The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-18
ROOSEVELT BAIT ! FOR SUFFRACISTS
Third Term cans4.ate Was Con- sIsiently Their Enemy TiIl
 He Needed Their Votes.
COULD HAVE CARRIED OHIO.

sut Big Bull Mooss Took to the vsr- mont Wsods-Neted WenSan Exposes His Change of Front.
 BY IDA HusTED HARPER. The Progressive party had it's first
 opportunity to show its loyalty to the
 woman suffrage plank in it's platform when the vote was taken in Ohio on a
 new constitution. Forty-two amend
 ments were on the ballot. and all were adopted except the one for woman
 suffrasel
 Ohio is one Of the 'sbanner' Progress
 sive states, and MT. Roosevelt expects
 to secure it's electoral vote. In order
 to do this a plurality of the electors
 must be Proeressives. and they coulu therefore have easily carried the sui
 frage amendment if all the others had voted against it, as the vote on the con stitution was very light, only few
 hundred thousand out of more than g
 million who were eligible. Did he is sue any orders to this effect7 Did he say to his followers: -'Now. here is ou
 first chance to show the women tha
 we mean business. or course if VI
 win in November we will give tn, franchise to all in the United States but just now we can make good b. giving it t0 those in Ohio, so let ever,
 Progressive vote for the woman sui nage amendment?" ?" Did he do this On the contrary, he completely iR nored the matter, although he passe through Ohio the very day of the eIee tion
 A few days before. at se Johnsburs Vt, MT. Roosevelt had devoted a lara part of his speech to showing ho9 strongly he believed in the ballot for women and how anxious he was for them to get it. The question was not an issue there or likely to be. but it was vital issue in Ohio, to be settled in four days, and yet not by spoken or written word did he show to the people of Ohio that he knew of it's existence.
 Two days after the Progressive party In Ohio permitted the defeat of this amendment its state convention met If any women were elected delegates the press dispatches failed to mention 1t, and In the platform woman suf- frage plank was conspicuous by it's ab- seDce. "The Progressive party pledges itself to the task Of securing equal suf frage to men and women alike.p says
 
 just given the first example of the way 1t apparently means to keep that pledge.
 In MT. Rooseyelt's second term the suhragists determined to make every possible effort to secure an indorsement from him. As Miss Susan B. Anthony's most eloquent letters to him received no answer. she went in person to see him in November, 1905. just four months before her death With all her powers of persuasion she pleaded with him to recommend in his forthcoming message some recognition of woman's claim to voice in the government Laying her hand on his arm, she looked up into his face and said, eT beg of you to be the emanc1pator of woman as Lincoln was the exnancipator of the slave" He was not resembling Lin coin, SO much in those days as he is at present, and he remained totally uR- moved by her appeals
 seant Courtesy at White House.
 Shortly before he left the White House several officers Of the National Suffrage association. realizing his great influence on public opinion, made one last effort to have him speak favor able word He came into the outside lobby of the executive office, required them to state their business before the crowd waiting to see him and would hardly give them 8 chance to speak, but kept saying. "Go and get another state" He shrugged his shoulders and turned on his heel. and then they said, l eff we will get up petition of mill lion names will that influence your 'sNo." he replied, mot one particle"
 That was in 1909. The next year 6 l letter from him was read at an anti 1 suffrage meeting in the Berkeley thea 1 ter. New York. in which he safds "I | am very tepid on woman suffrage"
 The cause of womaHs enfranchise- | ment has nO more implacable enemy l than the Outlook. and Mir. Roosevelt is | on the editorial stan. Last February | he had in that magazine ten column | article entitled eWoman's Rights," but | the only right considered was that of the suffrage The article was such an | excellent exposition Of the attitude of | women who do not wish to vote that | the Anti-suffrage association ordered 1 copies for distribution In this article | he said again, "In our western states where the suffrage has been granted to women I am unable to see that any great difference has been caused as compared with neighboring states"
 And yet just four months after this publication, when MT. Roosevelt had definitely decided to make the contest e0x the presidential nomination, all his about forcing suffrage on a hostile and indifferent majority vs-. lshed in thin air because a million and ! half already had votes and the colo mel wanted them. and he knew they vOulS7n,t stand for any napSQnSa a hout