Evening star., 1925-07-09
Why Women Do Not
Succeed in Congress
To the Editor of The Star:


a personal conversation to a man
newspaper friend, but not for publica-
tion, that Congress was no place for
a Woman-She did not fit in. The
newspaper man agreed with her.
This particular Congresswoman was
easy on the eyes; she had made a
place for herself in social Washington
far beyond the average; she was truly
a helpmate to her husband in the po-
litical world; but as a successor to her
husband she could not adequately rep
resent her congressional district, nor
was she, as she confessed in the con-
Versation with the newspaper friend,
of much service to the country as
whole.
There were two chief reasons, she
said, why she nor any other woman
for that matter could do the position
justice. She said that craftsmanship
requires long years of training in eco
romic affairs as we'll as political his
tory and a natural bent for political
leadership, and that one must have
done something before one got to Con
greSs in order to command the atten-
tion of other members of Congress.
That there is an occasional exception
to the rule only goes to prove the rule.
Most of us have a very hazy idea
Of the machinery of government. Most
of us seem to think that gift of
CAB" is the earmark Of statesman
ship. But one has only to bear in
mind that George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson rarely made
speech, and that both were very in
different takers; yet both were con-
summate statesmen. on the other
hand, Daniel Webster, on being com
plimented for an able speech he had
made, replied that he had been 40
years in preparing himself for that
speech. Lincoln is known to have
been an omniverous reader-his short
Gettysburg speech is the classic of the
ages. Still Webster and Lincoln had
spent their whole lives in the study
the taick of the battle for human
rights-and leaders most of the time.
William Jennings Bryan, in modern,
times, is credited with being the most
constant talker and President Cool
idge the least inclined to talk. But
Bryan has held only one or two minor
political offices and one major office
for a brief period where he did not
fit in, although he has been seeking
major national offices since memory
runs not to the contrary, while Cool
office since he reached voting age.
Bryan has been a jack-of-all-trades;
Coolidge has specialized.
Probably the hardest working man
in Congress today is Senator Reed
Smoot of Utah. He's almost dumb as
a clam when it comes to talking poll
tics on or off the floor of Congress-;
but in committee work in the Repub-
lican party management and in Con-
tfa1 hn iz
of the acknowledged leaders. Another
great force in American political life,
but of an entirely different type from
Smoot is Senator Oscar Underwood,
who the other day said he would re-
tire al the end of his present term.
Underwood could talk and did talk on
occasion, and as a leader on the floor
of the House and Senate as well as
in party councils has had feW supe-
riors.
A study of the political lives of
these men from Washington and JEFF
ferson down to Smoot and Underwood
will show that they started early to
master the profession of statesman
ship. It will further show that no
truly great orator has ever been
President, with the possible exception
of Lincoln-but even Lincoln will not
go down in history as an orator, but
that these men rarely or never lost
contact with their early political
party affiliations-they grew with the
evolution of their party's political
philosophy. They won their spurs
by laboring in the ranks-they were
commissioned only when they had
done deeds of valor." They achieved
leadership only when they forced
themselves into leadership over their
l. of
service as buck privates" in their
precint, ward, city. county and State.
And they held leadership only so long
as they were available"
Speaking in the parlance of base
ball, the game of politics is a hard
boiled business. Bucky Harris and
Walter Johnson are heroes today and
dubs tomorrow-what the base ball
fan wants is a winner-so does the
taxpayer. Walter Johnsons wife
will never get job on the Washing
ton team simply because she is Wal
ter's wife. vet she may know ever so
much about the game of base ball and
is easy on the eyes"
In the game of politics the person
who aspires to leadership must show
his ability and prove the party in
tegrity. Though a man proves his
ability and proves his right to leader
ship, such as Roosevelt did, yet he
loses out when he chases strange gods.
La Toilette, with all his ability and
constancy to an ideal, failed to reach
the goal of his desire simply because
he chased strange gods.
A man may be said TO have reached
within striking distance of the high
est office in the land when he becomes
a Governor of a State, United States
Senator, or a member of the House of
Representatives. But it is a certainty
that when a man reaches Congress
he is among the top -notchers" in the
political game. There he meets hard
boiled campaigners who have survived
the contest of wits and fortune. Kind
ly men, honest men, patriotic men,
but slaves to eXpediency, bound by
custom to precedentS that have be-
come as much a part of our political
machinery as the Constitution itself.
The new member is not asked who his
father is, what social strata his wife
belongs to, how much money he has
but he is asked (figuratively). What
party do you belong to? What have
you done for the good of the party?
Then he is assigned to the most un-
desirable Congressman's private office.
the least desirable seat on the floor of
Congress and the lowest round on the
most unimportant committee-then he
is entirely forgotten, except that he is
watched with suspicion.
Then it is up to the new member.
If the whirligig of politics in the
Sticks has cast him into the arena
of Congress without preparation and
without special fitness to do his stunt
in the rough-and-tumble game of state
craft, where honors are reluctantly
accorded to the best, after long and
arduous service the new Congress-
man finds himself a "dud' If not a
aax,