The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-08
EQUAL SUFFRAGE PROGRESSES

Never has the equal suffrage question received the earn.
est consideration OF the great mass OF people to the extent
which it is being studied this year. Never, we think, has
public sentiment crystalized as rapidly upon a question of
like moment as it has upon this issue during. the past
twelve months. Acouple of years ago, equal suffrage was
discussed only among a comparatively few enthusiasts.
Now it is talked about by thousands and thousands Of
people.
There are a good many reasons for this. We do not
tributed one single one of these reasons; their violent tao
tics have rather tended to deter conservative men from
serious consideration of the possibility of extending the
suffrage right. But the earnest, logical and convincing
presentation of the subject by the American women who
have advocated the cause upon the p~latform-this has done
much to set people thinking in the right direction.
in economic conditions. More than the discussion Of
rights" this condition has appealed to the thinking male.
This condition, too, has driven woman from the shelter Of
the home and from the traditional protection of mar.
AS she has been brought into relentless contact and conflict
with the remorseless system of the working world, she has
learned the need for effective self-defense against its
In questions of social and industrial justice, it has been
shown that the aid of women is needed. The country
needs their sympathy, their insight, their humanitarianism.
1t needs their experience, too, tor it has become a tact that
the experts in these matters are women, their knowledge is
surest and their work has proved itself most efficient. And
no nation can ever be really free whose women are not
free; they give the country its citizens; their liberation
means the liberation of the mothers OF the race; it will
place upon their descendants the stamp of high-minded
self-relance and give the earth in time a better and a
stronger race.
This is not the first right for which woman has strug-
gled. Her earliest fight in this country was not for a vote,
but for the right to the alphabet. Prior to the nineteenth
century girls were taught in the home, or, at best, in pri-
vate schools of inferior character. The first girls high
school was established in 1926; it was a failure, and did not
take root until twenty-six years later. In 1888 only one
American college admitted women. But, beginning with
1850, the state universities fell into line, and today nearly
all the colleges and universities are open to both sexes.
Yet, until a few years ago the "coed' was regarded as a sort
Of amiable freak.
We cite these facts to show that even in such a matter as
education women have but lately won a measure of equal
iy. Their position in public affairs shows a still more
rapid change.
In nine states women now have equal suffrage rights
with men; in twenty-one others they vote at certain cleo
tons. They may get the full ballot this year in Michigan,
Nevada and Maine; twenty-five states will vote on the
question next year, provided the legislatures authorize it,
as seems probable in most cases. Last year, for the first
time, a great national party carried in its platform an equal
suffrage plank, and polled more than 100000 votes. This
is a live, vital issue in all sections of the country.