Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-19

The franchise department of the w.
G, Z. u. is one of its most important
lines of work, for upon its success de-
pends in very great measure the real
zation of many of the reforms advo-
Gated by this organization and for
which many women are most earnestly
and zealously working. That the Re-
publican party has placed plank In
the state platform favoring the con-
stitutional amendment giving to the
people of the state the right to decide
the question of woman suffrage is GER
tainly a forerunner of the awakening
of the spirit of right, justice and equal
ity which has so long lain dormant in
the hearts of men in regard to the
women of the nation.
Men as well as women are beginning
to realize that no government is a just
government which does not derive its
powers from the consent of the gov
erned. No government Is a representa-
tive one which compels one-half or Its
people to obey laws they have no voice
in making; to pay taxes for the sup
port of it's institutions and be deprived
of any part in their control and man
agement; to be denied privilege ac-
corded the most unworthy and despic-
able man when arraigned for violation
of the laws-the right of trial by jury
of peers. No government is a just one
from the right of citizenship and repre-
sentation, and classes them with idiots,
criminals, minors, insane and aliens.
Perfection Of government can only be
attained when all the people are free
and fathers and mothers sit together
in the councils of the nation.
The political parties that have always
indorsed woman suffrage and made 1t
a prominent feature in their platforms
aI.tI inIf lob no ~
ties. 1t was the Socialist party In Fin
land that secured suffrage for the
women of that country. 1t is the So
cialist party that is now advocating
and agitating all over Europe for equal
and universal suffrage. In this coun-
try where so many political parties are
struggling for supremacy representa-
tive government is at best a farce, as
the party in power represents only
majority, sometimes a small one at
that, and it in turn is dominated by
faction of itself.
The evils of class legislation will
exist as long as property is superior to
humanity. The wage earners are COM
bining for the purpose of securing
right to the product of their toll in
stead of the fractional part which is
their portion at present, while the sur
plus value of their labor goes into the
pockets of the millionaire employer and
serves to purchase empty titles in the
matrimonial markets of Europe for
American heiresses and afford spend
thrift sons the privilege of rioting in
the luxurious capitals of those coun-
tries If laboring men, who have the
ballot, are unable to regulate their
hours of work and fix their compensa-
tion, and decide how long their jobs
shall last, how much greater is the dis
ff,s vunf0 f0I
the six million of wage earning women
work day after day in the shops, mills,
factories and homes of the country,
having absolutely no voice in regulat-
ing any of the terms or conditions
under which they labor. 1t would seem
that the common bond of fellowship
which unites the workers of both sexes
would be sufficient to arouse the in
terest and efforts of men to secure for
woman the only weapon with which she
can protect herself and her children
from the rapacity and greed of capital
which is rapidly sucking the life blood
of the nation by destroying it's chill
dren before the flower of childhood has
had chance to bloom. With three
million child workers under 15 years of
age in the United States what will the
education and general fitness for
fatherhood and motherhood? The fu-
ture of our country depends upon the
children of today; IL the children are
stunted, dYarfed and defrauded of the
natural birthright of childhood, the
right to grow and learn, to enjoy the
pleasures and freedom of young, in
nocent lives, what a terrible harvest
the nation will reap when those
wronged, unhappy little ones become
it's citizens and lawmakers if, per-
chance, any survive to attain to that
estate.
1t is a fixed principle that "Whatever
is just is right and whatever is right Is
safe" An adherence to this principle
in relation to the question of the rights
of women and the rights of children,
and of wage earners' rights, is the only
safe and sure course to pursue.
II the women Of this and other