The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-02-03
COLONEL is FOR
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
Roosevelt, in Outlook, Says Gentle
Sex Should Vote if THY
Want to

i RIGHTS; and the Duties of Both Men
and Women, IN an editorial in the
current issue OF The Outlook. lie
says in part:
Much indeed has Au.erica owed tc
the fact that her two greatest men,
Washington and Lincoln, though
tEey die not neglect rights, we're
even more concerned with duties.
believe in woman's rights. / be-
lieye even more earnestly in the per-
Torrance of duty by both men and
yemen; for unless the average man
ard The average woman live lives of
daiy rot only our democracy but
civilization itself will perish.
heartily believe in equality of rights
as between man ard woman, but
also in fall and emphatic recognition
TOT the fact that normally there cam
not be identity of function. Indeed,
there must normally be complete
diss.milarity OF function between
taem, and the effort to ignore this
patent fact is silly.
Believes in STfrace.
believe in woman's suffrage
wherever The women want it. Where
they do not want il, the suffrage
seould not be forced upon them. I
thirk that it would be well to let
the women themselves, and only the
women, vote at some special election
Is 10 whether they do or do not
wish the vote as a permanent poeses-
SION. In other words, this is pecu-
larry case for the referendum to
those most directly affected that is
the women Themselves | should be
entirely content to abide the decis-
on, ether way; for, though / do
Lot t3ink that the damage
nropheaiod from womau's voting
wo1ld come, or has come whore it
has been tried, | also think thai
Fe-y mach less effect would be pro-
luced one way or the other, than
the enthusiasts believe In other
words, do not regard the moyemen,
as anything like as Important as
7'ther its extreme friends or extreme
opponents think 1t is so much less
Important than many other reforms
that | have never been able to take
4 very heated interest in it.
AnF,cs Are Ds~ounteranaed.
If The woman suffrage movement
were to be i1dged only by those ad-
vocatas Of it who d'saredit them
selves and Their sex h. disorderly
antics in public, and who aesall the
foundations of private and public
morality in their ende1vor, not to
reise tie sense of moral duty in
Nan, ebrt to lower the sense Of
Moral duty in woman, | should GER
'ainly oppose the movement. But ]
DO rot believe these undesirable
apostles are IN any way to be az
ceptablc oponents of the cause, and
| call attention to the fact that they
are prominent, not IN the region
whore woman suffrage does exist but
in regions where it does not exist.
/ pin my faith to woman suffrag-
lists of tie type OF the tate Julia
Ward Howe. Julia Ward Howe was
one Of the foremost citizens of this
Republic: she rendered service to
the people such as few men in any
generation render; and yet she did,
first of all, her full duty in,the in
innate home relations that must
ever take precedence of all other re-
lations.
No Great Difference in West.
In our Western states where the
suffrage has ben given to women |
am unable to see that any great diff
ference has been caused, as compared
with the neighboring states in SINH
lar social and industrial condit ons
where women have not the suffrage
Yet what slight changes have oc-
Cured have been for the better and
not for thee worse.
| most earnestly desire to en-.
phasize my feeling that the question
Of woman suffrage is unim 1ortant
compared to the great Fundamental
questions that go to the root OF RICH
conduct as regards both men ant
women. There should be equalit
of rights and duties, but not identits
of function; and with the man. a
with the woman, the prime duties a
those related to the home and the
family.
Can't Increase Importance.
The points which | wish to en-
phasize is that the supreme i'm
portance and high position of the
woman of the type Of Julia Ward
Howe cannot be materially increased
by the possession of the ballot. !
am glad that the good, wise and
brave mother would have the ballot
| am especially glad if it's possession
will add to the high dignity of her
position IN the eyes of men. But
cannot conceive Of any mans now
failing to hoM slrch n mnthnr q.