IHE SUN AND NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 1920,
Women Politicians Busy Running Presidential Booms
Important Change in
Campaigns of General
Wood, Senator John
son and Governor
Lowden Largely in
Hands of New, Eager
Voters
By MARTHA COMAN.
HAVING won their spurs In club and
social contests, women nro now ad
vancing to the more Important
arena of practical politics. In recognition
of their achievements a picked low have been
appointed campaign directors for tho candi
dates who thus enrly in tho battlo have de
clared their willingness to run on a ticket, If
the voters will accept them as aspirants for.
the Presidential chair.
The woman campaign manager Is not en
tirely new, but the woman campaign dl-p-i'tnr
of a Presidential aspirant Is decid
edly novel. Her appointment to office Is
n.'thiT acknowledgment of tho significant
I .11 e she Is to occupy already occupies In
uonal affairs.
Ilach of the three men openly making a
hid for the Presidential nomination, Gov.
I'rink O. Lowden of Illinois, Gen. Leonard
'nd and Senator Hiram W. Johnson of
r.ilifornia. has Invited a group of women to
launch his campaign among tho new voters.
It happens that all three aro Republicans,
hut the Democrats 'will' show an equal ap
preciation of the value of tho feminine sup
porter when this national party elects to
put forward its candidates for nomination.
The three women designated as official
campa.lgn managers for this trio of Republi
can seekers of the highest office the nation
holds are Mrs. Fletcher Dobyns for Gov.
Lowden, Miss Harriet Vittum for Gen. Wood
and Mrs. Katherine Edson of California for
Senator Johnson.
As Chicago Is to Ik? the national convention
( n of the Republican party, the first cam
paign headquarters opened under the aus
pices of the women directors were In the
Windy City. For proselytizing purposes the
convention of tho National League of
Women Voters, held in Chicago the last of
February, offered an admirable field.
Two thousand women, many of them re
cently enfranchised and looking forward to
their first Presidential ballot casting, pro
rented an opportunity not to be overlooked
The First Idea
Of Vaudeville
fr t t HEN tho history of vaudeville
Vv comes to be written it will not
be a difficult task to establish
the date when this now popjlar form of
entertainment was tried out for the first
time on a somewhat sceptical and preju
diced audience. But what Is not generally
known," said Sol J. Levoy, manager of the
Harlem Opera House, the other day, "Is
that a Western man really conceived the
idea of vaudeville In America over fifty
years ago. He had the plans all right, and
the money to carry them out, but, unfortu
nately, ho lacked foresight and his project
flopped In consequence.
"Several years ago, when I was on the
staff of a Chicago theatre, an old time actor,
now dead, who was playing our house at the
time, gave me the facts concerning what
was probably the first attempt at providing
a diversified programme on the American
stage.
"It seems that away back In 1865 Silas
W. Steggs of San Francisco inherited $400,
uoo from an uncle, and not being accus
tomed to handling large sums of money
started in Immediately to' get rid of it.
After visiting all the prominent high spots
In New York at that time he turned to
Paris and London. He landed in the British
metropolis with a large bank roll and be
came one of the fixtures in the canteen be
hind the scenes of the Alhambra Music
Hall there.
"After a time his face became a familiar
one at the Alhambra and he developed a
, in? intimacv. with. the manager, Frederick
Strange. This led to many confidential ex
changes between them, and on one of theso
occasions Steggs unfolded his' big plan. It
was to erect in New York a large and pala
tial theatre to 'be called tho New York
Alhambra, as he thought such a venture, If
oondurtrd on the lines of its London name
sake, would prove a profitable investment.
"Steges started making arrangements by
negotiating with all kinds of people con
nected with the Alhambra. They were to
cross the Atlantic In the same boat, though
it never occurred to him what 100 ballet
girls and a number of barmaids were to
do while his New York music hall was being
built.
"Arriving at Sandy Hook Steggs went
on shore ostensibly to arrange accommoda
tions at the Metropolitan and other hotels.
The troupe waited all day for a message
from him, but none came, so- a delegation
In search of particulars headed for thq Met
repolitan Hotel, only to be told that no
person of the name of Steggs was regis
tered there, nor did tho hotel people know
any one of that name.
