The sun., 1908-12-27
SUFFRAGE'SFOES TNTHE
MRS. HARPER THINKS THEY
MAKE 4 POOR SHOWING.

nared--The "Antis" Said to He
J,eaily Preparing for the Franchise.
The best drilled and disciplined soldiers
are at great disadvantage when at
tempting to fight Indians. They can
not overcome the Indian method OF war
fare the hiding behind trees and sending
out stray shots. the fighting always from
ambush and never coming into the open
Such has been the situation OF the advo-
Gates Of woman suffrage in thtsir contest
with its opponents, forever combating
an ambushed enemy.
In the fifteen years since the women
of Colorado got the franchise nine-tenths
OF the published articles on its demora'iz-
ing effects have been anonymous. The
newspapers have periodically declared
that "a large and influential organiza-
tion OF women existed in many States
10 combat the suffrage for their sex, ="
hut when urged to tel what States these
we're and how large the organization
was they fiunked completely. This as
sociation Itself concealed the size of it's
membership with the utmost care; it
never held a delegate convention and
it's annual meetings never went beyond
the privacy Of members parlor or on
rare occasions that Of a woman's club
or hotel.
At Boston meeting not long ago
reporter was ordered to stop taking
notes OF the speeches. The diminutive
paper issued annually and called The
Remonstrdnce for many wears bore no
mark to indicate it's origin. When the
Hlfragists urged an open debate in order
that the public might judge the ease
on It's merits this was invariably declined.
Always they were attacked by an am
hushed foe. always they were contending
against an indefnable organization Of
women to be gauged only by its announced
officers and tho shadowy forms of the
men behind them.
Now 1t is well known that when the
Indians come out into an open field and
a square fight their finish is not far of,
and so the most fortunate thing that ever
happened for the cause Of woman suffra ge
was the entrance Of the "antis" into the
arena during the present year.
In the first place 1t has shown the weak
ness of their forces and in the second
place the shallowness Of their arguments.
Two results which the suffragists always
claimed would be inevitable if ever the
test should come. 1t is doubtful IL any
regular suffrage meeting ever made as
many converts to this cause as did the first
meeting Of the 'antis" in the Berkeley
Tyceum, where their strongest allies were
marshalled.
The suffrage headquarters we're scarcely
opened the next morning when women
began TO come in for petitions to circulate,
saying that they had been on the fence
but after hearing Lyman Abbott's speech
they we're ready to 60 to work for the
ballot It is difficult to understand how
any self-respecting woman could feel
otherwise.
large part Of his speech was devoted
10 narrowing statistics on divorce. but
he failed to establish the slightest con-
uection between these and woman suf-
frage. A still more ignominious failure
was the attempt to connect the latter with
the edoctrine OF free love. en Europe had
her Queen Victoria. remember, ladies.
that she had also her Lucretia Borgia
and Catherine de Medici." he exclaimed
in solemn tones, and therefore the women
Of the United States should not vote.
II his favorite theory is correct that
women should not have the ballot because
they are 30 emotional then surely the
reverend doctor should be disfranchised,
for bis address was largely devoted to
babies and brides, motherhood, kinder
gartens, home, sweet home, spheres and
functions-wholly an appeal TO sentiment
and entirely devoid Of logic or reason.
Into this first meeting the anti-suffra-
kI,sp nj i'm
that they represent the vast majority
Of women and that this majority is de-
termined not to have the ballot thrust
upon them. There is every reason to
believe that after an existence Of nearly
fifteen years their association as yet
numbers only few hundred
This cannot be explained on the ground
that the opponents Of woman suffrage
are such shrinking creatures that they will
not join an organization-the almost
universal club life Of women makes this
explanation ridiculous. Hero was the frat
public anti ti-suffrage meeting ever held and
it was to be addressed by their most dis
tinguished adherent OF the masculine
gender. Was 1t not reasonable to assume
that the vast majority would turn out
10 prove the truth Of what their repre-
sentatives had been claimingf There was
indeed lot OF shrinking. but 1t was
shrinking OF the number thought to be
opposed to woman suffrage.
The little theatre, which seats only a
few hundred. was by no means filled, and
a large proportion of the audience were
open and avowed suffragists who went
TO see the fun. Contrast this with the
suffrage meeting at Carnegie Hall the
same evening-over 5000 people in that
great auditorium, the platform crowded
with eminent men and women. and the
ringing declarations for the suffrage
received with unanimous approval.
In their documents and speeches the
antis have constantly asserted that the
interest in woman suffrage was on the
wane. that there wss not the remotest
Ioss,bility OF It's success and then just
az ITS advocates were about to put up the
shutters and go out of business behold the
opening Of headquarters in New York.
t'e formation of a league to instruct
women in civic matters and course OF
iaoru~es to oreare a public sentiment
which should prevent their having any
voice IN such matters after they had been
t.mght 10 understand them.
Tie anti-suffragists have always been