CATT, Carrie Chapman SPEECH,ARTICLE,BOOK FILE Article, “Ready for Citizenship” The Public An International Journal of Fundamental Democracy Woman Suffrage Number ARTICLES BY Anna Howard Shaw Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers Jennie Bradley Roessing Carrie Chapman Catt NOTICE TO READER When you finish reading this periodical place a 1-cent stamp on this notice, hand same to any postal employe and it will be placed in the hands of our soldiers or sailors at the front. No wrapping--no address. A. S. BURLESON, Postmaster-General Published Weekly Five Cents a Copy One Dollar a Year August 24, 1917 Number 1012 NEW YORK Volume XX August 24, 1917 The Public 817 [Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Dallas, Texas, were just as appreciative of the high grade of the women's help as if they had not always declared women much too fine and good for human nature's political offices.] [Millions of dollars of the Liberty Loan have been placed by suffrage organizations. Naturally when Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, was put on the Federal Women's Committee for Placing the Liberty Loan, there was a great stimulation of interest in this form of war service.] [Suffragists' part in the war work of the nation has been emphasized by the fact that the Chairman of the Woman's Committee of the National Council of Defense is the honorary president of the national association, and Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Stanley McCormick, president and second vice-president of the association, are among the members of the committee. Suffragists had efficient machinery to offer the Government and they have offered it, in no hope of reward, but as the loyal service of that group of citizens who never once in the world's history have failed to bear their share of national burdens. What these women want from the Government is not a bonus, but the recognition of the fact that the service of women, being essential to the state, can be better performed by women enfranchised as citizens, than by women hampered by a ballotless condition which even the most indifferent alien would consider a hardship.] Ready for Citizenship By Carrie Chapman Catt President of the Nation American Woman Suffrage Association It has been frankly acknowledged that but for the suffrage movement in Great Britain, the massing of women for war service would not have been possible. For the very life of their cause suffragists were in compact formation, organized to their speed limit when the war broke in 1914. Because suffragists were tense for action, the more sluggish of their sex, women opposed to suffrage, had been reluctantly dragged into an opposing organization. In alertness this lagged far behind the suffrage organization. But it presented groups with inter-communicating channels throughout the Kingdom. In a sense woman suffrage was the force cohering all of these women, even those opposed being massed to oppose. In the midst of the general unreadiness in England, the women of the country had the high pressure machinery necessary for concentrated action. They could intercommunicate swiftly. They had habits of acting together and that esprit de corps which make for the frictionless following of a leader. An indication of the swift, sure and steady machinery of the suffragists was the creation of nine hospital units, staffed entirely by women and supported entirely by the British suffragists of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. These began in September, 1914, with a capital of 17 pounds. Within a year seven of them were in the field. What the British suffragists have accomplished through those Scottish Women's Hospitals has become world famous. This concisely indicates that the suffragist stands for two sorts of power; group power, with its cohesive force of a unifying idea, and the power which awareness gives every individual. The suffragist is more aware of the significance of events than most men. She has to be aware. For half a hundread years right here in America women have been watching politics. Their hand has been on its pulse, as it were, to gauge its relation to their deepest interests. They have ceased to envisage government as an absentee overlord. They know it is an everyday affair concerned intimately with their right to be guardians over their own children. Their resentment at taxation without representation is no individual bitterness of a person left out where she ought to be in. It is a profound contemplation of the province of government in its relation to the individual pocketbook. Thus the suffrage woman's reaction to war is no mere blind patriotism cheering for the flag. It is rather the partaking of responsibility. The suffragist looks at war spiritually and demands of her soul that NAWSA war work 816 The Public Twentieth Year number goes up into the millions--know this: yet it did not hinder them from offering their services to the Government for war service, and particularly for service in the field they know most about--the production and conservation of food. And it is to be remembered in this connection that nearly all the suffragists of the nation enlisted for service; they did not wait to be drafted. The National Suffrage Association offered four lines of work to the Government as early as February, but agricultural work preceded all others in point of time. Plans formulated at national headquarters were sent out in March to every state suffrage organization, with the result that more than 30 State presidents responded promptly. Sgecial officers were appointed to stimulate the food supply. A garden for every home came near to being a reality. "War gardens" and "patriotic lots" were planted in every county, and by early summer more land was under cultivation than ever before in this country. Suffrage associations from Texas to Wisconsin, and from Portland to Portland attacked their new task merrily. They made clever slogans to attract attention. They prompted activities with quips and enticements after the custom of women the world over. They invested working costumes, novel and convenient. Certain States, like New York, Nebraska, Connecticut and Maryland made food conservation a part of their suffrage programs. In other States, like Tennessee and Michigan, suffrage leaders used the machinery of their organizations in conjunction with State agencies. It was reported in July by Tennessee women that "223,067 women were enlisted in the army of food preparedness, probably 10 per cent. more than ever before." This refers only to those women listed in food preservation clubs. It does not include the thousands of women who raise and conserve food individually--naturally the larger number. In every instance, suffrage organizations put themselves in touch with the agricultural authorities, working