xt70rx937t9n_455 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. Political Equality Series text Political Equality Series 2020 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4/Box_16/Folder_18/Multipage20036.pdf 1897-1908 1908 1897-1908 section false xt70rx937t9n_455 xt70rx937t9n stein was indorsed by the Victorian organiza-
tion to which she belonged, and, though un-
successful, the fact that she received 51,497
votes proved that she had many sympathizers.
She did not ally herself with either of the great
political parties. Her object was avowedly to
show that home interests ought to be repre-
sented in Parliament and by women, as well
as manufacturing, mining, farming, and other
interests by persons who were engaged in
them. Next to the votes she received, the
most significant thing was the considerate and
respectful treatment she met throughout. It
showed that the political woman who respects
herself may trust for protection to the chivalry
of men.

Australian experience has conclusively dis-
posed of the objection that women have no
aptitude for politics or interest in public af-
fairs. They have proved that they possess
both, and while they have no general ambition
or desire for parliamentary honors, and dis-
play no sex antagonism, they regard their
right to vote for representatives as a respon-
sible trust. It is rendered equally clear that
they can and do exercise a salutary influence
on the political life of the country without sus-
taining in the slightest degree any of the injur—
ies or disabilities that have been supposed to
follow. They are as good wives, mothers, and
sisters as ever, and better companions for their
men folk because of their widened interest and
the truer equality in which they stand.

c:[)nlitira'1' liquality Strips.
L1

 

_\ Sub‘n Price
4 We. per year.

‘01' 1‘ '{ \VARREN, 0., MARCII, 1905.

No. (i.

 

Published monthly by the NATIONAL AMERICAN
WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION,
Headquarters, Warren, Ohio.

EQUAL SUFFRAGE IN AUSTRALIA.

Lady Holder, the wife of Sir Frederick W.
Holder, K. C. M. (3., Speaker of the House of
Representatives of Federated Australia, c011-
tributed the following article to the N. Y.
Independent of june 9, 1904. Lady Holder
has taken a leading part in philanthropic
work in South Australia. She savs:

“The women of South Australia were
placed in a position of political equality with
men several years ago. Accordingly, every-
body has become accustomed to the arrange-
ment, and it seems perfectly natural. It has
not produced any marked effect on female
character, or made any particular difference to
domestic life. Women are more interested in
public affairs than they used to be, and politi-
cians deal more earnestly with home and social
questions, but no neglect of private duties on
that account can be laid to the women’s
charge. We are well supplied with high-class
newspapers, the same sources of information
are open to women as to men, and the ques-

 

 tions that arise are not by anv means beyond
the scope of their intelligence. At election
meetings there is commonly a good sprinkling
of women voters in the audiences. It is said
that their presence tends to prevent disorderli-
ness, and I have never heard of a lady at any
meeting being rudely treated.

“Voting, with us, is one of the simplest
things in the world. When an elector's mind
is made up, there is less (lillicultv in expressing
it through the ballot-box than in matching a
ribbon, and the one act is not considered more
unfeminine than the other. Our freedom has
not developed a class of political women, we
have no “shrieking sisterhood," but we know
and use our power. We can do a great deal
toward securing members of good character
in the Parliament and influencing their votes,
and are generally content with the results of
our enfranchisement.

“I have described the conditionsin my own
State thus fully because, though it is one of
the smaller States in the Australian Common-
wealth, in this matter it is further advanced
than most of the others. When federation
came,adult suffrage was the law only in South
Australia and Western Australia; it has since
been adopted in New South Wales and Tas—
mania, but it has not yet been granted, so far
as the State Legislatures are concerned, in the
other two. The Federal Parliament, how-
ever, had to make its own electoral laws, and
to establish uniformity was obliged to adopt

the broadest existing basis, because the con-
stitution forbade the outrage and anomaly of
disfranchising persons by whom some of its
members had been elected. Accordingly, the
women ofNew South Wales, Victoria, Queens-
land, and Tasmania were somewhat suddenly
placed in the same position of political equal-
ity, so far as the Commonwealth is concerned,
a s tlzeir South Australian and West Australian
sisters. They were legally qualified to act in
the Federal elections of last December, and as
they had not been allowed a similar privilege
at elections for their Legislatures, ofeourse the
event produced considerable sensation and
wore an air of strangeness and novelty. The
newspapers gave special attention to the new
voters, and teemed with exhortations as to
the way they should go, and it \ 'as amusing
to observe how some candidates who had
fought against woman‘s suffrage with all their
might tried to show their supreme regard and
esteem for the voters whose rights they had
previously refused. Ily the time polling day
arrived, the average woman was probably as
well prepared to discharge her electoral duty
as the average man.

