The Washington herald., 1914-12-01

our writers, in one copy of an article
widely used in many newspapers, neglect
ed to correct one frame Of q suffrage
writer. and called her a Miss instead Of
Mrs! Rather serious and deli6sfate
inaccuracies, these, are they not?
Facts and Figures.
II the anti-suffragists lie about facts
and figures, it would seem the easiest
thing in the world to prove II by QUOT
ing these facts and figures from author
| itative sources When two successive
and prominent speakers rise at the Nash=
vile convention to point out that women
NEED the ballot because nearly nine
million women are working outside thS
home" the Rntis do not 20 to the
| trouble of even caring whether theft
inaccuracy is deliberate or merely due
to ignorance We simply refer the in
| vestigator to the census report of oc=
equations, issued June 20, 1914 in which
1t is shown only S,o75.T72 feminine work.
ers over ten years Of age were employed
in all gainful occupations in homes or
anywhere else in America at the last
census. and, furthermore, indicates that
even this number is perhaps too great
and should be 7,s0, ,s72. Up. q, volume
IV1. OF these, 4,S3s,Sa. or over half, arc
employed as domestic or in agricultural
"nGI6 CNCTA woman VINO
makes butter or sells eggs for market IL
included. II suffragists cannot confine
their oratory to the actual number. Of
women the census shows to be "woEk-
ing outside the home" (S,974, $50, and
cannot mention that the census also
shows 2O.346.9S1 women engaged inside
of the I7,S05,s45 homes that house our
%, %, SIS families; or, further. that Of the
"a 555. .74 women In America over twenty
one, 2O5lSSS3 are or have been married,
we won't bubble about their honor or
fairness-we only show the ridiculous
contrast between suffrage statistics and
the United States Census.
Now, II the anti-suffragists are wrong
in their facts and figures, why cannot
some diligent suffrage statIstician prove
1t, instead of resorting to her imagination
for her figures, and to personal attacks
in place Of facts. The anti-suffragists are
not waging a war against individuals, but
against the principle of women suffrage
as it is exhibited in practical politics. We
have nothing to say about the private
life or character of any suffragist nor
do we bother to discuss dreams Of
what may happen II women get the
vote. We merely show the record where
women have the vote, and have had 1t
for a generation or more, and our cold
comparisons somehow win the great de-
bates, while our public exposure OF the
follies of feminism somehow gets thou
sands OF men to vote against suffrage at
the polls. And the second time it comes
up they vote against It more emphati-
caIly, too, as was illustrated by Michigan
and Ohio in 1913 and 1914.
Ridiculous Charges.
Several million men in the seven States
of Ohio, Missouri, North and South Da-
kOta Nahraa aLa Navada and Montana
voted on the question of woman suffrage
on November g. 1874 In these last two
States only did woman suffrage become
established, though the official result Is
not yet known even there. The oldest
and most thickly populated States, also
where there are the highest proportion
OF women to men. were those that gave
the biggest majorities against suffrage
Why? Did the hundreds of thousands of
men in these States that defeated suf-
frage take orders from their mothers,
wives. sisters and daughters on the fran
chise question, or were they controlled
exclusively by the liquor and vice in
terests?'
Were the men in Nevada and Montana.
where the percentage of married men is
smaller than in any other State except
Wyoming (where women have voted for
ty-five yearsO the only men in the Unit
ed States free from this awful liquor and
vice control? In these two States. less
than half the men are married. and,
moreover, the suffragists call Montana
the "wettest State in the Union" On the
other hand. according to the census. the
ma ajority of the men are married in All
five States that defeated suffrage, and
thus came under the direct influence"
OF thir own wives in voting on suffrage,
at least. Nevertheless we are asked to
believe that these several million mar
ried men who live in solid, settled and
well-governed communities, were "con-
trolled by the liquor and vice interests"
while the only men free from this vicious
influence were the rowing miners and
transitory workers OF Nevada and Mon
tana! These men were actually related
to fewer women and therefore had fewer
women to consult. There Is only one
conclusion we can draw: that the ma
jority of women won't vote-and that
when they get the chance, they tell their
husbands, fathers and brothers TO vote
against suffrage. Whereas, in the States
where most of the men have no women
to ask about the question. they are more
easily led by the suffrage sophistries.
Some Suffrage FOIIIes.
And these suffrage sophistries are
truly comical. A suffrage speaker re-
Gently declared that women care less
NIT this is true of suffragists, anyhow
Also, they cared less for parliamentary
procedure, accuracy of statement, OBJ
servance of Sunday, and even plain
arithmetic at the Nashville convention
In four days sessions they adjourned
by motions but twice-the other times
they got up and left when tired or
wrangling. Women were called alter
nately citizens and Slaves" as hap
pened to fit the "oratory." One speak
er said women were neither persons"
people" nor citizens, and therefore
must be addressed as "disfrRnchised
spite of the fact that many
of the women present were enfranchis- |
ed, and there are only two cases on
record where women have been dis
Another suffrage speaker
grandly announced the Supreme Court
has declared that women are citizens"
Another feature of the suffrage con-
vention in Nashville was that il was
the first time the newspaper men pres
ent had seen such a thing as a purely
political meeting on a Sunday after
noon. But that is not all. The social |
lists Of Nashville turned out in force
that Sunday afternoon, and marched
to the auditorium with blazing ban
ners inscribed as follows, with votes |
for women" flags, in red and yellow, |
draped from either side: Two million |
socialists will vote for woman suffrage
in 1916" and Every Socialist is a |