Library Collections: Document: Full Text

Told History of Suffrage.

The parade, a brilliant spectacle, told the story of the advance made by the cause of suffrage. Every one of the seven divisions had a separate chapter. One of the best places from which to view the parade was at the Peace Monument. Here, with no crowd to interfere, the watcher could see the divisionse -sic- forming for the parade. Behind Mrs. Burleson, Grand Marshal, and Miss Inez Milholland, the herald, rode Mrs. Ruhlin, Mrs. Lucy Neill, and Mrs. Morrill in white corduroy riding habits and wide-brimmed plumed hats. They were the outriders of the women's cavalry. Then came a wagon bearing the sign "We Demand an Amendment to the United States Constitution Enfranchising the Women of the Country."

The officers of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association came next. They were led by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the President, wearing the hood of her degree and college gown.

The first section marched under the banner "Women of the World, Unite!" and was led by the Marysville, Mo., band of thirty-five women in trim blue uniforms. Every one wore the yellow color of the suffragist cause. The floats of the first division represented countries where women have suffrage and countries where suffrage hopes to obtain a foothold. On one of the floats rode nine month old Mei Scheng P. Wu. Baby Wu sat contentedly on the lap of her mother. Mrs. Wu is the wife of Ching Wu, formerly attached to the Chinese Embassy in this city. Both mother and father are students of the George Washington University. Mrs. Wu wore an embroidered gown of pale blue, and Baby Wu a white robe embroidered with little golden dragons. Twenty nations were represented in the division.

The floats of the second section told the story of the fight for woman's suffrage from 1840 to the present day. Women in 1840, as represented on the float, were very humble, and the three or four men representing "male supremacy" seemed rather ashamed of themselves. There was a great contrast in the float called "Today." This carried a number of good-looking girls in college gowns, under the leadership of Miss Hazel Roberts. On this float there were no men. In the second section there was a troop of women cavalry from Baltimore.

A man led the horse of the herald of the third section. Women in various callings of life were portrayed. There were the women farmers, sturdy looking country lasses. The float bearing the sign "in the Home" showed what serious work housekeeping is. Another float showed women "In Patriotic Service," and another "In Education." There were floats for all the occupations in which women are active. Behind each float marched delegations of women.

The clergy was represented by six sedate, rather elderly women in black gowns, and following came marching in the educational division thirty-two colored women from the Howard University, Washington, in gowns and caps. In the workers' division two women held a banner which said, "We want to protect our children." Then came a float representing the interior of a sweatshop. The business women marched 400 strong in blue. The writers' delegation followed. They wore white gowns. Artists were in pink, and musicians in red. There were women lawyers and women physicians and actresses in line, including some of the most prominent in their professions.

Women in the Government service led the fourth section, and in this section were teachers, social workers, and librarians. Women of the same occupation wore gowns of like color.

In the fifth section were the marchers not in uniform. Here walked many women who did not have the courage or desire to put on one of the colored uniforms.

This division contained, perhaps, "just wives."

Hobson a Marcher.

In the sixth section marched State delegations. Representative R. P. Hobson of Alabama, and Butler Ames of Maryland, were in line. There were representatives of the States where equal suffrage is in effect. Here marched the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage, about seventy strong, headed by James Lees Laidlaw.

The delegations from the States where women are working for equal suffrage came next, and then came Gen. Jones and her hikers. Other State delegations followed. Miss Genevieve Clark led one delegation. Then came women in automobiles.

Parade Halts Frequently.

That there were no accidents to the marchers was due to the fact that when the congestion became too great the line halted. This was a matter of frequent occurrence. At Sixth Street an intoxicated man almost fell under the wheels of the float "In 1840." He was dragged away by a special policeman. A little further on a woman caught in the crush began to scream loudly. A policeman succeeded in making a way for her. She had been crushed in the rush of crowd.

At Ninth Street the crowd surged in on the marchers, and in the excitement a man began to shout, "Thief! Thief!" This cry served to turn the crowd in another direction and the parade continued. Gen. Jones and her hikers were so hemmed in at Seventh Street that the parade lost all military formation. Gen. Jones was forced to ask the Maryland Agricultural College boys, who formed her guard of honor, to come to her assistance.