The first of these contentions was proved untrue to even the most casual observer at the polls on election day. The women were fighting uphill all the way, and where the so-termed “suffrage men” were slightly unpleasant in their attitude towards the “antis,” the women were all cheerfulness and all refreshing encouragement. As one explained: “It has been the most wonderful feeling, working shoulder to shoulder with the men in something that has really been our duty all along.”
Nine women candidates were up for election and not one was chosen; and yet, after talking with five defeated women candidates and three defeated men candidates, I concluded that the women knew more about the philosophy of politics and its sad uncertainties than men who had been contesting for years.
True, election to office is but a by-product of political experience; it is a most coveted by-product, nevertheless, and when a woman like Marion Drake, who ran a close race against Chicago’s “bad” alderman, says, at the closing of the polls, “I have not been elected, but every minute of the time I have expended has been worth while and I shall try again at the next election,”—it shows the right spirit and the fundamental error in the assertion that women cannot lose gracefully.
Non-partisanism could be given no real test, for these ideals seemed necessary of application in only two or three wards. In one—the twenty-first—an alderman with a bad record was up for re-election in opposition to a Republican of no particular merit. The women got together, with the aid of some of the better men, and selected a non-partisan candidate. This man was elected directly through the efforts of the women who, Republican, Democratic, and Progressive, rallied in true non-partisan spirit to his aid.
As to the control of the women’s votes by the men: it is interesting to note that in the more intelligent wards there was considerable variance between the men and the women, while in the wards of the poorer and less intellectually-inclined portions of the city the votes ran a great deal alike.
The women came out in good numbers and, as a matter of fact, the masculine vote was considerably higher than usual; but even with this advantage, the registered women outvoted the registered men by a small per cent.
The campaigns conducted by the various women were distinctly different from the ordinary political campaigns. They were dignified, straightforward, strong, and effective. Miss Drake, in her campaign against John Coughlin, colloquially and delicately known as “Bathhouse John,”—the name originating from the fact that the gentleman in question received his political training as a mopper and rubber in one of Chicago’s most infamous bath houses,—made a direct appeal, in a house to house, voter to voter, canvass of her ward. In this way she told over two-thirds of the people of the “Bathhouse’s” territory all about the gentleman, his ambitions, his desires, and his insidious motives. And while she was defeated, it must be remembered that though Coughlin received a sufficient plurality, he by no means attained his boast:—“I’ll beat that skirt by 8,000 votes.” In fact, where his plurality at the last elections was approximately eight to one, this year it was less than two-and-a-half to one, making an obvious deduction that Miss Drake’s campaign was decidedly successful even though she did not win.
The Education of Yesterday and Today
William Saphier
The Education of Karl Witte, translated by Leo Wiener and edited by H. Addington Bruce. [Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York.]