The Washington times., 1936-06-26
NOW
Women Com e
Into POWer
WIN RIGHTS
By HELEN ESSARY

Dy HELEN LO0ANA
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, June 26
Women are really getting some
where at this convention.
Their political triumphs are the
talk of the place. Likewise Its
best news.
Each day this week the Demo
cratic National Committee and
the party leaders have recognized
in some vital way the ability OF
women and their value to the
party.
With the acceptance of two OF
the suggestions of the women's
platform committee, the Civil
Service plank, and the peace
plank, far stronger than the Re
publican platform offers and
with the sensational appointment
of women alternates on the plat
form committee, the best pages
in the history of women since
the suffrage amendment was
passed, have been written.
Said Miss Mary w. DewSon,
chairman of the advisory com
mittee of the women's division, in
speaking of the advancement
women have made in party coun-
cilS:
"The men in the party have
been superb. When we sug-
geSted that we would like to
take our rightful place on the
platform committee, what do
you suppose they said? Merely
why didn't you think of it
SoOner?'"
Miss Dewson, the tall, witty
and sagaciouS general, who led
the gals out of the land OF
promises into the realm of
achievement, was a heroine at
convention headquarters yester-
day. Interviewers by the dozen
were following her about asking,
"How DID YOU DO TIP" She
laughed:
"You talk like I've pulled a
trick. 1t was neither a trick
nor a favor. We have got some
firSt-cIaSS recognition because
we've been working away for
months. When the men thought
we could be counted on, they
gave us . chance"
Miss Dewson spoke slowly and
very firmly as she added:
mind you, we got the chance
not as women but as people.
Independent people with minds
of our own. Remember-DemO-
cratic women are no StOOgeS.
We think for ourselves, but we
work, too. And it is only be-
cause we have proved, that we
can be counted on that we have
got our heads inside the main
tent. How long we stay inside
depends entirely on whether or
not we deserve to Stay-Or 60"
AS she was about to hurry away
for a long-diStance telephone call,
Miss Dewson added final word:
"AIl this success has come
about because we are getting on
to ourselves. We are emerging
from arrested development. At
last we've begun to grow up"
This new slogan, 'Not women,
but people," was emphasized in an
informal interview given by Miss
Fannie Hurst. Miss Hurst came
down from New York to talk over
the radio and express her approval
of the New Deal. At the moment
she was urging women not to ac-
cent their feminity, she was wear
ing an exotic costume of black silk
with an enormous and remarkable
black hat. The hat had small
velvet skull-cap-like crown from
which spread out huge tranSpar-
ent brim of something like cello
phane or the glass that goes into
windshieldS. Around her wrists
were gold bracelets thick enough
to anchor a ship. Gold chains were
draped across her blouse and her
black hair was Slicked behind her
ears into a tight knot at the base
of her neck.
Miss Hurst talked in dramatic
and effective phrases of the pro-
gress of women generally and Mrs.
Roosevelt in particular. She said:
"MrS. Roosevelt is a pioneer
among First Ladies. God help
the woman who comes after her.
Since she has taken SO vivid an
interest in public affairs no sue
Ceeding Presidents wife will be
able to go back to the tradi-
tiOnal pastel frame occupied by
previous White House ladies.
Zone of the extraordinary
things about Mrs. ROOSevelt's
position is the criticism she has
received from American women.
They can't seem to realize that
she is the most important
thing that has happened to
them in this country. She has
broken down Stuffy tradition
and given every woman
chance to be herself and get
done the work she is most in
tereSted in"
While Postmaster General James
A. Farley was congratulating the
women at a women'S division
luncheon on their luck and good
management, Agnes Repplier, the
eSSayist, was forgetting the rule of
no partisan politics at the lunch