electorate.

It was at this point the supposed hissing occurred and the President
continued:

Now, my dear ladies, you must show yourselves equal to
self-government by exercising, in listening to opposing
arguments, that degree of restraint without which self-government
is impossible. If I could be sure that women as a class in the
community, including all the intelligent women most desirable as
political constituents, would exercise the franchise, I should
be in favor of it. At present there is considerable doubt upon
that point. In certain of the States which have tried it woman
suffrage has not been a failure. It has not made, I think, any
substantial difference in politics. I think it is perhaps
possible to say that its adoption has shown an improvement in the
body politic, but it has been tested only in those States where
population is sparse and where the problem of entrusting such
power to women in the concentrated population of large cities is
not presented. For this reason, if you will permit me to say so,
my impression is that the task before you in securing what you
think ought to be granted in respect to the political rights of
women is not in convincing men but it is in convincing the
majority of your own class of the wisdom of extending the
suffrage to them and of their duty to exercise it.

Now that is my confession of faith. I am glad to welcome you
here. I am glad to welcome an intelligent body of women, earnest
in the discussion of politics, earnest in the question of good
government and earnest and high-minded in the cause they are
pursuing, even if I disagree with them, not in principle but in
the application of it to the present situation. More than this I
ought not to say and I hope you will not deem me ungracious in
saying as much as I have said, but I came here at the invitation
of your committee with the understanding as to what I might say
and that I should not subscribe to all the principles that you
are here to advocate. I congratulate you on coming to Washington,
this most beautiful of cities, to hold your convention. I trust
that it may result in everything that you hope for and I am sure
that the coming together of honest, intelligent and earnest women
like these cannot but be productive of good.

Some persons t