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THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE-DECEMBER 4, 1921IIImenMakingTheirliticaliJwDebutorFigh t ?stmtsThey Are Finding the Boston Mayoralty Fight a Strenuous Affair, in Which They Are Giving and Taking LikeVeterans—Are Hurling Charges and Counter Charges Like Old-Timers—Women’s League a TargetCampaign Headquarters Revolutionized—Something About the Leaders in the Opposing Camps' ■gla*Vf.v«r.v.Ikws' •f*'Vv-Vm XfMMiir$r;vv?I# -' •\Bv • V. «- iv‘. -v'vSLs .:ml-, *fIVv»£\b\'\v.va. * *-*« e v-¥»;•;T'v\*p*.-1 vfV%vv^^v*fPiltflNililiiw:NN,;¥rxS$fcmmBmimgMwe.*sw#HHeasS1wm*.miri •p;‘mVM■Ssmset-*■IT^a!' 'rJ^ '-wm.V.‘ •31,r A*U A«wfcs-W SfS:• * • /•! v*2V • §fe# r ii*P. 4 ’-iMi¥‘ mI •' WhmJPSHBMkvMSs*;SSV*N*111VOTE r«tBv.\'..sy\:,*a:.nv•V,\NShKS-* V:;'*:%'vv.vlt;Sf y.r.I.a*0*v.v.vvAf«rm 7mm?»?#»» . 11lt;v*vX*'SMSes'-y/jX-VXvv-’a;V^.V*V.N . .Mkw«V.■iiiK■WI,%ssAt Top, From Left to Right — Mrs Anna BondStephens, speaking for Baxter; Miss Annie E. Molloy of East Boston, recording secretary of Telephone Operators’ Union and longtime active suffragist, speakingfor Curley; Miss Mary A. Mahoney of Charlestown,speaking for Pelletier; Miss Sheila O’Dooovan Rossa, granddaughter of the great Irish patriot and associateof John Boyle O’Reilly, now on the stump for O’Connor;and on the extreme right, Miss Mary Boyle O’Reilly,daughter of John Boyle O’Reilly, speaking for Murphy, her uncle.ft?ssskS vhrs'.X-mAbove—Mrs Carrie F. Sheehan, chairman of the Curley Club of Charlestown.hAt Center—Group at Baxter headquarters, Mrs Catherine Hodges, executive secretary, standing in mid-m ms.m II:v«WAV. tint*? V* •Xlt;lt; CO-/xrv Mi wm m m IfH■ mgamIk.L m i. «w %x 'w'^m W$^•*5^.V*‘,vFOR5«t;Hf•-•• v^v.vw.',xw.*ay invv*’ • vrvw■ ■■.vssv,v%;sy,’Xy.*»K: ::I:A‘AborviMrs Florenfe Brennan, chairman Pelletier women’s organizations (at desk), dictating a letter toMrs Katherine Lee, at Pelletier Women Voters’ League.Below, at Left—Women at O’Connor headquarters in Dorchester. Left to right, Mrs Catherine Rotch, Mrs Grace Lowry, president of the O’Connor Clubs of Boston; Misses Prudence, Gertrude and Katherine Rotch, and Miss Mary Good.mm- -S.7//VIdie with telephone.By WILLARD DE LUEBefore we talk about what women are doing in Boston politics these days, let us understand that there are political campaigns and just plain political fights, and that the two are not the same article, though we sometimes think them so. But before the present Boston political fight is ended I believe that the women voters will be in a good position to distinguish the difference between them.1^198PS mMkav. -mAt Bottom—Mrs Hilda Hedstrom Quirk, chairman women’s division of Murphy campaign committee, and of the executive committee of the G. G. A.ys «is£®lt;Women here in Massachusetts made their bow in politics in the Presidential election. That, we may say, was a campaign. It was a thing of polite (more or less polite) diplomacy, and of highly refined political strategy. But those women who reside in Boston find themselves today in the midst of a political rumpus in which polite diplomacy is supplanted by a club and blunderbus, refined strategy by strenuous mudslinging, and the familiar “we view with alarm” tostraightforward statements that Mr So-and-So is a thief anda liar.*'I got thlt;- news at Wugrgins’ head- t quarters,'’ said I. i“Then she got paid for it! said Mrs | Biff, clapping her hands and raising] her voice. “I knew ?t, I knew it, I j knew it! They paid her money. Why, j she told me herself that she wouldn’t | do a stroke of work for any of themunless she got paid for it.”You see, though a man might ,jut it inother weeds, the woman is able to do just a perfect a job without laying a violent hand upon the King's English.“Erie* and “Flossie*Not only are the women assailing each other, but they are having the novel ; and perhaps riot very pleasant experl-! enee of being hammered hard by the j men they are opposing. Perhaps youI* ie heard Mr Curley send an audi*In other words, the women voters of Boston are finding that a Mayoralty battle—and especially this present one—is not a campaign, but a melee; an up-and-at-’em, wallop ’em on the jaw, give and take melee without any fancy trimmings.r* IBe who among ho are tdng hoI ii iThejr’r© Learn I nr FaslAnd it must be? con ft i It may be to with their h( that the woi appear to be w taking with a I * caucus anterThty an charg toeing liar#, and t;*ri*in the nfnward room#. They)tig, and doorbellholing, and tele writing, just t xac gtdng gvei sine# rolitloa was in(ifupainful have dv the clot1 tit© {ifItwould ntl11nandiIBhrnts, ! haven’t heard any worn-of some woman in a rival camp, “Sht’s a liar!” That be nice. But I have heard the] pressed plainly in carefully !vordan* jare out uUing,honing.othlt;andhionS Jit? Iu u d andrtiiWtetilCi ITmp wff»U itIit IInaitI toheard ha v«) tha* *lt; in h “dpric t downMany woman imen nay me worker in rty dog who bad I hURlt; But here is a ! ring almost literally; nom ii] ence into gales of laughter by his flings 1 at members of the Boston League of | j Women Voters, who have indorsed Mr Murphy.