The New York herald., 1922-10-08
HONEYED WORDS NOT
ENOUGH FOR WOMEN
Candidates Must Tell How
They Stand on Live Issues to
Get Feminine Ballots.
EDICT BY VOTERS LEAGUE
Organization of 100000
Fair Citizens Put All Office
Seekers to Acid Test.

IA dlf ClUlZcllS IuL All OlIlcc
Seekers to Acid Test.
Special Dispatch TO THE NEw YORK HERALD
New York Herald Bureau.
Washington, ID. c., Oct. ..
Men candidates for office must qui
their spread eagle ways and speeches
and get down to brass tacks to get tn,
woman vote" is the ultimatum of th,
National League of Women Voters
which has 2,o00,0 900 members.
I'VE are not going to single out can.
didates for members to support, but we
shall demand the views of candidates.
says Mrs. Maude Wood Park. president
of the league. For ages woman has done
the shopping or buying for the home
and she knows just how far her money
should go. She knows how to ask ques'
tions and that is what she is doing ir
this campaign"
In many States questionnaires have
been submitted to the candidates ant
women politicians have catalogued the
answers. Elaborate questionnaires were
and Ohio. Senator Hitchcock was asked
a number of questions. He was asked
What is your attitude on enforcement.
of present State and Federal prohibition
laws?" and he answered: Have moi
favored prohibition, but will vote fol-
law enforcement"
That is sample of what is being
asked aspirants for office throughout
the United States.
Avoid Party Distinctions.
In Ohio candidates for the State Su-
preme Court were closely questioned by
the League of Women Voters. Printed
questionnaires costing hundreds of dol
lars were sent to them. No party dis
tinctions were made.
What do you consider your main
qualification for the Officer was one
of the questions.
For what changes in the administra-
tion of justice will you work if elected ??
was another, and What is your attitude
upon law enforcement"
All candidates answered.
Women politicians will not be swayet
at the polls by sweet talk. They have
called attention to a letter written BY
Southern Representative who. after
the Nineteenth Amendment was rati
fled set out TO win the new voters il
his district, using garden seed as q
chief means. His name is withheld by
the league, but ii is shown in confidence
to the curious. The communication, ad
dressed to q woman constituent, reads
MY Dear Madame: AS / glance
through my office window to-day / see
harbingers of springtime and flowers
The skies are heavily overcast. The
chill air of winter fingers. Fog and
dampness envelop the bare trees and
obscure the buildings. Even the inn
posing dome of the Capitol unwillingly
omerges from the humid gloom.
But the witchery Of hope enables me
to beckon the gentle zephyrs and balmy
sunshine of May when spring unlocks
the flowers to paint the laughing soil an.
hangs her infant blooms on the trees.
1t is of you and that glad hour / am
thinking.
IF you love flowers. and every
woman does. perhaps a tiny packet OF
seed forwarded by mail may. under low
ing care, tempt q smile more beautiful
than it's bloom.
'Tf the packet does not arrive in two
weeks a letter will start another tc
you"
This letter is being used by the
leagues field workers as a practical ex-
ample of what used to be-"
The new voters assert that they find
men woefully ignorant on issues vital to
the welfare of the whole people.
Educating Women Voters.
Our present campaign" said Mrs
Minnie Fisher Cunningham. sis to edu.
cate the women of the country to make
voting q habit. We shall trust to their
intelligence when they cast their bal.
lots. For instance, most women know
whether or not their schools are good
or bad. If bad, they will seek the
remedy. They know whether or not the
streets are clean. We are conducting
a campaign for better schools and better
sanitary conditions in every State. The
candidate who promises most along
these lines is the one that gets support
Two million women banded together for
reforms can cut a big figure in the fall
elections. We are not naming candi-
dates but investigating them"
"As matter of fact" said Mrs. Park
Our whole program might be described
as training in citizenship
The Census Bureau has found that
the women of voting age in the United
States total 29,4S3.150. The men num-
States the women 21 years old out
number the men.
The National Woman's Party. headed
by Mrs. o. II. =. Belmont and Miss Alice
Paul is more exacting in fits demands
this year than the League of Women
Voters. Ii Is demanding platform
planks. the leading one of which reads
1T will be the duty of the new ad-
ministration to remove all existing in
edualities of the law as between mer
and women"
I'VE have no candidates OF our own.
said Miss Paul, but we are asking the
nominees OF the various parties how they
stand on equal rights for women.
I'm 1916 we defeated twenty candi.
dates for Congress because of President
Wilson's suffrage record"
Miss Paul is asking for pledges oi
all State conventions. Women are
voters" she warns. yet the law dis
eliminates against women in many ways
and women still lack legal status and
legal equality"
TO Republicans she adds: The Re
publican party once declared for politca
rights for women. Legal equality Il
merely an extension of the rights OF
suffrage. Women depend on you"
A similar appeal is made to Demo
cratic convention delegates.
National League of Women Voters
leaders predict a very much larger WON
ems vote this year than two years ago