The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-02-20
RICH men APPEAR
TO FAVOR TRACK
GAMBLING
Belmont Says Betting is Only
an Incident
PLEA FOR PRESENT LAW
Attorney for Jockey Club critlcises
Governor Hughes Attitude and

ALBANY. y. Y. Feb 20.-Governor
Hughes heard arguments on the wo-
mans suffrage questions. They were
practically the same as those present
ed TO the legislative committees and
practically by the same persons.
At the conclusion the governor adj
dressed the women briefly. He said
that the question is not one to which
he was charged with any official re
sponsibility, being a proposed amend
ment to the constitution, which does
not require the governors signature.
He said in part
Il believe most heartily In the i'm
portance of having every question Of
this sort fully debated. but l am not
going to express any opinion upon this
subject at this time further than to
make the practical statement that l
firmly believe that the decision of this
matter will ultimately rest with the
women themselves.
"What the women in this state really
want. and do not mean by that nu-
merlcsl majority. but mean the force
of opinion among the intelligent wo-
men of the state who will form the
public opinion of women with regard
to this question = that whatever the
women in that sense really want they
will have.
THAT demand on the part of women
will be in the course of time irresisti-
BILE, and the question is simply, What
do the women want? For the men,
the voters of the state, who will pass
upon this subject when it is presented,
will eventually, In my Judgment, act in
accordance with the demand which
they feel actually exists on the part
of those who will be affected by the
change"
Miss Adeline Knapp, opposing the
granting of the suffrage to women, con-
tended that working women do not
need the ballot, and she brought out
argument to support her statement that
the economic position Of the working
women of the country would not be
improved or advanced by the granting
of the franchise. Suffrage for women
Miss Knapp said. would moreover in
troduce new and to great extent IT.
| relevant factors into voting body nj
In MI AA
seriously embarrass every election, fol
It would not be possible to lay this re-
| sponsibility won the working women
without putting 1t as well upon vast
body OF American women who are
thoroughly unwilling to accept 1t.
1.-The struggles Of women" Miss
nnspp said, ''are not for achievement
| but for existence itself, and il womer
must become commercial tolers they
must have every help that will make
| the hard circumstances easier fol
them. This the ballot will not do. The
claim is made that working womer
in this state are handicapped as wage
| earners because they have not the fran
| chise, but those who make this claim
are not at all definite in explaining
how fhe alleged handicap operates.
| "Certainly II does not operate tC
close the door Of opportunity to wO
mel. The Industrial field is today widt
ipen to them. and American womer
have not been slow to enter. 1t would
be difficult indeed to find any employ
ment in this country into which w0
men may not enter with no other hand
leap than their own limitations, ant
these Industrial avenues have opened
to women not as. a result of the ballO
or of agitation for the franchise, but II
| the general course of the worlds prog
ress. In which women have had theil
share quite independently Of woman''
political status. The facts under thu
present circumstances do not bear 0u
the claim that the ballot would brin!
to women the same pay as men TO
equal service Here Is complete In
stance to the contrary In the state o.
California woman suffrage has beef
defeated by popular vote, but the sala
ries of the women teachers i'm the pub
lie schools are the same as those O
men holding similar positions. while II
the state of Massachusetts, where wo
men enjoy school suffrage, the wOmei
teachers are greatly underpaid and II
no case are they paid the same salarc
as men for the same services.
"The ballot Is not one of the inhu
ences governing wages either. of mel
or of women. The conditions regulat
ing women's wages differ in differen
communities In obedience to indsutria
conditions and the law of supply an,
demand.
"As question Of expediency the ey
tension Of the suffrage to women woul,
be an extremely doubtful measure
There are about 100000 working VIC
men in this country. OF these it Is est
mated that about % per cent ais unde
the voting age and cease to be wag
earners at about the time they reac
that age. The position Of women as In
dustrial workers Is and for the best II
terests of society should be essential
temporary, and the relation of thes
working women to the business worl
. would in nowlse be changed by enfrar
chlsing them. To give them the balle
would but increase their responsible
ties without -.