"Steggs had promised to marry the pre
miere danseuso, and In the prospective role
of a millionaire's wife she had given her
sMf airs and otherwise made herself dis
agreeable to the less favored members of
the company. Her mortification now was
ail the more Intense. Eventually some of
Ihe men and the greater part of the women
were shipped back to England by the Brit
ish Consul, while the premiere danseuse ob
tained an engagement in The Black Crook'
at Xiblo's Garden.
"me of the men found work on the staff
r a newspaper, and during the succeeding
winter he ran Into Silas W. Steggs in a
ineup of weeks In front of a police sta
"on on a street off the Bowery. The night
as bitterly cold and from the wretched
i;roup of tramps waiting for a sheltered
lodging the most pitiable human' being.
5"intily clad in tattered rags held together
v strings and pins, was recognized as
Stjfgs.
This was the man who, fifty-four years
ago. had the original Idea of entertaining
N'ew Yorkers with a vaudeville theatre con
(. t' ttd as the popular London music halls
wto so successfuly managed, but he didn't
vp the ability to create what ho had visual,
w! After recklessly squandering a sizable
' t ne Steggs had nothing to show for his
vhpr tr(j wealth but n few continental
hnhs, a short and fast life and a sad
finish."
MiSS HARRIET
VITTUM, WHO IS
HELPING
GENERAL WOOD
by the far seeing and well organized director.
S'c she set up her political Lares and Penates
In tho convention centre and devoted her
spare time to telling tho visitors why her
particular candldato was the best person to
succeed President Wilson.
Sociability and political debate blended as
nicely as the fragrant teas served to the
tired and harassed delegates. The campaign
director mode her headquarters as pleasant as
possible In order to attract the woman from
tho West who had never met Gov. Lr.wdan,
and the mother whoso son fought In Flan
ders but had never met and talked with an
army general, as well as the Eastern suf
frage worker who Is wavering on the sldo
opposed to the League of Nations.
A man who persisted In staying In bed
until the late afternoon almost wrecked the
programme of the campaign director of one
of the Republican candidates for nomination
at the Congress Hotel. Tho room which he
occupied had leen reserved by the woman
campaign director for a special afternoon
ten. Refreshments had been ordered for 4
o'clock and a long list of guests had been
Invited to come and heir why that particu
lar group of women believed their candidate
Ihe finest in the country.
At 3:30 o'clock the campaign director ap
peared at the hotel clerk's window. She was
excited and nervous, almost in tears. Her
mental condition was not unlike that of a
hostess giving a dinner party and receiving
Medals
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL
UNCLE SAM is pinning approximate
ly $5,000,000 worth of medals on tho
breasts of the soldiers, sailors and
marines who participated In the great war.
That Is, the cost of the medals themselves
amounts to that.
Tho expense of collecting the Informa
tion on which tho awards are based, tho
outlay necessary for the boards of review
and the final records charged in as part
of the overhead of both the War and Navy
Departments will bring the figures to very
much more. Perhaps $10,000,000 or $12,
000,000 would bo something like the real fig
ure which the United States will set down
for the' purpose of recognizing the splen
did records of the fighting men who wore
the uniform during the conflict.
Victory Ribbon Lead.
Every soldier, sailor and marine connected
with the military establishment is entitled
to one of these distinctions. To the over
whelming majority go what Is known at
the War and Navy Departments as the
Victory Ribbon, worn under orders by all
still in uniform, but entitled to be worn,
with certain distinguishing marks In tho
form of stars, by every one, Including those
discharged.
This Victory Ribbon Is about two Inches
long and has all the colors of the rainbow,
with the lighter ones in the centre. To ln
dlcato the number of foreign countries In
which the wearer saw service there are stars
at the end of the ribbon. Some of the
wearers are entitled to stars representing
tho British Isles, France, Belgium, Germany
and Italy, but such cases, of course, are
rare. Most of the ribbons carry but one
star, that for Franco.
This Victory Ribbon and the Congres
sional Medal of Honor, granted by Con
gress on rare occasions of gallantry in ac
tion, are the only two decorations that are
the same for the army and navy. And In
mentioning the navy In this case the Marine
Corps Is Included, for tht? Marine Corps, In
fact, Is part of the naval establishment, al
though during the war the marines were
attached to the army in the American Ex
peditionary Forces.