“Three women oflered themselves as candi-
dates, Mrs. Martell and Mrs. Moore in New
South Wales, and Miss Vida Goldstein in Vic-
toria. The candidature of the two former was
not unanimously approved by the Women’s
Association of their own State, and their de—
feat was a foregone conclusion; but Miss Gold-

 

 be more uncalculating than was our Con-
gress a short timeiago in receiving the mes-
sage of the l’resident concerning Venezuela,
when, without pausing to consider conse—
quences, without [stoppingr to compare the
unimportance of 'the issue with the awful
consequences of a possible war, they set to
work on their resolutions of approval with
the glee of a parcel of children starting a fire.

The fact is, we Would do better to say that
unreasorfingness is the tendency of the
human race, and then we can afford to admit
that the feminine half, from the difference of
the conditions in ;which it has been reared,
and from that absence of responsibility for
its opinions whicih always makes peOple
more reckless in tieir expression, are as yet
even more disposed than men to act without
sufficient consideration, Make every woman
responsible; let liter realize, that when she
says a man ought zto be hungit means that
she is helping to l'iang him, and that when
she advocates a Mfar she is helping to send
the men to the field, and after the first
wantonness of conscious power, especially
of the supposed power to legislate sin and
suffering out of ,_the world, her sense of
accountability wili steady her. And then
it will surely not be amiss that she will
bring the humanitarian side of politics rriore

{Julitiml quuulitn fitting.
\‘1 i nnnn- h-nnn- nnnn { firm-i.

l’lllrlisltwl monthly by the National American \Voinan Huf-

frngc ;\.\\Utii'.till)n, at 1341 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

What Will a Sense of Responsibility Do for
Women ?

ELIZA Sl’RtH'l' TURNER.
MR. lriccmy in his most interesting and
valuable work on Democracy and Liberty,
finds cause for alarm in the constantly

'spreading spirit of democracy all through

Christendom, and, among other dangers,

notes the increasing interest and intluence
of women in politics. He is really very
fair to our sex, according to his lights, but
one of the special dangers to which he calls
attention is certainly-.5 unique. It is their
larger humanitarian spirit. He thinks that
the fuller power is surely coming, and that
their tendency will be to try to reform the
world by too much legislation. The tem~
p'érance question, for instance, is likely to
suffer in their hands from being treated tod‘
drastically. “ The increase which they
have given in New Zealand to the prohibi-
tion vote, and the \rélieliience with which
they have thrown themselves into this

cause, appear to have considErably altered

 

 its prospects. In Canada the same thing
has been observed.” “ \Vomen," continues
Mr. Lecky, “ are on the whole more impul-
sive and emotional than men ; more easily
induced to gratify an undiSciplined or mis—
placed compassion, to the neglect of the
larger and more permanent interests of
society ; more apt to dwell upon the proxi—
mate than the more distant results; more
subject to fanaticisms, which often acquire
almost the intensity of monomania." He
instances in this regard the “attitude as-
sumed of late years by a large class of

jucated English women on the subject of
., vivisectiori.'. . . \Vhat tyrant could inflict

a greater curse on his kind than deliberately
to shut it out from the best chance of pre-
venting, alleviating, or curing masses of
human suffering? . . . What folly could be
greater than to do this in a country where
experiments on animals are so guarded and
limited by law that they undoubtedly inflict
far less suffering in the space of a year than
~field spOrts in the space of a day? .i

