Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1911-08-10
Whv Women Should Have Elective Franchise
BY H. WETTSTEIN
with Extracts from The TELEo MECHANICS Or NATURE)

his character. The introduction of
the infinitely purer female element
into politics can, therefore, not fail
to raise the moral standard of our
government.
Mrs. James S. Sherman, wife of
the vice-president, said: Yes, be-
lieve in womans suffrage and /
hope that some day all women will
vote"
Mrs. Jacob M. Dickerson, wife of
the secretary of war, shares Mrs.
Sherman's views.
Mrs. Anna Howard Shaw, preSi-
dent of the National American Wo-
mans Suffrage Association, stated
at the forty-second annual Conven-
ton held at Washington, D. c., in
April 1910, that applications for
memberships were coming in at
rate that taxed their utmOnt capac-
ity to take care of them.
With this array of highly refined
and intelligent women in solemn
conclave assembled" before him at
this convention, knowing they
represented the very ELITE of Wo-
mankind all anxious to exercise
their God-given right to express
their views thru the ballot on all
questions relating to the welfare of
the people, W h at possessed
President Taft to reflect on their
intelligence in the following unbe-
coming language:
One condition that should be
imposed before granting suffrage to
any class, is that the class should
be intelligent enough to know its
own interests. The idea that Hot
tentots, or any uneducated, alto
gether unintelhgent class is prepar-
ed for self-government at once, or
should Immediately take part in
self-government, is a theory | Who'll
ly dissent from.
1t was probably the thought that
Taft placed WOMEN AS A CLASS
below the intellectual level of
NEGROES AS A CLASS, (since he,
as the standard bearer of the Re-
publican party grants THEM the
right of suffrage,) which evoked a
storm of indignation that could not
at the time find vent in any other
way than in - Kisses!
AS for women not being intelli- ,
gent enough to know their own
interests" he probably had in mind
the exceptio nal few who are oppos-
ed to their acknowledgment. Hav-
ing everything their hearts desire,
presumably they need not know
either their own interests nor those
of less fortunate women.
Miss Ethel Arnold, the English
Equal-Sufragist, daughter of the
noted religious writer, Matthew
Arnold, and sister of the novelist,
Mrs. Humphrey Ward. who is now
lecturing in the United States and
laboring for the betterment of
working-Women in particular said
1t is only justice that the working
woman should have the ballot for
her protection, and it should be
her privilege to say what form that
protection will take. But she can
eXDect to receive the ballot only
from GOOD men"-Such a plain
hint for GOOD men-and who
ISN'T good?-ought not to be dis
regarded.
That even Orientals are "evolu-
ting" towards equal suffrage is seen
from the former Chinese minister,
WI Ting Fang, having expressed
himself to the following effect:
Women in America are enter
prising, intelligent and often hold
superior positions in public life,
They are the equal of the American
man in every respect 1t is an in
justice that such women should
be deprived Of the right of suffrage,
as they have as clear an insight
into politics as men,"
This movement has recently re-
ceived new impetus through the
organization in New York of the .
MEMS LEAGUE FOR WOMAN'S
SUFFRAGE" with George Foster
Peabody as President. Insofar as
all reforms tending towards the
elevation of the Human Race are
inspired by the suggestions of our
biological minds to our principal
consciousness they are directly re-
lated to our subject.
DR.. Edwin Quincy Norton, in the
Woman's National Daily of Nov.
80, 1910 concludes a strong ar
gument against vaccination with
these words: One of the reasons
why women should be given the
ballot is that thew will then he able