Evening star., 1933-04-23

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BY EMILY NEWELL BLAIR.
Former First Vice Chairman. Democratic
National Committee.
= ONE time ago the announcement
was made that the Democratic
women were to share with the
~ men the spoils of victory. Fol-
lowing close upon it came the
appointment of woman, Frances
Perkins, to the Presidents cabinet.
Later another woman, Ruth Bryan
Owen, was appointed Minister to Den
mark. In short time, 1t Is said, for
mer Gov Nellie Tayloe Ross will re-
ceive an equally important Government
post.
Naturally the rejoicing IS great
among the Democratic women pOliti-
clans. Thousands of them see prom
ised land suddenly open to their COL
onization.
Yet before any more of them march
upon Washington it might be well to
analyze these appointments and see
just how much hope they hold out to
these women who now expect to cash in
their political labors for governmental
salaries.
Let us begin by reviewing the pre-
Inauguration suggestions OF the cabinet
makers, revelatory as they are of the
unrealistic attitude toward political ap-
pointments for women.
Virtually every woman, 1t will be re-
membered, whose name had any news
value at all, was nominated by some
reporter for some portfolio. Even Jane
AddamS was taken into the Democratic
fold. Only her last-minute declaration
for Candidate Hoover saved Carrie
Chapman Gait from inclusion in the
lists Neither age, service nor previous
condition Of servitude was deterrent.
Some of them were named perhaps,
only in spirit of fun. And yet not
the most fantastic humorist would have
suggested similar appointments of men,
such as that of John Dewey. Henry
Ford or Clarence Darrow. 1t was only
in connection with women that imagi-
nations could thus soar. Millennium
appointments, they might be called.
They indicate that there still remains
a vestige of that conception OF woman
as a being who can serve mans daily
needs and yet remain an ethereal god
dess Or, perchance, faint echo Of
that quaint hope that women would
cleanse politics.
In an everyday world where Presi-
dents are elected through partisan ef-
forts such appointments would be i'm
possible. Yet noted social worker was
heard to say that she hoped there would
be no politics in President Roosevelt's
appointments of women; and another
brilliant head of the Childrens Bureau,
a lifelong and unregenerate Republic
an, would be elevated to the cabinet
which would be equivalent to naming
Eugene Meyer director of the budget.
Few on More Realistic Basis.
A few of the newspaper nominations
had more realistic basis, such as that
of Nellie Tayloe Ross and Ruth Bryan
Owen. Gov. Ross had been vice chair
man of the Democratic Committee and
in this capacity worked tirelessly for
four years to organize Democratic
ously for Franklin D. Roosevelt's elec-
ton. Mrs. Owen, the charming lame
duck Representative from Florida, had
campaigned spectacularly and effectively
for him. If women were appointed on
the same grounds as men-namely, that
political services justify political ap-
potntment-tnere was nothing fantastic
in the idea that they might be thus
rewarded.
But the suggesters overlooked one i'm
portant point. When woman is men
toned for such an appointment there
is invariably injected the question:
What training and experience does
she have for this place." I use the
word injected" advisedly. 1t is not
always present when man is being
considered; it has. in fact, been fire.
quently omitted. Yet it might be open
to question whether or not an expert
ence in commercial enterprise gives
training for the Department of Agri-
culture, or the acquisition of millions
qualities one for the Navy Department.
Nor does 1t necessarily follow that be-
cause a woman never has had expert
ence in the work of a department she
cannot make good as its head. Never
theless, there it is The assumption
that a woman has not the ability to
head a department is always present
until the contrary is proved.
Certain omissions Of these cabinet
makers are also worth noting. For ex-
ample, had they been naming women
on the same grounds as men. they
Engle who so spectacularly saved the
Maryland employment insurance bill q
few weeks ago.
As for services rendered" there she
was, all through the campaign, in the
Democratic national headquarters, do
ing volunteer work at the head of an
important bureau. The gentlemen
similarly engaged have all been men
toned for something good" It may
be urged that these men were politi-
cally important in their own States.
But 50 Is Lavinia Engle. Not only has
she served through two sessions Of the
Maryland Legislature, but she is known
throughout her State as an authority
on public questions. She is also promi-
nent in the party councils of her State,
standing high in the Ritchie-Lee or
ganization. It is not too much to say
that when it comes to real political
achievement of the type that pre-
suffrage leaders claimed wom n
suffrage would make possible, no wom-
an can match her record. If women
were discussed and evaluated in the
same way as men, it would surely have
been valid for some astute writer on
cabinet possibilities to have included
her.
Mary Dews0n Aided Cause.
If it was curious that Miss Engle
was not mentioned, it is amazing that
Mary Dewson was not She was the
pre-convention manager of the wom-
ems end of the pre-convention cam
paign for Roosevelt's nomination, work.
ing at least nine months before the
convention to win women delegates to
his support, and after the convention,
taking charge of the women's division
Of the Campaign Committee. where
she did the most extensive, intensive
and effective work ever done to or.