‘There have been ages in whichinsensibility
to. suffering was the prevailing vice of
public opinion. In our‘own, perhaps, more
is to be feared from wild gusts of unreason=~

ing, uncalculating, hysterical emotion."
I think that common fairness compels us

to acknowledge the at least partial truth of
these opinions. Because women are by
nature more compassionate, because in
their more domestic lives they see so dis-
tinctly the immediate results of intemper-
ance, of immorality, of cruelty, they are
more likely to be tempted to over—legislation
and over-coercion, to. sweeping the whole
world clean of sin and error by one grand
whisk of the broom of the law. When it
comes to the “wild gusts of emotion," I
doubt if we could much exaggerate the
methods of our brothers. Their little wa 's
at a nominating convention, for instance,
where the correct thing is for the‘delegates
to climb on chairs and tables, to screech, to
howl, to roar, to break into sobs, to embrace

. each other, etc., by way of expressing their

political opinions—and not about any ques-
tion which could be called ethical, either.
Nor could we well be mere tyrannical than

“the students of New Haven the other day

when they simply ‘i‘ prevented " one of our
presidential candidates from explaining his
position; that is to say, they would not.
allow him to be heard. That we happen to
think his position wrong does not mitigate
the injustice of such political methods. Our
doings could scarcely be more hysterical

.than those in the bedlam of the lipurse of

any great city, and we should find it hard to

 

 press his own opinions unsubjugated and
unenthralled by any woman. Curious? Not
at all. A woman who respects her own
rights will always respect a man’s rights,
and a woman who boasts that she can
direct fifty men's votes in any way she
chooses, would be likely to make her hus-
band wash the dishes and tend the baby
while she wrote a “Romance of Two Worlds."

Theoretically, most men favor the idea of
women exerting an indirect influence on poli—
tics, but if women should develop political
opinions at variance with their husbands’ and
try to put the indirect influence idea into
practice, there would be an immediate revolt
in favor of direct voting—Woman’s Journal.

I

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PRECE 2.5 CENTS PER YEAR.

Send 10c to National Headquarters for sample
set of 10 Political Equality leaflets.

For suffrage news, read Woman’s Journal,
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3 months on trial, 25 cents; one year, $1.50.

[Political Equality Series

VOL. ll. Subscription Price lOc per Year. No. 10.

 

 

Published monthly by the NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN
SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION. Headquarters, Warren, 0.

 

“Captivated Calves.”

By Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, Bowling
Green, Kentucky.

In an editorial headed “Wisdom of Miss
Corelli,” the Louisville Courier—Journal says:

“From London there come stealing hither,
either upon the soft wings of the transatlantic
zephyrs or dashing along the cable that
stretches from shore to shore, some fragrant
words of wisdom. It is not often that Marie
Corelli drops her boiler—yard imagination long
enough for mere wisdom, but this time that is
exactly what she has done.

“She lifts her duleet voice against woman
suffrage. Man-hater though she is, she con-
cedes that man is not altogether a creature to
be despised and defied and trampled upon,
And it is with the value of man’s esteem for
woman in mind that she opposes votes for
women. She does not bother herself about
questions of equality and justice and all that;
to her the one great desire is to preserve the
sex as something to be adored of men—to
keep woman on a pedestal. ‘If’, says she, ‘wo-
man has, as the natural heritage of her sex,
the mystic power to persuade, enthrall and
subjugate man, she has no need to come dOWn'
from her throne to mingle in any of his politi-
cal frays.’ She avers, with great plausibility,
that she can new direct fifty men's votes at

 

 election in any way she chooses, but she says
that that power wOuId be destroyed if she had
a vote of her own.”

\\'0 are all familiar with the picture of the

hen-peeked husband whose wife wants to
vote, but will not some cartoonist show us
these fifty hypnotized Englishmen meekly
marching to the polls to execute the will of a
woman who does not want to vote? Those
who hold the doctrine that a woman should
express her will at the polls indirectly instead
of directly might learn from such a picture
that woman's indirect iniluenee means indeed
the “subjugation of man.” \V’hen Sir Roger
dc (jovcrlcy found himself “enthralled" and
“subjugated” by that widow with “the finest
hand in the county,” he still retained enough
common sense to realize his condition, and
aptly described himself as a “captivated
calf.”

A woman has a right to influence a man's
political views by appealing to his reason, but
to enthrall and subjugate a man by appealing
to his senses, and to send him thus befuddled
to the polls, is to make of him a “captivated
calf.”

