The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-06-03
BY GERTRUDE S. STAFFORD.

BY GeHIHOOE .. SAFrOHO'
In judging the value of cause, II
never helps us much to know how
many people believe in IL; but II does
help to know what kind OF people be-
l;C.vc In &C. II helps too when We
know what kind OF motives have led
its adherents TO espouse II. There
are many parts of the world where
increasing maJorlties OF the people
have shown their belief In equal suf
frage for men and women, just as
there are many parts where only
minority as yet believes in this. but
everywhere, when you ask what kind
= OF people most enthusiastically sup
port this cause. you find them to be
the rublic-spirited men and women.
OF weil-developed social conscience
end broad human sympathies. On the
other hand you will everywhere find
I, that, practically without exception,
the men and women who do not favor
this reform are either those who,
from lnck OF information. have form
cd no intelligent opinion upon the sub
ject, or those who are thinking chief-
ly of themselves, OF their own per-
sonal interests and convenience, and
who are smugly satisfied with their
own lot And these are the ones WIN
insist that any sort of a change Is
nuisance or even positive calamity
n, Among those who, on grounds OF
selfish interest, oppose extending the
suffrage to women, are the class from
whom arise the various forms o.
political corruption; and the fact y
the opposition of this class is so fear
fully IN earnest Is our best prom that,
whatever others may think, these
men are sure that the women's vote
would lessen their hold ON our politi-
cal machinery.
There is in our day a great stirring
OF the spirit of human brotherhood,
which is making the noblest men and
women among us reach out from the
/. comfort and prosperity of their own
\ surrALndings toward the alienation
Of the misery and squalor, vice and
\ tisease of those less fortunate. Both
\ men and women thus seeking better
n conditions for those who cannot help
4 themselves are conspicuous among
II the supporters Of the effort TO secure
the ballot for women. Jane Adams,
Il Or. Wiley, Judge Lindsay Francis
y Willard, Florence Nightingale, Flor
ence Kelley, Clara Barton, Luther
IBurl ank, Edward Devine, Julia Ward
/ Howe, Mrs. Russell Sage, Henry
] George and Edwin Markham-to men
il ton but a few-these and thousands
II If humber workers for reform have
4 Leen asking that women be enfran-
I chised Surely there must be merit
u In a cluse which the worlds philan-
throplsts and reformers so generally
Unite in supporting
!. WAY is II that the social workers
Nave come TO urge the suffrage for
women? Philanthropies have existed
without womens having to do with
the suffrage; and why not continue
Sol? Philanthropy OF the old sort was,
10 be sure a thing quite apart from
he. btllot-box. One could give money
or clothing or food 10 people who had
,Loc these things, just as we'll without
the vote as with II. But modern
methods oil relieving poverty and
misery aim not at mere temporary
paliiation but a search for and re-
rluVal of the very cause IF distress.
As soon as the social worker trieN
10 approach the living or working con-
y ditious, the moral or sanitary condi-
lions, of any community or OF any
class or part Of a community, with
the purpose OF uprooting the causes
Of poverty, disease or crime, he
finds himself very close indeed to the
ballyt-box and very much in need OF
all the help II can give. But great
numbers OF these social workers are
women. and Why should they wocll
!. mder the serious handicap of not
being able TO nse this help?
Mrs. Rose FIench of San Francisco,
'ho.spoke in Detroit last winter, told
her many years Of effort in saving
oung girls from the whiteslave SER
&c and how disproportionate to this
fort were tie results of all the
,eryy expended by herself and the
age group OF women associated with
k. because, being nonvoters, they
VIE unable 10 reach the sources OF
ph.ical CORRUPTION which were main
ta,ing the cts "red-light" districts
an keeping tiem stocked with VIC
ti;S The group of women who sup
Iored Mrs French were not. by ear
~ ,reiudice and natural preference,
genraily in favor of the ballot for
;, women, but we're converted by the