xt70rx937t9n_403 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4.dao.xml unknown 13.63 Cubic Feet 34 boxes, 2 folders, 3 items In safe - drawer 3 archival material 46m4 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Laura Clay papers Temperance. Women -- Political activity -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- United States -- History. Women -- Suffrage -- Kentucky. Women -- Suffrage -- United States. Newspaper clippings text Newspaper clippings 2020 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4/Box_19/Folder_4/Multipage17851.pdf 1913-1914 1914 1913-1914 section false xt70rx937t9n_403 xt70rx937t9n Al ”mm L WUMAX’S SUFF {AGE CLUB IS ORGANIZED BLMRS. RUDY Meeting \Vas An Interesting One and Mrs.- J. \Y. Tompkins Vas Elected President. Mrs. George Rudy went to Utica . l3'este1day mowing and formed a |\\on1an’s Suff1age club, a blanch ol’v 1the Equal Rights association. Mrs. iRudy was enthusiastically received by the women of the neighborhood Iand the meeting moved a very suc— Icessl‘ul one. The following officers [were elected, following the perma- nent organization of the society: President, Mrs. J. W. Tompkins; [vice president, Mrs. Beatty Jewell; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. Nester Howard. OUi‘OBER 26, 1913. Egan! Rights fissociation I ' f JWeetsInLouisvilieNov.20=22l Kentucky Body Goes on Invitation of Louisville Con- vention and Publicity League —— Max Eastman to Be Heard Here Also—Suffrage Ac- tion in State. The dates of November 20-22 have Just been set for the annual meeting of? the Kentucky Equal Rights Ass00i- ation in Louisville. Mir. Denny Goode ot' the Louisville Convention and Pub- licity League telegraphs that the Ma- sonic Theatre has been secured for the opening night. Thursday Novem- ber 20th when Max Eastman the dis- tinguished writer and lecturer of. New York City will be the principal speak- Pl”. Eastman Secured for Lexington Also. it was possible to secure Mr. East— man only through the co-operation of the Kentucky vand Ohio Associations. lie will speak in Cincinnati at the meeting of the Ohio Suffrage Society on the 18th and 19th and in Lexington ‘ race, under the auspices of the Fayette. Equal Rights Association on the night of Monday the 17th. Mr. Eastman. will come to Lexington directly from Buffalo where he will fill a hundred dollar engagement Saturday 15th. Mr. Eastman is very much in demand in the East now and he was only secured for this 'Western trip by the fact that the K. E. R. A. entered into negotia- tions with him in the middle of the summer and secured three consecu- tive engagements. The Louisville Convention and Pub- licity League, at whose invitation the K. E. R. A. goes to Louisville for its annual meeting will furnish a. the- atre or hall for tho night-meetings: and the banquet hall at the Seelbach for the (lay meetings. All meetings are open. and free to the public. Every man and woman in Kentucky who be— lieves in woman suffrage or is inter- ested even to find out. what. manner of thing it is are urged to attned the meeting. Renewed Interest over the State. A large attendance is expected as there is renewed interest. in suffrage throughout Kentucky. The subject has been presented this summer ati the Teacher‘s Institutes and in remote . : 'r g. .x. u: 2': 1 tax"; 11‘46'7'33“ Vin-A5} 3: _ V5'4~v..“u r .« .A5"\‘-)- ~ I“. ml in i l l counties even, and in towns not reach- ed by the railroads. The VVoman’s; Journal, the national suffrage paper 15.} by the generosity of Mrs. S. M. Hub-l bard of Hickman, Ky., going at pres‘? ent to every hold-over legislator, and every legislative candidate in Ken- tucky, some three hundred in all. Women will Vote In November Election. The decision of the Court of Appeals that women “able to read and Write” all over the state of Kentucky may vote in the county superintendents and in fact in all school elec- tions except that of the State Super- intendent. from which they are de- barred because it is constitutional 0f- lice. means, if there is time for the news to be disseminated over the state that more Kentucky women will vote at the November election than eyer before. Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. better known as Mrs. Stetson, the poet essayist; and brilliant lecturer who is editor of “The Forerunner” and prob- ably the keenest wit in the United States, will speak in this city under the auspices of The \Voman’s Club, Saturday. November 1st. Seelbach Hotel Headquarters for Convention. Other features of the anual meeting of the Equal Rights Association at Louisville will be announced. later. The Seelbach Hotel will be headquar- ters. All meetings not requiring a larger ball will be held there. The Board andoi’icers and many of the delegates will have rooms there. The new suffrage leagues, organized this summer, even those having as yet only county chairman, are urged to send delegates. The basis of representa- tion is one delegate to every ten paid up members. Delegates only have votingr rights but. equal welcome will be extended to every visiting member of a suffrage league, as to the public general. ':’~ I r- l The Detroit Times heartily joins with the U. S; postal authorities, the Michigan Food and Dairy Commissioner and the Vigilance Committee of the Associated Adver- tising Clubs of America in protecting the public from ad— vertising frauds. Any reader having a grievance against an advertiser in these columns will confer a favor by promptly reporting the same to the publisher. ' BEHOLD “PITCHFORK BEA , ” THIS TIME UPON HIS o WN P] T CHFORK Senator Tillman is a blind prophet. The famous pitchfork this time has brought up against solid rock and for the bend of the tine which received the full force of the blow, will never be as effective again, we fear. Senator Tillman recently announced himself opposed to woman’s suf- frage. He fears the right to vote “would be degrading to the sex.” Senator Tillman’s position shows not only a lack of that chivalry to- ward woman for which the southerner is noted, but a lack, also, of what is real history, and a lack of knowledge of facts right before a pair of eyes usually good when it comes to a matter of government. In Wyoming, for instance, the women have had full voting privileges since 1869. We have never heard that light to the ballot has degraded the women of that state. We HAVE heard that there woman has voted for conditions that have bettered the state of her sex, and against those things that pre- viously tended to degrade man. In Colorado woman has had the right to vote since 1893. a..." This. privilege has not degraded the woman of that state, which has experienced real progress since she became a real factor in government with a voice in the affairs of Colorado and the country. The benefits that have accrued to Colorado and Wyoming have ac- crued generally in all the other states where woman has been emanci- pated from slavery and her interest given recognition. We might cite for Senator Tillman that what is true of states here, is true of foreign countries where the right of franchise has been given MOTHERS, with praise upon the sons of mothers who granted that right. But the fact is, that in not only those states where women vote are conditions better, but also in those states of prophets as blind as Tillman and of men as lacking in chivalry, where woman has not yet won the ballot, for the very fact of fear of woman’s vote, on a vastly different score than that a vote will degrade her. Right here in Michigan, today, there is a better order of things than there would he were it not for the fact-that all the enemies of good gov- ernment respect a growing sentiment for equal suffrage, and are con- ducting themselves half-decently as a result. i For noted improvement in our affairs in this state, thanks are due noble and energetic women who are actively engaged in politics at this time and who have not become degraded by the service they have rendered! and are rendering society. It remained for the women of Detroit to step in and put an end to! the corruption of our educational department through vicious machine politics. ‘ It was a fierce campaign, calling for the presence of women at public meetings and at the voting booth and for association in the thick of the iray with men, with Whom they pleaded like patriots. The result of their efforts was to prove that the men of Detroit, too, are true patriots, for the services ofwomen carried the day, and left none of them degraded. - ,. Senator Tillman is wrong indeed in a view that is a reactionary view, held as a rule, too, by persons regarded as of lesser intelligence than the senator. In this view Tillman is disappointing, for we had credited him with a keener discernment and a finer sense of obligation to all of the people. In this view he but echoes the latest cry of those enemies of repre- senative and just government, who for so long told us woman was incom- petent to share a voice in government. ' This was the ingratitude of sons toward the mothers who had given them birth, life and being, and was repeated until the votes of women removed the lie and the insult from the lips of these men. Votes