is that it will bring a broadening of liberty to women. This war is waged for democracy. Democracy is never an accomplished thing, it is always a process of growth, an endless series of advances. President Wilson has called it a rule of action. It is a rule that adapts conduct to environment. What was called a democracy in Greece was a small privileged class ruling over slaves. The members of the ruling class had certain democratic relations with one another. There was no more of real democracy in Rome. The first constitutional convention of the French Revolution had a very restricted electoral system with a property qualification. It was so with our own government in 1776 and 1789. It was a rule of conduct adapted to the environment of that time....
The whole environment has changed. In 1789 we might quite possibly have defined ourselves as a democracy, although women did not vote, but not now. We speak of this as a war for democracy. Women are making sacrifices just like men. The activities of women in aid of the war are a necessary part of it. If all the women were to stop their work tonight we should have to withdraw from the war, at least temporarily, until we could entirely readjust ourselves. One of the things this war is bringing home to us is that men and women are essentially partners in an industrial civilization, and by the end of the war the women will be recognized as partners.When the Secretary finished Dr. Shaw said: "May we not send a message to President Wilson and say: 'Mr. President, as you came to our convention a year ago to fight with us, so we come now to fight with you. As you have kept your pledge of loyalty to us, so we shall keep our pledge to you. We are with you in this world struggle.'" The convention enthusiastically endorsed the message. Other speakers were Mrs. McAdoo and Mrs. Bass—Financing the War; Miss Martha Van Rensselaer, department of Home Economics, Cornell University —Food and the War; Miss Jane Delano—The Red Cross and the War; Mrs. Laidlaw, Mrs. Louis F. Slade—Women's War Service in New York; Dr. Shaw, chairman Woman's Committee of the National Council of Defense. Mrs. McAdoo, daughter of President Wilson and wife of the Secretary of the Treasury, said that she was a resident of New York State and a voter and that women were making a great fight for democracy but the thought which should now be first in the minds of all of them was how to win the war. She described briefly her work as chairman of the Women's Committee of the Liberty Loan and told of its wonder-
