New Britain herald., 1914-07-17
BRYAN SUPPORTS
 WOMAN SUFFRAGE yss
Secretary Scores Antis' Arguments Ein Statement Issued Last Nigh'.

ss Washington, July 17.@Secretary
 Bryan. in formal statement issued
 last night, came out for woman suf- frage. He declared that he would ask
 no olitical right for himself that he
 was not willing to grant to his wife,
 and announced his intention of SUD-
 I T.crting the proposed state constitu-
 tional amendment extending the fran
 elise to women to be voted upon in Nebraska, next November.
 Woman, MT. Bryan said, had proved herself equal to every responsibility imposed upon her, and would not fail society in this emergency Above all
 other arguments in favor of giving her the ballot he placed the right of the mother to voice in the moulding Tef the environment of her children.
 ''The mother" the secretary said, "can
 justly claim the right to employ every
 weapon which can be made effective
 for the protection of those whose in-
 terests she guards, and the ballot will
 put within her reach all of the in-
 strumentalities of government, in-
 cluding the police power
 Equality of Treatment.
 Some of the things he said are:
 "As man and woman are co-tenants
 of the earth and must work out their
 destiny together the presumption is
 on the side of equality of treatment
 | in all that pertains to their joint life
 end its opportunities. The burden of
 proof is on those who claim for one an advantage over the other in de- termining the conditions under which both shall live. This claim has not been established in the matter of suffrage. On the contrary, the objec-' tiOns raised to woman suffrage ap- pear to me to be invalid, while the arguments advanced in support of the
 proposition are, in my judgment con- viEcfng.
 Matter of Bearing Arms. "The first objection which remen- Der to have heard was as that woman cannot bear arms she should not have q voice in deciding questions that might lead to war, or in enacting laws that might require an army for their enforcement. This argument is seldom offered now, for the reason that as civilization advances laws are obeyed because they are an express sion of the public opinion, not merely Because they have powders and lead be4 hind them. And as we look back over | l whether the peace movement would not have grown more rapidly than it has had woman, who suffers more than man from the results of war been consulted before hostilitiies be- gan.
 ''It is urged by some that woman's s
 life is already full of care and that the addition of suffrage would either overburden her Or turn her attention away from the duties of the home.
 The answer4made to this is that the
 exercise of the franchise might result
 in a, change of thought and occupa- ton that would relieve. the monotony
 of woman's work and give restful va
 riety to her activities. And surely the home will not suffer if the moth
 er. the child's first teacher is able to intelligently discuss with her fam
 ilv the science of government and the art of successfully administering it. sDfany well meaning men and wom- Eli affirm that suffrage would work aharn to woman by lessening the
 respect in which she is held. This arHument would have more weight
 had it not been employed against @yOrx prcpositiJ,. advanced in favor