for women Wherever cast have proven that woman is not only competent to hold the right to cast her ballot, but is MORE COMPETENT than MOST MEN, and this really was what certain interests knew would be the result and WHAT THEY FEARED’. We see no compliment to any man in the position that woman’s place or well-being would be jeopardized by a meeting with men at a voting place. Were it a sound position, with anything like a good basis for it, more is the reason why women should be granted the right to vote at the earliest day, that mothers might save their daughters from the kind of men whom she could not safely meet in the discharge of a duty of citizenship. Senator Tillman, a Democrat with a small “d,” so noted and so sup- ported by a host of admirers among his‘ countrymen; leader for so long of a party that has led on the side of the weaker and against the stronger, in the interest of all; wielder of the pitchfork that has pierced many a foe of democracy, has this time impaled himself upon his own weapon. The blindness exhibited in his prophecy is that of one, we must be- lieve, who WILL NOT SEE. Einsteins iNlADESENATE -——. Present Petitions From Every State To Members. Women Parade In Automo- biles From Hyattsviile, Md. Owen and Glenn Make Ap- peals For Vote Seekers. ANTIS iSSUE STATEMENT Washington, July 31.——From all over the country supporters of the "Votes for Woman” cause came to Washington to- ideals, Casting over 4,000,000 grates declared for woman su 13,: can no longer be ib— high last year, . and the question ereLdiator Clapp, preenting Minnesotarg: titions. made a stirring appeal 101 exit s' f suffra e. ‘ . _ J‘O‘Ingdatever 51o fate of the present 1551(1); lution may be,” he declared, the ".111“; is not far distant and is. ii’ieV’italJle-, “If“: the American people Will confer on {nil American Woman the, only weapgnf fl means of which she can peacefully He CIK herself and her children—the ballot. ‘ d Practically every Senator. has aimed with a bundle of the petitions, .bofélp with the yellow ribbon of the_ su Eta; gists. Senator Smoot. presenting “é. I7tah petitions, attacked militancy in 1 fight for suffrage. * *8 No Votes For Militants. ‘ ‘ '3' ‘ to the "C ra’e should he given, not. . Pasklttifursfts and the militant radicals among our women,” he said, ‘ but to thorn? who follow in the womanly footsteps o, the American pioneers for suffrage,’ Mars:1 Ellen Foster, Susan B. Anthony an 1-K.” ‘ 7‘ ‘ Otg/‘lfnztor Jones. of Washington” lhonias and; Shafroth, of Colorado, (Tallinger, Poindexter, \Vorks, of California, and Ashurst followed. t For more than we . ‘ demonstration continued. beinatvor aft'ei Senator presenting petitions. \\ hen .téie time came to take up the tariff debafie, Senator Simons, in charge. of the {hp}, 31$; cured an agreement that it he .a.d as. . until the suffrage petitions remaining could be received. * )k 4." Antis Issue. Statement. ' ‘ r" . ' tatement The aniti—suftragists issued a. s . to—day from the headquarters ot the Adar-1 tional Association Opposed to om h ours th e suffrage day to plead their case before Congress. off its sober tariff work for more than tWo hours and listened to the frills and fur- belcrws of suffrage argument. Delegations from every State in the. union presented to each Senator on the floor petitions urging the support of the Chamberlain resolution to amend the Fed- eral Constittuion to confer suffrage on women, and practically every Senator pre- sented the petitions to the Senate. Many made speeches declaring their sympathy with the movement, and a few announced their intention to vote against the reso- lution. The visit concluded an automobile p.1- ere from Hyattsville, Md., a suburb of the Capital, where the suffragists were met and welcomed by members of the Senate \K'oman Suffrage Committee, which has voted a favorable report on the Cham- berlain resolution. Senator Owen officially presented the petitions to the Senate. “The reasons for this request on the part of the women of the countiy," he said, "are overwhelming and unanswera— his, and the time has come. when the." must be considered with dignity, with un- biased mind, free from prejudice or pas- sion, in the interest of the welfare of the ‘human race. 0' t t Votes For \Vomcn Needed. "I do not appeal to men from a party standpoint. or call their attention to the effect which may be. expected to fol'ow if either one of the great parties should go so far as to insult the 3.000.000 women who now have the full suffrage in Ameri— ca, by contemptuously denying a right so obviously just and so obviously neces- sary to the welfare, the progress and the happiness of the people of America, but i W111 remind .Vou that a great party with R . - .omohile on— :Sllfilafipo. 