For the army the medals and ribbons
awarded are the Consresalonal Medal of
the cook's notice fifteen minutes before her
guests were to arrive.
"What's the trouble?" Inquired the clerk
sympathetically,
'There's a man In bed In our headquarters
and he won't get up," tearfully explained the
nervous director.
"Can't get him out?" asked the man be
hind the desk. "We'll see."
And ho picked up a telephone receiver.
for Heroes Cost Millions
' '
, , . , v v iviu . j. . cmn-rsxsin-r-trrT-iiT t tnr mr-trtr trrt rrrw nwr rrwfrrifrn mi in tin rarT in 7 in in 'in in 1 in.-in
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS
Honor, the Distinguished Service Medal of
KPTinl army design thp Distinguished Ser
vice Cross and the Victory Ribbon.
For the navy the medals and ribbons are
-.he Congressional Medal of Honor, the Dis
tinguished Service Medal of another design,
the Navy Cross and the Victory Ribbon.
In all a total of about 5,000,000 of these
dlxt'nctlons have been or will be awarded,
for this means that every officer and man of
the army and navy is to be rewarded. The
average cost of each will be therefore some
thing like $1, although the medals of higher
dls.lnctlon are more costly than the simple
Victory Ribbon Issued ordinarily.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Is a
bronze star suspended from a bar of gold
by a baby blue ribbon containing thirteen
Fossil Egg Tells
A.
PROSPECTOR examining the stones
the Gila River in Arizona camo
upon a water worn pebble four or
five Inches In diameter. He cracked off a
fragment with his pick and discovered a
fossil egg Inside. The specimen came into
the hands of a gentleman In California, who
brought It to the attention of scientific ex
perts. The chief point of Interest from a scien
tific standpoint is the fact -hat the con
tents of the epg had been converted into a
bituminous substance resembling asphalt,
thus supporting the hypothesis that bitu
men Is derived from animal remains.
The egg is quite large as large as that
of a duck or goose and resembling most
closely the egg of a cormorant. It Is so
perfectly preserved as to show that It must
have been completely embeddec1 very shortly
after It was laid in the substance that after
ward consolidated into limestone. Thus wo
havo a representation of an event that
happened thousands and thousands of years
ago.
A bird of the size of a cormorant or goose
laid this precious egg, which by some mis
onano tumbled Into the watar, or at all
The conversation was unsatisfactory, Indeed,
hopeless. The sleepy occupant refused to
budge oven for so Important n matter as a
Presidential candidate's tea. The eclairs, the
lady fingers, tho bonbons, sandwiches, choco
late and tea were oven then on the way to
floor 13. Dy this time tho director was ac
tually weeping, Just because of tho sleeper's
obstinacy.
"He won't give it up." the clerk told her.
MEDAL OP HONOR,
R'arn, representing the thirteen original
States (! the bar are the words "For
Valor." This naturally Is the most treas
ured of all the medals received by men of
the service, and is granted by Congress
through a special resolution only after the
most gallant services in action have been
performed by the recipient.
The Distlnculshed Service Medal Is a cir
cular medal of gold and blue" with an eagle
and stars In the centre. While It Is In gen
eral the same. It differs slightly for the nrmy
and the navy. The words carried are: "For
Distinguished Service."
The Distinguished Service Cross for the
army Is a bronze cross with an eagle sus
pended from a dark blue ribbon with red and
white at the edge.
Story of Ages
events into the soft ooze of which limestone
Is formed, with sufficient force to become
completely embedded In the ooze and thus
protected. For countless years this ooze
continued to be formed on top, and at last
tho whole became consolidated Into lime
stone. Then the limestone was lifted from
Its watery bed by volcanic or other action
and became a portion of a mountain range.
Then erosion began. Through the agencies
of frost and rain, sunshine and cold, frag
ments of limestone were broken off, until
at last the egg was reached and the frag
ments containing It fell Into one of tho
gullies that feed the Gila River.
There in flood time It was rolled over and
over, amid a multitude of other stones, small
and large, until all Its angles were rubbed
off and It became a water worn pebble In
a mountain stream, moving downward when
the floods came In sufficient volumo to stir
it from its resting place, and then a pros
pector, searching for gold or other min
eral, found It and cracked It with Mb gcor
logic pick, exposing ono end of the egg.