Think of Miss Corelli and her “captivated
calves.” and then think of a husband and
wife in Colorado walking to the polls side by
side, one voting the 1,)emocratie ticket, the
other the Republican, and each respecting
the othcr‘s rights.

\Vouldn‘t you rather be the Colorado man
than the captivated, subjugated English calf?

As a matter of fact, however, we think
Miss Corelli is drawing on her imagination
'when she says there are fifty men whose votes
she can direct. '\Voman—like, she over—esti—
mates her “mystic power to enthrall and sub—
jugate" men.

\Vhen Senator Zeb Vance was first married.
he said to his wife:

“Now, my dear, I have one request to make
of you: Make me do just as I darn please!"
It is very easy to sabjugate a man to the point
of making him do as he pleases, and this.
probably is all Miss Corelli has done in the
case of those rather mythical “fifty men."

Kentucky women understand the art of e11—
thralling men, but I never knew one who
could make a Democrat vote the Republican
ticket, or vice versa.

Some years ago there was a very exciting
election in Kentucky. One of the candidates
was bitterly opposed by many women. One
of these was lamenting to a friend that she
could not get her husband to promise not to
vote for the objectionable candidate.

"Lock up all his clothes on election day,
so that he can't go to the polls,” suggested
the friend.

“flock up his clothes!” was the reply. “\Vhy,
he'd go to the polls naked!”

This man probably voted wrong, but at any
rate he was not a “captivated calf.”

The franchise is not given to a man in order
that he may express the political views of his
wife, his sister or his maiden aunt. It is
conferred on him that he may express his
own views; and, as this is a republic, “a gov-
ermnent of the people, by the people, for the
people,” and as women are people, the wie,
the sister and the maiden aunt should have
the right to express their views without the
preliminary performance of subjugating some
weak man.

Miss Corelli, an anti-suffragist, argues for
a woman’s rights to express her opinions
through a man who gives up his own opin—
ions in order to express the woman’s. l,
a suffragist, argue for a man‘s right to ex—

 

 “2. 'l‘hat the saloon should not be
used for gambling purposes.

"3. 'l‘hat the saloon should not be
open to minors. and that the sale of in—
toxicants to children should be proscribed

 

 

Political Equality
Leaflets

Send 25 cents to National Suffrage Head—
quarters, \Varren, I )hio. for bound volume,
containing also Eminent (5)1)ini0ns, \Vomen
and the Municipal Franchise, by Jane Ad-
dams: ()bjections Answered, by Alice Stone
lilaeluvell. and Mrs. Julia \Yard Howe's
Reply to Mrs. llumphry \Yard. Sample

set l’. lC. leaflets, 10 cents; per 100. 15 cents.

M
You): 13;: COUNClL
“who‘d/0'“

POLITICAL EQUALITY LEAFLETS

Published monthly at Warren, Ohio. by the NATIONAL
AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION

 

Loved for Its Enemies

A secret circular was sent out by the
lirewers' and \Yholesale Liquor Dealers'
Association of Oregon to every retail
liquor seller in the State, when the woman
suffrage amendment was pending. Some
copies of it fell into the hands of friends
of equal rights and it was published in
the Portland Oregonian of June I, 1906.
in the-Portland Evening Telegram of the
same. _(,late,:a1id in many other papers. Its
authenticity has never been denied. it
read in part as follows:

“It will take 50,000 votes to defeat
woman suffrage. There are 2,000 re—
tailers in Oregon.

“That means that every retailer must

himself bring in 25 votes election day.

 

 "livery retailer can get 25 votes. Be-
sides his employees. he has his grocer, his
butcher. his landlord. his laundryman,
and every person he does business with.
if every man in the business will do this,
we will win.

"\\'e enclose 25 ballot tickets showing
how to vote.

“\\'e, also enclose a postal card ad—
dressed to this Association. It you will
personally take 25 friendly voters to the
polls on election day and give each one
a ticket showing how to vote, please mail
the postal card back to us at once. You
need not sign the card. Every card has

a number, and we will know who sent it
in.

“Let us all pull together and let us all
work. Let us each get 25 votes.
“Yours very respectfully,
ll{l£\\'lil{8 & \YHOLESALE
l lOU(_)R DEALERS’ ASS’N.”

