The Irish standard., 1905-09-30
The Ex-President does not fail to e

which now grant full female suffrage:
, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming
Utah is the state which recently sent
to the United States Senate a man
who during most of the last session
was under investigation for violation
of the laws of his country. 1t is the
state which few years ago sent a
representative to the United States
Congress a man who was rejected by
the House of Representatives because
he was a polygamist. Colorado is the
state which last winter had to call
upon it's militia in order to seat a
governor. The man who now occupies
that position received more than
twenty-five thousand votes less than
the man who was debarred from office.
Colorado is the state which two years
ago sent representative to Congress
who upon learning of the frauds that
were committed in his election imme-
diately resigned, admitting that he
had been elected by fraudulent votes,
of which fact he was not aware until
some months after election. A Con-
gressional investigation in that case
developed the fact that some of the
most glazing frauds were committed
by women. This does not prove that
women are more given to fraud than
men. 1t proves simply that the level
n n no frrn &c oh
= is mistake to believe that the moral
tone of one sex can be great deal
higher than that of the other. Women
have ample means Of exerting all
, their influence either for good or for
evil and they do not need the ballot
for doing so. 1t is mistake to believe
that the condition of the vote of
the women of the country would
greatly change the results that
are attained under male suffrage.
Woman suffrage would double the
vote of the country if they
voted but it would be cast in the same
way that their husbands, the':' fathers
or their brothers votes are cast. 1t
will not do to say that the husbands,
the fathers and the brothers votes
would be changed to agree with the
female vote for women have the same
power of influence without the ballot
that they would have with it. The re-
+, suits of elections in Colorado, Utah,
Idaho and Wyoming are not different
from what they would be without wom-
an suffrage. The city of Denver goes
along just about like any other Ameri-
can city. A little worse than most of
them because it. is a Western city.
We would not be ungracious enough
to say that the bad conditions in the
city of Denver are due to woman stuff
rage, but we think that we can not
be accused of unfairness when we say
that the municipal affairs of Denver
have not been bettered through wom-
an suffrage. This is probably due to
the fact that those women whose influ-
ence would be for the best are the very
ones who refuse to compromise true
womanhood by entering into the arena
Of politics. On the other hand that
| class Of women who have lost the most
sacred attributes of womanhood are
the very ones who take part in munich
pal elections and their influence is
decidedly for the bad.
Mr.. Cleveland thinks that women
voters would be even less their own
masters than the men voters. We all
know that one of the dangers of our
universal suffrage system is the fact
that men are not masters of their own
votes. I'VE all know" he says, "how
much further women go than men in
their social rivalries. Women suff-
rage would give to the wives of the
poor greater opportunity to crafty
their envy and mistrust of the rich.
Meantime these new voters would be-
come either the purchased or cajoled
victims of plausible manipulators or
the intimidated and helpless voting
vassals of imperious employers. For
tunately the question is not an impor-
tant one. The great majority Of Amer
ican women are true women and re-
alize that they now possess more pow
err for good than they would with the
ballot. 1t is not a question whether
they can get the privilege of the stuff
rage, but it is question of whether
they want it. 1t is not question of the
relative mental or moral worth of the
sexes but question of what is the
/; legitimate field for each. 1t is not a
. question of whether the active par
ticipation of women in politics would
: elevate and refine conditions, for that
has been decided, but a question of
what effect politics would have upon
womanhood. 1t has been we'll said
that women change politics less than
politics change women.
THE OHIO CAMPAIGN.
The most interesting political cam