Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

ME poIAItCd1 ycnI 4ooV OeBne AeAb
week. 1t begins on Tuesday in
Il precedented in America, and
with few If any analogies in any
country-the effort Of a woman, Ruth
Hanna Mccormick, to strip the Sena-
torial toga from a man, Charles S.
Deneen, who has been In the Senate
for five years and wishes to remain
there.
If Mrs. Mccormick succeeds on Tues
day In winning the Republican Sena-
torial nomination from Senator Deneen,
and II, thereafter, next November she
wins the general election against the
Democratic candidate-in that event
Mrs. Mccormick will have distinction
unique, indeed. She will be the first
woman to be elected a United States
Senator. (She will not quite be the first
woman to sit in the Senate, because a
few years ago there was a vacancy in
the senatorship from Georgia, which
occurred few days before the end Of
a term, and the Governor of Georgia
paid compliment to a very old and
much honored lady of that State by
appointing her Senator for few days.
Nation Will Watch.
In this Illinois Republican primary
A1CAb 4QCcOdy IALcIC are ISSUES, Oh COURSE,
but to the country outside Illinois the
great interest will attach to the extra
ordinarineSs of the staging, a woman
contending against a man on normally
even terms for senatorial nomination.
Mrs. Mccormick is a daughter of Mark
Hanna, who played big and forceful
role in American politics from about
1890 until his death in 1904. Mark
Hanna, a Cleveland, Ohio, business
man. brought about the nomination
Of William Mckinley in 1896, managed
the presidential campaign of Mckinley
against Bryan on the spectacular free
silver" issue, became chairman Of the
Republican National Committee during
one Of the most prosperous periods Of
the party's history, originated the ex-
preston "standpatter" by saying in
1899 that "all the Republican party
needs to DO is to stand pat" and be-
came Senator from Ohio. While Hanna
was In the Senate his daughter Ruth
was married, President Roosevelt jour-
neying to Ohio to attend the wedding
Ruth's husband was Medill McCor-
mick, member Of the family that has
long been the dominating owner of
the Chicago Tribune. Some score Of
years later, in 1919, Medill Mccormick
became Senator from Illinois and died
in Office in 1925. Consequently, if Mrs.
Mccormick should win next Tuesday
and then win in November, she will be
unique in several respects-daughter Of
Senator, wife Of a Senator-and a
Senator herself.
One might devote this article (and
many more) to the purely feminine as
pect of next Tuesdays contest, or rather
to the subject of women in politics and
as ofnceholders. We had, last January
IS, the tenth anniversary of an amend
ment to the Constitution-the prohibit
ton one-and We did much writing and
talking about it. We shall have next
August another tenth anniversary of
another constitutional novelty-woman
suffrage amendment.
What is to be said about the record
of 10 years of women as voters, as
eligible for all Offices and as actual Of
flceholders? Just what has it meant?
Has it had any measurable effect? In
what respect is American politics Diff
ferent from what it would have been
If the woman suffrage amendment had
never been adopted? Have women run
for Office or held Office as generally or
less generally than was anticipated by
the workers for suffrage 10 to 20 years
ago?
Women's Claims Lacking.
lie ldulCS nave dllCduy OCSulA W 4AOANa
their celebrations in anticipation Of the
tenth anniversary in August. In their
speeches one does not find much answer
to the questions above. One would like
to see concrete statement, with con-
vincing illustrations, of the many
changes that have come in politics
which can reasonably be attributed to
women suffrage.
One casual impression that has come
to- the writer is the frequency with
which women in high political positions
have entered Office chiefly because OF
their relations to their husbands OF
some other male member of the family
A few women, such as Mrs. Mccormick
in Illinois, have run for Office on their
own merit, using their own skill in poll
tics and making their appeal on their
own talent and availability.
But the whole number of women who
have been elected to high Offices is very
small and the bulk of them have been
elected as acts of sentiment The two
who have been governors have held
their positions as successors to their
husbands. In Texas, ma" Ferguson
was elected governor after PA" Fergu-
son had encountered severe disapproval
from the State Legislature. That seams
to have been case of electing the wife
as VlIlQlCdIlOu VI IIlS AuSUdIlO. IL
wyoming, Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross wa:
elected governor in 1925, to fill the un-
expired term of her husband who hac
died in the same Office.
OF the or 10 women who have
been in the House of Representatives al
Washington, most have been elected as
the immediate successor of husband
who died-in one case of father who
died. It has come almost to be the rule
that when a Representative dies the frs
person considered as his successor is his
widow. Frequently the widows seem tt
make good to the satisfaction of theil
constituents. Two widows now in Con-
gress are serving in their sixth year
having been elected and twice re-
elected.
Many widows Placed in Office.
OF all the women who have held Of
| fees as high as governor or member o.
Congress, fully three-fourths have beer
widows Of their predecessors or have
otherwise been elected chiefly because
of their families. This means to sug'
i France Lists 90 G