.v

)
)
4

The postal card enclosed for reply was
addressed:
“Brewers’ & Wholesale Liquor
Dealers’ Association,
“413-414 McKay Building,
“Portland, Oregon.”

The reverse side of the card bore this
reply:
“Dear Sirs:
"l will attend to it.
" .......................... 25 times.
"Yours truly,
“o o o o"

lnstead of a signature a number was
appended.

The close affiliation between the saloon
and the social evil is notorious. It was
acknowledged by President Julius Lied-
man of the. United 'llrewers' Association
in his address at its annual convention
held in Milwaukee, June 9 and 10, 1908.

In the report of that address published
in the Brewers’ Journal of New York,
July I, 1908, on pageigoo, President Lied-
man is quoted as saying:

“The abuse of the saloon is marked by
disorderly and disreputable practices,
which are not incidental to the business.
\Ve agree with all decent men upon
these points:

“I. That the saloon should not be
used to foster the social evil, and should
be utterly divorced from it.

 

 21, and then if considered reformed, to be par-
oled (Same, Chapter 115, page 248.)

In Denver, the women voters have also se-
cured ordinances placing drinking fountains in
the streets, garbage receptacles at the corners,
and seats at the transfer stations of the street
cars; forbidding expeetoration in public places;
parking 23d Avenue and planting trees.

Ellis Meredith of Denver says that equal

suffrage has also led to a much better enforce-

ment of the laws prohibiting child labor, re—
quiring that saleswonien be furnished with
s‘ats, forbidding the sale of liquor to minors
and the sale or gift of cigarettes or tobacco to
persons under 16, and others ofthe same gen-
eral character.

Mrs. lone '1‘. Hanna, the first woman ever
elected to the school board of Denver, and one
of the most highly respected women of that
city, writes;

“Some results ofequal suffrage in Colorado
are genel 1llv conceded: (1) The improved
moral quality of candid 1tes nominated for
olliee by the \alious pa1t1es, (’2) a decidedly
increased observance of the courtesies and de~
eeneies of life at the different political head-
quarters, previous to election; (3) better and
more orderly polling places; (4-) general awak-
ening interest, among both men and women,
in matters of public health, comfort, and
safety.”

*[This Act is incorporated in 3. Pure Food bill,
covering drinks, drugs and illuminating oils, (Laws
of 1003, Chapter 82. page 102.)]

.U' ,. . V ,. .
{)rtlliltitl !* muddy $217125.

 

Vol. 1. l . - _ ( \Hnbs‘ 11 Price
No. 2 ‘ \V 111111211 () ,\o115.11111;1< l..l(ll 1.1.01: pel ye111
Published monthly by the NA’I‘IUNA 1. AMERICAN
\Vo.\1\N \‘111~1\ 11,1‘ Assoc111u).\',
Headquarters \\’a11‘e11, Ohio.

 

FRUITS OF EQUAL SUFFRAGE, I

The advocates of equal sufirage are often
asked what practical good it has done where
it prevails, and the are sometimes challenged
to name a single “lav' aimed at human better-
ment’ that has been 11 1ssed 111 consequence. It
is not hard to answer this demand. We point
to the following laws:

I): \VYOMING.
(Equal Suffrage granted in 1960.)

Acts providing that men and women teach-
ers shall receive equal pay when equally qual-
ified (Revised Statutes of Wyoming, Section
614;) raising the age of protection for girls to
18 (Same, Section 4964;) making child neglect,
abuse or cruelty illegal. (Same, Section 2291;)
forbidding the employment of boys under 14
or girls of any age in mines, or of children
under 14 in public exhibitions, (Same, Section
2289;)111aking it unlawful to sell or give cigar-
ettes, liquor or tobacco to persons under 16
(Laws 0f1895, Chapter 46, Section 4; ) estab-
lishing free public kindergartens (Same, Chap-
ter 50, Section 1,) forbidding the adulte1ation
of candy (Laws of 1897, Chapter 39) *

Makingit illegal to license gambling (Laws
of 1901, Chapter 65, page 68 ,) and providing
for the care and custody of dese1 ted or orphan
children, or children of infirm, indigent or in-
competent persons (Laws of 1903, Chapter
106, page 134.)

