New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-19
BY Ida Hustled Harper.

BY Ida Hustled Harper.
IN the good old days Of the woman
suffrage movement, when the vast ma
jority Of the people didn't know there
was one. no discussion ever arose as 10
whether young girls should sell suffrage
papers in "a theatre lobby or whether
| cigarettes labelled Votes for Women"
should be offered to a vaudeville audience.
Either one of these performances would
have caused a stroke Of apoplexy not only
to the opponents but to the advocates
as we'll
The latter found the most difficult part
Of their work to convince the doubters
that granting the franchise would not
take women out Of the homes or in any
way impair the womanly attributes, chief
of which was a shrinking from anything
which would attract public attention
Even the married and the middle aged,
who stood on the platform in the most
decorous costumes and presented their
cause in the most dignifed manner. were
denounced as bold and shameless, a dts
grace 10 their sex. Suffragists OF this
type are pretty much in the background
these Understanding in the wings. so to
speak, and watching their successors
dancing on the stage in the spotlight.
There has been a complete revolution in
the position of women, and this Is not due
any more to the suffrage movement than
TO score of other causes-chiefiy TO the
| economic situation, which has forced
millions of them from the seclusion of
home to the glare Of public life. Suffra-
| Ofc % h. oil IApL "
keenest disapproval and sorrow on the
unrestrained freedom of young girls, and
more than ever long for the power OF the
ballot, through which they may throw
around these girls as many safeguards as
! possible. They cannot view with entire
! sanction young women offering papers
and other articles for sale to such crowds
Of men as lll the streets OF a city Ike
| New York. but they hope that devotion to
the cause will surround these women with
an invisible wall of protection, such as
| guards the Catholic sisterhood and that
! of the Salvation Army.
Insults to the women selling suffrage
papers have been so few as to be negligi-
| BILE and they were as safe in the lobby
| of the Victoria Theatre as they would
have been if merely passing in TO see the
show. Nevertheless the oldtinae sufira-
| gsts wish that this sacrifice Of Ideals
wero not considered necessary. AS 10 the
| Offering OF cigarettes, there ought not be
| two opinions on the part Of either old or
new suffra glsts-it was ineXcusable. II
! for no other reason that because there
! IS so wide a belief that they are injurious.
the one organization which did il should
| not have made this sentiment antago-
nstic TO the suffrage cause. and its action
will meet with the unqualified disapproval
| Of the suffragists throughout the country.
Anti Suffrasists in Politics.
II is very interesting 10 see the anti
suffragists rushing into politics. when the
| foundation stone OF their opposition to
giving the vote 10 women IS that II would
take them away from home and in,o pub
lie life. Al the National Progressive CON
ventlon and At the state convention IN
/ Syracuse some OF the women most con-
spicuous in every way We're pronounced
anti-suffrag lsts. and this H. true OF
number who are taking an active part
in the women's headquarters and on the
women's committees 81 all the political
rarties And now here is Mrs Barclay
Hazard. long a bright and shining light
among the New York "antls, entering
the lists to fight colonel Roosevelt She
has prepared a long arraignment Of his
party. Of which she will distribute two
thousand copies. Her campaign is 10 be
strictly private. she says, and to prove II
she begins by publishing her attack IN
the newspapers, and while it is announced
that she is vice-president OF the Munich
nal League and closely connected with
the Florence Crittenden Mission. no men
,ion is made Of the fact that she Is an
of,cor IN the Anti-Suffraee Association.
In sending out her campaign document
Mrs Hazard says she is not working TOT
any marty and does not know on Which
side she would cast her vote II caled
mon 70 do so. How could she possibly
cast a vote at all when she has been writ
ing and speaking for years to snow Una,
woman suffrage is all wrong ana ~ouio
be an injury both to women ana tne
state? The truth is that these ah'i-sui-