191 iH Politics in New yersey 



Not long afterward a Princeton alumnus in San 

 Francisco thought it a good stroke for his college 

 to invite Wilson to speak to the university graduates 

 in the city. But reaching San Francisco, Wilson 

 discovered that those in charge of the affair were 

 on the staff of a street railway system then in bad 

 odor for wholesale bribery of the city council. In a notable 

 his address at the University Club he went into '^'^''"^ 

 detail as to his fight with Senator Smith and other 

 politicians of New Jersey; then in graceful language 

 which cut like a knife, he concluded to the following 

 effect : 



It speaks most highly for your courtesy and tolerance that 

 you should ask me to address you and listen so patiently to 

 the exposure of corruption in New Jersey, while you are your- 

 selves engaged in the same sort of operations here in San 

 Francisco. 



The meeting closed without incident, but afterward 

 in the cloakroom there were some of the maddest 

 men I ever beheld ! 



The first campaigns tor equal suffrage in Cali- Cam- 

 fornia were unsuccessful, largely through the queru- ^""'^"^ /°'' 

 lous attitude adopted by leading speakers, who 7ufrage 

 based their main argument on the fact, true enough, 

 that women were still classed with "idiots, criminals, 

 and Indians not taxed,'' and in general oppressed by 

 "tyrant man." This was, however, not the whole 

 truth, and did not appeal to the voter who had done 

 the best he knew how and was personally inclined 

 to give woman whatever she asked. In 191 1 the 

 question came up again under wiser direction and 

 with mxore telling effect; tyrant man had meanwhile 

 done some thinking and now voted for the State 



C 343 3 



