The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-30
THE CRUSADE FOR
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
Making Some Headway
in the South
VIEWS OF MISS JOHNSON

An Accomplished Virginia Writer,
Who Has Won Fame With Her Pen
the Constitution, So That Women
Can Vote-Gives Reasons Why Wo-
men Should Be Vested With Right
of Ballot-Not the Militant Kin
The Woman Suffrage Crusade has
reached Richmond and is making
some Roadway in the South. The
Richmond suffragists are signing pc
titions, and preparing for public meet
ings.
Miss Mary Johnson, the accom-
plished Virginia writer, also has won
fame with her pen. having signed the
petition for an amendment to the Con-
stitution SO that women can vote, thus
explains her interest in the movement
in a communication in the Richmond
Journal:
Il an a woman. working for my
living. l pay taxes: I own property;
/ am assessed for this and that. 1
have a stake in my city, in my State,
in the United States, in the communal
life of our race. l am a member, for
better or worse, Of the human So
ciety. l cannot escape if | would. /
am a part of the pattern, as integral
as any other. / receive from this
society, and I contribute to it. | have
at heart the improvement of my own
milieu, and l have the altruist's de-
sire for the Improvement Of my fell
low beings.
4 have never seen the reason why
7, as we'll as my neighbours, the butch
er, the baker, the candlestick maker.
the chief cook and the bottle washer,
and my neighbOr Of tomorrow. the
male SIcilian and the Slav should not
AVE q voice in my community and
State as to taxation, as to what ideals
of government can be made real and
what not, as to the welfare in general
of that society of which / am, indu-
bitably, a member.
1T is my conviction that, in the
long evolution Of the race and Of po-
litical societies., the time has arrived,
or practically arrived, when there is
little sense in any longer coupling the
two words, sex and suffrage. True,
both begin with an S-but that is a
case of ALTERATION, not Of associa-
ton of ideas l believe in restricted
suffrage, but restriction should be on
other grounds than on that of having
been born a Oma Intelligence di-
rected toward the good, an honestly
won and held foothold in life. char
acter dedicated to the uplift Of all
conditions for us all-theSe are the
deSiderata. Intelligence, conscience,
character, power to assume RESPONSE
bility and to work the problem are
not confined to the male organism.
Even the stock ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
cannot fight-seems to me a little
ShOpWOrn, a little ~OverWOrked. Per
/ haps, like other warriors, they may
find substitutes. Perhaps, if they
shall attend to the things at home
while the men go fight, it may come
70 he cnnCi6ora6 OD1V q fair division
Of abo Assuredly the South will
not be the land to say that women
cannot take their share Of var
A petition to Congress-, asking a
favorable consideration Of the question
Of wOman's suffrage, has been clrcu-
lated in Richmond. 1 believe in the
franchise for women. When I was
asked if 1 would place my name upon
this petition l very cheerfu1ly com
piled with the request. An amend
ment to the Constitution of the United
States allowing women to vote is, in
the nature of things, a remote event.
/ do not regard the issue as a burn
ing one. There are, 1 think, reforms
before the public which are of more
Immediate Importance. But | regard
the franchise for women as in the
nature Of reform, and [ could have
no rational objection to asserting my
belief.
I wish to disclaim any slightest con-
nection, affiliatiOn or approval with
or of the so-called militant" or "suf-
fragette" movement now obtaining In
England. In its nature this nov
ment is as counte to my judgment as
it is repugnant to my tatste. Between
this movement, or the leaders of this
movement, and myself there is on this
point no mental contact. / do not
believe that the end justifes the
means. I think that no ethic
can be agined by way Of non-ethical
paths.
I am in no embarked upon
any crusade, nor am 1 concerned in
any especial agitation of the subject.
I am not a pioneer suffragist." I
think upon this question as, for a long
period of years, have thought many