We attended several of their meetings in Washington and aided them
materially. The association decided to hold a parade March 3, 1913.
Nannie and I were members of the advisory committee, and about ten
days before the date set Miss Paul, who had charge of that parade,
told me that she was having difficulty in getting permission to march
on the avenue. As I was personally acquainted with Mr. Rudolph,
General Johnston and Colonel Judson, the District Commissioners, I
introduced her to them. They treated her with the greatest courtesy;
the chairman, Mr. Rudolph, both encouraged her and expressed his
sympathy with her attempt to get permission and secure protection
during the march, as did Colonel Judson. General Johnston was a little
lukewarm; reasonably so, however, because he was not in favor of
woman's suffrage. But they did not grant the permission.
General Johnston objected to the selection of the day before the
Presidential inauguration, but others thought if permission was to be
granted at all, it was better to have the two parades as near together
as possible.
I advised Miss Paul to ask the Secretary of War for military
protection from Fort Myer. Judson agreed, and, in his presence, Miss
Paul made the application through the District Commissioners to the
Secretary. Later she showed me a letter from the Secretary of War,
declining to furnish the escort. Although the committee feared the
parade would not be protected, most people believed the police would
not so disgrace themselves as to fail to protect them from insult
and humiliation, or to allow their parade to be broken up, as it
practically was. Failing to get the permit from the Commissioners,
Miss Paul applied to Congress, and the day before the parade Congress
authorized it and made an appropriation for extra policemen. The
parade was organized as systematically, as brilliantly and as
efficiently as any parade of men ever held.
I believe that on that 3d day of March, 1913, woman's suffrage won
its fight. Some of its members have acted foolishly since, as members
of reform movements often do, but the day is won, and nothing but
absolute reversion to barbarism can prevent women, as long as this
country remains a republic, from having some voice in its government.
We both marched in the parade, Nannie with the homemakers. Another
army officer, General Charles Morton, U. S. A., had the courage
to march with his wife in this procession, as did a few Senators
and members of the House. What happened is history. As it is fully
related in Hearings Before Senate Committee, District of Columbia, 63d
Congress, special session, under Senate Resolution 499, part first,
wherein Nannie and I each testified, pages 101 to 116, inclusive, I
will not relate it here.