. and he did things
which no King or Parliament ever at
tempted to do, things unheard OF and
terrible. Then Elizabeth came along.
1t is true she scolded her Parliaments
| for meddling with matters which I'm her
opinion they had no concern, and more
than once soundly rated the Speaker of
her Commons, but she never carried her
ouarrels too far snd was able TO end
her disputes by some clever compromise
In other words. she never let Parlia-
ment down, and that Is what don't be-
lieve any wise woman will do, in spite
of the fears of some OF the men.
Now why are we in politcs?" she de-
thing much bigger than ourselves.
Schopenhauer was wrong in nearly
everything he wrote about women-and
he wrote a lot. but was right in one
hing. He said, in speaking OF women.
The race is to her more than the in
iividual.' and ! believe that 1t is true.
II feel somehow we do care about tho
race as whole. Our very natures
make US take n forward vision. There Is
no reason why women should look back
Mercifully. we have no political past.
We have all the mistakes OF sex legisa-
ton with Its appalling failures to guide
us. We should know what TO avoid. II
Is no use blaming the men. We made
them what they arc--and now 1t Is rp
10 US to try to make ourselvcs--the
makers of men--a little more rcspon-
sible
"We realize that no one sex can gov
ern alone | believe that one OF the
reasons why civilization has failed SO
lamentably Is that II has had one-sided
government. Don't let US make the mis-
take of ever allowing that to happen
again. she urged.
II can conceive OF nothing worse than
man governed world-except a woman
gcl arned world-but can see the COM
bsnation Of the two going forward end
making civilization more worthy of the
name OF civilization based on Christian
ity. not forced--a civilization based on
justice and mercy.
Urges Political Activity.
Personally I feel that every woman
should take an active part in local poy
ernment. / don't mean by that that