Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1920 — HONOR FOR FORMER TEACHER [ARTICLE]

HONOR FOR FORMER TEACHER

MARGARET HILL McCARTER 1 FIRST WOMAN EVER TO ADDRESS NAT’L CONVENTION. Margaret Hill McCarter, a teacher . in the Rensselaer schools about thir'ty years ago and an author of • national fame, established a precedent Wednesday when she ascended । the platform at the auditorium in , Chicago to address the Republican National Convention, it being the first time in history that a woman had ever been so honored. Although Mrs. McCarter spoke but two minutes she was roundly applauded, the spotlight following her as she walked off the stage supported on the arm. of Henry Cabot Lodge I while the cameras of the movie men Mrs. McCarter is present at the convention as a delegate from Kansas. She is an ardent suffragist and for many months has been a prominent figure in the fight being waged by her sex for recognition in the management of the country’s affairs. ... . ~ Arthur Brisbane, writing in the • Herald Examiner, describes Mrs. McCarter’s appearance on the platform, as follows: — . “Now a lady is to speak; a delegate, of course, Mrs. Margaret Hill McCarter, from Kansas. The lady is just introduced (12:10) by Mr. Lodge, who probably mutters within his pretty gray whiskers: “God knows, I never expected i to see this day.” . Mrs. McCarter is a writer. Fiction

is her specialty, and, be it said most respectfully, she can talk as well as write it. She says, “I represent twenty million American women,' of whom nineteen millions are Republicans.” Mrs. McCarter begins her speech a little tremulously, “sparrow from the house top” style. But her voice gets stronger as she goes along. It is quite clear that she is not going to say anything you never heard before, but at least she can be heard, and she is dignified and earnest, a vast improvement on the average man delegate. " This lady, first to adress a gathering of this kind in the history of America, is dressed all in brown. She hardly gives you time to describe what she has on before she is done. Her little speech lasts only two minutes and a half and winds up with “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” . She is applauded so well that the management turns the spotlights on her and Mr. Lodge offers her his arm and escorts her out on the bridge. Then you learn that another bitter -pill is his, for he is actually going to be photographed for the movies with that lady, while Mr. Strong Lung announces: We shall all sing two verses from the Battle Hymn of the Republic.