The Washington times., 1922-06-14

responsible for the convent,
WHO are the twelve greatest
women In the United States?
''Who are the twelve women our
Chilean sisters may best adopt as
guiding lightsf The League OF
Women Voters asks everybody's help
in answering the question:!
All Kinds Of Women. =
The league says II wishes TO give
a comprehensive list to Senorfta
Mandujano, restricted to women Of
no one party or State or occupation.
for the league is non-partisan, made
up Of all kinds of women voters, ana
not merely Of women Of one bent of
mind and one conception Of women's
place in the world"
Furthermore the league states that
"Senorita Mandujano wishes espe-
cially to write OF women who owe
their success to their own efforts,
to know what difficulties they en-.
countered and how they surmounted
them"
why the sum Of feminine great.
ness, or the measure Of II, should %
compressed into the persons OF
twelve able women any more than
into ten or twenty is just another Of
those mysteries which pop up every
now and then. But since Senorita
Mandujano wishes her dozen, she
shall have II. Here are some sug.
gestions:
Alice Paul, Geraldine Farrar, Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Gait. Ida TarbeIl.
Mary Garden, Cecilia Beaux, Edith
Wharton, Maude Adams, Amy Low.
IN. NrHy Pickfortl. Mrs. Minnie Mac.
dern Fiske and Mrs. Harry Payne
Whitney.
All of these women owe their sue
cess to their own efforts, all of them
encountered difficulties and sur.
mounted them. From those who
came up from obscurity and suffered
from lack Of money and opportunity
to those who were born to luxury
and struggled against its deadening
effect upon talent, each Of these
twelve, II seems I'd us, may call her
self one Of Americas great women.
Mrs. Gait Leads.
Every symposium and list of
highly regarded American women
has the name of Mrs. Carrie Chap
man Gait at its head. Mrs. Gait
fought quietly for the rights of
women when II was quite impolite
even to think women were actual
citizens. Mrs. Gait was never pain
fully aggressive in her struggle for
others Of her sex, and always won
points without making enemies.
Early in life she was an editor, later
State organizer Of suffase societies
and, according to an admirers culogy
Of her, she Is:
IAN all-round woman, hard stu.
dent. logical thinker, accomplished
hostess. loyal friend, possessing the
housewifely gift and the genius Of
generalship."
When Susan B. Anthony began to
feel the burden Of increasing age she
delegated much Of her work to Mrs.
Gait and named the younger woman
as the successor Of my choice. "
Her lack Of thought for self has
made Mrs Gait unmfndful Of the
powers that are hers and the sue
cessive glories that have come to her
In the years Of fighting for suffrage
American Woman Suffrage Associa.
ton.
Mrs. Gait, II she would, could Civ.
a splendid interview to the South
American visitor provided she would
relax from her rule Of never being
interviewed upon any subject but
suffrage.
Struggle Of Stars.
Determination has been The staff
that nearly all Of these superwomen
of ours depended upon, and It has
brsced them against all obstacles
Maude Adams and Mrs. Fiske, II
caught in a reminiscent mood, might
tell the anxious senorita Of their re.
lentless wills that won over early
struggles behind the footlights.
At five Miss Adams began her "a
reer, and began to raise herself by
her own slipper straps, as she did all
through her public life, from the
pioneer days and during her long
years Of success under Trohman
Mrs. Fiske, too, has that which the
advance Of years cannot take away,
great native ability, which ner knowi.
edge has adjusted SO pleasingly TO
many memorable parts.
In Literature.
Both Of these women by holding
the highest standards for themselves
and their profession, have done what
a thousand reformers could never do
they have elevated" the stage.
Are they not Of the truly great?
To branch off to a. very different
line Of endeavor, there is Amy Low.
ell. Pioneer Of the modern poetry
her name will surely live
in literary history for her influ-
ence and achievements, Miss
Lowell some day may be cited for
the Hall of Fame, but still-at