The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-11-28
WOMEN NEEDED TO
ABOLISH CORRUPTION
Influence of Female Votes
Would Prove Great Aid,
Declares Speaker.

- NSS 6SAAe 81
Declares Speaker.
Philadelphia, Nov. 25.-The need D,
moral regeneration In government ard
the part women will play In bringing
this, regeneration about when they can
vote. were pointed out by the Rev.
James Grattan Mythen. OF Baltimore.
In an address before the National Suf-
frage convention. Mr.. Mlthen's sub
ject was 1.-THE Moral Responsibility OF
the Ballot.
Who is SO blind. said Mr.. Mythen.
as not to see In the wrestling between
III laboring class and the capitaiistic
interests h preliminaries to q strug-
gle that II not stilled In time by wise
political reimbursement, will p~recipitate
us into a titanic internecine strife that
Will, in comparison, make the red
reign of terror of the French revolu-
ton seem a colorless ~upheava1? We
depIore the bloody strikes in the min
ing, milling and Industrial trades; we
are astounded by the revelation that
there are countless underfed toilers in
the land where the few are world
widely notorious for their luxurious
extravaganza; we are sickened when
confronted by records that show there
are millions living In squalor that
would shame the owner of a dog-ken-
mel. But are we penitent for these
shameful conditions?
Voters Alone to Blame.
These are crimes against the God
and virtue of liberty and they are
crimes that must be punished and are
being punished. But whom shall we
punish? I say look not around to find
Il An arr{nU hrnthpr hY,t Lot 90 nh Apna~
lean citizen whose hand is empowered
to cast a ballot, let him look to himself
n there place the blame. If there
are wrongs In the land we are respon-
sible for them, we who are the makers
of the laws of the land, we who exer-
else the sovereignty Of this nation.
One OF the scandals Of our civiliza-
ton is the wholesale murder of the
souls and bodies Of women whom
economic conditions will not allow to
marry and live the normal clean life
they would prefer to live. To this con-
dltion Id the enormity Of abomina-
ton which is revealed when we find
that the white slave traffic has been
n is being used in conjunction with
the vice of gambling and the dispen-
sing of alcoholic poisoning as a means
for corrupt politicians to nance their
debauchery of the franchise.
eve are confronted by the spectacle
OF corruption in government that runs
riotously fromat the humble voting pre-
cincts in an obscure Ohio county un-
til Its trail ends in the very Senate
chamber. We have read Of wholesale
prosecutions for graft in many Of the
largest cities of the land. We have seen
the seat of a senator from one of the
greatest of the commemorative taken
from him because 1t la been pur-
chased by bribery. Thereto add the
final note Of humiliation that on the
same day that Lorimer was unseated
the Senate resolved itself into a high
court Of impeachment to try one of our
highest judges for malfeasance in Of
flee.
Aid of Women Needed.
I'VE men ought to demand thai
women come into the body polite and
bring with them the same moral stand
ard that they hold for themselves In
the home, in the church, in the hos
pitfalls, in the great reform movements
that are voiced by the Woman's Chris
tan Temperance union and all other
e~ndeavors for righteousness that are
always championed by
There is hardly a man who would
have his mother, his wife or his sis
ter no better than he is himself The
double standard Of sex responsibility
like a loathsome disease, has spread
it's v%iciousness throughout all depart
| lilCillo VI III LIZ ctllA SoSIol Ill.,. q. III
tiles, the organized life of the nation
has not escaped its contamination.
New Standards Needed.
There must be a reform in the
standards of morality beginning in the
family circle and thence radiating out
to The last circumference of our so.
cial structure before politics will be.
come clean. For his reason we wan
women to help us tear down this false
standard which men have allowed
themselves to be insulted with. Womer
alone can do this by demanding thai
male morals be brought to the tone thai
men demand of their women and which
women even more ~imperatively demand
for themselves. We must not expec'
them to help us accomplish this merely
by permitting them politely to urge it
We must give them the right to de.
mand 1t, to demand 1t in the name
Of law and order and decency.
Women Hold Higher Ideals.
"a nation that cannot see God is 8
nation doomed; Inc only the pure IL
chief reason why women should bea1
their share in the corporate life OF
the nation, because they have a higher
standard of moral righteousness anC
purer idea of honor than men, and il
is these two things we need most IL
politics.
Give US them and there will be nj
corruption in u national and civic
life, for the ballot has the power t.
undo all the mi that nave com
into being because of it's debauch o.
neglect. Unless liberty and justic,
are dead in the land we can exercis,
our franchise for the betterment o
the people. To do this requires {
higher grade of citizenship than ",
have been content with in the past
That higher grade no American gentle
man will deny is to be found in tn,
enfranchisement Of our American
~womanhood.