The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1914-02-27
NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CASE,
IRA La"

The defeat in Boise the other day
of a woman candidate for the office of
postmaster was due not to the fact
that she was waman but to the po-
litical nature of the contest in which
rival factions of the democratic par
ty with their previously chosen candi-
dates engaged in a battle to the death
But the incident of Mrs Green's de-
feat and recent nominations of women
as aldermen in Chicago have served
to bring up the whole matter of wom-
en- as candidates for public office
In passing upon the merits of
candidate, the fitness of the particular
person for office should be the only
consideration. Whether the person is
a man or a woman is not pertinent,
and all the hostile feelings aroused by
clamor on this subject are much out
of place. Granted that the character
and ability of the candidate can meet
the demands of the position, no other
question than that of personal prefer
ence can enter into the matter. Wom-
EN- have quite as much right to hold
office as men, and there is no doubt
i'll our minds but that some should
be represented on election tickets. But
when women are elected to fill Of |
flee, they should be voted upon not as
women but solely as persons Compel
ent to transact public business. Per-
haps women, especially in the western
suffrage states, have made the blund-
er of injecting into campaigns to elect
women to office harmful bitterness
because of their insstence upon their
candidates claims to support on the
ground of her being a woman Have
they not sometimes backed an indy
idual simply because she was a woman
irrespective of her inferiority or her
superiority to. her masculine oppon-
ent? Do not women sometimes en-
LANCER the success of their own funda-
mental purpose-to. secure efficient
of public affairs-by /
endorsing a person simply because of
sex and by campaigning chiefly, even
along those lines?
On the other hand, there is neither
ime nor reason in the practice of
ome men in opposing every woman
for office. That. trite, abused.
I'D saying that ''womens sphere (po-
spear by some) is in the
ome' is silly argument at best,
hough some of those who advance it
re too thick-headed to detect its alb
urdity as a reason for refusing women +
fice. Women can be both home "
lakers and public servants, as a good n
lany have proved. And many women Is
ave no homes to make and are en- CT
tiled to the exercise of their talents HI
nd the expenditure of their energies II
public service. Il
Some men, with equal unfailness, IL
bJect to women in public office on OF
lie ground that by reason of their sex. to
omen have not the brains to fathom NJ
lie mysteries of public business and de
i'll be utterly at loss i'll the man rs
cement of public funds and in the 81
roper manipulation of the budgets ia
would be hard to conjure up a pie at
ire of any woman more muddled in fiji
lch matters than many mems minds gr
I'VE been; and it is safe bet that Sc
e average woman trained by long
ggling with a gingerly allowance
,uld never make the blunder of spend TO
g too much for given article and pc
en- of diverting other funds to con- Br
al the unwarranted expenditures. fol
To conclude, no contest for office, ins
We see the matter, should be made
all or ever on the ground of sex
me. Women should look carefully ,
the ability of their candidates, and do,
n should be big enough to support for
defeat a candidate solely on The cd,
FUNDS of relative efficiency, ex- fad
sive of any consideration of the sex inf
the person. We ought not to drag wo
that has nothing to do req
h the case, ira Ia" nra
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