Norwich bulletin., 1913-03-10
<, FRS TO THE EDITOR.
Senator Root on Suffrage.

Mir. Editor: Several ladies have said
 to mo they were on the fence in re- 1 gard to the suffrage question: l Will you kindly give them an op- ] Portunity to read Senator Roots opin- l ion expressed in the New York Trib- | une as follows:
 T am opposed to the granting of 1 suffrage to women because I believe l that 1t would be a loss to women, to all women and to every woman, and because l believe it would be an in | jury to the state and to every man and every woman in the state. It would be useless to argue this if the right of suffrage were a natural right. If it were a natural right, then women should have it., though the heavens fall. But if there be any one thing settled in the long discussion of this subject, it is that suffrage is not nat ural right, but is simply a means of government; and the sole question to be discussed is whether government by the suffrage of men and women will be better government than by the suf- fr3ge of men alone.
 The question Is. therefore, ques- ton Of eXpediency, and the question of expediency upon this subject Is not question of tyranny, but 8 question of liberty question of the preservation of free constitutional government, or law, order. peace and prosperity.
 Into my judgment enters no ele- ment of the inferiOrity of women. It is not that woman is inferior to man. but it is that woman is different from man; that in the distribution of powers, of capacities, of qualities, our Maker has created man adapted to the per formance of certain functions in the economy of nature and society, and women adapted to the performance of other functions.
 One question to be determined in the discussion of this subject is wheth- CT the nature of woman is such that her taking upon herself the perform -s ance of the functions implied in suf- frage will leave her in the possession and the exercise of her highest powers or will be an abandonment of those powers on entering upon a field in which. because of her differences from man, she is distinctly inferior
 T have said that I thought suffrage would be loss for women. 1 think so because suffrage implies not merely the casting of the ballot, the gentle and peaceful fall of the snowflake, but suffrage, if it means anything means entering upon the field of political life, and politics is modified war. In pol itics there is struggle, strife, conten- ton, bitterness, heartburning, excite n1ent, agitation everything which is adverse to the true character of wo- man. Woman rules today by the sweet and noble influences of her character. Put woman into the arena of conflict and she abandOns these great eapons which control the world. and she takes into her hands weapons with which she is unfamiliar and which she is un- able to wield.
 The whole science of government IS the science of protecting life and lib- erty and the pursuit of happiness, of protecting our person, our property, our homes. our wives and our chill dren against foreign aggression, against civil dissension. against mobs and riots. against crime and disorder and all the army of evil that civil so- ciety wages it's war against, and the government is the method of protec- ton of us all.
 Tn the divine distribution of powers the duty and the right of protection rests with the male. It Is so through out nature. It Is so with men. It is a great mistake. It Is a fatal mistake that these excellent women make when they believe that the functions Of men are superior to theirs and seek to usurp them. The true government is in the family. The true throne is in the household. The highest exercise of power Is that which forms the con- science, influences the will, that con- tro1s the impulses of men. and there today woman is supreme, and woman rules the world
 It may help them to descend.
 ANTI SUFFRAGE,
 Norwich, March 8. 1913.