Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-11-20
Anti-woman Suffrapist.

Absolutely, am forced to say wo
man suffrage has been q failure" de-
clsred Mrs. Clara Bell Brown, of Wash
'fngton, ID. O., recently ut Des Moines.
There's q higher sphere for woman
than voting. Ibelieve in motherhood,
tn the bringing up of boys and girls of
the country as they should be brought
up. Show me q single man of genuine
ability and power whose wife is q wo-
man suffragist and will abandon my
antt-suffraRe work and admit l am in
the wrong"
MIS- Browns presence in Iowa at
this time, says the Leader, is apparently
not an omen for good to the cause of
the equal suffragists. While Mrs. Brown
is not connected with any anti-suffrage
organization, she is nevertheless an ar
dent worker against it and she has
come to- Des Moines with the expecta-
tion of lecturing against equal suffrage
in this city, and planning for lectures
in other parts of the state. She hopes
to see the anti-suffrage movement
strengthened in the state and organiz-
ed, in preparation for the activity the
suffragists will manifest before the gen
eral assembly this winter.
Mrs. Brown is we'll known as news
paper woman and lecturer. She has
been travelling about Iowa recently.
She was In Colorado and California dur
in the camraign preceding the election,
in the interest of the republican nation
al committee. She is q sprightly, dark
eyed, white haired southern woman,
her birthplace being in Tennessee, and
she speaks with the touch Of southern
accent.
On the suffrage question in Colorado
and California Mrs. Brown talks enter
tainingly. aWoman suffrsge is fail
ure In Colorado" she said. "The demo-
Gratis are only waiting to get into power
there to strike 1t blow. The republi-
cans favored suffrage originally in Col
orado because they thought 1t would be
to their advantage. Now they wish
they were rid of it. The fact isl
speak plainly on this matter-the wo-
men have but single idea in the elec-
tlon of men to office, and that is to put
men into power whose moral standards,
are acceptable to themselves. The ques-
tion of fitness and ability to conduct
public affairs seems to be lost sight of.
The presence of women in q campaign
has proved to be demoralizing in Color
ado. The state chairman and county
chairman can make no move without
being threatened that unless they let
the women have their way they will not
get the women's vote. It's enough to
drive the campaign managers into ner-,
vous prostration.
while the suffragists are much
wrought up in California. do not be-
lieve they will get suffrage. Kansas
may, but 1 doubt 1t. The fact is, and
you will live to see 1t, though 1 may not,
that the time is coming when suffrage
for women will be thing of the past.
Women have all the rights they are en-
titled to at the hands of the men. When
9 law gets on the statute books that is
found to work an injury to women 1t is
at once repealed or modified.
"The great argument of the suffra-
gists is that the woman with property
is entitled to a vote. Well, that argu-
ment is absurd. Helen Gould, just be-
cause she has millions, is no more en-
titled to have the ballot than is the wo-
man who washes for living. If the
women with property are going to be
allowed to vote, and property is the
test of the right to suffrage, then this
country has abandoned its traditions,
and we have encouraged sort of yot-
ing trust. What we need is not the
ballot, but better womanhood and
motherhood, better care for the rearing
Of our children, and better laws for the
prot on of the young womanhood Of
the country"