The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-16
WORK OF WOMEN.
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait De-
livers Interesting Address.
Discusses the Progress Made by
Her Sisters.
THEY SHOULD VOTE.
Would Be Check on Political
Corruption.
THEY SHOULD VOTE.
Large Audience Heard the Elo-
quent Suffrage Leader.

Judging from Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Cats audience at the Auditorium last
night there are about ], POO people in To-
peka who are interested in the vital
question of women's rights. The aston
ishing thing to some people last night,
as it has been at all the meetings
Of the annual convention of the
Kansas Equal Suffrage association,
which concluded with Mrs. Cats lee
ture, was the number of attractive.
smartly goWned women who seem to be
leaders in the cause in Kansas.
one is used to the idea of a masculine
and aggressive creature in connection
with the question of womens rights but
only one typical 'suffragist' was seen
in the audience last night. She had
waist that would measure between 20
and SO inches, wore her hair pulled back
from her face with formidable severity.
a short skirt. heavy walking boots and
the walking hat which is the inevita-
bic badge of the strong minded fe-
male" But she was heard to say as she
left the Auditorium that she wasn't in
sympathy with the cause and believed
''wOman's s-here was in the hOme," a
sentiment not especially remarkable for
its originality, whatever OF reason and
Justice it may have on its side So
whether or not it can be truly said that
the average woman is painting for the
ballot it can not be charged, judging by
the leaders in the equal suffrage move
ment in Kansas. that those who do
want it are below the average and it
would perhaps be better to acknowledge
that they are rather above the average
in refinement, education and intellect.
Neither do they appear to be lacking
in the essentially womanly qualities
Their dress did not Indicate that poll
tics will ever take the place of fashion
with them or that if they were given
the ballot it would make any material
difference in their millinery bills. A
number of charming young women in
light -frocks assisted in fastening the
day when legislative halls win be
banked with palms and no report of
a political meeting be complete without
description of gowns by those acting as
ushers. The meeting was opened with
prayer and a collection was taken UP
at it's close so that the eternal feminine
was evidenced characteristically by
fashion, religion and the Quick Touch.
on the stage with the National
Equal Suffrage association preSl-
dent were Miss Helen Kimber, the
state association president, Mrs
Laura Johns of Salina, prominent
in the movement in Kansas. Mr.. Henry
Blackwell of Boston. who has given the
best part of his life to the cause. and
the Rev. Abram Wyman, who offered
a prayer at the beginning OF the meet
ing The Washburn college orchestra
played a number and the Washburn Col
lege Ladies quartette, which includes
some excellent voices and shows excep-
llODdl training. sang deiiSnlIullS at TIE
conclusion of the program. Mr.. William
Shaver gave a baritone solo and Mr. H.
2. Schwarzkopf a cello solo.
Mrs Cats argument in favor of the
enfranchisefent of woman is, not so
much that it is Just and right as that it
is inevitable. She sought to prove that
/ it is merely a step in the social eVolu-
/ ton of the race. The real test is not,
she said, whether men are willing to
extend the franchise to women or
whether women are willing to receive
/ it. but whether it is a natural step in
! the evolution of society and if it stands
/ this test nothing can stop it The
speaker than proceeded to show that
woman'S suffrage will stand that test
by tracing the evolution of society from
its most primitive stages, showing how
the earliest conditions made rule by
/ force inevitable and leadership a ques-
ton Of physical prOweSs. how demOcra-
cy has been a result of the invention of
/ gunpOwder which has helped more than
any other one thing to establish the
/ supremacy of brain over Drawn and
make Intellectual ability rather than
/ physical strength the standard of hu
man greatness. AS society evolved from
primitive to modern conditions she
skctched the changes in WOman'S posi-
[ ton, showing how her sphere of useful
/ ness widened so that so large a share OF
the productive la Dor of mankind was
performed by her UP to a hundred years
ago when mechanical inventions took
the work of domestic economy so large
~ out of her hands and left her nothing
but unframed and unskilled labor in the
home
When I first studied the woman ques-
ton" said Mrs. Gait, "and learned the
position of woman century ago, how
inferior it was in many respects to what
it is today and under how many restric-
tons she struggled 1 wondered that she
could have endured it. But l found the
secret of her endurance in her dignifiCd
position in the home" That position Mrs
by the Industrial development of the last
century so that now almost all the work
formerly performed exclusively by women
IS done by mechanical contrivances and
in factories and shops. 1t is charged, the
speaker said. that the wage earning wo-
men have stolen the places of men, but
( 1T WAS the men who first stole woman ;
place and Wonian's work and left her
stranded without other occupation thar
the unframed domestic work which offers
no outlet for her nervous energy. Women
: are driven into clubs. she commended by
restlessness ard dissatisfaction with the
2 conditions of their private life which pro-
vides them no occupation fitted to theiI
industry and ability. Even the erstwhiit
universal accomplishment of playing q
little has been taken away from the girls
of the present generation by the usurpa-
ton of the pianola and the mechanical
piano players of the proud place the piano
| formerly occupied in the home. 1t is be
8 cause women can no longer be kept busy
E in the homes that they have invaded ths
? offices, the factories and the shops. And
1t IS because there are now million anc
a half wage earning women in the United
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