The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-03-12


1t was q popular victory and 7 proud
ly wore the Liberal colors and shout
ed like the men, Then one day /
heard a woman, just an ordinary wo-
man. a laborer's wife. say that. while
she thought it was a good thing to
have the franchise extended to the
working class. she did not see why
women should not vote as well as
men and upon the same terms She
took up the old shoemakers saying
about his kids" and the need he had
of a voter to protect them. II think
the kids mothers have as much in
terest in protecting them as their
fathers have" she said
From that hour I believed in equal
suffrage rights for both sexes The
old idea of making the suffrage a
privilege of property is now regarded
by most sensible people as a relic Of
barbarism. unsound and unjust The
day is not far distant I hope, when
our present practice Of making 1t a
privilege of sex will be likewise re-
garded as barbarsm; when the right
of suffrage will be a human right,
not a sex privilege.
At the present time, in this great
Empire state, there are certain class
es Of adults who are excluded from
the right Of suffrage. First OF all,
there are the aliens. those "strang-
ers within the gate" who have not
vet renowned their old ties and en-
tered into civic communion with US.
Still the humblest laborer from the
sunny slopes OF Italy may, from the
day of his landing on our shores look
forward to the time when he will be
able TO share all the advantages
rights and responsibilities of our cit
izenship.
In common with many other nat
ions we deny certain classes Of Grim
mails this elemental right Of citizen
that fine old Roman principle that
those who prove themselves Incapable
Of obeying the laws are not III 10 in
fluence the making of the laws. Not
all our law breakers are denied the
right to vote of course Many of the
worst and most dangerous law break
ers sit in high places.
Next. we withhold the franchise
from the insane. from those unfortu-
nate wretches who I'll our asylums
for the insane This we do because
we feel It would not be safe to place
such a power as the ballot IN hands
which cannot be guided by Reasons
voice and light Theoretically, at
least, this restriction is both wise and
just, though I have often wondered
whether anything serious would hap
pen if we held our elections among
the inmates of the insane asylums in
stead of among those outside of them
The difference might not be so very
great, after all workingmen inside
asylum walls would probably vote for
capitalist politicians, Republicans and
Democrats in pretty much the same
proportion as do the workingmen out
side asylum walls.
Finally women are excluded from
the number of those entitled to use
the ballot and so to share directly
and by right in the shaping of our
! laws Mind you, they are excluded
as women, not as aliens as criminals
or as lunatics | hold it to be one
OF the most Infamous wrongs in his
tory. and perhaps the browning
shame of our civilization. that the
most virtuous woman in this state is
thus yoked to the lowest criminal in
this respect: that the wisest woman
is yoked to the maniac in chains and
to the driveling idiot
Upon this issue the conscience o.
every man is being challenged today
No man who has ever known The
love Of mother, or a wife is worth,
of that love unless he resents tn,
wrong that is done to womanhooI
by thus making the suffrage Sc
privilege. No man who has ever fel
the tender caress of daughter
arms is worthy of respect unless h.
is ready to use his power as a citize
to remove from his daughter the in
iqultous yoke which now holds he
to the company Of the criminal an
the idiot in civic inferiority.
81 have studied with patient car
the arguments which have been mad
from time to time against equal SUI
frage. Much ingenuity has been use
by the makers of these arguments bu
have never yet heard or seen an Al
gument against giving the vote t
women upon equal terms with me
which was not really, at bottom, a
argument in favor of taking the ballo
away from many men who now hav
it, When / spoke at the suffrag
hearing at Albany last year | listene
to speaker after speaker as they OF
posed the claims of the equal SUI
fragists, and it was astonishing wit
what aristocratic brutality they re
vealed their real desire, namely t
limit the existing right of suffrage
and take the ballot away from tn
workingmen of the country who nov
have it,
I said at that hearing and repeat
here that If the workingmen of thi
state could have heard those ,speeche
in opposition to equal suffrage, an
understood their animus, they wOul