The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-06-03
THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO ARE
FAVORING EQUAL SUFFRAGE

necessity they felt for the power they
found II conf6 rred, On one occasion,
these and other women went to the
California legislature 10 petition for
much-needed law for the protection
OF young girls. In the course OF their
nearing before the committee. one OF
the women SAID, II represent an or.
ganizatiCn of nifty thousand women OF
this state The chairman OF the com
mittee sneeringly replied, do you
represent one vote? You might as
we'll represent fifty thousand mice"
But not only do the women engaged
In philanthropy and reform work find
that they need the ballot for them
selves; they ave also seeing that. In
widcr aspect. the ,enfranchisement
OF women (the mothers and home
makers especially would have a most
favorable Influence toward securing
the very social improvements they
have been laboring for. Women, by
the very nature OF the social functions
resulting from their sex, have always
been and must continue to be re-
aponsible for the health and morals
OF children and for the food. clothing
Il
or three generations ago, they could
attend TO all these things without go
ing outside their homes With the
application of machinery and the com
Ing OF the industrial era, most OF
these things were taken from under
the mothers immediate personal
charge and became the functions OF
organized industry or of the munich
pality; so that now the food OF the
family is produced, and much of II
cooked outside the home, the cloth
Ing is made almost entirely outside
the home. and questions of water
supply and sanitary regulation are
also determined outside. The children
must even play somewhere else than
at nome; for the industrial develop
men has brought with 1t the con.
gested life of cities, where only the
comparatively well-to-do can have
grounds for their children TO play in:
and the education OF the young has
likewise been removed from the
home.
Must women then be divorced from
tseir natural functions In relation to
housing conditions, food, clothing,
sanitation, education and recreation
for the family? That is what those
would co who would keep women
within the four walls of a home in
when few OF these things are now
produced. II women are to retain
their functions as mothers and max
crs OF homes that attract and really
provide for their families they must,
under the conditions that obtain to-
DAY, have voice in the laws regu.
lating public utilities that supply the
horne with water. light. heat or
other commodity affecting sanitation:
they must help shape the laws that
regulate indus ,Ties producing food,
clothing, and other family necessities:
they must be allowed a share in de-
cidi-s what proportion of the public
expenditures snail be devoted TO play
grounds and education, and their in.
fuence must be- felt in the choice of
boards controlling such expenditures
and they must have a voice in all
the laws which have TO do with the
health cleanliness, and moral sur
rouncings of the home and family.
1t is because these responsibilities
are peculiarly ami fittlnsly those of
mothers ana homo makers that wo-
mel cannot submit TO being perma-
hently separated from the duties and
privileges that they imply and they
ask for the ballot because without
this, 1t is impossible, under our pres
ent charged conditions, for them to
be, in sny but the most superficial
sense, home-makers and guardians OF