The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-06

The test for participation in the gov
 ernment is not based on superiority. i or worth, or efficiency; it Is based on
 the mere fact of humanity as Brand l Whitlock puts it. It is growing clear | CT that those who oppose woman sui ] frage oppose 1t because, consciously or
 unconsciously they oppose democracy,
 and those who favor 1t, favor 1t be-
 cause they favor democracy--the mo-
 blest ideal of the human race. And just
 as democracy must inevitably conquer;
 just as the spirit of liberty once aroused
 can never be finally stilled until it has either gained it's point and freed the
 world or has gone down with the civil 1 ization of which it Is the highest re-
 deeming feature, just so certainly VIII l this movement for the enfranchisement i and uplift of womanhood, of childhood
 and of the future manhood of the world
 succeed
 1 Tt must be always remembered that | this reform Is not sought in a spirit | of vindctiyeness. or selfishness; 1t Is 1 sought because of desire to give service where 1t is needed. We men have not
 succeeded any too well in our efforts | to run the government by ourselves. l There are certain kinds Of service in the
 state which require the woman's touch
 and the mother hand; and it Is to assume
 these burdens, and do these tasks which else would remain undone, that women | seek the ballot.- The ballot itself Is not | the end sought. it at best is only a
 weapon, which may be used Ill or well. In advocating it, we know well the hands 1 to which it is to be trusted; and no un-
 biased student of the question can fail to admit that we are seeking it for the more moral sex, for one equally as in- | telligent and for that sex whose peculiar | province it is to care for humanity in | it's every aspect.
 | And in answer tos all of these de- mands for equal franchise, what do we hear? The so-caled anti-suffrage argu- , ments are innumerable, but all except a I few are mere thoughtless catchwords, which a moments testing will reject
 ''Perhaps an even more frequent ar gument against equal suffrage is that the home is woman's sphere, and that she is out of place when anywhere else. This pet argument is used by various oppo- nents of the purifying effect Of woman s ballot by the selfzsatisfied society wom- an, who leaves her home in order to 1 convince other people that she ought not to leave it: by the over-burdened house. Iwife. who is too busy mopping up the floor to turn off the spigot; by men who say,. If women vote, who Is to do the chores around the home?'-men usually with strong hearts and strong breaths, who never see their homes until all me other places are closed up for the night; by the powers that be, the politicians of the present day. men who say. as Amer inger has Honorable Josh Doolittle give it: I am for government by the people that is, by all the people except the women Women, the queen of our hearts, should not be permitted to lower them selves by becoming voters; to drag the fragrant flower of womanhood into the mire of self-government would be the most cruel blow ever struck at the home and the areside. The great boon of lib- 1 ertv won by our patriotic fathers protect ed woman from the degrading influence 1 of the ballot by relegating her to the pure and wholesome atmosphere emanat- ing from washtub and boiling pot, where | free from political pollution, she may | exert her purifying influence by cleaning l the soied garments and dishes of those
 whom an all wise Providence has placed 1 over her. Woman, God bless her, be- longs in the home-shes hasn't any time l to fool with politics. Nfter mother Inends
 clothes darns stocking for seven, cooks 1 the victuals, does the washing, chops lfirewood, washes the dishes. mlks tho cows, churns the butter. slops the pigs and nurses the babies she Is in no con dition to solve the political problems oi today. To take her out of this elevatins
 environment and place her in the votint booth for the short space of 27 second: once in two years would forever destro, the sweetness. charm and fragrance W, so love in her. And, so ad museum
 Sounds familiar, doesn't 1t? Did you eve
 think that way yourself?"