ens to give variety to
their fish and rice diet and done a vast amount of other valuable
public work. The Act passed by large majorities, members voting for it
who had persistently voted against the Federal Amendment to
enfranchise the women of the United States.

The Philippines were from 1917 represented in Congress by an able and
progressive Commissioner, Jaime C. De Veyra, an advocate of woman
suffrage. His wife, a native of Iloilo, who had been prominent in
civic work in the Islands, shared his views, and was a frequent
visitor at the suffrage headquarters in Washington. In 1919, assisted
by Miss Bessie Dwyer, vice-president of the Manila Women's Club, she
gave beautifully illustrated addresses in Washington and New York, on
the position of women in the Islands. In these and in interviews she
said:

Philippine women have always been free and have always been held
as equals of the men. In the little rural "barrios" you will
always find some sort of woman leader. All over the islands they
are highly considered. Even when old they exercise full sway over
the family and have the last word in all financial matters. The
married children still cling to the mother as adviser. The young
women who marry go into partnership with their husbands and while
the men handle the workers it is the women who do the paying and
oversee things generally. They are engaged in all kinds of
business for themselves and are employed by scores of thousands.
Many thousands carry work home where they can take care of their
children, do the housework and be earning money.

They have the same opportunities in the professions as men, are
successful physicians and lawyers and members of the Bar
Association. Laws made for them have combined the best of Spanish
and American precedents. They are guardians of their own
children; married women may hold property; of that which accrues
to a married couple, the wife is half administrator. These are
vested rights and cannot be taken away.

A short time ago the question of woman suffrage was introduced
into the Legislature, not by the initiative of American women but
urged by Madame Apacibile, wife of one of the government
secretaries. A petition signed by 18,000 women asking for a joint
legislative hearing was sent to the law makers who granted it.
Three Filipina women spoke, one t