Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-05-05
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JUDGE LINDSEY ON SUFFRAGE.

JUDGE LINDSEY ON SUFFRAGE
Judge Ben Lindsey, of Denver, il
the highest authority in the United
States on Juvenile Courts. He wa.
was lately asked what effect voting
constituency of mothers had on the
success of the Juvenile Court System
in Colorado. He answered:
! 1.-The Juvenile Court always haG
especially the mothers of Denver
and whatever success it may be cred
/ tied with is largely if not entirely
due to their efforts"
In Progress for July, 1904
Judge Lindsey wrote:
1.-THE results of woman suffrage In
/ Colorado, since it's establishment OF
more than ten years ago, have been
so satisfactory that it is hard to IN
derstand how it encounters opposi-
ton in other States. / have never
observed one evil as the result. ]
have never heard criticism directed
| against woman suffrage that ever
worked out in practice, or if it did,
was not equally applicable. to male
suffrage.
1T used to be said that the women
would not vote, that they were not
intelligent. I believe, in proportion
to population, nearly as many, if not
more, women vfted at the last city
election as men. In no important
election has less than forty per cent
Of the entire vote been cast by wo-
men, and considering that there ar
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ern city, it is no more than fiar to
say that women are equally interest
ed in the affairs of the government,
and vote as intelligently and as in
dependently as the men.
lone of the greatest advantages
which; has come to us from women
suffrage is the fear on the part of the
machine politicians for public Office
men of immoral character or to de-
feat those who have maintained a
reputation for honesty and decency.
Again, at critical times and in impor-
tant elections, when some great prin-
ciple is at stake, especially with ref
erence to local conditions where the
home and family are involved the
women of the State have always
come to the rescue. The powers of
evil realize that they have a power
full moral force to deal with when it
is once aroused, and they also rea-
lie that, when it is aroused. it has
the power to strike a blow.
1--WE have in Colorado the most
advanced laws of any state in the
Union for the care and protection of
the home and the children, the very
foundation of the Republic. These
laws, in my opinion, would not exist
at this time if it were not for the
powerful influence of women, which,
at all times, has been back of them
and those who have conscientiously
and faithfully administered them.
81 know that the politicians in
both parties reckon seriously with
the woman vote, and know that
men of immoral character have been
refused places upon. party tickets
because of the fear inspired by the
woman vote if it is aroused; and
when it is aroused, as it generally is
in proper cases, it can alfays be
counted upon to be on the side of
righteousness.
eve believe we have the best Ju-
venile Court law, the best child-labor
law, the best compulsory education
law, the best laws for the prevention
Of cruelty to children and the en-
forcement of the obligations of faith
ers to support wife and child, and the
best administration of these laws
when once upon the Statute books,
of any city in the Union.
Il believe / only voice the general
impression of the best informed as
to such matters, when 1 say that we
owe this condition more to woman
suffrage in Colorado than to any
other cause"
In view. of the recent assertion by
Miss Elizabeth McCracken, casual
tourist in Colorado, that the ballot
was disadvantage to women in
their philanthropic work, this state
ment by SO distinguished an expert
as Judge Lindsey is of especial in
terest.
Hon. John L. Shafroth lately re-
signed his seat in Congress because
of election frauds in Denver. This
has been quoted as an argument
against equal suffrage. But Mr..
Shaforth declared in published in
terview:
OF the persons implicated in these
frauds. a very small proportion, not
more than one in ten at the outside,
were women. He added that cheat
ing at elections is much rarer among
women than among men. During the
first ten years after equal suffrage
was granted in Colorado, only one
woman was convicted of Illegal vot-
ing.
Hon. AIya Adams, who has twice
been Governor of Colorado, testified
to the same effect at the hearing on
woman suffrage before the Judiciary
Cam niffon of the II 8 Hnnaa of