The Washington herald., 1914-07-19

are gainfuIly occupied. the POSITION Of
women as already forced into UnprO-
tected industrial equality with men"
seems overdrawn. especially when We
realize that there are l1,s00,S5 occupied
dwellings under the care Of one and
sometimes two women. each. II not in
habited by two or more families. Ir
still appears that "woman's 5 place is gen.
orally in the home" when we note that
at the age Of .. % per cent Of wage
earning women leave industry.
Instead Of ''S.OOO,OO0 wage workers de-
mandlng the ballot, a very small per-
Centage of the entire L290,SS9 wage earn
ers over sixteen. has ever thought any
thing of votes for women except as
novelty to watch for like a circus in
street parade. Tho suffraGists are
ashamed to confess just how many
wage earning women have Joined their
organization.
The working women are better Of in
male suffrage States than in States
where women vote, just as the average
girl considers herself better treated by
a man than by a woman employer The
women are not only better protected N
industry. in marriage, and in property
rights in male suffrage States. but they
have more homes, in proportion to the
number who are married. For insance.
all nine suffrage States, have r.6l2 more
married women than the sinCle male
suffrage State Of Pennsylvania, but they
have 997S fewer homes, Every one Of
these States on the average. is over twice
the area OF Pennsylvania And Pennsyl-
vania has over twenty times the number
Of persons 10 the square mile than live
IN these nine States: and vet even with
this disadvantage, the women Of Penn
syIvania have more homes, though their
families contain persons while families
in suffrage States average but +3 per-
scnsi
OBVIOUSLY" says the census page
259), the great majority Of dwellings,
are occupied by a single family each
A census dwelling is any building in
which one or more persons reside. A
mere cabin or room in a warehouse
occupied by a single person is a CEN
sus building. while. on the other hand.
an apartment house, containing many
families, constitutes only one dwell
ing"
Comparison of "IIOmeS."
Obviously, II more married women
with smaller families in all the suf-
frage states have fewer dwelling than
Pennsylvania. the housing congestion
is greater. and fewer women have,
dwellings occupied by a single family
each" which constitute homes. One
would think that women living I'M
States where they can vote. some OF
which average but half A woman to
the square mile, ought to have more
homes OF their own than the poor
slaves" in corrupt Pennsylvania" but
the unimaginative census-taker tells
US they have not. What is the matter
with the suffrage States? Are they
already adopting the feminist sugges-
ton to live in communal houses" or
do husbands less eagerly provide the
nest every woman wants after she
gets the vote?
OF course. probably these figures are
only a coincidence-like the divorce
figures and woman suffrage. But on
the other hand, these theorists who
want all women to give up their pres
ent exemptions from voting, from mill
itary service. police and jury duty, and
their rights to support and protection
from their husbands, fathers. sons. and
brothers ought to exhibit some single
achievement or Improvement women
have made in States where they have
voted eighteen to forty-four years be-
fore they ask all OF us to double the
expense. danger. and indifference that
exists in our present electorate. Pa
triotism and sincerity would confine
suffragists to the use of authoritative
figures, and to the results of their
experiments, rather than make them
seek to glorify a mere political theory
that might injure the whole nation.