Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-10-29
WHAT DO MEN WANT 1T,
FOR?
BY DIR. EDWARD =. KRANS,
nf PlainheId. N. Il

IF / am asked" said George Will
liam Curtis, what women want the
ballot for, | answer. what do men
want 1t for?" This remark contains
the essence of the woman suffrage
question. Women are specialized only
in sex, as genius may be in art or
music, and are in mind and body Of
the same stuff as men.
AS to the practical character of
woman, it seems obvious enough that
a good housekeeper must be prac-
teal, and my belief is here strength
ened by the successes of ome in
administrative positions, notably as
school superintendent, heads of de-
partments in large stores, as members
of municipal boards. and in other
ways The mother also must have the
qualities pertaining to a ruler-pa-
tience, firmness, powers of indulgence
and restraint. Only a few men are
thus endowed 10 the extent of becom-
ing conspicuous. and after long cogi-
tation the writer concludes that few
men are capable of being mothers.
To vote for what seems right Is the
thing that most women will do. Pub
lie opinion, that wide and changeful
growth, has always been consistent
in putting woman's moral value quite
high. The evil of our politics today
is too little sentiment, too few morals,
and those who ascribe more concrete
reasons must not forget that good
motives and good desires are the
sources of good activities, just as love
of liberty leads to a fight for freedom.
Even among the ignorant, the wife is
generally the better half ethically and
also intellectually, and she laments
and sometimes blindly scratches and
tears at vice when she see 1t IN
street or resort snatching up a child
of hers.
To emphasize my belief in giving
women a vote because of her moral
excellences, many famous and many
| efficient women might be named
whose achievements would serve to
Indicate the possibilities of the sex
and the height of it's aspirations;
also examples abound everywhere,
from New Zealand and Finland to
Wyoming and California, of the prac-
teal results of women in politics.
Intelligent observers agree h a in
the localities where women vote. ever
! where they hold office, the marriage
rite is still performed, women con
tinue to bear children and rear then
lin homes as good as homes elsewhere
but these women, still busy with the
primal functions of their sex. have
voted a great deal of decency int
public affairs.
The admitted fact OF women's high
er ethical status is per Sc a reason FOL
compelling her to vote. To say sh'
does not know enough to s the bal
lot is too absurd for any sane mind
while to say she will be contaminated
by contact with practical life is no
latterlng to men, but above all is th'
objectionable sin against human ma
| ture-the denial of the ultimate
triumph Of the good in both sexes.
To sum up this confession of faiti
in woman suffrage, I believe in thu
general identity of material and func
, | ton in both sexes, allowing a special
ization of certain functions to each
| believe in the presence In woman
of the practical, in proportions apou
as variable as in man; l believe II
/ her moral worth in n pohtlca
sphere. as well as in the home; be
lieve she has shown in public AM
private life those qualities that ar
SO much needed IN political iife-in
telligence and decency; that to oh
struct her in respect to the ballot wi
be to the detriment of the next gen
Grafton, and, lastly. / believe it to b
the duty of to vote.