The sun., 1903-06-07
1AE CAUSE OF WOMAN.
FACTS tBOIT TAXATION AND
THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
.,,rr 10 Critic OF the Ad,o.
rates OF Woman SufYrase-Des,re
6. women TO Vote ShOwn-PrOperty
nights OF Women Still Incomplete.


c. women TO Vote ShOwn-PrOperty
nights OF Women StilI Incomplete. |
II has been observed million times,
more or less, that logic is strictly mascu-
line endowment, and that because women
,re so sadly ydefcient in il is one Of the strong
.st reasons why they should not pave the
franchise Women themselves will plead
guilty 10 an utter inability to see the con-
uection between the two.
Those of them, for instance, who have
followed closely the present ote-getting
tour of the President of the United States
have observed that there have been hun
dred appeals to mems emotions where there
has been one to their logic, Women are SO
illogical. also tina, they cannot see thrilling
appeals to the reason in the drums and
horns, the fireworks torchlight professions.
gaudy uniforms and kegs Of beer that form
% conspicuous part of every campaign
They wonder, too, how the newly landed
Immigrant so quickly becomes possessed
Of this absolutely necessary qualification
for voting, and they conclude that it must
be like beard something women cannot
expect to attain. But that which puzzles
them more than anything else is what be-
comes oI tIlS superior I1lHS'ullIl' dll llnu'e
when its leading exponents the great
editors attempt to discuss the question
itself of woman suffrage.
Take, for example, a recent editorial in
the Philadelphia Inquirer on the refusal
Of certain women in Wisconsin to pay taxes
unless allowed the franchise:
There is no direct relation bet wecn paving
taxes and voting. lher" Is no taxation Ill
this country WITHOUT r"pr"1ientatio' cNcspt
franchise were natural right it ought to be
exercised by every one. 1t i5 not natural
hs sh head of hs ni n T o ST r~ 4pSH
both sexes get it firmly fixed in their minds
that the unit in any, Governmcnt, is tho family;
up in a lot Of trou bles. The male OF 81 years
and upward is made voter because he either
l. the head of family or the potential ono.
This is perhaps not 50 much Gueslio
Of logic as OF fact. There is not one line
in the National Constt tuition. or in the
Constitution Of single State, not one word
in he Federal or the State laws, intimnting
that the franchise is conferred on man
potential one There is not a line or a
word in any of the above authorities max
ing the family the unit of government.
If it were the father would represent
il until the sons married
In framing the homestead laws for the
Territories Congress has often virtually
made women the heads of families, In
lan2 the United States Court Of Appeals
OF Virginia held that. when the support
of the family rests upon the Wife she is
the head of the family, even though the
husband be living. According to the
inquirer the woman then should do the
voting.
The only unit Of Representation in this
q family has no more elect raj ghts than
bachelor, and in comforting the ballot
on a man Of 2l the State does not take
the slightest account as to whether he is
married, or ever expects to be. The ma
iority of male immigrants come here with
out their families, but this has no effect on
their enfranchisement The Inquirsr is
challenged to produce any proof whatever
OF its assertions on these points.
Nowhere in Federal or State Constitu
duty" but always as a right or a "privi-
lege." The Fourt eenth and Fifteenth
Amendments did not confer any new right
on the negro. they simply undertook to
lparently he already possessed. But, by
whatever name this individual representa-
tion Ia called, It ought morally, legally
nd constitutionally to belong to women
M itizens exactly the same as to men citi-
n In the early days Of the Government
here was the closest relation between
axation and representation. as only tax
States the payment Of poll-tax is still a
prerequisite. Many States permit only
taxpayers to vote on questions of special
taxation, and New York. Louisiana and
Montana include women in this list.
In several States women cannot exercise
school suffrage unless they pay taxes
number OF the Southern States have gone
back to the original method Of deprivpg
non-taxpayers Of all suffrage and the
plan is being discussed in the North There
taxes and then deprives him of his repre-
sentation, unless he is insane. idiotic or a
convicted criminal. But all of the States.
except four, take the full quota of taxes
from every woman who has dollar worth
Of anything taxable. and do not allow her
the slightest voice as to how they shall
be expended or who shall dsburse them.
There is taxation without representation"
in hundreds Of thousands OF such cases,
and II they were men instead Of women
the Inquirer would soon learn through
their protests that there is a very decided
relation between paying taxes and voting"
But, for an example of still finer logic.
listen to the Philadelphia Press, an invet-
crate opponent Of equal suffrage, as it
comments on the large vote of women at
the spring elections in Kansas
The women are evidently disposed to use
the'ballot as far as they are permitted
" the advocates Of woman suffrage could
give the public some continuous examples
Of it's use such as occurred last week in
Topeka, they might be able to dissipate or. at
least. modify the adverse sentiment.
Where are the women expected to give
this continuous performance? They can
vote but once year in Kansas, and it is
only in the alternate years that Mayors
are elected. The ratio of the women's
vote compared to the registration is always
just about the same as il was this year.
In 1901 the women Of Topeka cast $685.
votes; in 1903 they cast 5,937 The official
statistics show a steady gain year to year,
since 1887, in the number of women who
make use Of their restricted suffrage. Kan
sas, therefore. gives as much OF con
tnuous example as the election laws
will permit.