 

 Mrs. P. N. Sheik of Wheatland, president
of the Wyoming State Federation of Women's
Clubs, said in a letter to Miss Amy F. Acton,
of Boston, Sept. 12, 1904:

“The women of this State have always
voted since the Territorial days, and it will be
hard to find anything they have not had a
hand in. * * We have not a good law that
the women have not worked for.”

IN COLORADO.
(Equal Sufi'rage granted in 1893.)

Laws forbidding insuring the lives ofchil-
dren under 10 years old (Laws ot1893, page
118;) establishing a State Home for Depend--
ent Children, 2 of the 5 members of the board
to be women (Laws of 1895, page 71,) requir<
ing that at least 3 of the 6 members ofthe
Board of County Visitors shall be women
(Laws of 1893, page 75;) making mothers
joint guardians of their children with the
father(l4aws of 1895, page 186;) raising the
age of protection for girls to 18 (Laws of 1895
page 155;) establishing a State Industrial
Home forGirls, 3 of the 5 members of theboard
to be women (Laws ot'1897, page 68;) remov-
ing the emblems from the Australian ballot—-
the nearest approach to adopting an educa-
tional qualification for Stifirztge (Laws of 1899
pages 177-78;) establishing the indeterminate
sentence for prisoners (Same, page 233;) re-
quiring one woman physician on the board of
the Insane Asylnin(Sanie. page 259;) establish-
ing parental or truant schools (Laws of 1901,
page 364:) providing for care offeeble-minded
(Same, page 177;) for tree preservation (Same,
page 185;) for the inspection of private
eleemosynary institutions by the State Board
of Charity (Same, page 88;) requiring in public
schools lessons on humane treatment of ani-
mals (Same, page 362;) making the Colorado
Humane Society a State Bureau of child and

animal protecti0n(Same, page 191;) providing
that foreign life or accident insurance societies
which have to be sued must pay the costs
(Same, page 127;) establishing juvenile courts
(Laws of 1903, page 179;) making education
compulsory for all children between 8 and 16
except those who are ill, or are taught at home
and those over 14 who have completed the
8th grade or whose parents need their help
and support, and those children over 14 who
must support themselves (Same, page 418;)
making father and mother joint heirs of de-
ceased child (Same, page 469;) providing that
Union High Schools may be formed by uniting
school districts adjacent to a town or city
(Same. page 425;) establishing a State Travel—
ing Library Commission, to consist of five
women from the State Federation of Women's
Clubs, appointed by the Governor (Same. page
352;) providing that any person employing a
child under 14 in any mine, smelter, mill, fac-
tory or underground works shall be punished
by imprisonment in addition to fine (Same,
page 310;) requiringjoint signature ofhnsband
and wife to every chattel mortgage, sale of
household goods used by the family, orconvey-
ance or mortgage of the homestead (Same,
Chapter 75, page 153;) forbidding children of
16 or under to work more than 8 hours a day
in any mill, factory, store, or other occupation
that may be deemed unliealtliful (Same, page
309;) providing that no woman shall work
more than 8 hours a day at work requiring
her to be on her feet (Same, page 310;) making
it a criminal offense to contribute to the delin-
quency ofa child (Same, page 198;) making it
a misdemeanor to fail to support aged orinfirm
parents (Same, Chapter 148, page 372;) pro-
hibiting the killing of doves except in August
(Same, Chapter 112, page 232;) and abolish—
ing the binding out of girls committed to the
Industrial School; girls to be committed till

 

 is just. It may be defeated today, but never
conquered, and tomorrow it will be victorious."

lt fills Inc with joy when I think oi? the many
changes that will be brought about when wom—
cn liavc the right of suffrage. They will defy
the politicians, and vote as any Christian man
should and would vote it" he had the moral
couragen—Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid.

i hope that women will consent to vote, as
they do in England, for public officers. For the
life of Inc i. never could see that Blanche of
(Tastile, or Matilda of Canossa, or Victoria
(luclph were less exemplary as women for their
being all their lives mixed in politics; and I
lliink that a great onward step in the progress
of mankind will be made when every adult
person shall take an active part in the gov-
ernment of our country—Rev. Edward Me-
chency, All, St. Mary's, Md.

