2 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 31, 1916. Whatvfill American, Womealta They Have Won Air Records. They Have Won Military Honors They Have Won a Seat in Congress and Even the Management of a Ball Team What Is Left to Conquer? IN -what way will the American wom an of 1917 surpass the achieve ments of those women who have gone before? What new work, what lines of endeavor, what fields of con quest, hitherto unexplored by the femi nine mind, will furnish the outlet for the brilliant initiative, the enterprise and the restless energy of the Ameri can woman who enters the new year, buoyantly hopeful, and with a supreme confidence cause and justification for which can be found in the achievements of the year just ended? Will woman's mind turn td mechan ics? Will she contribute the great chemical discoveries of the year will America produce a Mme. Curie? With the great world war raging on and on, will some American woman suggest the means ultimately to be adopted in ending history's greatest horror, and will the world diplomatists and strate gists be forced to acknowledge that her insight was kerner, and her vision broader than theirs? Who, reviewing the American wom an's achievements during just one year 1916 is bold enough to prophesy what the new year will bring forth? In all the finer arts she has kept Btep with man. She has ehown her game, not only as a pleasure, but as a dutytto the home. Her argument is that the home In many cases would be made much hap pier if the wife were able to discuss with her husband and her boys the progress of the pennant race, and the fine points of the game. "Why," she asks, "should the wom en forever talk about fashions, which men do not understand, while men talk about sports, with which the women are not familiar? Wouldn't home life be more attractive if they could all talk baseball?" She thinks it would broaden women to sit among the crowds of red-blooded human beings wko "root for the home team," and she knows they would be 1 " -'- .55 ii jB JB ' - " t . .. .. . m 1 -SV"' Sliss Jcannctte Rankin, Whose Election to Congress Has Proved One of the Most Startling of Woman's Feats for 1916. aptitude for. politics, and won her way into tho halls of Congress. Her Triumphs In Sport. In swimming, she lias during the year forced recognition from the athletic union. The marvelous golfing of a little strip of a girl, Mins Alexa Stirling, earned the unstinted praise of every expert who saw lier win the woman's flmiYiiilnnRhln In the air. the female of the species ' has proven even more daring than the male. Possibly someone will venture that the American woman will ehow In 1917 her value as a soldier as a patriot fighting for her country. That, however, she has already done. Molly Pitcher we had. and without doubt many other Molly Pitchers would be ready if the call came and the need arose. Jfivery state could furnish Its "Pauline Revere." Possibly It will be a matter of only a short time before America will produce a "Jeanne' Pauline Jones." Why shouldn't the American woman prove a great sea captain? For one thing, a woman will show In 1917 what she can do in the way of handling a major league baseball club. Mrs. Helene Robison Britton, owner of the controlling interest in the St. Louis National League baseball club, hue an nounced her intention of looking act ively after the affairs of the famous Cardinals this approaching season. Hitherto, she has taken a great deal of Interest In the club, but now that she has eued her husband for divorce, he having been the president of the club, she will be the directing genius of the team. She "will, of course, have a man ager of her own appointment on the field. It In an old story that of, the expe rience of Mrs. Britton following the death of her uncle, who had left Her a baseball club; the story of how she fiVst regarded "the white , elephant;" how he familiarized herself with the slang of the diamond; how she studied the game and the players; fired and hired managers. In 1917. the sporting fraternity Is looktnR tor Mrs. Britton to "cash In" on the experience she has so pluckily gained. With the supervision and di rection of the club entirely in her own hands and on her own responsibility, the progress of the St. Louis Nationals will be watched with more than ordi nary Interest by those who are asking themselves: "What next will the American wom an beable to do bette-r than the men?" No Threat to "Womanliness." Mrs. Britton, by the way. dooe not consider that she is losing any of her womanliness by taking an active in terest in baseball. She thinks an wom fn should be interested in tneNational healthier as the result of a few hours spent out In the open air. The achievement of Miss Jeanette Rankin In the political arena is one of the outstanding events in the 1916 cata logue of woman's achievement. It is not that she was nominated for Con gress, or that she was elected as the first Congressworoan but the. strong est tribute to her effectiveness as a campaigner and to her strength as a candidate, is found in the figures. The Democratic candidate for Presi dent received 81.000 votes in Montana, against 55,000 votes for the Republican nominee. Despite this fact, Miss Ran kin was elected and she ran on the Republican ticket! v A Splendid Cook. Miss Rankin is not the kind of suf fragist the cartoonist delights to de pict. She is womanly through and through. She dances well, she is her own milliner, she can sew and she can cook in fact, it is said that her won derful lemon meringue pie has a fame all its own. Miss Rankin has announced she will fight