The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-10-26
L1BOR NOTES OF
VIDE INTEREST

The other day cable dispatches brough
the glad tidings from Stockholm that
bill had been introduced in the Swedis
! parliament by the minister of justie
which, when enacted into law, woul
grant to women complete electoral priv
leges, exactly the same as men. Ii
introducing the bill, the minister spok
Understandings of the woman's suffrag
movement throughout the world and ex
, pressed himself as representative of tn
government as being heartily in favor o
the measure. During his speech, among
other things he said that the public de
mand for votes for women is too stronl
to admit any further delay. Modern
public work demands cooperation Of
women. Every woman ought to have d
direct influence on parliament IL is q
guarantee that her right as an individual
wife or mother is sufficiently regarded
and this especially applies to women
OF the working classes. The first prop.
osition has been that only women having
a municipal vote at present should re.
ceive the parliamentary vote, but the
government has decided that as unfair
as it excludes most of the married wom-
en-, and therefore it decided to take the
whole step at once.
When the proposed bill becomes law, IL
will place Sweden in front of all coun.
ties insofar as granting to women full
acknowledgements and all electoral privi-
leges and consequently will make that
country the most advanced and liberal
minded of its time. The proposed law
provides that women shall have a vote
under exactly the same conditions as
men. Many interesting features are in
voyed. For instance, the bill allows
husband to cast his wfe's vote An
amendment is also being prepared which
gives wives of sailors, fishermen, sol
diers, etc, who are absent from their
constituency on the day of election, the
right to cast their vote for them.
Under the present Swedish law, man
loses his vote If he is bankrupt, pau
per, or has not paid his taxes for three
years. Under the new government bill,
if woman is living with bankrupt
pauper or non-taxpaying husband, she
loses her vote, unless she has a separate
marriage settlement. Otherwise, she is
to be treated exactly the same as man,
parliament, with the express condition
that she may resign her seat whenever
she pleases.
When will the United States fol
Sweden's lead Soon, let us hope, al
though the chances are that the enfran-
chisement of our women folks would not
be to organized labor's advantage to
begin with, as has been demonstrated in
one or two instances lately, in connec-
ton with municipal elections But, b.
that as it may. it is in accordance with
justice and right that they should have
vote as well as men, and If they do act
wildly at first, they will become edu-
Gated in matters politically eventually, |
and cast their ballot with labor They
should have vote, no matter how they
cast it; even if it is against us, what's |
the odds! 30 Liberty! If thou killest |
me, still will | believe in thee"
Upon the recent visit of Kerr Hardie |
to Washington, he was rendered a ban
quet at one OF the hotels by the Social /
list organization. President Gompers,
Secretary Morrison and several other
trade unionists were extended invita-
4
pers attended. Kier Hardie is in this
country making speaking tour in the
interest of the Socialist ticket and came
10 Washington upon his own motion, as
he stated, to call upon President Com
oers and Secretary Morrison, the former
having been known by Keir Hardie for
many years. Mr.. Hardie visited the fed
ration offices and spent some time in an
interview and looking through the offices
If the federation.
At the banquet, Keir Hardie, while of
curse advocating Socialism, made many
pertinent remarks with reference to the
rade unions of this country. There ex
SITS in this country friction between So
ialism and the trade unions, and the
hats from the Socialists have been
directed towards the presi-
lent of the American Federation of La
'or Whenever the time comes that any
socialist or combination of Socialists
an demonstrate their ability to build :
~ and maintain as strong and as eff
ective an organization as the American
federation of Labor-the direct result ,
{ the efforts of Samuel Gompers and
is colleagues-then the Socialists may
ave some foundation upon which TO
ase its criticism. The trade unions"
ontinued Mr.. Hardie. "are not only es- a
ntial. but absolutely necessary. and
rust be continued in their effective form,
nd nothing should be done by the So "
alists or anyone interested in the gen is
-al building up of the workmen's move I
tent TO obstruct or disintegrate the UNI b.
ms of labor" a
President Gompers followed Mr.. Hardie "
nd expressed himself as entirely in ac- OF
'rd with the utteranee of the distin HI
iished Britisher in reference to the
ade unions. and stated that he could
Ipropriate Hardie's speech as his own. n
it'll the elimination of the references
Socialism. Mr.. Gompers drew atten
on to the fact that the conditions in
merica were unlike any other country y
the globe. With its polygot popula
IN, its tens of thousands of immi-
ants every year, its increasing colored N
pulation and its threatened invasion
the people of oriental countries. pre-
nted a phase that had no comparison.
esident Gompers emphasized the fact
at the federation would continue in
e even tenor of its way to carry out
work as laid down by its members
the interest of the workers of the
lntry and that the labor movement of