The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-30
In work. The differentiation between

her work. The differentiation between
the sexes should begin early.
THE woman suffragist movement is
legacy of ward politics which has ap-
pealed to ambitious, restless women
who do not understand that plunging
into politics is a different thing from
studying them theoretically, and that
they are but a drop in the political
bucket But politics are not the only
public arena for women, neither do they
offer her the only education. The out
cry about the subjugation Of women has
arisen from a total misunderstanding
of the history Of civilization, which
teaches that as wOman's power decreas-
es her social power increases, that the
specialization Of labor is an intellectual
and spiritual not less than q CONNER
cial axiom, that suffrage is an anti
quated, not q progressive movement,
and that it is a decivilizing influence
which, were it developed, would carry
civilization back to its primitive form.
IF both men and women of high abil-
lty are to devote themselves to politics.
what will become Of humanitys other
interests? Comparatively few men take
an active part in politics-about ten out
OF a hundred. If the same held true of
women when they received the ballot,
that would be a reason against giving
women the ballot, for we could not af-
ford to have ten In every hundred
women withdrawn from their work on
hospital and poor farm boards. where
their influence counts enormously justA
because it is disinterested. Give women
the ballot and they cannot engage IN
phllanthrOpies without being accused
of belonging to party. But if only ten
out of hundred women are to engage
actively in politics, that means that
ninety in the hundred Will cast an I'M
instructed vote. But if women are going
to do only as Well as the men. what is
the object in giving them the ballotH
Much of the trouble comes out of
looking on women as a class distinct
from their husbands and brothers, and
of comparing brilliant women with aV-
erage men. 1t is not seen that men and
women together constitute the social
unit. AS for the argument that women
would purify politics, they might, per-
haps, if the votes Of good women could
replace the votes of ignorant, selfish
men; but doubling the quantity is not
improving the quality. As a fact, how
ever, women have proved themselves
Wire-pullers Not to speak of the female
lobbying that goes on, the woman suf-
frage party openly supports dema-.
gogue and offers it's support to both
political parties, Women are no purer
politically. no more dispassionate or
philosophical than the men of their
own class
Passing then to the cooperation of
dissimilars, the second subdivision of
her topic, Mrs. Sedgwick explained WHY
men have the right of franchise They
have been chosen to vote" she said,
because their sex insures to them the
physical strength to defend a principal
and the chiValry to protect the weak.
Women have not the legal mind any.
and it is not fanciful to say that thew
are better fitted for domestic than for
public life. All the education in the
world is not going to change their ma
lures. But If politics don't need woman.
neither does woman need politics"
Mrs. A. j. George Of Broollline was
the next speaker and she gave a bright
presentation of a "Remonstrant's view
of woman suffrage" Mrs. George de-
MED that the ballot was an iualienable
right but added that if it were, if the
interest Of the community required that
women should not have it, that would
be sufficient reason for their not voting.
She quoted from a letter from Dr. Ed
ward Everett Hale, in which he
traced the processes by which the suf-
frage had come to be given practically
to all men in America, and his opinions
on the subject We're received with an
plause by the audience. Mrs. George
said she did not believe that giving
women the ballot would ensure prohibit
ton, for nearly half the licenses were
issued to women; nor better the wages
for working women, since men who had
the ballot could not raise their own
wages She concluded with a descrin-
ton Of the purpose and scope of the
Massachusetts Association Opposed TO
the Farther Extension Of Suffrage to
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