New York;
Mrs. Guilford Dudley of Tennessee, a vice-president of the
association; Mrs. Henry Ware Allen, a prominent suffragist and war
worker of Kansas. Their speeches were among the strongest ever made at
a hearing. Those of the opponents show the character of their
objections up to the very end of the long contest. Dr. Shaw's address
was especially notable for two reasons: it was devoted largely to the
work of women in the war, which was now at its height, and it was the
last one before a congressional committee by this eloquent woman, who
had been coming to the Capitol for almost thirty years in behalf of
the amendment, as she died the following year. She was introduced as
having been appointed by the Secretary of War chairman of the Woman's
Committee of National Defense and as such the head of the war work of
women throughout the country. Dr. Shaw began by referring to the new
line of attack which was now being made on suffragists as pro-Germans
and pacifists but scattered quotations can give small idea of the
strength and beauty of her answers to these charges. Regarding the one
of pacifism she said:

We grant that we are in favor of peace; we grant that we have a
large sympathy for the sufferings of humanity, but we also claim
to be possessed of intelligence and knowledge and these have
convinced us that there could be nothing more disastrous to the
human race than a peace at this time, which would lead to greater
suffering than a continuation of the war. Therefore, because we
love peace and because we have large sympathy for human
sufferings, we are opposed to anything that will bring a peace
which does not forever and forever make it impossible that such
sufferings shall again be inflicted on the world, and the women
of all countries take that stand with us. We have only to face
the present situation to know that any charges that women as a
whole are not courageous, are not patriotic, are not devoted to
the highest interests of their country are wholly false.... Even
before war was declared the National American Woman Suffrage
Association met in convention in this city and was the first
organized body of women to formulate a definite line of action
and present to the President and the Government a plan which
would be followed by its more than 2,000,000 members, provided
hostilities went so far that war should b