The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-08-30


our time the kinks will all be straighten-
ed out"
In the face OF this rich promise I
wish to ask. what will be done after
our Congress members have been whip
ped into line and have granted US the
privilege OF voting?
VIII DR.. Shaw pass a national law or
dertng all women TO the polls and the
jury bench? Unless such q law be passed
II rests with the quiet women OF the
land 10 make Q success or failure Of the
whole plan.
Aim Is to Purify.
1t is not the exceptional women like
DR.. Shaw or Miss Adams who Will
prove the merits OF the system. They
have one vote each. and, Of course, they
would never stoop to ordinary man
methods in order to control the votes OF
other women. We enter the field 10
purify. not to continue pollution. Girls
under twenty-one will be excluded from
the sacred precincts.
But hold! II is undemocratic 10 shut
out woman who is old enough and
wise enough to undertake the manage
ment of man. Why not allow a girl
Of eighteen to vote? Sift il down. YOU
find that the votes OF women who are
married and have families will be the
real test The burden rests on them,
not on the lady from AIabams. who
measures the Southern woman's iptelIi-
gence by her wish or nonWish for the
ballot: not on The Bostonian who is
skilful with ratio per cent; not on the
most heroic social worker, nor the most
progressive organizer OF forces, bat on
the quiet homeseeker who bears the
children OF the republic. And these, mind
YOU are the very ones who are not
heard from. They would have to be
drilled and reasoned with before they
could see the wisdom of imposing other
burdens upon themselves and bringing ,
into their homes what will prove a source
OF discord unless wives align themselves
with their husbands and thus prove dead
heads in the political world.
l would suggest to the suffrage aEita-
tors that it might be well TO institute
some method OF finding out the senti-
men' OF women who are the mothers of
children. Less than three 10 the mother
would mean race suicide and something
might be conceded 20 the women who
give their time TO the duty Of rearing
children for the republic
Birth Rate Must increase.
To pass some NapoIeonic measure Civ
ing such women The right to vote would
be more democratic than for Congress to
enact a national law forcing suffrage on
millions Of women who do not want it
Civilizations move in waves One breaks
upon the shore and another rises above
the spray to lose itself on the same
impeachment France. England, Germany,
America have touched the hiEh-water
mark physically. Slowly but none the
10 he
and unless the declining birth-rate be ar |
rested our country will have but a brief !
record as compared to the older civiliza- |
tons.
Is this a time for experiments which |
affect the status Of our women? |
does the republic have enough |
strain on her.
Switzerland has length OF DAYS to her |
credit. but she is peculiar in conditions. |
Homogeneous as her PEOPLE are. she |
would ma greater difficulties IL her yot-
ing population were larger. With ~
every creed and political vaE-
airy. every race and nationality, our |
problems are tenfold more difficult. The |
very cumbersomeness OF the American |
vote is a drawback to efficient leEisla-
ton. The States rights Southerner in
herits the beliefs that he carries to the
polls, but his ballot counts for no more
than does the ballot of the foreigner who
lines up with Tammany one day and gets
out naturalization papers the next The
college don who puts thought and con-
science into his vote stands on equal
footing with the Slav whose training and |
lack OF English preclude his grasping
the real meaning OF our conditions Can
i do any good to double the electorate
Unless We decidedly increase the ratio
of intelligence and conscience that 60
INTO the making OF it? Our best women
would use the ballot 10 wise ends when
they use IT at all. but does anybody be-
ieve that Tammsny's wives and daugh-
.ers would purify the Tigers lair?
Spare the Mother..
Will you disfranchise the women OF the
red-liEht district or will they march to
the polls in a body to vote for civic
DR.. Shaw and her conferees may have
the wisest views Of the initiative and
the tariff. our banking sys-
tenn, and other questions which con-
stantly press upon u.s. but disclaim any
profound knowledge of these things. Ny
duties, II the ghost of Ibsen will allow
me to use the word, have busted my
mind in other directions. American Gus
toms are giving our women absolute
freedom to choose marriage or a career.
DR.. Shaw and Miss Adams are proofs
hat women can fnd the broadcast fields
of usefulness or self-expression outside
II marriage or the political world, but
FOR those of us who have chosen to be
simply the men of our ma
lion should have consideration. Our
physical nature cries out for the quiet
md restfulness of which modern life
gives too sparingly. In the name OF moth
srhood, do not further tax us. And do
lot tutor our girls into a belief that men
ire our enemies when they endeavor TO
Ihield the child-bearers of the race from !
ife's utmost strenuousness. IL
1t is a towards plea for men to ac- ]
that they are making a botch
" government and need women to help
hem. When the country Is in such
,ase then she is doomed, just as surely
Is a civilization IL doomed when her I
women refuse TO bear children. u