The Washington herald., 1914-05-24

| mately the same as the proportion of
families, showing that actual statistics
| bear out the theory Of our government
that the man over twenty-one represents
a family group rather than an individual.
On the other hand, judges of election.
secretaries of State, and other public
officials are responsible for the statement
that in suffrage States over two-thirds
Of the women voters are unmarried.
Represent Family Groups.
Here, then, We have the sharp dis
tinction of choosing between an cleo
torate composed of responsible and ex-
perienced men who represent family
groups and the good of the home, as
against an electorate where the major
ity of the women who vote are ire
sponsible and inexperienced individuals,
representing nothing but their own i'm
pulses.
Under our present system woman has
her own field in government, the gov
ernment of the individual boy and girl
who will make or break our future re-
public. Woman has today open to her
the door Of opportunity to every field
of useful activity. Men have gladly
conceded this, and moreover. In male
suffrage States, have been the first to
perceive the necessity OF granting
WOMEN special privileges ana 1Inm unl-
ties by industrial legislation.
But the suffrage leaders are not sat-
isfied. One of them tells US that vot-
ing is only a small part of their de-
mand. They want q social revolution.
They would disturb the whole relation
of husband and wife. One of their
leaders declares that women do very
well without marriage" Another says
that permanent marriage is a mistake
the duty and privilege Of motherhood
is nothing more than an animal func-
tion. which the human mother shares
in common with the female of every
species" IT is certainly time for men
and women, legislators and voters, to
awake to the seriousness of a move
ment which is allied with such revolt
ing doctrines as undermine the founda.
tions Of civilization.
s'Time to Call Halt"
Judge Ben B. Lindsey. of Denver,
who has been hailed by the suffragists
as one Of their stanch supporters, de-
clared recently: Il am not in harmony
or in sympathy with the feminist move
ment in this country at the present
time. Equal suffrage has many ad-
mirable features, but the trouble 10 that
the women will not stop there. Other
questions of sex are vexatieus, and with
which I heartily disagree. The one
great argument of the feminist is that
1t will make better men. As I see 1t,
II will make looser women.
Here comes q feminist who advocates
woman choosing the father Of her child.
What pifile! In a single stroke she would
break down the barriers that have pro-
tected the legitimacy of our children for
centuries. The greatest problem that
confronts the courts Of our cities today
is that of illegitimate birth. II the ideas
Of these faddists continue to grow and
spread. the only thing I can see ahead
Is loose morals and loose marriage laws.
1t Is time to call q halt
Women who are agitating for the vote,
are bringing upon themselves unwitting-
ly, the disrespect Of men. The woman
that man respects and admires Is not
the woman who marches in professions
and debates in political conventions. She
is not the one he would choose for his
wife and the mother of his children. A
California woman who took an important
part IN the campaign to get woman suf-
fraee in her State, now makes this sig
nif1cant comment:
Makes Woman Mannish.
Suffrage robs women of all that is gen.
tie, tender. attractive, ] have seem Il |