in harmony with Government plans, national and local. Maryland suffrage headquarters were used as centers for the lectures from the State colleges on production of vegetables, crop diseases and insects and their cure. The organization used its wide membership for the distribution of garden primers. Garden seeds were given away in Alabama and Pennsylvania. Oregon suffragists obtained and parcelled out hundreds of vacant lots to families who wanted to cut the high cost of living. Just outside of Baton Rouge, a big sign in front of a fifty-acre tract has called attention ever since spring to the work of Louisiana suffrage workers: "Suffrage War Garden--Watch Us Grow." New York City, itself, had seen another war garden on a small scale. A practical form of stimulating food increase carried out by the suffrage organization of Richmond, Virginia, was to advance money for gardens. Wisconsin suffragists set themselves to the task of promoting 1,000,000 gardens this year. Mrs. Walter McNab Miller of Missouri, who is national chairman for suffrage thrift and the elimination of waste, had in the meanwhile, gone out into the field to arouse the women of the country to save in every possible manner. She lectured on thrift throughout the South, getting a remarkable response from civil authorities as well as from suffrage organizations. Community markets, farmers' markets at trolley terminals, municipal canning and drying centers, farm schools for women and industrial bureaus for women farm hands were all set going by these two branches of the National American Woman Suffrage Association's war service before the Government's own plans were matured. As soon as these plans were ready to be declared, Mrs. Miller went to the office of the Food Administrator in Washington, and put the entire food conservation scheme of the association into his hands. "Helping Hoover" was taken up by suffragists with the same whole-souled commitment they had put into the making of gardens. Hundreds of thousands of Hoover pledges have been distributed through the agency of the suffrage organizations. Suffrage work for the Red Cross has been carried on systematically side by side with food raising and food preserving. A nation-wide service in Americanization of the alien has been put under the direction of women well equipped to carry it on. Registration Day found suffragists offering their services to their city governments as registrars, and in many cities they were duly appointed clerks to take the military census. This was interesting in Southern States where women in official positions were a distinct innovation. [At the newspapers of Birmingham,] August 24, 1917 The Public 817 Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Dallas, Texas, were just as appreciative of the high grade of the women's help as if they had not always declared women much too fine and good for human nature's political offices. Millions of dollars of the Liberty Loan have been placed by suffrage organizations. Naturally when Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, was put on the Federal Women's Committee for Placing the Liberty Loan, there was a great stimulation of interest in this form of war service. Suffragists' part in the war work of the nation has been emphasized by the fact that the chairman of the Woman's Committee of the National Council of Defense is the honorary president of the national association, and Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Stanley McCormick, president and second vice-president of the association, are among the member of the committee. Suffragists had efficient machinery to offer the Government and they have offered it, in no hope of reward, but as the loyal service of that group of citizens who never once in the world's history have failed to bear their share of national burdens. What these women want from Government is not a bonus, but the recognition of the fact that the service of women, being essential to the state, can be better performed by women enfranchised as citizens, than by women hampered by a ballotless condition which even the most indifferent alien would consider a hardship. Ready for Citizenship By Carrie Chapman Catt President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. It has been frankly acknowledged that but for the suffrage movement in Great Britain, the massing of women for war service would not have been possible. For the very life of their cause suffragists were in compact formation, organized to their speed limit when the war broke in 1914. Because suffragists were tense for action, the more sluggish of their sex, women opposed to suffrage, had been reluctantly dragged into an opposing organization, In alertness this lagged far behind the suffrage organization. But it presented groups with inter-communicating channels throughout the Kingdom. In a sense woman suffrage was the force cohering all of these women, even those opposed being massed to oppose. In the midst of the general unreadiness in England, the women of the country had the high pressure machinery necessary for concentrated action. They could intercommunicate swiftly. They had habits of acting together and that esprit de corps which make for the frictionless following of a leader. An indication of the swift, sure and steady machinery of the suffragists was the creation of nine hospital units, staffed entirely by women and supported entirely by the British suffragists of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. These began in September, 1914, with a capital of 17 pounds. Within a year seven of them were in the field. What the British suffragists have accomplished through those Scottish Women's Hospitals has become world famous. This concisely indicates that the suffragist stands for two sorts of power; group power, with its cohesive force of a unifying idea, and the power which awareness gives every individual. The suffragist is more aware of the significance of events than most men. She has to be aware. For half a hundread years right here in America women have been watching politics. Their hand has been on its pulse, as it were, to gauge its relation to their deepest interest. They have ceased to envisage government as an absentee overlord. They know it is an everyday affair concerned intimately with their right to be guardians over their own children. Their resentment at taxation without representation is no individual bitterness of a person left out where she ought to be in. It is a profound contemplation of the province of government in its relation to the individual pocketbook. Thus the suffrage woman's reaction to war is no mere blind patriotism cheering for the flag. It is rather the partaking of responsibility. The suffragist looks at war spiritually and demand of her soul that Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.