The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-07
NO POLITICS FOR
 FRENCH WOMEN
Regard Vote As Sign Of Weak ness Among Feminine Sex

rive tlLueS III the course or my Jour- nalistic career I had the opportunity of questioning women who, by their station in life, as we'll as by their per sonallty and genius, were the real rep resentatives of the women of France. Five times l received the same reply when I mentioned woman suffrage" and in each I found nothing but dis dain, scorn, or dislike for votes and voting, writes Stephane Lauzanne in the Worlds Work
 The first time I questioned a woman of note on this subject was some months before the war, when I had the honor of an interview with the late Empress Eugenie, at her Cap Martin villa, near Nice. In the course of our conversation we happened to speak of women's role in politics:
 Does your majesty consider it the duty. of all women to participate in politics ?"
 'No!" she exclaimed, and the reply was sharp and cutting Politics are cruel, bringing nothing to women but tears and pain. .'
 And, in the eyes of the empress, from whom politics had taken her throne, her husband, and her son, I saw the passage of flame of anger
 POlncare A SuffragiSt
 The second time that I posed my question was after the war, at the Chateau of Rambouillet, where I had the privilege of lunching besides Mime. Raymond Poincare. It was six months before the expiration of the president s term of office, and the conversation naturally fell on the coming election.
 l turned to the first lady of the land and asked:
 What would you say, Madame, if M. Raymond Poincare, were reelected president of the republic for another seven years?"
 T would immediately demand a di- vorce,'' was the quick reply. T simply hate politics"
 But" I insisted, T thought that the occupants of this mansion stood for feminism and woman suffrage"
 'No" Mime. Poincare retorted. ''There is but one feminist in this house. It is the president, not l."
 Several months later I had the oc- casion to discuss the matter with Mime. Millerand. The wife of the recent president of the republic has a sort of genius for organization. She en- ployed more secretaries and typewrit- CTS at the Elysee than the president himself. She created a social service bureau in aid of families that are vic tims of illness or unemployment, fa- cflitating the admission of the ill to hospitals, where they may be properly care dior, and procuring work for the unemployed. And she created many other things.
 took the liberty one day of re- marking, You are, Madame, at the head of real ministerial department stateT'
 T hate to have people talk about my department" Mime. Millerand exclaim- ed. T should hate to be secretary of state, because I would then be obliged to mix in politics; and there is noth- Why shouldn't you be secretary of ing l dislike more than politics. Poli- ties divide-and I like only those things that bring people together"
 WOmen's Duty To Rule
 'But," I insisted, 'in the. United States women play an. important role in the political as we'll as in the social life of the nation. What prevents our women from playing a similar role?"
 Mime. Millerand summed up her re- ply in one word: Tradition" q greatly admire American women for what they have accomplished, she continued. '"They are giving the world a magnificent example of energy and initiative. But they can do what they are doing because they are living in a new land. They could not have done all that they have done if they had lived in a country that has behind it 20 centuries of tradition, customs, and habits"
 It was thus that had my third re- ply from the lips of third great lady of France.
 l was dining one day, during the war, at the home of Sarah Bernhardt, who then happened to be in New York. An American guest recounted the incident mat had occurred in the house of rep reseptatives, at Washington, when Miss Jennette Rankin, the first American woman to sit in congress, had wept pust as the vote was taking place for the war against Germany.
 don't blame her !" exclaimed the divine Sarah. T would have done the same. People see me shed tears every night on the stage; but nobody has ever seen me shed tears in my privite life. Nevertheless. l wept twice during the war. l wept of anguish when I heard that Germany had declared war on France-and l wept with joy when heard that America had declared war on Germany. Our place is any where but in political assemblies We are made to rule over the entire world but not to govern our own nation"
 Afraid of Politics
 As for Mime. Curie, she persistently refused to express any public opinion on the subject. Quite recently, how ever, she gave most direct, although