The Cairo bulletin., 1906-06-04
SHOULD WOMEN HAVE The BALLOT
STRONG ARGUMENT PRO and CON
Paper by Mrs. AmaraIa Martin and Sermon by
Rev. TT. Porter On a Subject Of Vital
Importance

plans CT city government have had a
trial and failed of success. why not
try something else? Why not try mu
nieipal equal suffrage? Try if the
great moral and economic Influence
Of women would not be Of incalculable
benefit 70 all. a
If women had political power here.
the first thing they would do would
lbe TO try to prevent any one getting
office whose hands We're tied or
who was blind. deaf or dumb. IN
liable to see. hear or protest against
every evil place here would oppose
women because they would all fear
disaster
There are, of couse, some good
men who oppose women not voting,
| but they are the exception. They say
women are too good to go to the polls,
oh, no they are not, they're just right,
! and that their silent influence In the
home" is far more potent than the
ballot. That is very sweet and flat
tering indeed, but what woman of
sense believes it? If this plan be so
good why don't men use their silent
| in fiuence' when a vital question Is
10 be settled by ballot? They have
never tried 1t yet. and they never will.
| One may just as well declare that
! five dollars is as valuable as ten dol
| lars. The assertion is too silly to en-
terrain, and convinces no one. CON
fess that what little influence ! have
is no, always of a silent character,
! for sometimes do all that | reason
ably can TO influence votes for good;
but I'd rather have direct power.
There are others who say that the
casting of a ballot would cause neg
lect of homes and maze woman a
mannish woman. OF course this weak
statement comes from those who fear
to critic men, and are only womanly
men, and are known at all times as
pathetic subjects.
Others say that If woman should
vote, she would lose all her modestys
oh. how dreadfully sad that would be.
Why, modesty so easily lost, is such
a frai thing that 1t should be kept
under lock and key at all times. Il
must be imported goods and not the
real, substantial, genuine article be
longing to the good women of Cairo,
which never gets lost
! From whence came the ballot any.
way? Did man bring it to this world
with him? Or, if il be his inalienabl
fright, isn't it woman's also? If he
fcan protect himself and others with
| it. could she not do the same.
/ Since woman is amenable to all
! laws, should she not nave a voice ir
their application? Since every dollar
she has is. taxed. is. it just. that the
| ignorant the drunkard and the pau.
| per should have power in the dis
posal OF that money and that she
should not? Some would reply, The
men OF your family represent you.
| Perhaps they do in many cases. but
10 me that answer seems perfectly i'm
beetle. And why? Because my little
household of three consists OF three
different families OF self-sustainine
business women, with no one TO rep
resent them at the polls.
Oh, the whole subject Is one of hu
initiation and gross injustice TO one
half of our inhabitants, and men say
10 the better half. A one-sided, half
represented people can not do the
good that an entire people can do; and
want 10 see good abroad instead OF
evil.
My pride in our own city is almost
extingui-hed sometimes, when
know of the dreadful outrages oc
curing. Perhaps il is no worse than
some other localities. Perhaps our
guests NAV have to wrestle with
wrong in their homes as we do here,
but under the circumstances. il is as
suredly our duty to look after Cairo.
While the whole country needs a
moral hon e-cleaning. II We all sweep
tcfore our own doors, We can do no
,crn.
s Ger an7t understand how RESPONSE
ie perso. cal 1T vice rage like a
pes ileJte. when tae;r own children
may he endangered. The whole hui
nan family is Linked together and
our best beloved. through some un-
fortunate association or alliance
may bring sorrow and disappoint-
ment to our hearts. Neither the high
est nor the lowest among W can pre-
vent such things. as friendship bios
SONS out IN unexpected places and
love laughs at bolts and locks.
Because OF the violation 81 the
Sunday closing laws. We have long
had the moral responsibility of mum
erous Kentucky aud Missouri people
on our hands. They can get no liquor
at home. and finding cairo an open
sesame to depreciation and vice. they
rush in here by carloads. After rob
hing them of their brains and tindi
rectly) their money. we return then
to their families. drunk. disgrsced and
penniless. and Cairo gets lot more
OF unenv able BOtoriety abroad. Have
We no higher ambitions than TO turn
cur engines Of evil upon the weak |
mes Of the stranger within our
4Ea- no