The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-11-28
WOMAN'S BALLOT

| "O0en OuQnt 10 vote 6ec0u9e-
Taxation without representation is
tyranny, whether the individual who
pays the taxes wears trousers or pet
ticoats, and because all just govern
ment must rest upon the consent Of
the governed.
Women form one-half of the popu-
lation,. and as long as they have no
voice in the government, they are
held in serfdom. 1t is not just that
merely by reason Of sex, half Of
the people Of the country should rule
the other half.
1t Isl folly to say that women are
represented by the votes of the men
of their family. No man is willing to
sacrifice his suffrage and let his faith
er or brother vote for him.
Women should vote because they
are unlike men, because they have
different aspirations, different needs,
a different point Of view, a different
way Of reaching conclusions. Femi-
nine talents, which are invaluable
everywhere else in life, should be
equally useful in politics..
Women should vote because every
question of politics affects the home
| ii
the home. Out of the woman's house
keeping allowance, which as not in
creased, come the increased profits Of
the beef trust the milk trust, and the
sugar trust, and the canned goods
trust. If women had say-so in
making the laws, they would have
long ago clipped the wings of the pre-
datory combinations that have in
Creased the cost, of living so greatly.
| Women should vote because their
vote. would supplement mans, and,
while he looked after the big things,
they would look after the little things.
The man might interest himself in
making his country a world power,
the woman voter would see that the
street cleaner did his duty so that her
children might not be killed by diph-
ltheira.
Women should vote because they
would look just as much at the can
didate as they did the platform upon
which he stood. 1t is practically i'm
possible to put the party yoke on
women. This has been proven in the
states in which women have suffrage.
When a clean man was put upon eth
Ter the Democratic or the Republican
ticket and corrupt man named on
the other ticket, the woman vote in
var1a'bly has Topped over to the good
man. 1t was the women of Denver,
irrespective of party, who kept Judge
Lindsay in office after the party COM
mittees had turned him down. and
thus enabled him to continue his
great work of child-saving
| Women Shou16 vote IL for M o%bor
reason than because women, if they
had a chance, would be just as potent
factor in politics as they are in re-
ligion. They would compel mems in
teTest in the subject.
Everybody knows that if women
ceased going to church, shut up all
ers't g. aid societies., nine-tenths of " the
churches would have spider webs
growing across their doors inside of
a month. Practically all of the men
who go to church and contribute to
religious causes do so at the instiga-
ton of wife, mother, sister or sweet
heart.
The majority Of good men are re-
sponsible for the rottenness Of poll
tics and for our plundered and mis-
ruled cities, because they are careless
about voting, and often do not trouble
to vote at all. Women would have a.
better civic conscience, and if they
wbre given the ballot they would not
only vote themselves, but see that
their husbands and brothers and sons
Ibid.
1t is often said that, if women had
suffrage, it would increase the. num-
Der of votes cast without affecting
the result, as every woman would
vote like her husband, or her brother,
kor; her father. The chances are that
the influence would work the other
way, and men vote with their women
folks
In America the majority of girls are
given a better education than boys.
They, go to school longer, and they
read more after they are out Of school
than young men do. There are also
millions Of middle-aged women band
ed together in all sorts Of study clubs
al. lover the country, and it is folly
to claim that these women are not as
we'll qualified to understand any poll
tical question as their husbands are.
That all women would not vote
wisely, but they would be swayed by
eloquence, by the personal charm of
the candidate; that even the ballot
would not bring the millennium to, wo-
men, is freely conceded. But the ma
Jorlty OF men are Republican or
democrats for no better reason than
that their fathers were before them,
and this is still very badly governed
. world Yet no one would advocate
that mans most precious right-the
right of frage-should be taken
away from him.
DOROTHY DIX.