The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-08
CLEVELAND ROASTED
An Eloquent Advocate of Woman Suffrage Re-
plies to the Ex-President's Article Against
Woman Suffrage.
By ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.

ton covered the walls of every town
in the State with large posters urg-
ing women to vote no.
Mr.. Cleveland says the number of
women voting for suffrage was less
than the number who sometimes vote
at school elections. AT school cleo
tions, the women can cast a legal
vote, which may accomplish some
thing. On the suffrage question, they
We're allowed to cast only a mock
vote, which was to have no legal
validity, and was to give the wom-
en- nothing if the majority went in
their favor Under the circumstances,
it was remarkable that so many as
1900 women took the trouble to
register and go to the polls.
Mr.. Cleveland says suffrage is not
natural right, DIR. James Freeman
Clarke says, "If all women were for
hidden to use the sidewalk, and COM
plain of the injustice. it would be no
answer to tell them that it was not a
natural right, but one given by So
| ciety. A great many rights are
given by society, of which, however,
it would be manifestly unjust to de-
prive either SEX
Mr.. Cleveland says that not all tax
payers are allowed to vote. If the
| Taxpayer is an infant, an idiot,
lunatic, a fclon, nonresident or an
alien. ne cannot vote, of course But
women are the only large body of
taxpayers debarred without obvious
reason.
Mr.. Cleveland has great deal to
say about Gods intentions and wom-
ans "allotted sphere" He is quite
| sure that the ballot box lies outside
| it. If the trend of events furnishes
| any indication of the divine purpose,
| 1t looks as if Mr.. Cleveland were mis-
taken. A hundred years ago, with q
! few inconsiderable exceptions. women
could not vote anywhere. Today they
| vote for all officers except members
| of Parliament in England, Scotland.
| ireland and many of the English
| Colonies, as well as in several coun@
| tries of EUROPE: and they have full
| suffrage in Australia. New Zealand
and four of our own Western States.
| Millions of English speaking men
| ind women now have actual. prac-
! lical experience Of woman suffrage.
gut ofstheSt1 RfillioAs contemporaries.
| have not yet found a dozen respect
able men who assert over their own
names and addresses that ii has had
I any bad results whatever. This is the
more remarkable since active Anti
| Woman Suffrage Associations i'm New
| York and Massachusetts have been
for years diligently gathering all the
adverse testimony they could find.
Mr.. Cleveland prophesies that it
| would vastly increase the unhappy
imperfectionS and shortcomings of
our present man-Voting suffrage"
that the bad and foolish women
would outvote the good and intelli-
gent, etc, etc. But he does not
quote one solitary re ident in any
suffrage to show that these results
have actually followed. Instead, he
quotes triumphantly from an East
ern tourist, Miss Elizabeth McCrack-
en-, who, after short visit to Colo
rado, declared that the womanhood
of the women had been seriously
damaged by the ballot. The most
highly esteemed men and women i'm
Colorado, from the Governor down.
have emphatically denied her state
ments Mrs. Maw w Slocum wife
Of President SlOcum OF Colorado
College. a woman who has lived i'm
the State more years than Miss Me-
Cracken spent days there, wrote in
he OutIook:v "A mass OF testimony
to the. contrary can be quoted from
eiergyren and teachers, whose bust
1ess, year in and year out Is to note
moral condition
statement that woman suffrage
works well and that none of the
predicted evils have followed has been
iened by the Governor and three
EX-GoVernors Of Colorado bv the
Chief Justice and all the judges of
the State Supreme Court. the Denver
District Court and ME Court of APP
neals; by, long list of prominent
'itizens, including the president of the
state University. the State Superb
'endent of Public Instruction, leading
"lergymen OF different denominations,
and the presidents of 13 of the prin-
1ipal women's associations of Denver.
NgainSt this we are offered the nm
Imported assertion of one little
eastern tourist
Mr. Cleveland says that woman
deals mistakenly with practical prob
lens because sentiment clouds her
perception of the relative value of the
factors involved" Mr.. Cleveland
deals mistakenly with the problems
Of woman suffrage. as he did with
the problem OF women's clubs be-
rauso his senti Eantal dislike of any
'ctivitics for women outside the home
louds his perception of the relative
value Of tho affirmative and negative
estimcnv IN tho c"sc.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.