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-p.' - r',ifrTS"fjrijwwr??3 ' 1J U jf '' !1. The Commoner 20 VOL. 13, NO. 28 IV. iif k -. :" r Equal Suffrage By Alice Stone Blackwell, Editor Woman's Journal suffrage When a change la proposed, peo ple aak "What good will It do?" The experience of tho enfranchised states has alroady answorod this question In regard to equal suffrage. In the words of Sidney Lanier. "It is idle to argue from prophecy when we can argue from history." Tho following rosults are common to all tho suffrage states: (1) Equal suffrage haj broad ened womon's minds and led them to tako a more intelligent interest in public questions. Julia Ward Howe sent a circular lottor to all tho ministors of Ave leading denomina tions in tho four oldest suffrage states Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho and to all tho editors. She asked whether tho offects of woman suffrage weio gocd or bad, and she published tho rojilts of her inquiry. She received 624 answers. Of these, sixty-iwo wore unfavorable, forty-six In doubt, and GIG i favor. Tho replios from tho Episcopal clergymen wore favorablo, more than two to one; from tho Baptis' minis ters, more than seven to one; from the Congregatlonalists, abo"t eig" t to one; from the Method' ts, more than ton to one.; i:nd from the Pres byterians, more thai, clove to one. The editors were in favor, between eight and nine tD one. While many other good rosults wore mentioned, the point upon which (here was tho greatest unanimity was that the bal lot had had a good effect upo the women themselves, in broadening their views and stimulating them to inform themselves on questions of public importance. (2) It has given women added re s.OCt and dignity. Women of all the enfranchised states, from Mrs. Sarah Piatt Decker down, Have testified to this. As Mrs. K. A. Shoppard, pres ident of tho Now Zealand council of "women puts It: "A young New Zoa lander in his teenB no longer regards his mother aB belonging to a sex that must be kept within a prescribed sphere. That the lads and young men of a democracy should have their .whole conception of tho rights of humanity broadened and meas ured by truer standards is in itself an incalculable benefit." (3) Woman suffrage has made it harder to elect candidates of flag rantly bad character. This is con coded even by A. Lawrence Lewia, al moBt tho only respectab''-. man in Colorado who has written against equal suffrage. In his art'cle. in tho Outlook, which the anti-suffragists have republished as a tract, he says: "Since the extension of the fran chise to women, political parties have learned the inndvisability of nominating for public offlce drunk ards, gamblers, notorious libertines, retail liquor sellers and men of sim ilar discredited occupations, because the women almost always vote them down." (4) It has boon a help to women in securing moral, educational and humane legislation. Tho legislative committees of the state federations of women's clubs in all 'the enfran chised states have learned this by experience. Tho testimony to it ?, comes with especial weight and em phasis from women who had worked for reforms before and after equal suffrage was granted, and who .have seen the difference. One of these, Mrs. Alice Park of Palo Alto, Cal., after noting the greater responsive ness of tho solons this year, wrote: "One vote is worth a ton of voteless tafluence." Such testimony could be multiplied almost indefinitely. A . specific list of all tho improved laws secured in the different states since women were enfran chised would bo too long for the lim its of this article. It can be ob tained from tho National American Woman Suffrage Association, 605 Fifth Avenue, Now York. (5) It tends to modify a too ex clusively commercial view of public affairs. G. W. Russell, chairman of tho board of governors of Canter bury colloge, New Zealand, writes: "Prior to women's franchise the dis tinctive feature of our politics was finance. Legislative proposals were regarded almost entirely from the point of view: (1) What would they cost? and (2) What would be their lessoned tho power of the saloon in politics. In the twenty years since women were given the ballot in Col orado, no saloon keeper has ever been elected to the Denver city coun cil, though before that it was com mon. Mrs. Deborah Knox Livings ton, national superintendent of franchise for tho W. C. T. U., points out that in the state of Washington there has been a gain of 115 dry towns since equal suffrage was granted, in California a gain of 475, etc. In Colorado, within four years after the granting of votes to women the number of no-license towns was more than quadrupled, and it has increased still more largely since. Commenting upon the defeat of state-wide prohibition in Colorado last year, Ellis Meredith, the head of Denver's reform election commis sion, and herself a strong advocate of the dry policy, wrote in the Woman's Joun.al of November 16, zzr J 4?a Copyright 1913, by John T. McCutcheon. THE FIRST ONE EAST OF TIIE MOTHER OF WATERS" (Illinois la now among the Woman Suffrage States.) From tho Chicago Tribune effect from a commercial standpoint? The woman's view is not pounds nor pence, but Jier home, her familv. Tn order to win ho- vote, tho