PRESS BULLETIN

To Editors:--
It will give value to this Ohio interview if you can have some local suffragist stand sponsor for it. That is, have it appear as her interview. Or if you want to, you can use the name of the editor of this column.

THE OHIO SITUATION

"We are not in the least cast down by the result in Ohio," said a prominent member of the Political Equality League. "Of course we hoped to win but we knew we had heavy odds against us. The constitutional convention which placed woman suffrage among the proposed amendments to the state constitution was held only last June, so we had only three months for the campaign. It was too big a proposition to convince the conservative voters of Ohio, nearly a million in number, in that brief length of time, of the justice of our cause.

"You notice the report from Ohio says that 'the women made a hard fight, but the opposition from within their own ranks, the almost solid alignment of the saloon vote against them and the large foreign population of the cities downed them.'

"The liquor interests, both beer and whisky, are very strong in Ohio. And we have found out that in every place, at every time, under all circumstances, the liquor interests and their allies oppose woman suffrage. The great amount of money which they command and their readiness to expend thousands or hundreds of thousands--report says they poured three-quarters of a million dollars into the anti-suffrage campaign in California--makes their opposition a very serious matter. Their allies, the antis, gave an appearance of respectability to their campaign, otherwise the antis were of no importance.

"Further the large foreign population in that state is not all enlightened enough to understand the advantages of the influence of women in politics. When I was in Cincinnatti, they told me of the strong German influence there. 'Just like Milwaukee,' said I. 'No,' said they, 'a great deal more so. In Milwaukee they teach German in the Milwaukee schools forty minutes or thereabouts each day. In Cincinnatti they teach German a half of every day. That is an indication of the difference.'

"Of course we are not going to stop the propaganda in Ohio. You remember that after the election in California and the early returns indicated that woman suffrage had been defeated, the board of officers of the state woman suffrage association held a meeting that first morning after the election and prepared to begin the work all over again. It will be that way in Ohio, and that way in any state that defeats the woman suffrage proposition. Women are going to have the ballot--it is as inevitable as that civilization advances. Checks like that in Ohio are unfortunate but have no effect of the inevitable result.

"Of the states which vote on the woman suffrage proposition this fall, we feel practically sure of winning in Oregon and Kansas. We hope to win in the other campaign states. We shall win in them all and in many others not now in the running either this fall, or two years later, or two years after that. I am going to make a prediction that every woman in United States will be eligible to vote by 1925--and may I live to see that day."

MRS. LA FOLLETTE COMING

Mrs. Robert M. La Follette writes that now Congress has adjourned she will soon return to Wisconsin and take part in the suffrage campaign. (She will be accompanied by her friend, Mrs. Glendower Evans, of Boston, fresh from the Ohio campaign, a brilliant speaker full of enthusiasm.)

"We shall pay our own expenses," writes Mrs. La Follette, "and both of us are strong and glad to do all the service we can in the time allotted."

The two will speak especially at county fairs and will be in the state from September 10 to 20. Here is their itinerary as far as arranged: Rice Lake, Sept. 10; Menomine, Sept. 12; Bruce, Sept. 13; Superior, Sept. 15; Chippewa Falls, Sept. 17; Rhinelander, Sept. 18; Appleton, Sept. 19.

A JOKE ON ORTON

Friends of Robert Orton of Darlington are waving a yellow flag at him nowadays because of recent occurences in connection with the La Fayette county fair. Mr. Orton is one of the powers that be in managing that fair and he is also an anti-suffrage member of a strong woman suffrage family. The managers of all the county fairs of the state were asked to permit a woman suffrage speaker to appear at the annual shows, and practically every fair in the state arranged for such a speaker. Mr. Orton was one of two fair managers who refused. But the woman suffragists of that county were not in the least discomfitted. Led by Mr. Orton's sister, Dr. Sue Orton, a brilliant young practicising physician of Darlington, and supported by the sympathy of his father, Judge Philo Orton, formerly of the supreme bench, they promptly made an entry in the floral department, a huge bank of flowers, bearing in yellow flowers, the suffrage colors, the words "Votes for Women." They secured permission to erect a large tent and take care of babies while mothers looked over the sights of the fair. They did take care, and good care, of babies and they also did a thriving business in talking suffrage and distributing suffrage literature to every woman who came in. And they printed suffrage arguments on the back of the score cards. They now declare themselves grateful to Mr. Orton for his refusal. They did so much better than they would have done merely with a speaker.

DR. SHAW COMING

Dr. Anna Shaw, president of the American Woman Suffrage Association, one of the best known suffragists in the United States, is coming to Wisconsin to assist in the campaign. She will speak at Oconto September 12, at Green Bay the thirteenth, at Appleton the fourteenth, at Shawano the sixteenth, at Grand Rapids the seventeenth, at Eau Claire the eighteenth, at La Crosse the twenty-first and at Kenosha the twenty-fourth.

WHAT TERRIBLE CONTAMINATION

After an election in California, one woman voter sent another this message on a postal card: "Voted at sun-up in a millinery shop! Came forth unsullied, with my interest in the home undiminished and my womanliness intact. What about you?"

TAXES OF WIDOWS AND SPINSTERS

In Waukesha county, according to the records of the income tax assessor, widows pay this year twice as much income tax as widowers, and spinsters five times as much as bachelors. The income tax seems an additional reason why women should have the ballot.

HOW MANY CAN VOTE

Director Durand of the Census Bureau has issued a statement concerning the number of women who are eligible to vote in the six suffrage states. The total number is 1,346,925, divided as follows: California, 671,386; Colorado, 213,425; Idaho, 69,818; Utah, 85,729; Washington, 227,727; Wyoming, 28,840.

CLEVER FAIR SCHEME

At the northern Wisconsin fair at Chippewa Miss Victoria James will preside over a model porch attached to one of the buildings. It will be equipped with attractive furniture, adorned with flowers, and tea will be served--all of which will serve as a background for the distribution of woman suffrage literature.

MRS. BELMONT COMING

Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, the famous society suffragist, is coming to Wisconsin to help in the campaign. She is now at Newport at her famous "Marble House," one of the most elegant country houses on this continent. She will reach Wisconsin about September 15.