Perhaps you were not in favor of woman suffrage. Many good men and women were opposed to it. Many are still opposed to it. This is a good illustration of the way we do [pg 198] things in a democracy. We have different temperaments, different dispositions. We are reared in different surroundings. We have different interests. We look at life in different ways. Each of us has a right to his opinion and each of us has the right to express it by our vote. When we finally vote, a decision is made. If we belong to the majority, we find that our wish is carried out. If we are in the minority, we cheerfully follow what the majority of the people, what most of the people in America desire.
The thing that I wish to impress to-night is that to vote on election day is not only a right, it is a duty. Whether we were for woman suffrage or not it has come. It is settled. It brings into power twenty-seven million new voters. Each of these women, whether she desires it or not, must assume this new share of the responsibilities of government. It is a patriotic duty. At every election we must cast our votes. Before every election we must study the issues, the problems to be met. Unless we do that we are failing in patriotism and loyalty. Unless we vote we are not good citizens.
Now I must close. I hope that the talks I have given in this school have planted in the hearts of boys and girls, and possibly in the hearts of grown men and women, something of the simple truth of American life, something perhaps of the privileges of American citizenship and something of the duties that we all owe in return.
I have promised the principal of this school that next term I will again appear and present some new topics. I wish to talk to the boys and girls about authority and obedience, the source of authority and the duty of obedience. I wish also to talk about the making of laws, the origin of laws, how they are put in form and finally enacted by the people. I wish to talk about our public servants, because one of the important things for each citizen to know is that from the President of the United States down to the constable of the humblest [pg 199] village, all officers are mere servants of the people and that no officer in America is in his official capacity master of any man, woman, or child. I wish to impress as far as I am able the great truth expressed by Chief Justice Marshall when he said long years ago, “This is a government of laws and not of men.”
ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS
1. Show the ways in which the United States is just like a small club?
2. Why must we always vote?
3. Why is it right that women should vote?
4. Show that this is more than a privilege: it is a duty.
5. Imagine some person saying that America is only for the rich. Review all the work that we have done, and show how it is just as fair to the poor man as to the rich.