191m“? dh’taéi‘s‘is “viii..- ch-aracter— . ized as “cheap advertising or an attempt to cloak defeat under the guise of jubila- tion for which they have no cause." The statement also insists that the White House. the Senate and the House all are opposed to woman suffrage and that the crusaders “need hope for no legislation by this Congress or the, next." ’J‘o-night the suffi‘agists gave a big han— quet at which more than a score mem- bers of the, House. and Senate and other public men were present. Senators Thomas, Ransdell, Ashurst and Owen were speakers, and they encouraged the suffragists with the declaration that the prospects were bright for the passage of the resolution. Mrs. James Lees Laid- law, Mrs. Susan Fitzgerald and Mrs. Mary \K'are Dennett. also made, addresses. The women who visited the Senate to- day had traveled from every section of the country to bring their petitions. A1- together the petitions were signed by more than 85,000 persons. On their way to the capital many of the delegations he’ld meetings and demonstrations along the road. 'i‘o—n-igfit's banquet concluded the demonstration. ICENTUCKY REPRESENTED. TWO Suffrage Petitions Proscntod T0 Senate Through James. “’ash‘ington. Jilly 3].~‘Kentucky worn- an sui’f'ragists were represented by proxy in the delegation of women from nearly all parts of the country who stormed the Capital to—ddy to urge the immediate. passage of the Senate joint resolution extending the ‘ight of suffrage to wom- en. Dr. Laura S. Rrennond. of “flashing- ton, D. L1, presented a petition signed by about twenty Kentuckians to Senator James and he introduced it. The signers are residents Green and Hawesville. as fol Bowling GreenMBenjamin I". Proctor, William A. Obencimin. Lida Calvert Obenchain. Edward 0. Leigh, A, . Me— Cormack, P‘ils E. Towns-end. E. T. Barr, E. D. Rose. J. M. McCormack, H. H. Cherry, J. H, Young, Leonard TV. Dur- hiam, J. L. Harman. J. Dickey, M. 0. Hughes and L. H. . The Hawesville petitioners were Martha Hall Newman. Sara Pickette. Lucille Mc- Adams and Mrs. G. W. Newman. Dr. Helen Knight. formerly of Newport. K52. is here with the New York delega— tion. of Bowling lows: EUGENIA B. FARM- ER of St. Paul, one of the pioneer suffragists of Minne- sota, paraded the fair grounds 3es‘rerday with a sufh rage 11m- brella sent to her by the New York State Suffrage Associa- tion. The 3}111_b1'ella wag used in the New Yoerarade. 0N WOMAN SUFFRAGEfl Miss Laura Clay to Speak at Ger- mantown Fair. The newly organized \Voman Suf- frage League will have a tent on the Germantown Fair Grounds for the distribution of‘ literature on this, the most important question before the civilized world. There will be easy chairs, ice wa- ter and toilet articles at the tent and the hostesses will be glad to haVe every woman who attends the Fair come to the tent for rest and refresh- , ment. They will be glad to take care? of small packages. j l l On Wednesday, August 27, at 2:303 p, m., Miss Laura Clay, the veteran j advocate of this further extension of‘I human rights, will speak on “\Vhy; Women Want the Ballot.” Be surel to hear her, perhaps the strongest , exponent of the subject in the state. I For more than twenty-five years Miss Clay was President of the Ken- tucky Equal Rights Association and in that time she has been before ev- ery session of the General Assembly of Kentucky, pleading for better laws for women and children. To her is largely due the enlightened measures on the Kentucky statutes regarding the property rights of married wo- men, the co-guardianship of chil-§ dren, the legal protection of girli children, and other laws efiectingé women and children. I l Miss Clay took up leadership in the; age-long struggle for human liberty } where her distinguished father, Gen. Cassius M. Clay, left off. Gen. Clay 3 was Minister to Russia at the time; of the purchase of Alaska, was an ardent advocate of the abolition of< of African slavery ans one of thel early promoters of Berea College. Miss ()lsy speaks wizh great clear- lless of thought and expression, and earnestness of conviction. Every man and woman who can do so should take advantage of this oppor- tunity to hear her discuss a subject to which she has devoted her life. ~—m————- ,1 Mrs. Hardy issues Challenge for Debate to Miss Bronson, Who Lost Temper in Suffrage Meet l?