Meeting

Since 1888, when the International Council of Women was founded in Washington by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, quinquennials have been held at Rome, London, Berlin, Toronto, Christiania. At the latter capital, in 1920, the sessions were held in the Norwegian Parliament buildings and delegates were received by King Haakon and Queen Maud.

Last week, the sixth quinquennial convened at Washington, D. C., to meet in session until May 14. Delegates from dozens of countries registered. The President and Mrs. Coolidge, the Secretary of State and Mrs. Kellogg, other Cabinet and Embassy ladies did the honors. Distinguished women, with and without LL.D.'s, were to be seen at every function. Two white-haired matrons were conspicuous by reason of their official positions and the eminence of their services to womankind.

Ishbel Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair. One of the noted philanthropists of Great Britain, Lady Aberdeen has shared her husband's pleasant duties as Governor General of Canada and his exacting labors as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He is senior peer of Scotland. She, Ishbel Maria Majoribanks Gordon, is the mother of two sons and one daughter. Her life-has been spent in good works, notably in services for Canadian women. She belongs to many clubs, such as the Onward and Upward Association, the National Health Association of Ireland, Lady Aberdeen has been President of the International Council of Women from 1893 to 1899, and was elected again in 1904.

Mrs. Philip N. Moore is a trustee of Vassar (from which college she was graduated in 1873), and one of the best-known clubwomen in the U. S. In 1924, she went to Lima, Peru, as a U. S. delegate to the Pan-American Scientific Congress. As wife of the President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, she has visited throughout the world. Her home is in St. Louis.

Mrs. Moore is chief hostess on this occasion. Advance publicity for the International Council of Women was supplied by alarmed women of Washington, one of whom described herself as Mrs.

Noble Newport Potts, President of the National Patriotic Council. She sent Mrs. Moore a 1,000-word letter desiring categorical replies to such questions as "Will your conference . . . fail to open any session with prayer ?" "Will your conference . . . permit to be distributed . . . ultra-pacifistic literature including the horrible 'slacker's oath' wherein spineless young men promise never to fight for their country . . . and soulless women agree never to sew a bandage. . . ?" Were any persons listed in one R. M. Whitney's book Reds in America to speak? If so, who?

Throughout was the covert threat that if Mrs. Moore's replies were unsatisfactory, Mrs. Potts would advise the clients of the National Patriotic Council to refrain from attending Mrs. Moore's meetings.

The official reply: "We will conduct our meetings just as if we were in France, England or in airplanes." And Lady Aberdeen suggested the alarmed ladies "should mind their own business."