There is also the question of woman suffrage.
The experiment will be made, whatever our
" theories and prejudices may be. XVomen are
the most religious, the most moral, and the
most sober portion of -the American people,
and it is not easy to understand why their in-
fluence in public life is dreaded—Bishop John
Lancaster Spalding.

POLITICAL EQUALITY LEAFLETS

Futlislxed mrnzhly at Warren. Ohio, l~y the NATIONAL
AMERICAN WCMAII SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION

 

 

Some Catholic Opinions

Cardinal Moran of Australia in his official
organ the Catholic Press, of Sydney, says:
“What does voting mean to a woman? Does

she samitice any dignity by going to the poll?

The woman who votes only avails herself of. a
rightful privilege that democracy has gained
for her. No longer a mere household chattel,
she is recognized as man’s fellow worker and
helpmate, and credited with public spirit and
intelligence. As a mother, she has a special
interest in the legislation of her country, for
upon it depends the welfare of her children.
She. knows what is good for them just as much
as the father, and the unselfishuess of mater-
nity should make her interest oven keener.
She should deem it one of the grandest privi-
leges of her sex that she can now help to
choose the men who will make the laws under
which her children must live, and exert her
purer influence upon the political atmosphere
of her time. How can she sacrifice any dignity
by putting on her bonnet and walking down to
the polling booth? ' 'W'omen think nothing of
transacting ordinary commercial business, of
working alongside men, of playing their part
in the practical business of life. They do not
mind going to the box office of a theater to

 

 purchase tickets for the play. There is very
little difference between doing that and putting
their vote in a ballot box. The men about the
booths show them every courtesy, the officials
are anxious to make things easy for them, and
the whole business of voting does not occupy
more than five minutes. The woman who
thinks she is making herself unwomanly by
voting is a silly creature."

ltcv. Thomas Scully, of Cambridgeport, said
at a legislative hearing on woman suffrage in
Massachusetts: -

“There are no duties or obligations attached
to our American franchise that women are not
capable of performing. For citizenship they
possess all the patriotism, virtue and intelli-
gence that the law requires, and a great deal
more,

“Who, especially, are the women who de-
mand for themselves and their sex this poli-
tical equality ? From my own observation, they
are those whose standards of intelligence, mor-
ality and social position are the very highest.
They are foremost in every good work for God
and country, to help the orphan and widow,
to aid the poor and comfort the sick. You will
hud such noble women, wives, mothers, daugh-
ters, in all our cities and towns, united and un-
ceasing in their efforts for temperance, public
decency and morality. I believe that the door
of political freedom and equality, at which
they are knocking louder and louder, should be
opened to them. And why? In order that their
special knowledge and practical experience in

regard to their own sex and in regard to chil-
dren may influence legislation for the physical,
moral and social protection of girls, rich as
well as poor, and for guarding the child’s nat-
ural home from evils that carry with them
criminal 1)()\'Gll,)' and disease.

"'1 know of no argument for refusing the suf-
i'ragc to women that is not equally applicable
to men. We are away behind other countries
in this. These women have certain political
rights, with results so satisfactory that many
of the leading men in Church and State are
now willing to grant them full citizenship.
Cardinal Archbishop Vaughn has publicly
stated that he is for it. Among the most learn-
ed ecclesiastics of our own country, not a few
are. pronounced in its favor. Educated men
and women of the Catholic laity are every-
where now to be found favorably disposed
toward it. It pleases me to say that Miss Jane
Campbell, a Catholic, is president of the Phila-
delphia \Voman Suffrage Association, the
largest local suffrage society in the country.
Again, something to be very proud of is the
fact that the first woman on this side of the
Atlantic who demanded the right to vote was
a Catliolic—h/Iargaret Brent of Maryland, on
Jan, 21, 1747.

“The opposition to female suffrage is a mat-
ter of course. All great social and political
reforms, as well as religious ones, have al-
ways been resisted by prejudices, customs, and
the old cry, ‘Inopportune.’ So it is with this.
It is a battle—reason and justice opposed by
senseless fears and selfish motives.