‘m’-&1—W~ywm - Minnie'Bl-onson at the Opening of the Anti-Suffrage Campaign in Knights of Colunlbus Hall Friday Evening and Caused the Other wonlan to Lose Her Temper. MRS. Jaime LAW HARDY, Prominent Michigan Suffrugist “7110 Crossed Swords with Miss . 1y e- hausted. . million people. _a. fraction of the are New Zealand loans I he ewith challenge Miss Min— nie Bronson to a debate on the results of equal sullruge in New Zealand and Australia, and it she wishes I will loan her the books or give her the titles neces- sary for her to study the sub~ Ject. Mrs. Jennie Low Hardy, third. vice-president of the Michigan Equal] Suffrage sociation. Saturday mornvi ing issued this challenge to Miss Minnie Bronson. the lecturer brought: from New York by the anti-suffrag— ists. as a result of‘the statements made by Miss Bronson concerning the effects of equal suffrage in the anti- podes at the opening of the anti— campnign in Knights of Columbus hall Friday evening. _, Miss Bronson lost her temper in 21 short. s'lntrp debate with Mrs. Hardy at the meeting 11nd the inci- dent '11s the only topic in suffrage circles Saturday morning-r. There were two rows of motor curs outside. the hall with an awning leading from the curb into the vesti- bule, just like grand operz and high life weddings. The opponents of equal franchise were not there in overwhelming force and out of the $00 persons present at least 100 were suffrngists. Noble looking young ushers in evening dress and spotless white kid gloves clustered in the sort— ly-carpeted ante—room. Each 11 on his lapel :1 red. uhite 11nd blue 111111011, signifyin". according to sarcastic suf- fragists, “To arms. the country is in peril!" Stationed strategeticnlly in the rear seats was a. small claque which applauded loudly whenever the speaker paused for breath. Wearing a. white—plumed near-Gains- borough hat of black velvet, while :1 black dress With white net yoke and sleeves velled her robust figure. the lecturer set her determined mouth in the tashlon of a. scli.‘oolma’am about to cast1gate, and in a down—east ao— cent launched an attack on “votes women." behind which she saw g2 horrid shapes. At intervals she leaned lightly against an oak pine-(lieu, but when uttering a par— ticularly p0111tedparagraol1 she Would step forward and emphasize it by gesture. CITES NEW ZEALAND. As an example of what happens in countries blighted by woman suffrage Miss Bronson citcd New Zealand. "The debt of the country is 3400.000 000," she said. “and virtually all they can show for'it is 200 miles of rail— wa Its resources are being rapid— lt is a question Wheth- er the country, which has only a. ‘ can long stand it." A small figure in a gray squirrel coat and the light of battle in its eye stood up '1 the center of the hall. It was Mrs. ardy, traveter, linguist and student of social questions in many chm She has been in New Zealand live times and knofivs _1t backward and for— ward. She had sat i111patientl... informingr those around her that the speaker was not only making partial statements, but 1111s1‘epresenting facts. She Lad crossed swords in the Len- slng hearing with M45s Kronson, and at sight of her the lattr s face took on a hard and combative look. . "Isn’t it a fact.” said Mrs. Hardy. enunciating eV ry word so distinctly as to be heard in every corner of the big room. over which tense silence suddenly fell, “that in. New Zéalziud the government owns not only the. railroads. but a sixth of the land, the postol‘fice, the bunks, coal lands and all public utilities. and that if 'public utilities were sold the. pubhc debt of New Zealand would be paid. If the U. S. took over the railroads of the country. what would be the debt of tllf‘. LI 5.? "ll 1111c a great deal of the laid does belong to the government, a land has been 1311 , ased from the original holders and handed bank. to them. Is it not. so?” said Miss Bron— son, hel'c eye es flashing. She skillfully diverted the discussion into one of high ta..ati0n. “Isn‘t it. a fact,’ continued Mrs. Hardy, that. “Premier Seddon said to his parliament six months before his death: ".l.