Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1924-10-03
URGES WOMEN TO
BACK TOILETTE
Zona Gale, Distinguished
Authoress, Says He Has
Earned Their Support.
BY IONA GALE
Author of "Mlss Lulu Bett" and Win
ner of Pulitzer Prize.

NubHOT OF 'mlSS Lulu BeIt' ana WIFI
ner of Pulitzer Prize.
It was only after living for five
years in New York, where I had an
association afar off with the great
humanltarians and social workers of
the country, that 1 awoke to the fact
that in my own state LaFOllette had
been fighting their fight almost single
handed. Plenty Of remedial agencies
were at work, but these were not their
concern, nor his. His magazine was
in my home-my mother and father
had understood and revered him. and
| shall not forget my naive aStOnish-
ment when l opened that magazine
casually and saw there so passionately
advocated the labor legislation and the
social measures which l had been fee
bly, trying to follow. If he had dealt
in remedies the powerful machine
would not have questioned him. 1t
is when the good Samaritan tries to
find out the identity of the thieves
among whom the traveller fell that the
trouble begins. Who cares how much
his wounds are bound up with oil and
wine so long as the thieves make their
escape?
Senator LaFollette is first of all a
great humanitarian, a believer in the
infinite worth of the human being, and
in the infinite improvability Of the
human race" That the greatest busi
ness Of the human being like that of
all other life, is to grow, is a fact
which has been hidden from the ma
jOrity of politicians, but Robert La
Toilette miraCulously knows 1t. And
all his political life, whenever he has
seen a man or group of men seated
comfortably on a stone beneath which
other human beings struggle to live,
he has tried to move either the man or
the stOne and sometimes both.
LaFoIIette, the Candidate.
This Is why, If ever there was a can
didate who deserved the support Of the
women of the United States, it is Rob
ert LaFollette. Not chiefly because he
has always stood for them and cham
pioned woman suffrage 20 years before
it was respectable to do 50. Not chief
ly because he was one of the first gov
ernors to appoint women to state
boards. Not because he has so con-
sistently fought for the cause Of the
woman in industry. But because, in
some clairvoyant fashion, he under
stands the value Of human life above
that of every commodity; understands,
hn nd
heroic climb. 1t is women who have
always known its value best. But
they have been inarticuIate. Not even
in terrible mOments-Of disaster to
their husbands, the workers, or to
themselves as workers, or conscriptton
of their sons, or in the waste Of war
or the battles Of peace have they often
been able to say to their governments:
you talk always about property.
What about the cost to us? What
about human life? What about our
aspiration for our Children"
He campaigned for suffrage, which
was lost in Wisconsin in 1912; and
years before that, as governor, he
with Mrs. LaFOllette, opened the eX-
ecutive residence to the delegates to
state suffrage campaign, when all that
the public and press as a whole had
for them was ridicule. Which Is re-
minder that If Mrs LaFOllette goes to
the White House she will be one Of the
first women there whose grasp Of eco
nomic conditions is keen. Also, she Is
a member of the Wisconsin bar and
brilliant orator.
Foe of War and Monopoly.
l believe that all women, and all
other believers in internationalism,
would elect Robert LaFo GILLETTE If only
they could be made to understand how
intimately allied are private monopoly
and war. If only they would imagine
the absurdity, the impossibility Of
Ramsay Macdonald. premier Of Eng
land, and Robert LaFollette, President
Of the United States, blundering into
q war with each others countries, or
with anybody elses country. The plat
form says except in case Of actual in
vasion." Can anybody imagine either
of these men failing to use their
brains to quiet the profiteers who are
back Of a war?
In the lives of this generation there
has never been such q chance to serve
democracy by living for it for three