Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-10-22
ROOSEVELT BAIT
FOR sUFFRAGISTS
Third Term Candidate Was Con-
sisterltly Their Enemy Till
He Needed Their Votes.
COULD HAVE CARRIED OHIO
But Big Bull Moose Took to the Yer
mont Woods-Noted Woman Ex-
poses His Change of Front.
By lea HusTEp HARPER.

| The progressive party had its first
opportunity to show its loyalty to the
| woman suffrage plank in it's platform
| when the vote was taken in Ohio on q
new constitution. Forty-two amend
ments were on the ballot, and all were
| adopted except the one for woman
suffrage,
Ohio is one of the banner" Progress
sive states and Mr.. Roosevelt expects
to secure its electoral vote In order
to do this plurality of the electors
must be Progressives, and they could
therefore have easily carried the suf-
frage amendment If all the others had
voted against it, as the vote on the
constitution was very light, only
few hundred thousand out of more
than million who were eligible. Did
he issue any orders to this effect? Did
he say to his followers: Nov, here is
our first chance to show the women
that we mean business. OF course If
we win in November we will give the
franz nise 20 all in the United States,
but just low we can make good by
giving it to those in Ohio, so let every
Progressive vote for the woman suf.
frage amendment" Did he do this?
On the contrary, he completely ig-
nored the matter although he passed
through Ohio the very day of the cleo
ton.
A few days before, at st. JcHnsbury,
VT, Mr.. Roosevelt had devoted large
part of his speech to showing how
strongly he believed in the ballot for
women and how anxious he was for
them to get 1t. 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 peo-
| pie of Ohio that he knew of Its ex-
| istence
Two days after the Progressive par
| ty In Ohio permitted the defeat of this
| amendment its state convention met.
| If any women were elected delegates
the press dispatches failed to mention
it, and In the platform woman suf-
frage plank was conspicuous by its alb
sence, "The Progressive party pledges
| itself to the task of securing equal suf-
frage to men and women alike" says
| its national platform, and Ohio has
Just given the first example of the
way it apparently means to keep that
| pledge
In Mr.. Roosevelt's second term the
suffragists determined to make every
possible effort to secure an indorse-
ment 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 a voice in the
government Laying her hand on his
arm, she looked UP into his face and
said, II beg OF you to be the emanci-
pator Of woman as Lincoln was the
emancipation Of the slave" He was not
| resembling Lincoln so much In those
days as he Is at present, and he re-
NAMED totally unmoved by her ap-
| peals.
scant 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 a favorable word. He came into
the outside lobby of the executive Of
| fee, required them to state their busi-
ness before the crowd waiting to see
him and would hardly give them a
| chance to speak, but kept saying, 60
and get another state" He shrugged
| his shoulders end turned on his heel,
and then they said, ''If we will get up
petition Of million names will that
influence your" NO" he replied, mot
/ one particle"
That was in 1909. The next year a
letter from him was read at an anti
suffrage meeting in the Berkeley thea
ter, New York, In which he said Il
am very tepid on woman outrage"
The cause of woman's enfranchise-
ment has no more implacable enemy
than the Outlook, and Mr.. Roosevelt
is on the editorial staff. Last Feb
ruary he had in that magazine ten
column article entitled "Woman'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 as
ISOLATION ordered copies for distribu-
ton. In this article he said again,
I'm our western states where the suf-
frage has been granted to women am
unable to see that any great differ
ence has been caused as compared
with neighboring states"
And yet Just four months after this
publication, when Mr.. Roosevelt had
definitely decided to make the contest
for the presidential nomination, all his
scruples about forcing suffrage on a
hostile and Indifferent majority van