The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-10-25

whelming argument is that to give
women votes would destroy Mans
home. II doesn't matter abou
women's. Mans home is the thing e
be considered. Then there is the las
weak-knee argument, the refuge Of
the pessimist. that already the fran
chise is too large, and as women arr
clamoring for vote the only remedy
Is to take IL away from a certain
number OF men who have not gone
through a collegiate course and cannot
stand well in polling competition.
Women Must Manage Men.
Men are not to be trusted with un-
limited power. But the very founda-
ton of the relations of men and wo-
men are wholly wrong. The theory Is
that men toward women are wise
noble, generous. chivalrous and just;
that we can trust them to make laws
for us which will protect lour inter
csts; and for the rest we must by tact
and diplomacy manage them. Mems
great shibboleth, the thing he cries for
Is management II he is unfaithful tC
his wife she hasn't managed him prop
erly. And what woman | ask you, nc
matter how good or clever she is. can
make a man go her way If he has be-
gun 10 so the way of another woman
Women are brought up by the the
DRY OF expecting undying faithfulness
consideration, unselfishness and a TAX
ing of all responsibility from her Shout
ders by man-slowly but surely she has
to unlearn this false lesson. There
are men in the world, many Of them
tenderly chivalrous to women-my
own dear father was one of them. But
we do not. we must not rely upon sen
tlment. What we want, and what we
demand. is justice. An ounce of JUS
tice administered by the law with a
Judge and jury behind 1t is worth all
the chivalry in the world. More good
has resulted from il than every sleeve
worn by a gallant knight in honor OF
his ladylove.
Laws Are Inadequate.
THE laws as they stand today are
inadequate Many of them are marked
ton viii take place without the fran
chise. Englishmen have a fine sense of
Justice; the trouble is not with them
but with Englishmen who have been
too long content to submit to injus-
tice. Take, for instance. our divorce
laws; a woman in order to divorce her
husband must have unfaithfulness and
bodily cruelty combined-a man un-
faithfulness only. He is at liberty
to take house next door to his wife
place another woman in it, call her by
his wife's name; AID the wife. be-
cause he has not struck her a blow
has no redress. This in the eyes of
the law is not cruelty.
"A woman in England can always
get better terms, a more generous in
come. from a quiet separation than
King, Prime Minister, Peers
Members of Parliament, put price up
on her silence. She is bribed by the
state to protect the delinquencies of
her husband, and these are the laws
framed, passed and jealousy guarded
by man to whom woman is 10 trust
herself and her children. @
Unity Is the Watchword.
"Englishment are beginning to awake
to the fact, however, that women are
sentient human beings. Greatly as we
shall benefit by the franchise, 1t is for
the imperative welfare of man: and IL
Is the duty of woman to force him
to a position where injustice and ar
rogance and oppression are impossible.
This can only come through placing
woman upon equality with man and
giving her an interest In public affairs
and vote. No matter how much the
domestic woman loves home, if she
were debarred from any authority in
that home she would soon lose interest
In 1t. That is the reason why women
have not more concern In politics.
They are outside the arena of action,
they are mere spectators, not partici-
pators.
I'VE may not all have the eloquence
of Miss Shaw, nor the energy and sin
ews of war Of Mrs. Belmont but we
can stand shoulder to shoulder and
march forward together, and when the
gaps rend our ranks, fresh recruits
VIII come forward and close them up.
For we must never again stop or turn
aside in our onward march. But above
all let us, with hands across the sea
and clasped together in good fellow
ship here In America, stand in unity