The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-27
REPLY OF MR. SMITH
ANSWERS HIS CRITIC, AVERY
 c. MOORE.
The Former Contends That Equal Suffrage in the West Has Tend ed to Cheapen and Coarsen
 Womanhood.
Estes Park. col.. July T. is0a.

Estes Park. Col. July 2i. 1902 Editor The Advertiser:
 My attention has been directed to a communication, which appeared in The Advertiser of June II, written from Grangeville, Idaho. and bearing the sig nature of Avery c. Moore. In which that gentleman seeks to refute the facts and conclusions contained in certain article on woman suffrage and its effects as seen in the West, which wrote for The Mo- bile Herald in May last. MT. Moore s statements are 50 greatly at variance ter eight months of travel and residence in the West that I am forced to con- clude that his observation has been lim- tied to the confines of the Idaho hamlet in which he dwelfs4a place so small that the maps do not show it--which town evidently differs in many details of man. ners and customs from such cities as Denver, Pueblo, Salt Lake City and scores of other places which have vis- tied. I would prefer to think that my critic Is simply Ignorant in his blind par tisanship than to believe that he wouid be deliberately careless of the truth. Un- der these conditions 1t is scarcely worth the while to discuss the matter with him. He evidently relies upon his narrow scope of vision and few ancient gov ernment figures to fortify the untenable position which he has taken. Butifor the purpose of further enlightening MT. Moore and those who hold his views, 1 will briefly set forth few additional facts.
 In discussing woman suffrage as a moral proposition. my contention being that equal suffrage has failed to bring about promised moral and political re- form. Mir Moore challenges my statement that open gambling dens thrive in the equal suffrage States of the West. Let my critic visit Denver. Cripple Creek, Grand Junction, Lyons or almost any other city or town in Colorado and it will not require him long to ascertain how | thoroughly he is misinformed on this sub | ject. Not only do gambling establish | ments thrive in the Rocky Moutain re- | zion, but am told that in many places | they are licensed by the local authorities. Now and then the Denver newspapers | urge the authorities to make war on the | gamblers in that city, where many large | gambling dens run openly, but these ap- | peals are in vain. Such State laws as dc | exist on the subject are not enforced. quote from The Denver Republican of re- cent date in order to show how the Gov | ernor in an equal suffrage State refuses | to enforce the anti-gamblings laws:
 Acting Governor Coates says thae he | will not enforce the provisions of the law respecting open gambling houses and of lenses of that kind which Governor Or ter. He claims that it is not his duty tc depart from the policy pursued by Gov, ernor Qrman in these highly important particulars"
 And thus the Colorado gamblers con. tinue operations. They have nothing tc fear A little newspaper agitation of the 1 matter occasionally does not disturt them. The woman suffrage leaders art kdoing nothing to bring about reform | formed, although this question presents an inviting field for reform. l have nev' l CT heard of these questions being madt an issue in State or municipal cam paign. On the contrary, public senti ment seems to sustain, gambling as "ont of the fixed institutions" of this region | As a general proposition the women vot CTS are no more responsible for this evi | is to pose as moral factor in politics and Is to be thus heralded, it is hel duty to make proper effort to force al l such matters to the front as campaign issues. MT Moore in attempting to mee l the statement made by me that womer in the equal suffrage States are crowdinl | all paths of commercial and industria life. declares that there are fewer female | where in the Union. He might have alst added that there are fewer people of al kinds In the Rocky Mountain States thar The entire State of Idaho contains bu | 21.000 inhabitants more than Jefferson County Alabama the County In which Birmingham is located. 50 at best. Idaho could not have great number of eithei | Moore's statement, as 1t stands. may b' true and still it would not disprove my declaration. s;4.
 Mir Moore indirectly boasts that th' l women voters are helping to provide splendid public schools. As voters this ts but their duty. but the public school sys tems of the equal suffrage States are in feTior to those of the majority of tht States where women remain in woman: sphere. My critic is distressed because children work in Southern cotton mills He forgets that child labor Is an evil from which no State is entirely exempt | aVro tnfnrFnaH that the canal gIIff rage States have any strenuous law' on the subject, though some of them may have. But 1 do know that here in Colo rado those children who attend the pub lie schools ESQ long as the WGSterT mother has the ballot" as MT. Moore puts 1t, also share their desks with negroes and march in and out of the schoo houses hand in hand with Africans social equals. have witnessed this dis gusting spectacle sn Denver frequently Here Is another neglected opportunity for moral reform.
 As to marriage and divorce, t is "a well known fact-though my critic has not yet learned it-that these Western States have the most lax laws on these subjects of any States in the Union. Tho nauseating stories of the divorce courts in this region frequently occupy more space in the daily newspapers than does the news of the mines and other indus tries which comprise the center of con
 
 | which a divorce can be had in certain | Western States-and the equal suffrage States are no exceptiens-that this sec tion Is regarded as the Mecca of those persons in the East who are seeking tt havo the marital knot united easily ana quickly. This fact Is so patent that an told that at a certain Western town tht railroad brakeman. when the train halts often in calling out theFHame of the sta tion derisively adds Twenty minutes fol divorce" thus ridiculiug the wei
 known celerity with which separations
 are to be had We'll informed and un.
 biased observers. who dwell in this re.
 zion tell me-and their statements con
 form to my own observations-that thu
 general social tendency Is towards fewel
 marriages and fewer births. and they at
 tribute 1t directly and primarily to VI
 man suffrage. The effect as shown bI
 government figures several years olC does not appear as marked as the future is likely to disclose if present condition!
 continue. especially since this Is a new Ama @