Item #310809 Speech of Mrs. A.J. George before the Committee on Woman Suffrage, United States Senate 1913 [cover title]. Anti-Woman Suffrage, A. J. George, i e. Thomas RUSSELL?

Speech of Mrs. A.J. George before the Committee on Woman Suffrage, United States Senate 1913 [cover title].

[Philadelphia]: Pennsylvania Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, 1913.

Price: $100.00


About the item

20 pp. 8vo. Staple-bound self-wrappers. Dampstained and worn, ink stamp of the Pennsylvania Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage to front wrapper. Not in OCLC.

Item #310809

Mrs. A.J. George of Brookline, Massachusetts argues against woman suffrage on the grounds that the majority of women do not wish to vote and that enfranchise them will upset traditional gender roles.
An amusing account in Woman's Journal of Mrs. George's testimony before the Committee on Woman Suffrage (cited in Tarbell, History of Woman's Suffrage), shows that she was merely a puppet of the leader of the "antis", Thomas Russell of Massachusetts: "The chairman of the House Committee asked Mrs. A.J. George of Massachusetts, who conducted the hearing for the 'antis,' a number of questions that she could not answer, and Thomas Russell of that State had to prompt her repeatedly. The chairman would ask a question; Mrs. George would look nonplussed; Mr. Russell would lean over and whisper, 'Say yes,' and she would answer aloud 'Yes.' The chairman would ask another questions; Mr. Russell would whisper, 'Say no,' and Mrs. George would answer 'No.' This happened so often that both the audience and the committee were visibly amused, and several persons said it was Mr. Russell who was really conducting the hearing. he is a Boston lawyer who has conducted the legislative hearings for the 'antis' in Massachusetts for some years." Given this account of the testimony, one should question Mrs. George's authorship of this speech. OCLC locates only a Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office edition.