East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-10-25
What We Want and
Why We Want 1t
(By Bethene AlSers, Sec'y Political
Ennn lif,. Innpnn of pnnhlntnr


against equal enfranchisement. There
is prejudice however, the same pre-
judice that has all down through the
ages Kindred and retarded every pro-
gressive movement, and for which we
have as yet found no sure and speedy
cure, education is the only cure and
that is a distractingly slow and te-
dious operation when dealing with
prejudice for the prejudicei mind Is
closed mind, a locked box with
lost key, We have come long way
up the hill of conscious development
and progress, but there are those who
still have long way to come e'er they
get a glimpse of the promised land.
the land of equal privileges to all
The following are the best argu-
ments against equal suffrage that our
adversary is able to muster, so we
deem them worthy of recognition:
1.-The majority of women do not
want to vote
In every progressive movement
since the beginning of time it has
ever been left to the few to take the.
initiative step. The majority never
wants progress, the majority prefers
to wait until the wagon is we'll started
then climb on. Had all progress
waited till the majority were ready
to make the initiative move we would
still be cropping around back yonder
in prehistoric darkness. And any
how If there were bare half dozen
intelligent. public-spirited women in
the state who wanted to vote on some
measure concerning their home. their
city or their state, why shouldn't they
be allowed the privilege of so doing
end without the humiliation of hav-
ing to beg for it. They have lived
their lifetime perhaps in this state
and perhaps are more familiar with
the economic conditions and social
problems than the majority of their
native brothers, but nevertheless
these brothers prefer to sweetly and
graciously bestow the sacred privi-
lege of citizenship upon some slober-
ing. jibbering, foul smelling Dagc
who hasn't been in the country long
enough to take his periodical foot
bath.
2-Many women are Indifferent.
This is by no means a compliment
to the sex. Only a few generations
back the majority of women were in
different as to female education, and
many were bitterly opposed to it,
/ Time has shown how much logical
ard reason there was in their oppo-
sition. Today all over this land Of
ours the high schools are graduating
three girls to every one boy. Where
then would be good place to look
| for the educated vote? The same
prejudice that opposed co-educatiOn
* opposing equal suffrage today. To
those who are mentally able to grasp
! it these two movements present a
very striking and instructive analogy
| the ballot is an educator, and wO-
man will develop mentally and be
come more practical in using it
Judge Ben Lindsey says so and he
ought to know since he has for years
lived in Colorado, and he also says
that woman suffrage has been so
satisfactory there that ii is hard to
understand how it encounters oppO-
sition in other states and he also says
that he never yet has heard a criti-
cism against equal suffrage that ever
worked out. and that in the state of
Colorado they have the most ad-
vanced laws of any state in the union
for the care and protection of chill
dren. best enforcement Of the Obliga-
tion of the father to support wife and
child. best juvenile court law, best
child labor law and the best admin
istration of these laws when once up
on the administration books, of any
state in the union, and that they owe
this condition more to woman's vOt-
ing than to anything else. Now what
do you know about this, Mr. Oregon
Voter?
Full well we know that many wo-
men are Indifferent. We know too the
cause of this indifference, it is due en-
tirely to a lack of understanding on
their part of the social and industrial
problems and conditions; they don't
know that the ballot is our industrial
sisters only weapon of defense against
intollerable conditions, they are so
! pllIlully Ignorant Ol lne last lldl SHe
needs this weapon, that she has been
forced out into the ranks of the wage
earners through sheer necessity
neither does she know that the basic
fundamental cause of the great social
problem which is confronting this
country today is the simple fact that
the women and girls employed in our
Industrial centers are not paid a wage
sufficient for an honest living, for
there it is the cold blooded propo-
| sition of starving her body or selling
IL, and the percentage of those who
choose to eat is appalling. We be-
| lieve that woman's vote will greatly
help to eradicate this evil, and also
help to eradicate that other blot up
on our land which sinks us as a ma
tion to Russia's level and some say
much lower yet than that. our child
| labor
Here is what George d. Porter,
who was selected by Mayor Blanken-
burg to lead his Purifying Philadel-