Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-03-17

men was 81. Whether this was dis
elimination against the weaker sex the
Testimony did not disclose. One man
and two women obtained possession of
TBS ballots and in the privacy of hotel
room marked them to suit themselves.
distributed them among the voters, and
saw to 1t that they were cast. Another
fair and strenuous politician finding it
impossible to get rid of an obnoxious
judge of elections, managed with twen
~ men to start q free fight in the poll
ing place in the course OF which the
election judge was cast out bodily.
"All of which," in the opinion of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer simply shows
that there are bad women as we'll as
bad men,"
What effect these revelations will
have upon the cause of woman suffrage
is not easy to determine. The purpose
of its advocates is not merely to double
the electorate, but to obtain for female
citizens what Is claimed to be morally
their own, and to purify politics thru
their active PARTICIPATION. 1t appears,
though, that per.ncious political activ-
ity is not necessarily confined to males.
However, no masculine morahst, can
afford to point the finger OF seorn at
these female repeaters. ballot forgers
and perjurers in Denver. In this case,
at least, women have simply practiced
what men have taught.
Views not unlike those of the Plain
Dealer are expressed by the Columbus
Press Post:
Certainly bad women vote. And SO
do bad men, and bad women have as
good a right with the ballot as have bad
men Dishonest women vote and so do
dishonest men, and dishonest women
have as good a right with the ballot
as have dishonest men. Ignorant
women vote, and so do ignorant men,
and ignorant women have as good a
right with the ballot as have ignorant
men, Good men vote and so do good
women; honest men vote and so do
honest women, and both of these surely
have equal right to the ballot.
The Boston Woman's Journal says:
TT shows how hard up the opponents
of equal rights for women must be
for legitimate arguments when they
make so great an outcr5' over so trffins
a matter If it could be shown that III
the enfranchised states women are
more given to cheating at elections
than men, 1t would score fair point
against woman suffrage; If 1t coul1
be shown that they are equally guilty
it would be an argument either way.
The conclusions OF the Springfield
Union are altogether different from
those just quoted, the Union saying:
Seldom has there been told story
of election frauds so fragrant as those
The fact that women of the lower
classes We're largely responsible for
these frauds does not materially change
the situation, nor make the frauds less
culpable 1t is likewise true that it is
the men of the lower classes who are
most frequently guilty Of violating the
election laws 1t has long been a fav-
orite argument of those who believe
in woman's suffrage that by giving
the ballot to woman purifying intlu- |
ence would be injected into our polit-
zeal system. This argument seems to
have taken no account of the fact thai
there are bad women just as there are
bad men, and that the bad women are
more likely to vote than their more
reputable sisters. And that is precisely
the trouble with our male suffrage 1t
is easy enough to get the politicians
and their heelers to the polls, but it Is
often exceedingly difficult to arouse
good men, the so-called better element |
Of any community, to a sense of their
as citizens. From the |
Shafroth experience 1t would seem