The Washington herald., 1914-08-02

weird picture of my children starved and
ing hours in an election booth was, to
my mind, cube art.
| But il the time was coming when, by
| choice or by force. was to be expected
| to stroll into that election booth. even
| once a year for the space Of five minutes,
1 determined to know for why was 1
strolling." And from my suffragist
friends I had varied answers Being a
believer in woman's rights, 1 had not yet
so far progressed as to know why a
woman should not vote. I learned that
there were several logical reasons" why
she should not vote, among them:
The Four ''Reasons."
!. As a taxpayer. she should have rep
resentation.
?. AS a citizen. she should purify poll
tics.
3. As a sister, she should better condi-
tions for workingwomen.
4. As human being OF intelligence, she
should go to the polls Csince the ashman
could go to the pollsD.
The way in which that ash man figured
was caution: fevered idealists surged
upon me and inquired whether or not
believed myself capable Of voting as
wisely as the ash man: torch bearers for
their sex" overwhelmed me with statis-
tics concerning the weight of the aver
age female brain, and / was asked to con-
slider the weight of the brain Of that ash
man as compared to my own brain.
which. from the unfortunate choice of
comparison, they deemed not to be aver
age, II seemed to me. l shall never rise
above the level to which they plunged
me. The ash man must remain my stand
ard. Why" they demanded oratorically.
why should you not have a voice In gov
ernment?" And 1 weakly admitted that
should have voice-since the ash man
had one.
Suffragists and anti-suffraRists agree IN
one point: the remedy for existing ills
Is better men as candidates for once
How go about 1t to get better candidates?
Think well before you answer. Politics
ls a game to be played every day in the
year." for decades the best men in our
country have been voting for the least
evil candidates put up by party machin-
cry. And even with direct primaries and
publication Of campaign expenses. the
poor but honest candidate seems hone
lessly lost, IL recent primary elections are
considered.
Government is not one long idealistic
program OF reform measures, nor is a
vote the individual protest or direct reg
isterins Of public opinion that the suffra-
gists believe it to be- Good men, sick to
the soul Of politics, would welcome a new
Young element that would bring about
the remedy. Any patriotic woman, con-
WINGED that her vote would be remedial.
would hardly be so conscienceIess, SO un
wise, as to fight against woman suffrage.
Sne would Shrek to high heaven, she
would storm the nation, she would vote,
But the women OF clear sight stop TO ask
themselves, can we better the situation
merely by changing it?
How About Thiss
l-What is the representation for tax
alton accorded to men? You will not he
going before the legislators of your
state, mesdames, and with your excellent
moral opinion on matters pertaining TO
the interests of taxpayers, bring about
perfection. You will vote with male tax
payers, whose interests are your inter-
ests. Tor the man or men who will, ac-
cording to your faith in declared policies
best represent you. A candidate's pronn.
ise before election is not quite as good
as his bond, you know. So, in all your
bright dreams OF being a reformer nv
way OF the vote. you will at length dis !
cover that the ballot cast by the highest |
minded citizen Is only as good as the best |
principles Of the man 1t IL for. Did you
ever think Of that? Today your repre- !
sentative may commit himself on an i'm
portant measure that meets with your
approval, tomorrow he may vote in a /
way that you consider outrageous. And
II you get real peeved about II, after
two' four, or six years, you viii get a
chance to revenge yourself by voting for
some one else-who loses Or II your
avenger wins by your potent aid at the
polls, you can begin all over again with
him
Women taxpayers are subject to the