The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-09-09
'"KEEP RESPONSIBLE"
mrs. ELLEN FOSTERS TIMELY
APPEAL TO WOMEN.
WHY Their Influence Should BE Exer.
ted In Behalf of Republican Success
at the Polls-A Party that Leads All
Movements Which Benefit Mankind.

him to take a drink, mo, boys. l must
keep responsible.'
This tall, bis-boned and big hearted
man of the woods and of the plains had
driven many miles from the ranch to the
railway station, to meet a visiting city
gentleman. 1t was up to him. to bring
that visitor safely to the ranch; to per-
form that duty he must keep response
ble.''
| read this story two years ago,
while campaigning in the State OF
Idaho. In that State, and also in
the States OF Wyoming, Colorado and
Utah. women vote and may hold office
on the same conditions as do men. A
Democrat, Miss French, had acceptably
held the office of State Superintendent
of Public instruction, and was renomi-
mated. The Republican party had also
nominated a lady, Miss Mae Scott, for
the position. The campaign for the State
ticket. and for Congressman-at-Iarge,
was vigorous, and the Republican party
won. The shibboleth passed around
among Republican women was, Keep
rcsponsible.'
Miss Scott has been renominated by
acclanlatlon, at the recent State conven-
ton at Moscow. No criticism had been
made upon her d of the ofiice-she
had kept responsible"
We are now passing this word on to
Republican women, the country over.
" neither or not you can vote, you can
keep responsible"
Among the qualities Of the ideal wo-
man none is so universally acknowledged
as is that one of answering fidelity to
duty. In literature, and in the common
experiences of ordinary, everyday life,
woman's reliability as sister, sweetheart,
wife or mother is the keystone of every
arch, the keystone of all music. An
irresponsible woman. a woman who
does not care" is a pitiful and revolving
object. 1t is common to say that a
woman who goes wrong falls to lower
depths than a man can. | am not sure
that this is absolutely true. 1t surely
seems so.
During the last quarter Of a century
woman's sphere of duty and of respon-
sibilfty has greatly widened. Ii fulfilling
her primal responsibilities to the home,
she has been forced beyond the old-time
limitations in education, in industry, in
social economies, and in politics. The
demands of necessity and the limits OF
opportunity are always the measure OF
>oiiN'iouSlS VI I
s%ciously the average woman has always
accepted this standar of obligation. The
American woman has conspicuously lone
50. The American man, her comrade in
the home and in the worlds work, is
larger Drained, more free-hearted and
open-handed, more responsive to the
spirit of progress than is any other man
i'll the world. He, more than she. is re-
sponsible for the enlargement of her
sphere OF influence. He is sometimes q
little slow in recognizing the results Of
his own initiative.
This is how it is and why American
women now find themselves driven by
the necessities of the national life to the
open door of opportunity, and coerced by
a sense of responsibility to act with the
forces of progress.
! cannot in this paper set forth the
claims of the Republican party, or show
the utter mobility of the Democratic
party to legislate for the people, and its
incompetency to administer the govern
ment. | here only ask intelligent wo-
men to read the history of the country,
to study its present life as illustrating
the wisdom of the principles and the
constructive policies of the Republican
party. and to contrast them with the UNI
wisdom, and the dangerous go-as-you-
please, irresponsible suggestions of the
Democratic party. | do not fear the
final Judgment Of the average American
woman, when she accepts the fact Of her
wider sphere in politics and informs her.
self. ! know that she will Keep Re-
sponsible.'
| urge all women to think, and then
to act. Study the national situation;
note the strides which the country has
made in every department of human pro-
gress. See its greatness at home, and
its beneticient influence in world rela-
tons. Remember that of every forward
movement the Republican party has been
the instig2tor aud the leader. But while
YOU rejoice in victory and in progress.
open your ears and your hearts to the
undertone of discord from mis-applied
and Earring forces in industrial and civic
life. There are wrongs to be righted.
wounds to be healed, and ulcers to be
burned out. There are whole races OF
men to be lifted from the night of bar
barism into the morning Of semi-civiliza.
ton, and finally into the MONDAY Of
orderly self-government and political lib
erty.
The great, the beloved Mckinley first
voiced the National consciousness Of
world responsibility. He was Gods in
strument in the political evangelization
of those island empires where our flag
now floats. You reverenced him, you
mourned for him as you never mourned
before. Your tears were your hearts,
tribute to his character, and were elo.
quent with love of country, and indigna-
ton at her enemies. You can pay a
noble tribute, and voice a noble patriot
ism, by helping to sustain the principles
he believed in and the enterprises he
inaugurated. The wisdom of our great
statesmen is developing his and their
conceptions of National and international
righteousness. The service and the blood
OF our sins have consecrated these great
undertakings. The work must 90 on.
and you must help.
During this last year, under that
brave knight OF progress. Theodore
Roosevelt, the greatest physical enter.
prise In the worlds history, the connec-
f1nh