Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-12

the right to vote all questions of pubic
expenditure of moneys They ALREADY
had the right to vote on school expeenol-
tures' she said, land now they may
vote for all bonds, water works, sewerage.
railroad, library. etc. After the deteat OF
the presidential suffrage measure 1t was
thought not wise to ask for the submission
of amendment to the constitution granting
full suffrage Many of the members of the
legislature who voted against the former
expressed themselves as favoring the lat
ter
Maine was represented by Mrs. Lucy Ho-
bart Day. who reported that the twenty
third annual convention of the State Equal
Suffrage Association was held in AUBURN IN
October and q gratifying condition OF al
fairs was shown by the reports of officers
A prominent member whose name the pres
ident neglected to mention, died last sum
mer and left the association large prop
erty. so that it became necessary TO moor
porate in order to receive Ii.
Evening Session Yesterday.
The evening session of the National Suf-
frage Association attended by Miss
Susan B. Anthony. who had been unable
to appear in the morning. Miss Anthony
| looked like she had just stepped out of the
gold frame inclosing the life-sized por-
trait of herself at the back of the platform
as she smilingly received the ovation that
| greeted her arrival She was attired in
long trained princess gown of black silk
velvet ana wore her 1ine OLD rose point lace.
She remained but few minutes. going
little later with Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton
to the army and navy reception where she
was the special guest of President Roose
welt and stood exactly opposite him in the
blue room.
| OF more than usual interest to the large
| audience was the address of the national
| president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait. 1t
| differed from the usual presidential ad-
| dresses, and it's novelty consisted in her
| dealing with the woman suffrage question
| by attacking the evils of the system of
| man suffrage in the United States.
| In the course of her remarks the president
said that there We're some honest politi
clans, all people knew, but the trouble
| was to distinguish them from the rest, 'as
| they all look so very much alike" The
| speaker advocated the regulation of suf-
| frage by educational qualifications. This.
| she said, would result in more women re-
| ceiving the right to vote than men.
Motives of the Politicians.
IF We should express in simple English
the motives which too apparently control
the average legislator and politician" Mrs
Gait said. sit would be this: We admit
the justice of woman suffrage. but we don't
want women in politics. Women have a
spying fashion of finding out things which
we don't care to have them know. Our
machines are now in perfect order We
know exactly how to conduct an election;
we don't want the cogs stopped by the
introduction of a wholly new class of
voters, whose party tendencies we do not
know, and whose votes we may not be able
to control. We have ambitions which we
can carry out II things remain as they are
but If women came in, what would become
of us? Nobody knows; therefore, while we
are IN. women must stay out; when we get
out, other men may enfranchse women If
they want to- %
The speaker cited statistics which she
said showed the immense evil done by the
N
ballot The women. she said might
well cry out at the pity of it all. The worst
class in the country has been given the
privileges that We ask"
Mrs. Gait concluded with a stirring ar
raignment of those who buy votes al the
polls. saying that the buyer is. if anything
worse than the seller of votes. She advo-
Gated also the Acknowledgement of any per-
son detected in the act of buying or selling
ballot. A plan which she outlined for the
retirement of existing conditions was that
every society of reform in the United
states should send to central suffrage
committee one delegate. and that this COM
mite should work for the needed improve
ment.
Mary J. Coggeshall. second auditor of the
association. addressed the meeting on Pre-
cedents." and said that the path of all re-
forms IS strewn with broken presidents.
Some people," she said. fear to break a
precedent. The republican party. for in
stance. will not touch or change the tariff
because it has become sacred precedent
10 them
Unreasonableness of Men.
"a good example of the unreasonableness
of men, she continued. SIS an old minister
in the state of Iowa who is scared out of
his life at the thought that the women of
mis- congregation will dress too much like
men, while he appears in the pulpit in
clothes that look like woman's''
Alice Stone Blackwell the recording sec
-etary of the association. spoke on the new
woman. THE whole world has opposed in
7dvance every onward step made by wo-
man. she said. 1T has cried out every