“Anti now/* »uyi* Mr t ufley, »ort of * Hotto %o«*f, and now let’s nee whoHumen are who don't want me elected. Why!” looking op In comleBUrprlNe trout u paper he had Im ei»studying, * Why! most of them don't live in Bonton at all. Perhaps some of you may know them.“Here Is- Evelyn Beverly t oe. Anybody here know Kviif”(Hilenee.)MWlmtlM In apparent a me seme lit, “nobody here know Evle? O, yes, I see that Kvie liven out In Brookline.Of eourse you wouldn’t know her.”And go he goes on, running down the*UM of cxccutivoe of the league, andn ! naming epeclftctoliy Miss Florence H.junb, the to la r a«IiIment, who is chairman of the Baxter committee.“t have resigned from the league,” says Mrs Carrie F. Sheehan, a former member of the executive committee, a member of the Republican State Committee and now chairman of the Curley Club of Charlestown.“The indorsemeOnly this much can be said with certainty about the women al this stage of the campaign, that those who are active workers—that is, we might, say, the women politicians—are split up live ways regardless of their party affiliations; and the great bulk of the women are sitting tight on the sidelines, saying very little, watching closely, and many of them not yet decided what they are going to do.If you want to get an idc*a of the mix-up, take a look at Charlestown.There, in Murphy’s home section, thewomen have the John R. Murphy Women’s Club, of which Mrs Catherine J. iJreene is president, and which meets in Owls' Hall, and the Women's Citi-j zeng Club, with headquarters at the i home of its chairman, Mrs Susan B. Mahoney, 111 Baldwin st. Both those organizations are out hustling. Ahouse-to-house canvass is being made.Very good. But now ring the bell of the house next door to Mrs Mahoney, and ask who resides there. The Greens. And who, pray, are the Greens. Well, besides being the leaders of a very strong political group in the district, they are among the chief lleuten-And orkthe phone, and she then went on to say rhftt she sincerely hoped that friend wife would vote for Mr O’Connor fo Mayor; and she told why Mr O’Connor, in her judgment, was the better man] for the job.■ ! wondered where the phone calcame from. Investigation showed that; one of Mr O’Conner’s supporters, MrGrace Lowry, had turned her home a A spin wall road, Dorchester, into a] campaign center. Three additions phones have been installed, wome friends have been called in, and telephone canvass of all that section o Dorchester is being made. Mrs Lowry is president of the Associated O’ConnoWomen’s Clubs of Boston.That looks good for Mr O’Connor; ye right in that same section a very strong Murphy women’s committee is a work; and there, too, on Harvard st is the home of Mrs Charles W. Rodg-president of the Curley Club of Dor Chester; and a block or so away, thlt; home of Mrs W. B. Edelblute, secret* of the Taxpayers’ League, another Out; ley worker.Ho take your pick.nt does not represent i ants of Mi 1 olletici in this fight.it of the league ** says their home is one of the centers of wlt;The Overstaffed EraOur rity politics bus entered into athe true sentiment _ _Mrs Florence Brennan, formerly acting i ttinonB th* women voters of the district,chairman of the city division of the Among the women speakers on MrState Democratic Committee in the Pres-I P«Uet,er » »Bt fls A1iHS Mar* A Ma~ idential campaign and now in charge of ! honey- a Charlestown girl, a formerthe women’s end of the Pelletier cam- of the Boston telephonepaign. Mrs Brennan was a member ofthe league’s committee that voted theMurphy indorsement.“No such thing,” says Mrs Charles I. Quirk, chairman of the women’s division of the Murphy Campaign Committee.