New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-18
'RED CROSS MEETING ENDS DEFEND WOMEN VOTERS
New York SuffragiStS Proud OF
California Sisters.
NOT BOSSED BY THE MEN
Local Leaders Laugh at Story
That Coast State Families
Were Practical Unit.

Were Practical Unit.
Absurd" Mere guesswork," TOO fool
ish TO talk about Is the way local suf-
fragists yesterday characterized the tele-
graphed statement from Los Angeles that
in the December election in that city and
In Tuesdays Presidential primaries the
women voted Just about the same as the
men Of their families. so that the only re-
suit OF giving the ballot TO women was to
enlarge the vote without changing the re-
suit"
Right in the same paragraph with this
statement the telegram says that good
many women did vote differently than
their husbands brothers and fathers. but
these cases fairly Offset one another"
New York seekers after the franchise
didn't fail to note the contradiction. and
waxcd merry or indignant over II, accord
ing TO their natures
They can't prove an earthly thing about
the way the women voted said Mrs. Mary
Ware bennett. secretary OF the National
Suffrage Association. II presume the pri-
maries We're conducted in tho same way
tina. elections % officers are. with the
voted as their husbands did or that they
voted differently than their husbands. Is
surely gucsswork and nothing else Such
assertions are mer" nonsense. Tho only
way 10 yet conclusions about the way
women vote would be t. keep separate
registration rccordH
Il believe that was done the first year Of
woman suffrage IN some 81 the other
states. but 1t certainly hasn't been done in
California what would he the use ~ IT,
What docs - matter whether women vote
IKE their husbands or not?
THE fact Is. IN the people who say they
do the wish IS father TO u" thought
Those pcopl" have been saying $" long
that equal franchise would only double the
vote because tho women would support the
candidates their husbands DID that they
think II must be 80. It's a sample or the
cheap remarks that are current The no.
ton comes down 20 VS. from the days when
woman wasn't considered az human
being. but as somebody's wife She
couldn't be looked upon as standing alone
she must belong TO somebody.
However. were gradually getting out OF
that feeling: things Ike our big suffrage
narade are knocking Il out Of the heads
Of even the conservative That telegram
from California 10 Just ono OF the fool as
scrtions We still continue to hear, but
don't think We need mind anything That
contradicts itself in the same paragraph
Il don't believe" said Mrs. Pearcs Bailey
first ylce-presIdent OF the Equal Franchise
Society, that women voted as their nus
bands did out In California, any more than
believe that women are Catholics because
their husbands are. or Protestants because
their husba nds are. II Is nonsense 10 Say
that women follow slavishly after their
men folks in these things. The paragraph
from Los Angeles admits II by stating IN
the same breath that In many instances
women voted differently than their men
folks Isn't that delightfully."- logical and
consistent. that paragraph laughed Mrs
Bailey
Il believe that women voted in California
lust as they felt like voting. They certainty
went TO work intelligently about IT, They
formed civic clubs. and studied poliucaI
questions 7 hear that their votes were
eagerly solicited by the different parties
but they didn't pay much attention TO the
solicitors The situation is very hopeful In
California
ITS fine 10 think that. while II has taken
men hundreds Of years to learn how to-
vote. women Just went and did 1t properly
without any fuss In the very first election
Even the women who hadn't sought the
ba Hot used Il and used II conscientousy
They took IT, as women take children and
everything else, as a moral responsibility"
Mrs Bailey thought the Los Angeles
paragraph neglected old maids most i'm
politely What about the unattached
women" she observed. 1T can't be said
that they vote as their men do. But old
maids have always been neglected, all
through history. and yet how important
they are, II would be impossible TO exist
without them. They DO everybody else's
work
widows. too The stormy times In Call
fornia have made scores OF widows. can
IL be said that they vote as their hus-
bands dor
TOO foolish to he discussed was all
Mrs. e. Jean Nelson Penheld. city chair
man OF the Woman Suffrage Party. would
say about the announcement from Los
Angeles. Mrs. James Lees Laldlaw. party
chairman for the Borough OF Manhattan
was a bit more communicative.
81 lust wish I had time she exclaimed
looking I'D from n litter OF papers on her
desk, ito say something properly satiricai
about the master brain that could state IN
the same breath that women voted JUST as
their men did, so the vote was doubled
and that women voted differently from
their men. so that the ballots offset each
other Isn't 1t absurd?