for mothers' pensions, universal compulsory education, and the exten sion of the child labor laws. The year 1917 will record the success or the failure of the first American woman to hold a place in the greatest representa tive body of the greatest country in the world. Determined, eloquent, magnetic. Miss Jeanette Rankin will be the most picturesque person in Washington, and she is going to be the central figure in a new volume of woman's history, which will begin with the year 1917. Aviation and the Girl. ' When Victor Carlstrom, on November 2, 1916, established the new American non-stop aviation flight record 452 miles he was hailed as a hero. The newspapers throughout the country eagerly sought his photograph. Such distinguished figures as Major-General Leonard Wood welcomed' him when he arrived in New York. Miss Ruth Law. a little slip of. a girl, didn't wait the month out before she announced her Intention of excell ing the feat of Carlstrom.1 Because se rious attention would nJt be given her attempt, she was unable to obtain a machine that would compare wittt that used by Carlstrom. Undaunted, she fi nally managed to acquire the use of a dinky airplane, and1 started out from Chicago on her flight. t She not only broke the American record Just established a few weeks before by Carlstrom, but she did It so decisively that no question re mained as to who was the most won derful flier In America today. She traveled from Chicago to Hornell, a distance of 590 miles, without a stop. 1 exceeding the previous non-stop Miss Ruth Law, Who Broke the American Record for Long-Distancc Air flight, Surpassing All Men Competitors. record by 138 miles, and she did it In a machine that compares to Carlstrom's a a bicycle compares to a limousine. This is not the only Contribution i Miss Law made to the 1916 catalogue of the American woman's achieve ments. On May 32, at the Sheepshead Speedway, she climbed more than two miles into the clouds In her air plane., establishing a new world's rec ord for women flyers. Her mark, 11,500 feet, was almost twice as high as any woman had ever flown before. The previous world's record, it is inter--esting to note, was a.lso held' by her. It was 6000 feet. Miss Law's flight, when she estab lished the altitude record, was de clared to be one of the most marvel ous aeronautical exhibitions of pure skill and dare-deviltry ever recorded, . So, here in Miss Ruth Law. Ameri ca has a little woman who holds the world's record for altitude for wom en, and the American non-stop record for both men and women. Who can I say what the American woman will accomplish In the con quest of the air in the year 1917? It did not take Miss Iaw a great while after establishing her non-stop record to demonstrate that she, too, is a womanly woman. Offers galore came to her from firms which wished to commercialize her name and they were all promptly and vigorously turned down. She was offered $35, 000 for a 10-weeks' . toUr in vaude ville, and she laughed It to scorn. t'l will accept no emnloyment," she declared, "that will nor give me the b PPs .ii- B Wrlti Mrs. Helene Robison Britton, Who Announced Her Ii.tention of Per sonally Directing the Affairs of the St. Louis Baseball Team. opportunity to promote interest in aviation in this country. My life will be devoted to the cause of aviation, and no money consideralton will swerve me from that fixed determi nation." America, having no war in 1916, the American woman has not had the opportunity to display her courage on tho battlefield, and there has been no Molly Pitcher. Mexico, however, boasts of Marie Terrazas. one' of the beet sharpshooters in the famous Petticoat Brigade In Villa's army, and France boasts of Enimellne Morceau, her "modern Joan of Arc." The year 1916 did produce the first public drill of the new American League for Self Defense, under the I Hi- V command of General Mrs. J. Hunger ford Mlllbank. founder of the Interna tional Order of Military Women; and it showed 200 of the fairest women In Washington, clothed in khaki, and con ducting their own preparedness camp. To Illustrate the remarkable prog ress of women in business, the re cent announcement that Misa Grace Jones, a pretty young woman of Mis sissippi, was slated for the presidency of the Gulf & Ship Island Railway. Mrs. J. Hungerford Millbank, Founder of the International Order of Mili tary Women. was taken as a matter of course, and created hardly a ripple of comment. She managed the raTlroad lurlng tho illness of her father, who did in early December. The American woman's achievements In the higher arts, her aptitude for such sport as tennis and golf, her su periority in ail lines of domesticity, have been demonstrated throughout theyears. After reviewing a few of her achievements in 1916, who will prophecy what the American woman will do with 1917? PEACE MIGHT CLEAR NEW YORK MUSIC FIELD OF ARMY OF SMALL SINGERS AND TEACHERS Effect Would Not Be So Bad in This Respect, Says Critic Concerts Are Rivaling Plays in Making Profits in Many Theaters Aspirants to "Breaking In" Meet Many Difficulties. BY EMILIE FRANCES BAUER. NEW YORK, Dec. 31. (Special.) Since the season opened formally early in October the onslaught of concerts has been so overwhelming that' a retrospect takes on the form of an Inextricable and almost incoherent mass of events, out of which It Is dif ficult to draw any definite impressions. Noting the musical events that take place in the Cort, the Comedy, the Princess,- the Thlrty-nlnth-Street and the Punch and Judy theaters, one may wen wonaer wnetner tnese nouses ao not make more money out of