The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-02-09
ANTS RETURN
SUFFRAGE fire
Liquor Interests Are with the
Sufragists, Says Mrs.
Gardner.
REPLIES TO MRS. HARPER
Gives Facts and Figures" to Prove
that Women Voters Are Thwart-
ing Prohibition.

Not only were the charges made by
Mrs Ida Hustled Harper that the anti
suffragists are in league with the liquor
interests eInphatically denied at a special
meeting Of the and-sufrage forces In
Mrs. A. p. Gardner's residence yester-
day afternoon. but Mrs. Harper was
charged with misrepresenting facts and
attempting to mislead the public.
In an article signed by Ida Hustled
Harper and published in several news
papers yesterday she charges that there
are indications OF an alliance between
ants and saloon men. and especially men
tons Montana, where a vote Is to be
taken next fall. for a constitutional
amendment to enfranch;se women.
Feeling that grave injustice had been
done 10 the anti-suffrage cause. its MEM
lbers and sympathixers by the publication
OF the article. and seeing the necessity
of an immediate reply, Mrs. Gardner
called a special meeting at her residence
yesterday.
Gives .sFacts and Figures"
In calling the meeting to order, MIRA
Gardner said that Mrs. Harpers article
was merely intended to divert public at
tention from the two severe defeats the
suffragists had received recently, hoping
thereby to stem the tide of dissatisfac-
ton which. she said. is playing havoc In
their ranks
The following statement replying to
Mrs Harper's charges was read by Mrs.
Gardner at the meeting. which adopted
il Unanimously:
Mrs. Harper's charges are not sup
ported by facts. They were made pure
ly for political reasons and to rally
the fast disintegrating suffrage move
ment- There are many facts available
proving that the liquor interests are
cooperating with the suffragists. Rep
resentative Dyer. of Missouri. at the
national convention of the Federated
Liquor Dealers Association, at the Ma
woman suffrage is the solution of the
liquor problem. He said: II I get q
chance I will vote for woman suffrage.
IL suffrage Is obtained will stop you
fellows worrying about prohibition
Take Wyoming. where women have
voted for forty years. 1t has neither
local option nor Statewide prohibition.
It may be added that the State had
legalized gambling for forty years
after women voted. Colorado voted on
Statewide prohibition in November,
1912. and the total vote for prohibition. |
including men and women, was 75,S77. |
Women Could Have Won.
There were 23,425 women over twenty
one years of age in Colorado in 1910 |
and IL IS per cent of these women had |
voted for Statewide prohibition, the |
measure would have carried without q |
male vote, as the vote against prohibition |
was 11677l"
The statement also included figures |
showing that in California, with more
women than men voters, numerous re- |
form measures were defeated at the polls |
These are facts and they prove con- \
clusiyely that the liquor interests and l
the suffrasists go hand in hand" Mrs. |
Gardner concluded.
That the woman suffrage movement /
received a fatal blow when the Demo-
cratic party refused last week to in
dorse it in any way, and that hencefor-
ward the anti-suffragists can beat the
suffragists in any State in which a con-
test may be started. are assertions con-
tanned in a statement given out here /
Yesterday afternoon by Mrs. Arthur M. /
Dodge, Of New York, president of the /
National Association Opposed to Woman /
Suffrage.
Mrs. Dodge predicts the ultimate de-
feat Of woman suffrage because, she de- |
ciares, the politicians Of the country /
lave awakened to realization Of the /
fact that the boosted strength of the 4
sunragists is largely mythical The ants,
she says. will make a fight in every /
State. In her statement she continues:
ton know that the anxiety Of the suffra-
Sists to get Federal interference with the
celebrates of the States comes from their
fear that they will not be able to win
over any more States to the equal fran
chise. Falling in this, they are confronted
with the practical certainty that they
have reached the limit of spreading their
principles and that henceforward their
will be backward.
However, IL they believe that more
than 10 per cent of the women of this
country who are of voting age are in
favor of the equal franchise, they have
a certain and speedy way of determining
this fact. Let them submit to the women
of each State the question whether or
not those women want the franchise 1t
seems certain that no legislature will re-
fuse to permit the women of State to
say in legal manner whether they wish
10 assume the burden and responsibility
Of political duties.
up to this time the suffragists have
refused pointblank to make any such test
Of their strength because they know that
approximately 80 per cent of American
women of voting age are opposed to the
equal franchise"
A gasoline engine. mounted on the !
frame. drives the brushes of a new ma
chine for polishing floors, designed for
plareS where atectric 10 rat