The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-09
DOUBTS
INFAMOUS
WOMEN
octogenarian Disagrees with
Official List-Stumped
Picking His Own.

NEW YORK, May 9.-For once
in his life Chauncey M. Depew was
stumped, The versatile octogenar-
ian. who has never failed to recall
a story, a fact or date, racked
his fine brain and swung his eye.
glasses in vain. No inspiration
would come.
The twelve most famous women
in America? What thing to ask
a man who has just finished cele-
brating his eighty-ninth birthday!
After a close study of the list
picked by the National League of
Women Voters, he finally decided
that a dozen Is overstating the
case.
"If there were twelve really
great women In America I wouldn't
have to think SO hard" he said.
Their names would come to me
spontaneously. Women who get
into the Hall of Fame should be
universally known and I don't know
one-half of these women. That is
where this list falls short. The
juryman on this question Is the
man in the street"
Depew Puts Eight on List.
This is as far as Mr. Depew got.
Nancy Aston
Mrs. Harding.
Jane Adams
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait.
Gertrude Anterior.
Edith Wharton.
Louise Homer.
Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney.
On the League of Women's Vot-
! ers' list were the names of Jane
Adams, Cecilia Beaux, Anna Jump
Cannon. Carrie Chapman Gait
Anna Botsford Comstock, Minnie
Maddern Fiske, Louise Homer, Julia
Lathrop, Florence Rena Sabin, M
| Carey Thomas, Martha Van Rens-
selaer and Edith Wharton.
But Mr.. Depew found it hard to
confine his list to the names of the
living. The two great American
women in his eyes continue to be
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Julia
Ward Howe. He thinks there is q
logical reason for the women OF
today failing 10 carve for them
selves an equally prominent place.
/ You have to have opportunity
as well as genius to win nationwide
and worldwide recognition" he
said. There is nothing in the
present condition of the public mind
or understanding which furnishes
the opportunity for a. great genius
TO capture the world 1t Is not
because living has become so com.
pleX. but because the occa sions don t
exist now. A great deal depends on
! he
phere. Harriet Beecher Stowe lived
at time when the slavery cues.
tom was most acute and she wrote
a book which caused a revolution.
Julia Ward Howe wrote a poem
that carried everything before IT..
Mr.. Depew believes that If an.
other Dickens. Thackeray or Scott
lived now he would receive uni
versal recognition. No writer to
day has the complete attention that
those men were given, he said
There was time when adults and
children alike waited breathlessIy
for the next Dickens book to come
out.
mo one that l know of today
is universally discussed" continued
Mr.. Depew. Possibly the woman
who has received the most world
wide attention Is Nancy Aston, a
thorough.going American One
would certainly nominate her fol
any women's Hall of Fame. Her
career has been spectacular and
every one knows about her.
Mrs. Harding also deserves q
place in this list. She is not rep
resehtative of any of the arts, YET
for general humanization / don't
| nf oS.I,
equals that of the First Lady OF
the Land. Her receptions, teas and
luncheons, in which she makes q
point of showing the inequalities
of the White House to women
visiting Washington as members
| of conventions or for some special
work, bring her in close contact
with women from every State In
the Union.
"If her health continues and she
keeps this up, It's effects will
eventually reach every hamlet OF
the United States and there will
be people who can say in each
community: Il have visited the
White House and been entertained
by the First Lady of the Land.
No one else in the country Is doing
or can do this.
But i am forced to admit thai
there is no one person, man OIL
women. who commands universe
attention as in the old days"
Mr.. Depew finally was forced tt
admit that he had come to thu
end Of his resources in choosing
famous women. The contest is no
closed yet but his brightest Sun
day afternoon mood was not equa
to the task of picking a dozen. The
League of Women Voters list il
all right as far as it goes, h
thinks, but if Edith Wharton, why
not Gertrude Atherton? If Cecilia
Beaux, whose painting he does no
know, why not Mrs. Harry Payne
Whitney. whose sculpture is widely
recognized?
THE whole point is that the
names of really great women would
come to you inVoluntarily," he re
marked after long thought. Tn
blessed il l can think of anyone
else"