The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-11
IF rHEY WANT SUFFRAGE.

There are too many easy going peo. Ip1e in the world who stand ready to make almost any concession because someone demands 1t. At the outbreak Of the Civil War there were people in the north who said of the seeding states, If they want to go let them: Wayward sisters depart in peace!'' Had this advice been followed there would have been no limited States to- day. There is before the country now a proposed change that would go as certainly to the foundation Of our instftutionse and would affect the social order even more profoundly than did secessionl This change is female suffrage, and yet there are
 many men who say, If the women want it, let them have it.'' This is shallow and inadequate view to take of so far-reaching and disruptive q change Such questions should be dealt with, not on the basis of what q number of men or women want or think they want, but with regaz<5 to what is wise and best tor the com
 munity as a whole. Everyone, before committing themselves to the suffrage cause. ought to consider carefully and doning all the theories upon which our social struc tlre has rested in it's re- lation to the sexes. It must be re- membered that hitherto the social and
 
 not the individual, that the man was
 by nature adapted to be it's protector and bread-winner and the woman it's domestic guardian, and all her care, thought and energy are required to carry forward the race and to meet the duties and requirements incidental to her exacting and fundamental task. To her is committed tl.se bearing, nur-
 ture and training of the children on which more than anything else our future depends. There can be no question of superiority or infericrity as between thes two. They complement each other and make up one whole, into which it would be disastrous to Inject the idea Of distrust and Of an- tagonistic sexes. Are the women who are seeking to secure suffrage and to enter public life, which must neces- sarily follow, with all it's wrang1ing
 and bitterness, are THESE women performing their unde niab1e duties so well that they must needs force their way into the sphere hitherto reserved for men and take up their tasks? IS there nothing to be desired in making improving the standards of character
 and education and physical wel-being for children, in learning domestic econ-
 omy and in directing all the numer-
 ous social and charitable agencies for
 the IIpIift of mankind for which wom-
 en are so peculiarly fitted? There is | a great work to be performed iE
 bringing about a better adjustment o1
 domestic service. From it's ranks, fa1
 more than any other, the social evil is
 recruited. Should women, with Sc plaing a duty neglected, turn Io woFh
 for which they are not fitted? In gov l ernment calm reason is needed above all things. Too many women are
 ruled by emotion and sentiment, ant
 the Suffragists of England who belong to the educated classes. have demon strated by their hystericaI. criminal ac-
 tions in seeking the ballot, that they
 are unfit to use 1t. If women were 1T i Legislatures what reason is there II suppose they would not resort to tht l same sort of tactics to force through