Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1912-10-25
Third Term Candidate Was Con.
SistsntIy Their Enemy TIL
He Needed Their Votes.
COULD HAVE CARRIED OHIO.
But Big Bull Moose Took TO the Var
mont Woods--Noted Woman Exposes
His Change Of Front.
BY LA Hustled HARPER.

J
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
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 Progressiyes, and they could
therefore have easily carried the suf-
( frage amendment if all the others had
voted against it, as the vote on the con.
stitution was very light, only a few
hundred thousand out of more than e
( million who were eligible. Did he is
sue any orders to this effect? Did b,
say to his followers: Now. here is our
first chance to show the women tina.
we mean business. OF course if w.
win in November we will give the
franchise to all in the United States,
but just now 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 thisf
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. Johnsbury,
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 it, The question was not
an issue there or likely to be. but it
was a vital issue in Ohio, to be settled
in four days. ana yet not by spoken or
written word did he show to the people
of Ohio that he knew Of its 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
it, and in the platform a woman suf
frage plank was conspicuous by its abb
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
it apparently means to keep that
pledge.
In Mr.. Roosevelt's second term the
suffragists determined to make every
possible effort to secure an Endorsement
from him. AS Miss Susan Il. Anthony'a
most eloquent letters to him received
no answer. she went in person to see
To-, A1,Nys
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, Il beg of you
to be the emancipation of woman as
Lincoln was the emancipation of tn
slave" lie was not resembling Lin
coin so much in those days as he is at
present, and he remained totally I'm,
moved by her appeals.
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 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 chance to speak,
but kept saying, Go and get another
state" He shrugged his shoulders and
turned on his heel ANA then they said,
IF we will get up petition of mil
Hon names will that influence your
mo" be replied, mot one particle"
That was in 1909 The next year .
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 suffrage"
The cause Of Woman's enfranchise-
than the outlook. and Mr.. Roosevelt is
on the editorial staff Last February