Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-06-11
The Justice of 1t.

The Hon. John ID. Long, at the
hearing for municipal suffrage for
women before the Massachusetts state
Legislature in February of this year,
said among other pertinent things:
'If the right to the ballot is found
ed on property, women should vote,
for they have property and are inter
ested in the laws for the regulation
Of property. If it is based on intel
ligence, women should have it. for
they are as intelligent as men. If if
is based on education, women should
have it, for women are IN majority
in our High schools and also as teach,
ers. If it is based on business abil.
ity, wnn,on pooeoeo it. Deor. in
mind what a vote is-merely an ex-
preston of personal opinion and
iindgcmMe aRhl uWpa6ql t ialkaerepqgar tb btu
when it comes to the one thing of
importance, they cannot vote.
was in Colorado and saw an
election. My daughters and their
grandmother voted. watched them
and as | saw the process the whole
argument about contamination van
ished utterly into the air. ! have
a tender feeling about my own; ]
should object to any infringement
on the delicacy of their lives, but
they were not put to half so much
notoriety OF exposure as they would
have been in a street car or at con-
cert. My daughter, who is now work
ing as a physician in the New York
slums, comes in contact with the sad
dest elements of a great city. The
exposure to which she was subjected
at an election in Colorado Springs
was nothing to the exposure which
she faces now and of which | am
proud.
There is no argument against
equal suffrage, on the ground either
of right or of expediency. 1t takes
little time to vote. The ordinary
man does not give three hours a
year to the exercise of suffrage.
Limit the suffrage if you think best,
but if you do, draw the line against
ignorance or incapacity, or crime, or
the failure to contribute materially or
mentally to the carrying of the pub
lie burdens, but do not draw it
against intelligence, virtue, capacity
or property because the possessor of
these qualifications happens to be of
one sex rather than another"
Here in Vermont tax-paying
women have school suffrage. In the
year. 1884 law was secured which
granted to married women the right
to own and control their separate
property and the power to make con-
tracts. Mothers are not equal guar
dams with the fathers of the children
in this state and they ought to be.
For five years the State Federated
Clubs have been trying to have the
legislature enact bill making it
possible for women to serve on the
state boards for the care of the feeble
minded, insane paupers and juvenile
offenders. The Legislature has failed
to enact a law embracing this rea-
sonable and right request, which has
precedent in other states.
A bill asking municipal suffrage
for women will be introduced into the
next legislature. 1t is to be hoped
that the representatives from this
county, yes, from the whole state,
will make themselves intelligent on
these vital questions; there will then
be no doubt as to their votes, for a
fair minded study of the question of
equal suffrage cannot but show the
right and simple justice of the cause.
Attend the suffrage convention June
odd in Woodstock.
MARY GRACE CANFIELD.