The Washington herald., 1914-11-08

ed again last Tuesday by the two-to-one
vote against suffrage at the polls.
But the sphere OF woman Is too broad
to be confined to an argument about the
franchise. Anti-suffragists have not or
ganiZer simply to act as a thorn In the
side of the ballot seekers, nor to rejoice
over great popular defeats of woman suf-
frage by saying Il told you So" Wom-
en- have been led TO organize against
woman suffrage because they have stud
led its record. its advocates. Its alliances,
and its tendencies, and all OF these have
proved to be against the very thingg that
women hold most sacred and necessary.
both for the success of democratic gov
eminent and the preservation Of the
privileges and exemptions that women
must have to lead a normal life.
Socialism is an ally Of suffrage, so is
l. w. wism and feminism, the sort Of
thing that Is preached by Mrs. Charlotte
Perkins Stetsou Gilman, Max Eastman.
etc, in which the home and marriage
are held up TO ridicule. II suffragists do
not indorse and fully concur in such rev.
olutionary doctrines. why do they refuse
to part company with such allies? The
suffragists have shown that they are at
heart at least in sympathy with all the
radical and revolutionary measures by
which the world Is 20 be reformed over
conflicting with the whole experience Of
our government.
The Lection last week signaled the
reputation OF radicalism by our entire
country, and the return 20 sobriety and
soundness. 1t shows that the "conser-
walton OF common sense" Is becoming a
nationwide movement. and that Lin
coins old epigram must be revised to
include the declaration that you cannot
M.z.N A. ~
So much for suffrage, in this connection.
The vote is such a small thing for wom-
en- to divide over that the wonder is that
no means Of ending the woman's war has
yet been found. But this last defeat
will greatly cripple the suffrage cause"
and draw away from ii to better uses a
great deal Of the money that has been
fruitlessly exhausted in the fight for
votes for women The suffragists
claimed on three different occasions to
have collected $1,000 for campaign ex-
penses in the seven States they lost last
Tuesday. Think what this would have
done for starving Belgium!
And a great deal OF the fund might
have been saved had they Needed Mrs.
Dodge's proposition at the beginning of
the war, and both sides, suffragists and
antis, combined to help the Red Cross. 1t
Is to be hoped that now, the cause" of
votes Tor women VIII be given up for
other real causes both at home and
abroad on which all women can unite
and heartily work together.
A suggestion originally made by Miss
Ida NJ. Tarbell, a prominent anti-suf-
fragist, in an appeal to American women
to patronize our home industries, re-
Gently has been taken up by two great
magazines and numerous newspapers, in
many Of which II Is stated that the fu-
ture of our manufactures, and the solu-
tion Of the great problem Of unemploy-
ment and business depression due to the
war, can all be readily assured by the
patriotic and united action of American
women. The helpless dependence Of
American women on foreign manufac-
turers and the slavery to styles that
are imported" are things that should
gain the Immediate attention OF women
who want to be free and who want to
take direct hand In creating prosperity.
Now that suffrage is fast becoming a
dead issue, our women should seek to for
get politics and the piece of paper IN a
ballot box, and take up the serious study
Of how they can best aid their own coun-
try and those which are at war.