'Twos a wonderful history. But still more
wonderful Is the thought of tho thousands
and thousands of years that must have
elapsed between tho day when the egg fell
Into the water and becamo embedded and
the day when It next met the light, as a
taull. In ih band of man.
The tears did not splash. A look of deter
mination replaced the moist one, and she
proceeded to borrow for two hours the head
quarters of a man's organization on the
samo floor, had the announcement of the
change of room number read at the conven
tion session, saw that the refreshments were
diverted to the temporary headquarters, and
at 4 o'clock appeared cheerful, calm and hos
pitable at the door of the borrowed reception
room to receive the first guests.
All three of the women directors have had
both suffrage and political experience. Mrs.
Dobyns and Miss Vittum are Chicago women
who have been active In municipal cam
paigns. Mrs. Edson, well known in the Na
tional American Woman Suffrage, now the
National League of Women Voters, organi
zations, is chairman of the industrial com
mittee of tho California Welfare Commission.
She Is also a member of tho Republican
State committee.
NAVy MEDAL of HONOR
The Navy Cross Is a Maltese cross sus
pended from a dark blue ribbon with a yel
low strlpo down the middle.
. Secretary of the Nuvy Daniels gave some
Idea of what had to bo done when he ap
j.cared before the Senate committee investi
gating naval medal awards recently. He
took with him a large bundle of papers,
which he exhibited, explaining that they
contained recommendations prepared in
London by Rear Admiral William S. Sims,
then commander In chief of the American
naval forces In Europe. Tho committee al
most shuddered at the size of the bundle.
The reports received at the War Depart
ment from the headquarters of the Amer
ican Expeditionary Forces In France were
even more voluminous. They nearly fill
ono entlro room of tho War Department
and have been the subject of study of
weeks by special boards of officers. It will
be a year or more before the books finally
will bo closed.
Total of Coat Is Unknown,
Nobody ever will know what It has cost
the United States to make theso awards.
The War Department has spent something
llko $4,500,000 outright for medals and rib
bons and the navy something like $500,000.
This is natural, of course, owing to the
fact that the army during the war was of
much greater size.
Government recognition, according to the
highest officers, is the finest thing possible
for tho stimulation of morale in an army
or navy. Tho medals which havo boen
granted will bo cherished by those who re
ceive them until the end of their lives, and
then probably by their children and their
children's children.
Placing the cost to the Government of the
recognition at $10,000,000, which Is fair and
which in Itself seems large, still that Is only
about one two-thousandth of the total cost
of the war, which In money seems to have
been In the neighborhood of $20,000,000,000.
Army and navy experts declare that even
had tho medals and ribbons cost many times
that much the Government could have done
nothing else than to have made such dis
tributions. Every country participating In the war
Las had a similar syatam Of making awards.
Old Time Politics
Starts in the West
and Femininity of
Workers Does Not
Suffer
Associated with her In the Johnson cam
paign work are Mrs. James B. Hume, vice
chairman of tho JlepubllcAn State commit
too; Mrs. Raymond Robins of Chicago, Mrs.
Frank Harrison of Nebraska, Miss Frances
Wills of Los Angeles and some seventy other
women representing tho larger counties.
Miss Vittum Is the national director of the
women's department otfl th Wood campaign
committee. Her coworkers lncludo Mrs.
Douglas Robinson of New YorK city, Miss
Grace Dickson of Chicago, Mrs, Anno Car
lisle of Indiana, Miss Maude WeUnore of
Rhode Island, Mrs. W. Y. Morgan of Kansas
and Mrs. Carrio Kistler of Colorado.
Miss Vittum has had a wide public ZX
perlehce. For fourteen years she was head
of the Northwestern University Settlement
She helped organize the Chicago Women's
City Club, was chairman of clubs of the
committee on pot'' stations, and director
of tho Illinois section of the Council on Na
tional Defence. She ran once for Alderman
Id Chicago. In 1916 she was a delegate to
the Progressive National Convention and
managed the woman's campaign of the
Western department for Charles Evans
Hughes when he opposed Woodrow Wilson.
