Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-02
FOR WOMEN VOTING
Roosevelt on the Question of
Equal Suffrage.
is NOT DEEPLY INTERESTED
Would Have Those Most Concerned
Decide the Matter.
NOT GREAT ISSUE. HE THINKS
Where System Has Been Adopted
Has Been Unable to See Much
Difference Caused
is NOT DEEPLY INTERESTED
NOT GREAT ISSUE. HE THINKS

NEW YORK. February =. Theodore
Roosevelt discusses 'Womans Rights,
and the Duties of Both Men and Wom-
en- in an editorial i'm the current issue
of the Outlook. He says. in part:
Much indeed, has America oSed to
the fact that her two greatest men,
Washington and Lincoln. though they
did not neglect rights. were even more
concerned with duties.
IT believe in womans rights. / believe
even more earnestly in the performance
of duty by both men and women, for un-
less the average man and the average
woman live lives Of duty. not only our
democracy. but civilization itself will per-
ish | heartily believe in equality OF
rights as between man and woman, but
also in full and emphatic recognition OF
the fact that normally there cannot be
identity of function Indeed. there must
normally be complete dissimilarlty or
function between them, and the eHort 10
ignore this patent fact is silly. beheVe
in woman's suffrage wherever the women
want il. Where they do not want IT,
the suffrage should not be forced upon
them I think that it would be well 10 let
the women themselves. ana Only '
women vote at some special electioh Dc
IN whether they do do not Wish the
vote as a permanent possession. In o'neI
words this is peculiarly a case iul tne
referendum to those most ulreIlis "
fected-that is, the women themselves
Not Great Issue, He Thinks.
II should be entirely content to abide
tho decision either way, for, though
do not think that the damage prophesleo
from women's voting would come, or mas
como whore il has been tried, L also thlhh
that very much less effect would be pro-
6uced one way or the other, tiah 'ne
enthusiasts believe. In other Woius, ~
nor regard the movement dS any INNS
like as important as either ltS eAu.h
,i,d or extreme opponents think. II is
so much less important than many June
reforms that l have never Seen a'ie -
take a very heated interest IN H. o,
..If the woman suffrage movement "eIe
70 he Judged only by those advocates VI
il who discredit themselves and tner ssA
by disorderly antics IN puoic a anS
assail the foundations OF prNd'e ~
n,,hIjc morality in their endeaver, not 10
raiSa the sense of moral duty in man, Out
Ia lower the sense of moral duty III Moi
an. I should certainly oppose the my
ment But I do not believe these uhoe-
sirahle apostles are in any way 10 De ac-
cented as exponentS of the cause anu
call attention to the fact that tnes are
prominent. not in the region where "oin-
am suffrage does exist, but III reSiohs
where il does not exist :.
II pin my faith to woman sunfaSlSts vi
the type Of the late Julia ware acMei
Julia Ward Howe was one OF tne lole-
most citizens in this republic: she Ien
dered service to the people such as rev
men in any generation render, ana ye,
she did, first of all. her full DUTY IN tile
intimate home relations that must ever
taken precedence of all other relations.
Where Equal Suffrage Prevails.
.,, ,,,. uestern STATES where the sui
frage has been given to women. am un-
able to see that any great difference has
been caused. as compared with nefghbor-
ing states of similar social and industrial
conditions where women have not the
suffrage. Yet what slight changes nave
occurred have Seen for the better and not
the worse.
81 most earnestly desire to emphasize
nv feeling that the question of woman
suffrage is unimportant compared to the
great FUNDAMENTAL questions that go 10
the root of right conduct as regards noth
men and women There should be equal
" of rights and duties. but not identity OF
function, and with the man, as with the
woman. the prime duties are those relat-
ed TO the home and the family.
The point which | wish to emphasize
is that the supreme Importance and high
position of the woman of the type or
Julia Ward Howe cannot be materially
increa sed by the possession of the ballot.
| am glad that the good, wise and brave
mother should have the ballot. l am
especially glad if it's possession will add
to the high dignity of her position in the
ewes of men. But l cannot conceive Of
any mans now failing to hold such
mother as more worthy of respect than
any man. or than any other woman
''in the long run. and taken as a whole
men and women will go up or go down
together. and all reforms of first-class i'm
portance must look towards raising both
men and women to a higher level. alike
as regards the things of the body and as
regards the things of the soul"