Suffragists -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
ONLY FIFTEEN LEGISLATIVE DAYS ARE LEFT IN THIS CONGRESS.
FOR MORE THAN A YEAR THE PRESIDENT’S PARTY HAS BLOCKED SUFFRAGE IN THE
SENATE.
IT IS BLOCKING IT TODAY.
THE PRESIDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN WOMANHOOD.
And—
WHY DOES NOT THE PRESIDENT INSURE THE PASSAGE OF SUFFRAGE IN THE SENATE
TO-MORROW?
WHY DOES HE NOT WIN FROM HIS PARTY THE ONE VOTE NEEDED?
HAS HE AGREED TO PERMIT SUFFRAGE AGAIN TO BE PUSHED ASIDE?
PRESIDENT WILSON IS DECEIVING THE WORLD.
HE PREACHES DEMOCRACY ABROAD AND THWARTS DEMOCRACY HERE.
As the marchers massed their banners, and grouped themselves about the
urn, a dense crowd of many thousand people closed in about them, a
crowd so interested that it stood almost motionless for two hours while
the ceremonies continued. The fire being kindled, and the flames
leaping into the air, Miss Sue White of Tennessee and Mrs. Gabrielle
Harris of South Carolina dropped into the fire in the urn a figure of
President Wilson sketched on paper in black and white—a sort of effigy
de luxe, we called it, but a symbol of our contempt none the less.
Mrs. Henry O. Havemeyer of New York, life-long suffragist and woman of
affairs, said as master of the ceremonies, “Every Anglo-Saxon
government in the world has enfranchised its women. In Russia, in
Hungary, in Austria, in Germany itself, the women are completely
enfranchised, and thirty-four women are now sitting in the new
Reichstag. We women of America are assembled here to-day to voice our
deep indignation that . . . American women are still deprived of a
voice in their government at home. We mean to show that the President .
. . .” She was caught by the arm, placed under arrest, and forced into
the waiting patrol wagon.
Thereupon the police fell upon the ceremonies, and indiscriminate
arrests followed. Women with banners were taken; women without banners
were taken. Women attempting to guard the fire; women standing by doing
nothing at all; all were seized upon and rushed to the patrol. While
this uproar was going on, others attempted to continue the speaking
where Mrs. Havemeyer had left it, but each was apprehended as she made
her attempt. Some that had been scheduled to speak, but were too shy to
utter a word in the excitement, were also taken. When the “Black
Marias” were all filled to capacity, nearby automobiles were
commandeered, and more patrols summoned. And still not even half the
women were captured.
The police ceased their raids suddenly. Orders to arrest no more had
evidently been given. Some one must have suggested that a hundred
additions to the already overcrowded jail and workhouse would be too
embarrassing. Perhaps the ruse of arresting some, and hoping the others
would scamper away at the sight of authority, was still in their minds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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