Thus, at the beginning of the memorable year of 1914 woman throughout the civilized world had gained various degrees of freedom in the exercise of her political rights.
WHY WOMEN WANT AND NEED THE VOTE.
Few questions have been so universally and intensely discussed as the right and expediency of Woman Suffrage. Its opponents assert that the true woman needs no governing authority conferred upon her by law. While discussing this question one “gentleman” said “that the highest evidence of respect that man could exhibit toward woman, and the noblest service he could perform for her, were to vote Nay to the proposition that would take from her the diadem of pearls, the talisman of faith, hope and love, by which all other requests are won from men, and substitute for it the iron crown of authority.”
The chief arguments brought forward against woman suffrage are: that the majority of the women never desired it, because they were already represented by their husbands, fathers and brothers; that there were already too many voters, and that by admitting women to suffrage the whole machinery and cost of voting would be doubled without changing the result; that women would not have time to perform their political duties without neglecting their higher duties at home; that women were too emotional and sentimental to be entrusted with the ballot; that women would cease to vote after the novelty had worn off; that the introduction of women into political life would increase its bitterness, and would abolish chivalry with its refining influence on men; that the franchise, in a large majority of instances, would be exercised under the influence of priests, parsons, and ministers, under the power of religious prejudice, and that religious feuds would affect political life much more than under present circumstances. And finally it has been asserted that woman suffrage would place a new and terrible strain upon family relations as the introduction of political disputes into domestic life would lead to quarrels and divorce.
These arguments were answered in an editorial of the “New York American” of October 6, 1912, as follows:
“The ballot is the weapon that men use in defending their rights. It is the voice with which men express their opinions, their wishes, as to law, in the more settled civilization where the ballot is the recognized power. Little by little the mass of the people—that is to say, of the men—have got the ballot. Originally there was no ballot. Savage tribes held disorganized meetings, and shouted their opinions. The loudest shouters won, and the man who could hit the hardest led the others. Little by little the big man formed his own opinions, alone reached his own decisions, and the others had nothing to say. The expression of opinion was confined to one, or to a few leaders, gathered under a chief, or, where religion ruled, opinion was controlled by the priests in the old temples making up their minds what would be good for them, and forcing their will on ignorant people. For many centuries the kings, the nobles and the priests ruled—and the people had nothing to say. Men and women alike were without the vote.
“Little by little, the men got the vote, and now, in civilized countries, universal suffrage became the rule, as regards men. The women were shut out because men always have had the idea that voting was in some way connected with fighting. Their thoughts went back to the old savage mob shouting its determination to attack and kill—leaving the women at home. And the ignoring of women persists, although little by little the voting power has been used, not to make war, but to prevent war.
“Now, in every country calling itself civilized, the chief use of the ballot is to express ideas of peace—justice. The ballot that was once the expression of man’s fighting quality is now the expression of his better nature, and for that reason it is time to give that ballot to the better half of the human race, to the women that have civilized it.
“Supporters of women suffrage are, and for many years have been, the best men in the country. Men that are unselfish, just, scorning ridicule, and proud to vindicate the rights of their own mothers and sisters, have long demanded votes for women. The women that have worked and fought for the suffrage have been, beyond all comparison, the best women of this and other countries. Humorists used to talk of “short-haired women and long-haired men” as the advocates of woman suffrage. That is a foolish and false division. The women with good foreheads, earnest, gentle and dignified faces have been the advocates of votes for women. The women with low foreheads, plastered with hair, the women with their faces painted, the women with a hundred thoughts for dress and no thought for anything else, have been the opponents of women suffrage. And the men, brutal, conceited, looking upon woman as a piece of property, created for man’s pleasure or for his service, have been the men that opposed suffrage. Another class opposed to woman suffrage is the most dangerous class of all. That is the class that would keep in ignorance women, and men, too, if it could. Those that prey upon the ignorance and superstition of women are anxious that women shall know as little as possible. They do not want the women to vote, for voting means thinking, and thinking means freedom. Wherever women have voted they have bettered conditions.”—