Mrs. Dobyns was appointed six weeks ago
chairman of the women's work In the cam
paign of Gov. Lowden for the Republican
nomination for President. She has served
as chairman of the Illinois Republican Wom
en's Executive Committee slnca last July.
She enlisted in Red Cross work and became
director of the Bureau of Auxiliaries. Her
other activities include the vice-chairmanship
of the women's organization of the
Liberty Loan Committee, chairman of tholr
speakers' bureau and member of tho ad
visory council of tho women's oommtttee of
the Illinois division of the Council of Na
tional Defence. She was one of the leading
delegates at the recent League of Women
Voters convention In Chicago, but found
time to perform her campaign duties and
spread the Lowden gospel far and wide
through the channel olTered by the 2,000
women attending the annual gathering.
Putting On
A New Opera
THE passing season has been eventful
and productive at the Metropolitan
Opera House; "La .Tu,tve," a spectac
ular piece, has been revived, and "The Blue
Bird," "Zaza" and "Cleopatra's Night" have
been produced, the first and last being world
premieres. Activity at high pitch is not
over the English version of "Parsifal," and
a new sitting of Massenet's "Manon" have
been seen, but Tschaikowsky's "Eugene One
guin" still Is due.
The work of preparation for a new opera
Is of longer extent than Is commonly sup
posed. The painting of the scenes of "The
Hlue Bird" after sketches drawn by Boris
Anlsfeld and that of the scenes for the Had
ley opera took all summer to do, and while
the stage .was not required for rehearsals
the canvases were spivad down there as well
as over the boarded over orchestra circle.
To stand on one of the scenes and watch
the painters smearing on tho colors with
wide brooms demands credulity on the part
of the observer tho result which the un
initiated cannot foresee has to be taken on
trust. Particularly was this needed in look
ing at the "Blue Bird" scenes as they lay
flat on the ground. The Russian Anlsfeld
I? an impressionist, and very little can be
gained of knowledge of how the stage pict
ures will look by studying his first sketches.
They need faith as well as imagination.
As the opening of the season draws near
expert carpenters come down from Edward
Setdle'a studio In the northwest corner of
the building with plans and accurate meas
urements. Their purpose Is to build the
frames on which the canvas Is to bo
stretched, to cut out the trees that are to
stand alone or in groups as rugged as in
nature (one of their most difficult tasks) and
to build the practical houses.i doorr. &c, that
embellish the scenes. The smaller proper
ties do not, of course, require the stage as
h workshop.
When voice rehearsals and study of the
score are begun, these control tho stage.
In their early stages these rehearsals of
principals and chorus are not held with the
orchestra. A young musician who has been
studying the new score in a piano version
supplies the music at first. His name is
Pelletler, and although he comes from Paris
he was discovered my Mme. Alda in Mon
treal. And now approaches the time for rehears
ing what Is called on the lyric as well as
the dramatic stage the "business" of the
opera, that what Is to be done by the actors
to carry out tho dramatic action. Now the.
stage falls in the hands of Richard Ordynskl,
the famous director. He for a time is more
potent than the conductor, and when the
piece Is at length ready for production
Ordynskl will share with Papl, Moranzohl.
Wolff or other conductors the responsibility
of Its succeoa or failure.
A first night, that Is. a "production," Is
conducted with marvellous coolness on the
stage of the Metropolitan. Principals, of
course, would feel that any betrayal of ex
citement was "infra dig." They wait In
apparent calmness for their entrance.
On these occasions SIgnor Gatti-Cazassa
Is on the stage for the entire performance.
He stations himself In the "R" entrance and
hisses any loud talkers. Except to preserve
order by this means and to watch Intently
the critical momenta of the muslo drama the
director might be a visitor without care, -an
calm Is his demeanor.
There Is, in fact, a true efficiency system
that la applied to the production of a new
opera on the stage of the Metropolitan. The
head of any part of It Is really at the head,
and he Is responsible and held so If the best
results with the material given him are not
obtained. There Is sympathetic understand
ing between an the departments and small
Jealousies are discouraged. When the his
tory of the last score of years Is written how
great and how effective has been the work
accomplished will bo appreciated. At pres
ent it la difficult to get far enough away
from to de&Uls to correctly Judge the UK&L