Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-09-23
why We Want woman Suffrage.

we want woman suffrage HOI OuIy
because woman has an inalienabie
right to it, but because of the good it
is going to bring to man, as well as to
woman. We want it for woman's pro-
lection in the industrial world. Give
women the ballot, and then the sweat
shops, where woman is serving for
plttance, will disappear. Women who
are then filling the place of cashier or
clerk or teacher, will then draw sal
airy in proportion to the grade and
amount of work done. Woman Will
+ then have sovereign power She will
then be consulted; she will then be-
, come factor in politics. she will then
get fair treatment; will not be OPP
pressed, will be more respected as a
natural consequence. The daughters
of the well-to-do think nothing about
this; but let those daughters becoming
bankrupt, be compelled to make their
own living; then they will realize that
! because woman is weaker physically
than man is that that is no reason why
she should be deprived of the right to
protect herself. Give the girls the
same right in life that you give the
boys. Woman has as much right to
the honors and emoluments of office
as man has, If she is as well qualified
and gets the votes, or the appointment.
We want 1t because as we have said,
/ man without woman's assistance is not
capable of enacting and enforcing laws
for his own government. Every cam
/ did, fair minded man is willing to ac-
/ knowledge that our elections as now
/ conducted are a disgrace to our civ
ilization. An institution where man
ilization. An institution where a
man does not want to see
his wife, his sister, daughter,
/ or mother, is an institution which
/ tends to barbarism, such an institn
i ton is politics under our present sys-
TEN. Men in all stages of intoxication,
! hauled to the polls, rolled out of car
riages, stagger up to the voting place,
| conscience benumed reason and Judge
ment gone, and at the behest of the I'M
scrupulous demagogue they proceed to
the exercise of that Sovereign power,
which God has given them, and de-
post their ballot in the box; not in
accordance with their own will, bat
| like dumb driven cattle under the lash
of the man who furnishes the most
money; the most drinks; the most
]
pointing. And with the running the
gauntlet of the crowd that wants to
! talk to you, and tell you all about it,
and how to vote, and who is going to
get there; and with the fumes of to-
bacco and intoxicating drink, and the
general filth of the place; make our
modern voting places, such a place as
that no pen can describe, except the
rTix l,A Wi n
some respect for himself a sense of re-
| lief when he gets away from there.
And you say are we going to take
! our women to such a place as that?
! 1t would not be such a place as we
! have described if women were allowed
20 vote; with woman's regaru for san
| itation and cleanliness, and with wom-
ans moral influence commanding re-
spect, man would be on his good be-
| havior, and there would be a trans
| formation, and woman could go and
come with her father or brothers; as
has been said, God made no mistake
when he placed boys and girls in the
same family, and as they go to school
together and recite in the same classes
why not go to the polls together?
We want bribery in politics to cease.
If man wishes to engage in dishon-
est act, or criminal deed, the last thing
he would do would be to let woman
know anything about it.
1t would be impossible to bride wo-
mans vote. No man would try that.
/ Why? Because he knows she would
tel it and it would be all over the
country in less than two days. But a
man would take a dollar, or a So dollar
| l.; lo+ biYss oil e. n
into his pocket and he would breathe
it to no one We all know that We
are compelled to place men in nomina-
ton for office, not with reference to
their fitness for the Office but with ref
erence to the men who are to vote for
them, and women being less partisan
than man, as Beecher ha ssaid. if wo-
man had the ballot not one bad
man would be put up for office, where
| fifty are now. We want fifty are now.
We want more purity in politics, the
best government possible, to fill the Of
fees all along the line. and we will
never succeed in getting that without
I woman's vote. In county, district and
municipality elections, especially, we
need woman's vote.
Herbert Spencer, speaking Of city gov
eminent in this country, says: I'VE re-
strain the form of liberty, but as far
as | can see very little of the sub
stance. Not feudal lords with retain
ers armed with the sword, but the city
boss with regiments of men armed with
ballots" Joseph Cook, the giant intel
lect, has said that ''woman's vote would
| be TO the vices in our large cities what
the lightning is 10 the oak" Bishop
Simpson, the most noted man in the
Methodist church in years, has said
that the vices in our cities will never
be overcome until woman is given the
right to vote"
We beg of you, as women, work for
the ballot, and accept it as women have
elsewhere as a precious boon, and ex-
ercise it as a patriotic duty. We want
woman suffrage because we want better
control of the liquor traffic. DR.. Tai
mage in a sermon published, says
II woman wants to vote, let her
vote. and then he says woman has one
| right and he don't care if she has M
other, and that is the right to make
home happy. But, you take the ballo
| awoy from woman, and you take
away her power to make home happy
you take away her control over the traf
fic in intoxicating liquors, which is bring