‘here is today not a pauper in New Zealand, and there was nota man who could contrad‘ him?” “In a. land like New 'Zealand with only a million people it would be curious if: there were many pau— pers,” observed Miss Bronson with forced nonchalance. “Why was New Zealand in the depth of poverty in 1890? TVlw did Great Britain refuse to lend moneyr to New Zealand? Because they said the security was not good. V‘V’hy doubly sull- scribed nowadays?" went on Mrs Hardy and an outburst of applause from the suffraglsts present encour- aged her. EVADES QUESTION. Miss Bronson again evaded the issue by quoting Goldwin Smith to the effect that. a New Zealander re- fused to pay taxes knowing the gov— crnment could not take his land in. payment. “That is not so,” replied Mrs. Har- dy. “The land returns to the govern- ment if a man does not pay taxes for a year. Don’t you know that two—’ thirds of the income of New Zealand come from the customs duties, and not from the land?" “As I understand, if the land does not belong to him, a. man does not have to pay his taxes.” replied Miss Bronson. evaslvely: , “One-sixth of the land is owned by the government and five-slxths by Anti—suffragist \Vho Lost Her Tem— per in a, Short. Sharp Debate with l\l‘rs. Jennie Law Hardy, Second. \:ice-president ol‘ the Michigan lizqurl SufErage Association. at :1 Meeting in Knights 01’ Columbus Hall, Friday Night.‘ it not Ia fact piivate_30w11er and is that n . Hardy’s question was cut short by 1 ss Bronson, who, with a. show of pique, asked. “How much land can a. man own in New Zealand?" “As much as he can cultivate and make use-0f. New Zealand only taxes unimproved values. lmpr0V ements are i .. erupted. from fever" - WOMEN APPLAUD. Applause from Mrs. Hardy’s friends gain showed their belief that the anti speaker was in a. corner. Miss Bronson glared down at her persistent questioner. “"his discus— sion has nothing to do with woman ' suffrage,” she cried angrily. ' Unruffied, Mrs. Hardy went on, while the suffragists present leaned back in their chairs and enjoyed the scene. “The commonwealth of Australia ” said 'he sut’l’ragisi, “sent a message to Premier .-\ squith, which was signed by every senator and member, stat- ing,r that suffrage had been the mak- ing of Australia, that none of. the evils that had been predicted had come to pass, but much good that had never been loreseen. Didn’t the first premier of New Zealand, the father of the new constitution, which has been called the high-water mark of democracy \iiss Blons on lost her temper “You are making a speech,‘ she snapped. Then the claquc _ot. busy with lands and feet and fol-a1 few moments pre- . Haidy f1 om speaking. ‘ asking vou a. question." . she replied. “You took an hour and a half out of two l10111s allotted in the htarirg‘l at Lansng and surely you can ’1; object to 11 as ring aques- tion here?” (Applause from the suf- fragists. l Bethe it had subsided. Miss Bron— son hastily stepped forward. “I un— . is a gentleman who ask a question about Cal-1 she said. locking appealing- toward the front. seats. Her relief was appait nt when the question was p t. l-l'er trip from the arid wilds of New Zealand to the sun—kissed orange groves of the Pa- cific co- st could not heve been ex— ceeded in speed by the Alabian Nights‘ magic carpet. : CALLS THEM FELINE. Before the debate with Mrs. Hardy the lecturer took a fling at Mrs. Clara B. Arthur and Mics. Hardv for the formers assertiOn at Lansing that the antis could not. find a Mieh~ is‘an woman to speak for them. She said the remark would have come with better grace from women not born under :1 foreign flag and whose 1111: .nds had supported the union. Her opponents were accused of a1 lack 0’ fair play “truly feline." She :‘issociated the sul‘fragists with the socialists and looked pes .11111st1c- ally on modern democratic progress declaring it would be an act of mad- ness at this critical iuncture to add. a big class of. undisciplined voters .t on already overburdened electorate. Miss Bronson p inted to the tact that only 700 we e11 enrolled at the recent Detroit enrollment as evi- dence of lack of interest by women in the school problem, one which they should regard peculiarly as their own. ‘ "The Socialist tempters are whis- pering of the. power to be gained by the. ballot” she said. “They are telling woman. she will be the ruler of. mankind in the political world, as she is in the moral world. They say that in the future the state will care for the children and leave women free to follow the pleasures of life. ’l‘hev say socialism means woman suffrage. In their hearts they think woman suffrage means socialism. Two—thirds of the. suffrage leaders are Socialists. The big sest contin— gent in the New Yorbk parade con- sisted of Socialists with a red ban- ner.” 