The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-07-23
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
Arguments on Both Sides of This
Popular Controversy


The following two papers on the
question of Womaf Suffrage were
read recently at meeting of the To-
cal grange:
Should women have equal rights
with men? That this question can be
asked in the year of our Lord 1909,
only proves how slowly the thought of
equality, justice and righteousness,
penetrates the intelligence of the ami
NAL kingdom. Why should not wom-
an have equal rights because she is
woman, the same as man should have
equal rights because he is man? 1t
seems to me that common. decent JUS
tice demands equal rights for all cit
liens regardless of sex,-that taxation
without representation is the grossest
injustice,-that man with all his self
elected superiority is really only half.
and that it is not good for man to be
alone even in politics. Present con-
ditions prove this to be true. Why
is woman placed side by side with
man, to be his mate, one of two
halves wnich make a complete and
perfect whole? Why is she required
to obey the laws of nature the same
as man? If God holds her equal be-
fore His laws, who shall say that she
may not have a voice in making the
social laws by which she is to be gov
erned? If God regards her equal
what right has man to raise his puny
voice and say to the mother who gave
him birth, 81 am the great It Thou
art only woman and therefore classed
with tae things God has made for my
help and convenience To disfran-
chise woman,-to refuse her voice
in government to deny her the only
right by which she can protect her
self and her children, is to infer that
she is inferior, and is not normal
human being, but only a sex appen-
dage to the species.
At the beginning of the Christian
era men were concerning themselves
with arguments as to whether wom-
an had a soul, and having. after much
discussion, so kindly endowed her
with this precious gift supposed to be
given only by God, II might be ex-
pected that equal rights would follow
unless his proverbial selfishness led
him to give her one of inferior quail
ity. In some countries man has not
yet allowed the mother of his chill
dren this great possession.
II only we could penetrate the OBJ
security of prehistoric ages and dis
cover at what stage in human deyel-
opment man first felt that ne had the
right to dominate and enslave wom-
an, and deny her the rights which he
claimed for himselfl But whenever
and wherever any part of the human
race have been enslaved 1t mas been
by the law of might over right and
woman's degradation, in whatever de-
gree. comes from selflshness more
brutal than brute selfishness, for in
all the animal kingdom, it is man
alone who degrades, humiliates and
maltreats the female of his kind. 1t
may be satisfaction to man to know
that however low he falls in the social
scale, some female dependent is at
his mercy. but let him remember no
matter now much he degrades woman
she must still be the mother OF his
children and in spite OF him she Will
stamp them to the very core with her
own sense of humiliation and DEEPEN
dence. While mothers are in any de-
gree enslaved, no man can be entire
ly free. For two thousand years chi
ma has set by the wayside while the
march OF progress has gone by: for
woman-soulless by mans decree
with her burden of ignorance and her
broken crippled feet cannot join in
the march, so the nation sits and
waits and must wait until the moth
ers are free. If you would know the
position of any nation in the caravan
of progress, just ascertain the rela-
tive position of woman. for men, and
the mothers of men, must rise to-
gether. So much for natural reasons
why women should have equal rights
with men including equal suffrage.
There are a few stock arguments
against 1t, which it is always neces-
sary to answer. First of all they say
IF women nave equal rights with
] men il will break up the home"
Neither men nor women have ever
demanded more freedom-better con
ditions-but those who profit Tor
blindly imagine that they profit by
the degradation and slavery of others,
drag out this old threadbare argu-
ment, IF we grant these rights 1t will
break up the home" If tne home de-
ponds on the slavery and degradation
of woman, it is an unrighteous insti-
tuition, and should be broken up. The
next objection, equally as threadbare
is, 1T would be unwomanly to go to
the poles and vote" No one has dis
covered that it is unwomanly to go
and pay taxes, or to clean the filth
from the floor of public office. or to
stuff sausages all day in the grease
and filth of a clearinghouse. On no!
These occupations are more womanly
than voting They say that politics
have degraded men, women, If they
should enter politics would also be
degraded. To administer government
in justice could never be degrading
1t is not politics that have degrad-
ed men, but men have degraded poll
tics, by trying to use the functions OF
government to further selfish ends.
But women do not understand these
things, and could not vote intelligent
ly." | would ask you how many men
understand the workings of the politi-
cal machine? Some spell-binder tells
them to vote the ticket straight, and
most of them do, just as their fathers
and grandfathers did before them,
unless some willy politician changes
their minds with Navy Plug, or a
drink of whiskey. How many voters
even a little, the mani
pulations of the Stock Market, or how
the big corporations profits by rebate,
and were cornering the nations
wealth by controlling our government.