with patience as best she could. But the hardest fights which she has had to go through have been those waged by "special interests" intrenched in the politics of the city. The fact that the superintendent is a woman was sufficient grounds for opposition to her continuance by political spoilsmen. When the women of Illinois were granted the franchise, Mrs. Young's position became more secure, but it did not relieve her from the attacks which politicians are adepts in devising. On two separate occasions during the past year it seemed that the forces of opposition were too strong for any one individual, however powerful, to stem, that these forces would "get her," to use the phrase current at the time. Never before, however, had this woman's wonderful resourcefulness and strength been shown as on these occasions. When she found that single- handed she could no longer protect the interests of the schools against special interests, she stepped out of office and by doing so gave the fight over to the city itself.
With one voice the great daily papers and intelligent public opinion protested against the acts of the school board and demanded that she be put back into office. The dramatic uprising of Chicago parents and their stirring demands for her return to the headship of the schools is unique in American dty government. By editorials, by sermons, and by public mass meetings, politicians were condemned, and called upon to undo what they had done. One daily paper stated it thus : "Chicago never before gave such a testimonial to any citizen as the meeting at the Auditorium Saturday in behalf of Mrs. Ella Flagg Young. The vast hall was jammed, not with people to see a show, but with solid citizens, bent on showing their confidence in the city's foremost educator, and on righting the wrongs done by politics to the city's schools. A native son who had been elected president of the United States might feel flattered at such a demonstration. The gathering of Saturday, and the universal outcry from all parts of the city show that a democracy is not ungrateful for services rendered its children." Another paper said: "The sort of seismic disturbance that shook Chicago 's educational system Wednesday night ought to be impossible. The practical ousting of the
