The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V

by Unknown

U. S. Senator John F. Shafroth of Colorado, a consistent supporter of woman suffrage from the very beginning of the movement for it in his State twenty years before, made an address to the committee which was printed in a pamphlet of seven pages and made a part of the propaganda of the National Association. Limited space permits only brief extracts, which give little idea of its compelling arguments.

An eminent writer has said that all powers of government are either delegated or assumed; that all not delegated are assumed and all assumed powers are usurpations. The powers of government by men over women are not delegated, because the women never delegated such powers to men. They are assumed then and, as all assumed powers are usurpations, the exercise of the powers of government by men over women is usurpation. How can those who refuse to give women the right to vote reconcile their opinion with the form of government in which they believe? What right have I to make all the laws which shall govern not only myself but also my wife, sister and mother, without giving to them any voice in determining the justice or wisdom of those laws? It can only be on the assertion of an assumed or usurped right—that which we have condemned as not the source of rightful power. We all remember Lincoln's declaration that "when the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is despotism." The exercise of any power of government not emanating from the consent of the governed, therefore, is despotism. After men by an assumption of power have attached the elective franchise to themselves, is it a just answer to the demand of women to say that men have concluded that "suffrage is a privilege which attaches neither to man nor to woman by nature?" Have we forgotten the cry of our forefathers which stirred the blood of every patriotic American, that "taxation without representation is tyranny?" Why is it tyranny to men but not to women? Is it sufficient to say that "they are not the only persons taxed as property holders from whom the ballot is withheld," when the only other persons from whom it is permanently withheld are lunatics, idiots and criminals? How would men like such reasoning applied to themselves?...

Deprive any class or nationality of men of the elective franchise and the detrimental effect would be felt immediately. Their petitions for legislation would no longer receive prompt and careful consideration and if the proposed legislation conflicted with conditions favorable to a class of voters it would be almost impossible to get a legislator or Congressman even to introduce such a measure. The equal suffrage advocates have appeared before a committee of the House of Representatives at Washington every session for a great many years, begging for a favorable report. If persons representing one-tenth as many voters had made an appeal for some important legislation affecting their rights, don't we know that those same Congressmen would almost have fought with each other for the privilege of writing a favorable report?

Governor Shafroth quoted election statistics which showed conclusively that women in Colorado voted in about the same proportion as men and he gave a long list of progressive laws which had been enacted through the support of women. He declared that in no respect had the ideals of womanhood been lowered and closed by saying: "The highest considerations of justice and good government demand equal suffrage for all women."

Dr. Shaw in closing the hearing said in part:

I have in my hand a document which was today sent, I believe, to every Senator and Representative, signed by the ladies representing societies opposed to the further extension of the suffrage to women. Of those which purport to be State societies, three at least are merely local clubs in cities. These ladies have petitioned this honorable body and the House of Representatives not to grant the appeal of the women who have come here with this very large petition on the ground that it would be an interference on your part with the rights which the States have reserved to themselves, if you were to submit an amendment to the Federal Constitution giving full suffrage to women.... I see by this document that the great danger with which you are threatened if you do this unjust thing is that you admit into the body politic a vast non-fighting horde of people, a most dangerous class. Man suffrage is a method adopted, it says, for the peaceful attainment of the will of the majority, to which the minority must submit.

If there is anything which must appeal to every sense of justice, it is the struggle of the industrial world to get out from under the domineering, military power. The age in which we live is no longer a militant age. Today it is not so much the question of which nation can produce the greatest number of soldiers as of which can produce the greatest number of things the world needs to buy. It is a problem of industry and into this problem women, either by force or by desire, have come.... In olden times women could control the hours of their labor and the conditions affecting their health and the health of their families; they could regulate the price of the product which they themselves produced in the home but since men have taken from it the industries, the necessity for women to protect themselves in the workshop, in the sweatshop, in the factory has come about. Wherever man has taken woman's work the woman must follow it and she must have the same method of protecting herself which man must have and there is no other means save through the ballot....

We have been over forty years, a longer period than the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness, coming to this Capitol pleading for this recognition of the principle that the Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. Mr. Chairman, we ask that you report our resolution favorably if you can but unfavorably if you must; that you report one way or the other, so that the Senate may have the chance to consider it.

The Chairman: "In behalf of the committee I desire to thank the ladies for the splendid arguments they have made and to say that we appreciate them most heartily. It is my intention to call the committee together at a very early date and we will give a careful and intelligent consideration to this measure, and, I hope, make a report on it."

Notwithstanding this promise no further attention was paid to these logical and eloquent appeals or to the immense petition, and no report whatever was made by the committee.