Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-01-03
W. C. 7. U. SELECTIONS.
Our UnanimiIy on the Suffrage
Question.

CONDUCTED BY EMELISE STEWART.
Our UnanimiIy on the Suffrage
Question.
How comes this unanimity? The
same authority which declares us &
suffrage society says that we have
simply "frozen out" the suffragists
The basis of truth underlying this
statement is that at one time seven
teen women left our ranks avowedly
because of our suffrage views. Proba-
bly, seventeen more have dropped out
for the same reason without avowing
their reason, and perhaps seventeen
refuse to join for the same reason, but,
after all is said, there are at least 15O,-
600 of US. Enough, indeed, to create
an iceberg sufficient to do consider
able " freezing" But the very large
| question remains, what made these
1900 women, whom the suffrage as.
sociations had never been able to
reach, woman suff'ragists?
The answer is, they have come to
demand the ballot for the sake OF their
homes and their dear ones, as a
mother who stood between her help
less little ones and q hungry woll
might call for q gun. If anyone
doubts this, let him read the history
of our leading women, and question
the more unknown workers in the
ranks.
A few examples here will serve as
illustrations of all. Very early in the
history of the W. c. T. u, Mrs. Hid
den, Presbyterian lady of the most
conservative views on the woman
question, accompanied Miss Willard,
who was not at that time an avowed
suffragist, to the Illinois Legislature,
to work for the passage OF temper.
ance law. Their chief work was in
personally persuading individual legis.
lators to support the bill. One and
all replied in so many words, can't
stand by you for you can't stand by
me; you have no VOTE" Mrs. Zerelda
Wallace, our great apostle Of suffrage,
was converted in the same way. She
went on a similar errand to the Legis.
lature OF her State, Ohio. She sat in
the House and listened while one
member after another gave his reasons
for voting to repeal the bill which the
mothers OF the State were, entreating
them to support. At last the repre-.
sentative from Mrs. Wallace's own
county arose and said: "We are not
here to vote our own views, but those
of our constituency. Ny constit.
uency wants license, and shall vote
for license" Instantly there sprang
up in her mind the question, Why
am not l one Of the constituency
which Marion county's representative
must vote to please?" The longer she
has thought about it the less has she
been able TO answer the question.
Such has been the uniform expert
ence OF our women. Almost without
exception they entered the ranks Of
the w. C. T. U. non-suffragists con-
vinced by the logic OF events. When
Miss Willard made her first speech
for suffrage in Q National convention
she did it in the face of the almost
fearful protest of her friends, and
when she closed the presiding officer
arose and said: "I wish it distinctly
understood that the speaker repre-.
tents herself, and not the Womsn's
Christian Temperance Union" A.
they were leaving the hall she whis'
pered to Miss Willard, "You might
have been Q chief, but you have de-
liberstely chosen to be nothing but q
scout" Four years later Frances
Willard was elected President of the
National w. G. T. u, and has held
her position ever since, elected unani.
mously ever year.
Nor is the experience Of temperance
women exceptional. Women who en-.
ter upon reform work of any kind be-
come as q rule suffragists very soor
and for the same reason. The ques
tions of the day are all moral ques'
tions, and every one OF them is in pol
itics. Our defeats have proved to u.
that there is only one weapon which
can avail. We have tried the "wo
manly" method OF persuasion. There
is nothing about persuasion that We
do not know. And one conclusion has
been slowly but surely forced upon US
that the talk about womanly influ
ence" along political lines is the mer'
est namby-pamby nonsense. The uni
form reply of legislatures, courts, mu
nicipal authorities and political parties
to our petitions has been, You cam
vote, ladies, you can't VOTE" In Ne
brasks, when mothers, wives and sis
ters were using all of their magic L" wo
manly influence" to persuade the vot
ers of the land to prohibit the liquor
traffic, Christian men voted for license
and hundreds OF Italians, who haC
been imported to work upon railroad
who could not even speak the English
language, were naturalized % anG
voted in the interests of the liquor
traffic, while the women stood by
voiceless and voteless. These things
have been done again and again.
Moreover, since we came out from
our homes we have learned how mer
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