Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-27

On motion DN MI. VI 'otiit-
ford. House Document No 146, bill, An
Act to divide the town of Sanford and
INCORPORATE the town Of SpringNale,
was taken from the table, and on fur
Their motion by Mr.. Folsom the bill re-
ceived its third reading and was passed
to be engrOSsed.
Women's Suffrage.
TIL SPEAKER (pro tenn: The next
matter OH the calendar for considera-
ton is report of the committee on jul
diciarv to which was referred resolve
proposing an amendment to the consti-
tutor of Maine comforting the right Of
suffrage on women. reporting ought
to pass" The question before the
House is on the report Of the commit
tee that the bill ought to pass"
Mr.. Newbert of Augusta moved that
the report of the committee be in
definitely postponed
Mr. NEWBERT: Mir. Speaker and
gentlemen.
| 1t is with some degree of EN-
| barrassment that | rise TO speak upon
| this Resolve. My purpose is sober
one, and the statement shall make is
| reduced to its simplest terms.
Well do / know that my attitude
| will be construed as opposition TO We
| man. the denial to her of right and
{ Justice. To listen to the agitator for
equal suffrage one would think that
| our Maine women were asking us to
| break off the shackIes of slavery and
grant them freedom. A stranger to
| our planet would gather the idea that
| sometime in the prehistoric ages
| brutal man had ensaNed fair rae"
called Woman, that this race is just
coming out of an awful bondage and
that the great liberator is the ballot.
This hour calls for sober thinking
! and the calmer judgment. This
! House should proceed in this matter
with deliberation, and consider well
| the step We are asked to take. The
| issue is one of grave moment to this
| generation and to all future genera
| tions that follow us. Having gone
! her womans way since human time
| began. woman now may we'll wait
upon sober reelection nor seek to has
ten legislation destined to set in mo-
| ton forces in society beyond the
power of either men or women to fore
cast or recall.
When | am done it will be said that
| have advanced no argument why
the ballot should be withheld from
women. You viii tell me that my
ground of objection is sentiment or
the age old prejudice of man. In this
| anticipate your criticism. | present
no argument. Possibly there is none.
| am satisfied To lodge a protest in the
name of woman and on behalf of the
thousands of women in this State who
neither want To vote nor have this
, agitation longer continued. In these
matters argument counts for little. |
confess that my chief ground of OBJ
lection to this Resolve is sentiment.
And | further confess to the ancient
and modern prejudice of man against
the breaking down of the barriers
protecting woman from the heavier
burdens of the world, wherein man
clashes with man and together battle
with dumb forces of nature whose in
exorable law is the survival Of the
strong. This prejudice is ages old
and world wide and has ever been
woman's surest safeguard. 1t has
kept her woman and conserved her
place in creation ordained in the
divine wisdom from the foundation of
the world. Logic breaks down before
sentiment Barren indeed were hu-
man life without its dreams. its hopes
and memories. II is said Napoleon
once silenced denial deity by
pointing to the stars. Argument NAV
dispose of religion, yet a deep peace
makes religion real Logic may bury
it's dead without hope, yet one look
into the gateway of d sunset and logic
loses to the worlds hope for i'm
mortality. This great question of
woman'S place in the world cannot be
faced apart from sentiment. Woman
herself has been the guardian OF
sentiment Sentiment has spoken in
charity; it has expressed itself in the
flag. it has Powered in chivalry it
has voiced itself in hero worship,
ripened in love and founded the homes
scattered over the wide world. When
woman takes refuge in logic and ar
gument in such cause as this, she
oNerthrows the cumulative spiritual
forces of the centuries which have
brought her to the high place she to-
| day occupies and made her both wo-
man and mother.
This question should not be dis
cussed here as an abstract proposition
of woman's right or her fitness to eX-
ercise suffrage apart from woman
| herself
In opposing this Resolve | plead to-
day the cause of woman, and, were
able, would leave with YOU picture
of womanhood itself an answer TO
every argument advanced in favor of
equal suffrage. Especially do | speak
for the old fashioned woman. She
needs a champion at this hour lest
she be forgotten. Who is She? Some
one answers, a myth or fading mem
DRY. | tell YOU the old fashioned Wo-
man is more than a myth, nor has she
yet become memory. She lives and
thinks and does her Woman's work,
and in her is still revealed the glory,
the wonder, the beauty of woman
hood. She still treasures the ancient
traditions of her sex, continues to
make the heart beast faster and in
spires the finer chivalry of modern
man. The old fashioned woman
neither pleads her cause nor asks an
advocate. She shuns publicity and
keeps out of the spot light. The
press does not exploit her; the asita-
70, oern to ,ffap1ph NV bnr