'S'UFFRA GE IN FLORIDA By FLORENCE MURPHY COOLEY. A veai ago a. few women met in Jacksonville to fo1m the Flmida Equal [Franchise League. Today the1e arc in Florida sixteen Ical centers of activ- ity, and numberless persons through- out the state fully interested and keep- ing in touch with the movement for equal citizenship. Many of the prom- inent men of the state are earnestly supporting the movement. At the recent Levy county annual picnic Judge Baldwin of Archer, Hon. Light of Reddick, and State Senator Blitch all spoke to two thousand or more people 011 the subject of citizen- ship for women. A man in the audi— ence asked Senator Blitch if he would tell him why he favored votes for women. Senator Blitch replied, “It is a mere question of intelligence. ' if you consider women as having aVer— age intelligence, what reason can you give for Withholding the ballot?” The questioner said, “Your reply is suffi- cient.” There is no question of wom— an’s fitness, there is only the prejudice of years of precedent. Only thirty-five per cent of the reg- istered male vote in the various states is polled, and can any person truth— fully say that every honest and up- right man of his acquaintance uses his franchise? Is not the franchise a commodity? Do not interested per- sons use every influence to secure a public vote for private gain? Do the best men in every community vote for every good of the city or town, and condemn all effort to secure a vote abortive to public welfare? Do not all the papers say that election day is a public holiday, spent at country clubs, on the golf links, and in long country tours? It is not that women desire to usurp the offices and public posts, it is Only that they wish to stand side by side with their husbands and brothers, sharing the privileges of citizenship and being real people. The only rea- son why all women do not rise up with one accord and demand the right is because some of them refuse to ac- knowledge to themselves their pOSi- tion. Receiving food and clothing and perhaps a mtotor car, they refuse to acknowledge that they are classed in the law with minor children and em— beciles. This is no extravagant state— ment, but a fact in most of the states and in other countries. Those persons not voting in the va— rious states are criminal men, the men of the Mongolian‘race, imbeciles, minors and women. 15 not this a sad commentary upon the wives and moth— ers of the great men of the United States? Cannot each one of us men— tion without 1a moment's thought wom. en who are bearing every burden of life, shielding and protecting the name and honor of men who hold their own honor lightly? Are not such women entitled to citizenship? Millions of self-supporting women, millions of property-owning women, women supporting sick husbands wom- en supporting and rearing children. almost with their life’s blood they la- bor for their young, can any thinking person deny the right of citizenship? No, no, no, no thinking person. Only the unthinking, the orreless, thosel who do not see themselves as keepers of the happiness of their fellow men and women, those who like the Phari— see pass by Without looking. Have you not been surprised by the 1evolution in thought on every sub- ject? Can you keep up with the evo- lution of ideas? It would seem that microbes of restlessness, having ex— hausted the field of invention and of surgery, for wonderful things in these fields have followed fast and faster, have now assailed the human mind. Men whom we have known for years suddenly say the renter pays the tax and not the householder. Men say a. tax alone on land and not on houses or buildings would equalize taxation. Men say homes should be exempt from taxation. Some homes cost hundreds, some cost thousands, and yet a bill for the exemption of homes from taxation was presented at the last session of the Florida. legislature, presented by a middle-of-the road sensible man, and seriously considered. “WOmen as citizens" does not seem as much an innovation as these other matters, and all these matters have passed in some states and are laws. The innovation meeting. the best suc- cess is woman’s citizenship. Living conditions have improved, schools and school buildings have improved, pro- fessional politicians have in many places been dropped, and everywhere it is the man best suited to the office and not any party or ward affiliations. Women asking for citizenship are not forward, are not masculine, are not self—seeking, they are only a part of the modern thought, apart of the readjustment of the human family, now taking place. We are people; we have individuality; we carry many of the burdens of life; we desire to be put on a. basis of responsibility and indi- viduality as equal citizens with our men relatives. Not to supplant them, but to supplement their work, to as- sume in fact What is already assumed in the home and business life, equal citizens-hip. No man of ability, no honorable man, no true citizen interested i