The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-05-17
WHY Do MANY WOMEN
WISH EQUAL SUFFRAGE
An Address Delivered BY Mrs.
Carl J. Holman.
From Fridays Daily.

From Fridays Daily.
why do many women wish equal
suffrage? That was the question
asked by Mrs. Carl J. Holman of
this city when she addressed the
Third District Federated Women's
clubs at their meeting at LIE Sueur
Center Wednesday night. Mrs. Hol-
man answered the question in an
address which will prove interesting
reading to not only those who be-
lieve in suffrage for women, but the
/ opponents of the proposition can
gain information therefrom. Mrs.
Holman said:
Susan B. Anthony sought it be-
cause she considered it a right
given her by the constitution. Some
of you remember how in 1872 she
voted at the presidential election,
was arrested, put on trial and fined
500, which she refused to pay, and
never did pay. In justification of
having cast the ballot she made a
speech, so pure in diction, so ele-
CANT in construction, that even now
after an elapse of only forty years,
it is found in collection of the
worlds famous orations.' In this
speech she quoted the preamble of
the constitution, and commented up
on the phrase, we the people, not
we the white male citizens, not yet,
we, the male citizens, but we the
whole people who formed the union.
Is Woman a Person?
ON conclusion she stated that
woman's constitutional right to the
ballot depends merely upon whether
women are people. Is woman a
person? What feelings of chagrin
Miss Anthony must have had upon
hearing of widow referred to as
relic, or wife not owning the
clothes on her back. Indeed it
was once a debatable question if
woman had soul. Other coun-
tries than China have their ana
logue in the funeral pyre, and it is
joice i'm the open college door.
To-day many women demand the
ballot because they consider it their
constitutional right. There are 9th
ers, however, and many of them
who wish for it, not because it
is something that belongs to them.
! and of which they are denied, but
because it is a direct means of
preservation, not only of the in
dividual, but of her offspring.
.- Universal Motherhood.
when speak of mother and
child, | do not refer to merely
the product of her blood, for she
may have none, but to that feeling
of universal motherhood which is
i'm every true woman's heart and
makes her in spirit the mother of
every living thing. Do not such
questions as labor laws, health or
dinances, pure water and food, fire
protection, police protection, age OF
consent, divorce laws; do not such
questions as these affect the moth
er? Should she not have voice
in their decision? Let us consider
some of them: First labor laws.
If we are to prosper and progress
as a nation, we must look to the
protection of the individual. 1t is
estimated in the United States that
from 10000 to 10000 wage earners
are killed annually, in industrial ac-
cident. Five hundred thousand are Sc
riously injured, and it is safe to say
that those who die from occupational
diseases, as lead poisoning, mer-
curym and arsenic poisoning, an.
thrax, compressed air diseases, and
many other industrial diseases, are
twice as many as those who die
from accident. These enormous los
SEES in life and limb are largely,
if not mostly, preventable; Does
this prove that labor conditions
affect the wife?
The Twentieth Child.
"How about child labor, how does
this concern the mother? This ques-
ton touches upon the darkest point
in our national life. Reta Child
Dorr is the author of an article
entitled The Twentieth Child.
What can this mean? The Twen-
tieth Child?' 1t means that one
out of every twenty little children
is deprived of that freedom which
should be like the birds of the air,
like. the butterflies fitting in the
sunshine from flower to flower
1t means that the little child is
sent to the cotton mill, where stand
ing long hours before dangerous
machines, the fiber laden air fills
his lungs. 1t means that the TWEEN
tieth child is sent to the cannery
which is infinitely worse than the
factory, because not being legally
classed as factories, the child labor
err has not the protection of the
child labor laws as applied to fac
tories.
Child Is Bending It's Back.
Every year ~the state child labor
committees, and the women's clubs
goes to the legislature, and tells
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