I think of that night on the 2nd of April when, from the gallery of the House, we heard President Wilson read his war message. We were going to war not for any gain for ourselves but to make the world safe for democracy. We sat there and heard him read, and, gentlemen, you applauded, “we shall fight for those things which we have always carried nearest our hearts, for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own government.” And while you applauded, some of us there in the gallery thought of the 20,000,000 of women in our own country who “submit to authority without a voice in their own government,” which is the President’s definition of democracy. We thought, too, of the women of other nations on the verge of enfranchisement themselves, and we wondered how they would welcome the United States at the peace council, to establish democracy for them—the United States, which does not recognize its own women. And we went out into the night. The Capitol looked very beautiful and shining white against the dark sky. It seemed a great beacon light to the nations of the world. Suddenly a dark shadow fell across our path—the shadow of a mounted soldier. A troop of cavalry had encircled the Capitol holding back the people. We walked down the marble terraces and started across the Avenue. There, again, the troop of cavalry winding down the hill blocked our progress. Suddenly it seemed so symbolic of what war meant, the armed force, centralized authority, blocking progress, encroaching upon the people. And it came to us that our greatest foe is not the enemy without but the danger to democracy within. We realized then that the greatest service we could render today would be to fight for democracy in this country. We are going into this war. We will give our service, our time, our money. We may give our lives and what is harder still, the lives of those dear to us. We lay them all down upon the altar for the sake of an ideal. But in laying them down let us see that the ideal for which we sacrifice shall not perish also. Let us fight to preserve that ideal, to make this a real democracy. And, gentlemen, the first step toward that end lies with you here today. We ask you to take that step and help make this nation truly a beacon light to nations of the earth.