the con certs than out of the plays that are on this season. v Between the number of concerts that must occupy the time of thecrltlcs and the sps.ee In the papers and the high cost of paper which is the excuse given many times when criticisms are boiled down to a matter of three lines, there would seem to be added ever-growing difficulties to those who make up their minds to "break In" to a New York season. May heaven pity the debutant in a heavy sea 'of events like this. Peace talk has done more than send the markets down. It has also awak ened the desire, in many who plan to "return to Europe the moment the war is over," to end their American careers. Perhaps this would not be a bad Idea after all, as the field needs clearing out in marry directions, first of all. In the hundreds of small singers from small opera-houses and unknown teachers who spring up on every corner as teachers of the great celebrities now before the public. It may be added that in many directions we are not any better prepared to harbor our own peo ple than we were when all the musical activity of the world was dumped into New York City. Harold Bauer, In speaking over the situation the other day said he had never worked so hard in the study of repertory as since he has been In this country for an indefinite period. He has refused all pupils, both for the present and for next Summer, the rea son being; that to give his audience something that will keep up their In terest he Is compelled to go into al together new piano literature. Asked whether he found difficult In securing what he wanted he laughed and said; "No. On the contrary. I have now the opportunity to go Into the vast gold mines of literature of the great masters which the pianist who Is before, the pnbllc must neglect for the things that are more popularly known. 1 shall find in Brahms, Franck, Schu mann, Beethoven. Bach and masters of those periods untold treasures that have not been done to death, thlnge which are no doubt as Interesting as those which are to be heard on all well organized programmes. "The work of finding these things is in itself Joy and an education. It gives me a sort of study that I enjoy hugely and I think that If I play un conventional programmes for a few seasons I am only serving art In an other way and proving how many un discovered treasures have lain hidden on the shelves becausa other numbers have -jeen better known." So far aa the modern works are con cerned, no one can accuse that great artist of neglect of them, because to him most of the music lovers of this country owe their first Impressions of Debussy, Albenlz and indeed the name of Granados was found on his pro grammes when It was only a name. Quite the most startling news of late was that Mischa Elman had been hurt, that he was lying in one of the hospi tals and al hail several stitches taken in his hJSd. He was returning in the early morning from Baltimore when his taxi was struck by a Forty-second-street car with the results aforemen tioned. But notwithstanding the loss of a great amount of blood and conse quent weakness, he refused to disap point the public which expected to hear him as soloist at the Sunday afternoon concert of the Philharmonic orchestra when he was scheduled to play the Bruch concerto under Mr. Stransky. Almost as astonishing was the an nouncement made by F. C. Copplcus, of the Metropolitan Opera Company, that Elman had signed with the con cert bureau of this organisation for his next season, beginning in November of 1917. Elman tm been under the Wolfsohn bureau since the first visit to this country, when' Henry Wolfsohn brought this most wonderful "find" Jointly with Daniel Mayer to the Amer ican public. Elman has probably played to more people and has become a wider favorite than any violinist of modern times, and It marks an epoch In the career of this managerial bureau which heretofore has devbted Itself ex clusively to the. artists of the Metro politan Opera Company. such as Madame Kurt, Amato. Martlnelll, Sem- bach and others. While on the subject, of sensational events, it may be said that few musical affairs of this season have approached the recital given by Elena Gerhardt at Carnegie Hall. This great Germnn lleder singer lias always had an envia ble following in New York, but there were always phases In her BlntflDK which called for explanation. If not apologies. Frankly she had a dis agreeable maimer of breathing, one which seemed labored and perhns In terfered at times with the natural beauty of her tone. She was not on the stage many min utes before It was obvious thut great change had been wrought In tho teeh nical side of her work mik c. last she faced a New York audience. She snug a group of superb Schubert soni-s with fine feeling, with a deep Inner s. n-e and with an unusual breadth, but when she began the group of Brahms songa she arose to n plane to which few sing ers ever attain, and In this group she ranged through theMlfforent styles and phases of the wonderful sons with an understanding and a grasp of the deeper things which gave .her hearers thrills such as they have irot orten ex perienced. The last group of three songs by Wolf and two by Richard Strauss In stead of dropping from that plane to which she had attained seemed to go still beyond what she had done before, and It Is not exaggeration to say that for shear beauty, deep spiritual con tent aad emotion in Its highest sense It would be difficult to approach her singing 'of the Strauss "Rube, Meine Seele." L She closed the programme with the Strauss "Staendchen." and gave a great (Concluded on Pace S.) 4 '