lations are better because the adults of all
the families are equally interested in city, State and national
affairs?" She told how on the battlefield and in the hospitals in
France could be heard in all languages the one cry, "mother," and she
ended with the plea: "Our world is weary and wounded and sick and if
you will listen in the silence of the night you will hear the same
cry; the world is calling for the mother voice in its councils and in
its activities."

The afternoon was devoted to the address of Mrs. Catt, which, with the
questions of the committee and her answers, filled twenty-five pages
of the printed report. For four decades the distinguished presidents
of the National Suffrage Association had made their arguments and
pleadings before committees of Congress--Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Miss Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, and then Mrs. Catt for
eight years. This was the last time it would ever be necessary and the
first time before a House committee which intended to report in favor.
The changed character of her speaking was shown in her opening
sentence: "The time of argument on woman suffrage has gone by. The
controversy has been waged over a greater part of the civilized world
for the last fifty years, with the result that many nations have
capitulated and woman suffrage is now established under many flags.
That it is still pending in the Congress of the United States is a
disgrace to our country and a reflection on the intelligence and
progress of our people." She illustrated how the doctrine of State's
rights had been ignored by the southern members in their fight for
prohibition, led by Mr. Webb of North Carolina, who as chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee had also led the opposition to woman
suffrage on this same ground. She proved by editorial quotations from
southern papers the changing attitude on this point.

The vast number of American men who would be in the army in France at
the time of the next election was pointed out and the question was
asked: "When the election comes who will do the voting? Every
'slacker' has a vote; every newly-made citizen; every pro-German
who cannot be trusted with any kind of war service; every
peace-at-any-price man; every conscientious objector and even the
alien enemy. It is a risk, a danger, to a nation like ours to send
millions of loyal men out of the country and not replace their votes
by those of the loyal women left at home." In referrin