which filled twenty-five
pages of the stenographic report, occupied seven pages and there was
not a superfluous word. She began by calling attention to the
petitions as a whole from the southern States, printed copies of which
were furnished to each member of the committee. They included the
names of over a thousand prominent men, among them two and a half
pages of Mayors; the Governors of Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida and
many other State officials. She said that as she listened to Mr.
Bailey's speech she was reminded of the declaration of a president of
Harvard College, who asserted that without question there were witches
and it was the duty of all good people to hunt them out, but
twenty-five years later every intelligent man knew there had never
been such a thing as a witch. A man once wrote a book to prove that a
steamship could never cross the ocean and the book was brought to
America by the first one that crossed. Daniel Webster made a speech
against admitting as a State one of the western Territories because
its members of Congress after their election would not be able to
reach Washington until the session was over. "These men lacked
vision," she said, "and so does the last speaker. He does not know
what has been happening in the world." She referred to the vast
changes in the industrial life of women since the days of the mother
of Washington and the wife of Jefferson, whom he had used as models
for those of the present day, and said: "It is my pleasure to inform
him that I myself am that which he regrets--a voter--and I would
rather have my vote as a protector than the reverence even of the
gentleman from Texas."

Mrs. Catt continued: "The speech to which we have listened has been
interesting because it has seemed to be a chapter from a book that was
written long ago. The week before the war began it was my privilege,
sitting in the balcony of the House of Commons, to look down upon the
bald head of Mr. Asquith while he made a speech against woman
suffrage. 'I am unalterably opposed to woman suffrage because Great
Britain is a mighty empire and it will always be necessary to defend
it by military power and what do women know about war?' he asked.
Three years later he humbly confessed before the world that when a
nation like Great Britain goes to war, and such a war as this one,
which calls for every ounce of power the nation can offer in its
defense, men and women make equal sacrifices and therefore it is