* I never said that Mr Baxter had withdrawn. The only statement made about Mr Baxter was by Miss Luscumb, who reported that members of the Republican City Cotmpittee had informed her that Mr Baxter was in no sense theircandidate and that they would not support him.”And when I asked about resignations■from the league I got this;we received seven resignationspresident of theOperators’ Union.HViMJJ ©ftA11 Courtin' VotesiNow, what are the Curley forces doing j in Charlestown? Why, hard ut work.] Mrs Sheehan, chairman of the Curley i Club of Charlestown, which has head*; quarters at 11!) Chelsea st, is canvassing5 the district with a big force of volun-! leers. jAnd on top of this Mr O’Connor has1a committee at work there, and so has Mr BuSter.It seems as if huvf the women of Charlestown are going to vote is any-toody*a guess. ]Now, this five-way split among thefrom one ward. Five of) the seven j women is not peculiar to Charlestown.ofinnate and in sections of the city where I Mr Curley Is not expected to get a blf vote. And it- is not as idle as It rna ? appear, for It does drive home the facJST1*' ~ihnrOsborneJerk, and always refer “Flossie/’ and Mrs We Plnkham, executive secthat MtjjiHi been ha tun(fi t*. ii t u m n,itffcs not IIhuddling *hITHK*i wit hhhat» * i1 21of“I uricf { h (( thiin olBid, ,vho is an ; live Wufr lit Ward 4SInsretarhe insistthe noisy J fought lotcos), is protosome uf their o| rositlents This»t women must lt;reafter inlies.of tltji u rn in t* nbrought the Ktright Into favors b) indignant.!it the Ui upolitical hurricane. Its in-! Mr Murphy for Mayor has [ t*ven for the ladieshadn't pgid their dues. And we got two resignations from Charlestown. One of the Charlestown womm who resigned wasn't even listed an u member,”Ho It runs. Politics 1h a great gameIII*i Ith*Li dornt edi VTtfho told very rnt Mrs Tiff is w_ Mr WUfgifts.” ou that?” demanded Mt lr agitated.amusement of the audle ably some relation to the famous Lydia.In print, this may seem like crude comedy; but it seems to go over big with audiences, even where women prcdomi | by ,thlt;Row In the FafftfljrThe Boston League of Women ’way, has become one of the cenUP « I’UIllIllimetit wtr*“A Mi’b Qttlr h#4 withdrawnthe Republican throw theirnot only to its doors, family circle. Mem-to the other candidates\ few have resigned, tter Women's hcadqum r-...a t the women on the Itee who gave the In-dt liberal cly misled, said that Mr Baxter row the contest .and wo women were led toYou C»nt ’Em.'’Mow. if this 1 i t tic row over the] League Indicates anything, it Is that the women aren’t going to be herded #*n masse in any one direction. And if, |Ol 4 Ito Mr Murphy, saysIi * f-Air* Anna Bond Stephens, h well-known 1 former organiser in the suffrage tnove-uftcr making the rounds of the variouswomen's headquarters in the campaignand talking with women political work-1 era from this and that end of the olty, ur-yone gets the Idea that he can predict with accuracy how the women are going to vet a, he ought to make for thenearest alienist.up where you will In Boston today and you will rind groups of women at work for each of the candidates for Mayor.They are holding house rallies. Homes have been turned into political headquarters, Telephone# lt;u rppring day and night.The other evening. Just before registrations dosed, my home telephone rang und my wife answered.“This In Miss Ho-and-Ho/' said the woman on the other end of the line, “We were looking over the voting list and did not notice your name among those registered. I would like very much to have you register, etc. etc, etc.”Well, It turned out that my wife wasregie ter ad.’ O. that's gqud/' said the ludy onmarvelous era of overstuflVd furniture, of huge comfy divans, of beautiful rugs mid dainty-curtained windows. When men fought these battles by themselves, a desk, a few folding chairs borrowed from u friendly undertaker, and a couple of spittoon# completed the headquarters. Alast for the campaign treasury! Those grand ol’ duy# are gone. Now th# eandidate has got to move half his household furniture down to his po-litieal office or hire a suite at a hotel] for the convenience of the women] workers.Murphy and Pelletier have gone in flt;less of this than the other oaudidat The Murphy headquarters m the Lit Building are unpretentious enough; o good-sized office with a little e.taott partitioned off. Thu Pelletier W(m«ej Voters’ League has a spacious assetnbjroom in a building across from the South Church.O'Connor has a women’s section at MIlk—nt headquarters, with comfort*!hairs and a big davenport wM sofa pillows.But Baxter and Curley have d the Job up in perfect style. Bax lias a suite at the Brunswick. Curhas one of the spacious parlors atOxford,| And make no mistake about jt, thi specjgl headquarters for the worn®work in the campaign are not »tt for vain display* Things are humml The women are working, and workhard.Who's WhoAnd now a word about the wonContinued ott Next Paget
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Boston Sunday Globe

Boston, Massachusetts, US

Sun, Dec 04, 1921

Page 62

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