The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-08-20
WOMAN As AN ECONOMIC POLITICAL
.......... FACTOR, -ea..as.~
FACTOR.

Let us trust that this editorial Inc onIy
design Of which is to emphasize the thought
o. another will be read by number OF
women whom the public call sufrasettes and (
who call themselves sufragtsts II has to DO
with women in politics. and Ia therefore wor~
Inv 10 arrest their attention. IT. Is wound
about what the leading politician in the conn-
try thinks of women IN politics. and is there
fore vital to their cause. II suggests course
or action which seems TO have been eur'ouSiy
overlooked by women who want votes AS
Thing tending TO support and make reasonable
their desire
Speaking to an audience Of women. Gov
elnor Wilson said
When the last word l. said about politics. it
i mercy the life Of ali II VS. from the point
Of view of what can be accomplished hs legls-
iAfon and the administration OF puplie once
th1nk it - artificial to divide life ap into sec
lions n Ia all Of piece. though you can
attend TO al pieces OF IT at once And SO wren
the women who are in 80 many Tespeets al t"e
heart Of life begin to take interest IN poll
tfes then ,t,H know that all OF the lines 81
sympathy It'd intelligence and COMPREHENSION sion !
a.. going TO be lnterlaced In "a way which theS
never have ture,isced before: that our poItlcs
viii he Of The pattern with our NE rms
II seems to me. is CtNoutly to be wished
Nobody is certainly more in contact win the
COS. Of living than the They are Ia
contact with some parts or the cost Or hplns
tbs know nothing about becaGs me men,
II: nix God don't have determine thes own
fashions We dressed by our ta'iofs' snd
sometimes very grotesduels dressed! whereas
,he ladies' have TO exercise their taste, and
amongst them they exercise great deal
when II comes to the immsdiat To- contact OF
the pocketbook with life. the women know
where the sensitive nerve lie. because me, 60
the purchasing they do tfss akiinpfns theE 90
the fearful planning which ts neteesrarN IN THESE
aaxx ~ tremendous cost adjust our Incomes
to our lives. Because, when we come oown To
the bottom the fundamental thing We are IN
tereyted ia ss the way going 10 live. 1t
lsnt mere matter Of attaining csrthin position
OF respectahltts among our neignpors ana "hf
, Income does have Il great deal to do, when com
pared with the cost OF living with our happiness
and therefore with economic questions. aues.
lions ~ the tariff Questions Of everything that
pnlere in the cost of living are questions when
J. side. We talk great deal ae"u' the coz, OF
meat and the cost Of potatoes etc, oht We men
don't buy pound OF meat or a peek NJ P"'"
toes once In month
Nov. how many women who can tell you
e hundred reAsonr why women are mentally
and morally entitled to the ballot, can tell
you anything about the tariff? How many
u them have made application or their daily
experiences by study and observaton7 Ho"
rnany Of them know how far the cost OF pota-
toes mas arisen In decade? How much MOI a
they nave TO pay for meat now than they ala
figured on the equation of property values
ard city taxafton7 What return there is from
the expenditure of public moneys 10 the people
and what part of It vanishes at the snap Of
the fingers Of the professor OF political leger
den,ain?
Remember that rightly wrongly thes'
matters of the household those thins'
prestle with and perform. They constitute
the business of the women--theiF depdrtmen
al the domestic partnership. Tue average mat
gets the dollars; the average wife administer
them The average husband accepts W.T.
au,,b patience an ever increasing expenditure
He Cos as far as he can in his earnings, con
eeent that bis wife is making them 90 nHei
farther IMAM be could possibly stretch them
His resentment at the high cost" is hiin'
rage tecsuse be only knows ne result ans
no. the detail The really lnte ,lieent woman
veo il on the job" knows the detail, or sAoul'
know !, Untii she does know wtr It is tina
r. every day whiting her life and thar of he
husband down TO the very shaving Of existence
she il forgetting her destiny when she for
gets the practical in abstract
we need women in politics as 6overno
wilson says but We need them most for tn
expert knowledge they should be able TO brinl
10 the particular crisis We need them for tn
immense influence they could WELD. one
they had the power TO tell their husbands II
concrete examples OF everyday living wher
they are being robbed and how. The mis-
take Of the sutfragettes consists exactly IN
neglect OF this duty. They ready man
OF them TO follow the Bun Moose for nothin
SsT more than that he modernizes the ancen
swagger OF the victorious knight OF the joust
among the twitterinE but hlood-thirst
danes They are too insisient on reform
away from home. too socitous about VIVA
happens outside OF their circle. and too IA
sIectful OF what happens inside OF & II IN
tremendous energy OF the suffrage moyemen
could only be diverted into economic channel
III practical conservation OF the masculin
M .rockefbook. manhood suffrage would stan
81 the ballot box. hat In hand. TO invite It'd
xvpasn 70 show it how 70 vote. 1870