politicians had to look at public matters from her point of view. Her ideal was not merely money, but happy homes, and a fair chance in life for her husband, her intended husband, and her present or prospective family." Louis D. Brandeis, at tho legislative hearing on woman suffrage in Mas saclusetts last spring, said that he had formerly been opposed, but was now convinced that women's votes were needed, especially to help in the solution of our economic prob lems. (6) It makes elections and politi cal meetings more orderly. The Hon. John W. Kingman of the Wyoming supreme court has said: "In caucus discussions, tho presence of a few ladies is worth a whole squad of police." (7) It promotes temperance. Equal suffrage has nowhere brought about state-wide prohibition, but it has everywhere led to an extension of dry territory, and has markedly 1912: "It is because u: der our local option law conditions are so good and dry territory increasing so fast that many people feel we shall come nearer regulating the traffic in this way than by so-called total prohibi tion, with the police power i. all the big towns opposed to it." (8) It has increased the moral and law-abiding vote very largely, while Increasing the vicious and criminal vTot very little. Women in tho united States constitute more than two-thirds of the church members and less than six per cent of the pris on population. (9) It has increased tin propor tion of voters who have had more rwK. -moroly elementary education. Owing to the growing tendency to take boys out of school early in or- 2?Jh J)Uti thm Int0 businss, the high schools of every state in the .U',JUU, Ul sraauaung more girls than boyssometimes two or three times as many. reo (10) It leads to bettor enf orna ment of the laws for the protection of women and children lxutecilon (11) It he?ps to get adequate ap propriations for education. Several years ago I addressed a circular to the state superintendent of public instruction or the state commission er of education in every state whero women had the school vote, asking about the results. The large major ity replied favorably. The Wiscon sin superintendent gave a striking instance. In Madison, the proposal to build a much, needed new high school building was carried by the women's votes. The old building was rickety arid a firetrap. The Nebras ka superintendent wrote: It Las had many good results. For example, in the voting of school bonds whero better School buildings were an ab solute necessity, the bonds could not have been carried without the votes of the good and intelligent women. The instances are too numerous to mention." How the Movement Has Grown The first suffragist in America was Mistress Margaret Brent of Mary land, who in 1647 demanded "place and., voyce in the assembly," as the executor and representative of Lord Baltimore. In 1774, during the sit ting of the first continental congress, Abigail Adams of Massachusetts, de stined to be the wife of one presi dent of the United States and the mother of another, wrote to her hus band that she longed to hear that the colonies had declared their in dependence, and that she hoped the new code of laws would be more just to women than the old one. If not, she added playfully, "We are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in -which we have no voice or representation." The first prominent man in America to come out for woman suffrage was Abra ham Lincoln. In 1836 he published in the Sangamon County Journal a letter to his constituents, stating that he was in favor of granting the ballot to all citizens who possessed certain qualifications, "by no means excluding Jiemales." In this country the specific wom an's rights movement grew out of the anti-slavery movement. The anti-slavery society was rent in twain over the question whether women might speak against slavery and serve on committees. The brunt of the fight for the right to speak was borne by Abby Kelley Foster of Mas sachusetts and Sarah and Angelina Griinke of South Carolina. Frances Wright, Ernestine L. Rose, Margaret Fuller and other earnest women wrote und spoke in behalf of equal rights for women; and for eight years, beginning with 1847, Lucy Stone, a farmer's daughter, lectured through the -United States to great audiences and with singular elo quence. She was the first person by whom the heart of the public at large was deeply stirred on tho woman question. The first local woman's rights con vention was held in Seneca Falls, N. Y in 1848. It was called by Lu cretia Mott, Martha E. Wright, Eliza beth Cady Stanton and Mary Ann McClintock. The first national woman's rights convention was held in Worcester, Mass., in 1850, and attended by suf fragists from eleven states. The call was headed by Lucy Stone, ana signed by eighty-nine persons, in cluding Ralph Waldo 'Emerson, wen dell Phillips, William Lloyd Garri son, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cad' Stanton, Paulina Wright Davis and many other men and women of note. The first local woman's -ights so ciety was organized at South Bristol, N. Y., by Mrs. Emily P. Collins, in 1848. The first national organization aiming at woman suffrage was tne American Equal Rights association, formed in New York in 1866. Lu cretia Mott was the president, ana 1. t T M