"To unprotected women there is freedom to wander through the
whole country wheresoever they list without apprehending danger." If one
works this out chronologically, said the editor, Mr. Mann belongs
somewhere back in the Stone Age. In the Senate an active committee on
woman suffrage was formed under the chairmanship of Mr. Thomas, of
Colorado. The vote on the proposed new amendment was taken in the Senate
on March 19, 1914, and it was rejected,[428] 35 to 34, two-thirds being
necessary before the measure could be submitted to the States for
ratification. In the House Mr. Underwood, Democratic minority leader,
took the stand that suffrage was purely a State issue. Mr. Heflin of
Alabama was particularly vigorous in denunciation of votes for women. He
said[429]:

"I do not believe that there is a red-blooded man in the world who in
his heart really believes in woman suffrage. I think that every man who
favours it ought to be made to wear a dress. Talk about taxation without
representation! Do you say that the young man who is of age does not
represent his mother? Do you say that the young man who pledges at the
altar to love, cherish, and protect his wife, does not represent her and
his children when he votes? When the Christ of God came into this world
to die for the sins of humanity, did he not die for all, males and
females? What sort of foolish stuff are you trying to inject into this
tariff debate?... There are trusts and monopolies of every kind, and
these little feminine fellows are crawling around here talking about
woman suffrage. I have seen them here in this Capitol. The suffragette
and a little henpecked fellow crawling along beside her; that is her
husband. She is a suffragette, and he is a mortal suffering yet."

Mr. Falconer of Washington rose in reply. He remarked:[430]

"I want to observe that the mental operation of the average woman in the
State of Washington, as compared to the ossified brain operation of the
gentleman from Alabama, would make him look like a mangy kitten in a
tiger fight. The average woman in the State of Washington knows more
about social economics and political economy in one minute than the
gentleman from Alabama has demonstrated to the members of this House
that he knows in five minutes."

On February 2, 1914, a delegation of women called upon President Wilson
to ascertain his views. The President refused to commit himself. He was
not at liberty, he said, to urge upon Congress