Putnam patriot., 1914-12-04
Marking Time

| NiHCllAkGu Aual CtAlUlEu Ao HEoNS W AN any woman should be an anti.suffra- gist.
 Quite a play of imagination had 1 been brought to the writingtof this ST. ticle. 1T deficient in facts il was cock sure in theeFy. Few of it's statements were new and none of them true but much emotion had been expended in beating about the bush.
 There would be little need of confut. ing any of it's arguments were il not that a statement which is neither new nor true may by constant repetition gain credenee in the public mind. "Thou hast a damnable iteration, says Falstaft to Prince Hal, "and art indeed able to corrupt a saint" A statement, as shallow as il is fatu. ous, has been made the subject for much alteration, i. e., "that the suf- frage movement is the caprice of 1 small minority of restless women who would force upon an unwilling major ity the "burden of the ballot" The 1 suiiTagists are not insenSible to the honor of having aseribed to them the responsibility for movement which is the outcome ef the development of the race sad the inevitable result of i the industrial anu social conditions of 1 modern life. But since they are mod est witha and not devoid ef a sense of i humor, they dc not claim as their work movement due to the progress of civilization.
 In passing, we might add that rest lessness is often a more hopeful sign than apathy. II is out of the "diviue diseontentn with evil social conditions that every humanitarian work has been born to be led and championed not by the antagonism and inditier- ence of the many but by the fearless enthusiasm of the few.
 The human race does not mark time. The question which every woman to vote?n but fought I to vote?n No mans sense of obligation should have enlarged as industrial conditions have changed; can it be that she has merely been marking time? Her place now as in the past, is in the home but the in- fiuence and responsibilities of the home have widened and changed. As its work inside has been lessened by mod ern invention and industry, it's outside duties have increased. "Public spirit ed women do not wish to use the bal lot to do the work of men," says Jane Addams, "but to do their own work, :" to discharge those duties that natu- rally fall to the lot of the modern wo- man. The most direct, dignitied and efficient way to accomplish this work is by the ballot.
 Women have the time and the prac. tical knowledge requisite for legisa- ton on child labor, factory conditions, pure food, sweat shops, and sanitary living conditions, all of which are nee essary for the protection of the home, even if she do this at the sacrifice ot some of the time spent now at auction bridge, culture clubs and societies for the preservation of historical tradi- tion. It is an admirable thing to pre- serve history; it is greater thing to help make it, to be found among those who are striving for the practical and permanent good of the home and com munity.
 The recent campaign in the west pre- sented the curious spectacle of the an- tis opposing suffrage because it is a menace to the home, and the liquor in- terests opposing suffrage because it is a menace 10 the saloon. It must have been an edifying sight for the Accuser of the Brethren, when the efforts of the women to protect the home were so ably seconded and reinforced by those who destroy the home.
 l In Montana, the saloons called upon the National Liquor Association to help them in their fight against the sufiragists. "fhey may not wipe out the liquor traffic entirely" so ran the | appeal, "but in the states where wom- en vote the saloons are hit hard. '" They not only close the saloons; they keep them closed. In Ohio, Wiscou- sin, and Michigan, the liquor interests were chiefly instrumental in defeating the suffrage amendment. In Illinois, where women have partial suffrage, 1 they have closed in short time HOO saloons.
 Do you women think legislation will cure incompetence and prostitu- l tion2n some astute person may ask. Josh Billings once said that there was absolutely nothing that would cure a man of laziness but second wife helps some. Legislation will not cure mur- der or lust, drunkenness or theft, but it "helps some"
 What are the needs of your own community? Have you an adequate public library? Have you women on the board of health? Have you closed the saloons? Have you garbage sys- tenn? Or do you spend three hundred dollars on "clean up" week only to see your streets, after few months, re- turn to their previous condition of filth. when for five hundred dollars you could have a permanent garbage