Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1914-07-24
Secretary OF State VIM. j. Bryan
Out For Suffrage.

| ocCIctdIy OF Otate WIN. j. bryan, IN
formal statement issued on Friday nigh
of last week, came out for woman suffrage
He declared that he would ask no politca
rights for himself that he was not willing
to grant his wife. and announced his in
tention of supporting the proposed State
constitutional amendment extending the
franchise to women to be voted on in Ne
braska next November. The statement
follows
THE voters of Nebraska will, at the
election next November, adopt or reject
a proposed amendment extending suffrage
to women on equal terms with men. As
a citizen of that State it will be my duty
to participate in the decision to be rem
dered at the polls. have delayed ex-
pressing an opinion on this subject partly
because have been seeking information,
and partly because my time has been
occupied with national questions upon
which the entire country was acting; but
now that the issue is presented in my
State take my position. shall support
the amendment. shall ask no political
rights for myself that am not willing to
grant to my wife.
las man and woman are cO-tenants Of
the earth and must work out their destiny
together, the presumption is on the side of
equality of treatment in all that pertains
to their joint life and its opportunities. The
burden Of proof is on those who claim for
one an advantage over the other in deter
mining the conditions under which both
shall live. This claim has not been estab-
lished in the matter of suffrage on the
| contrary. the objections raised to woman
suffrage appears to me to be invalid. while
the arguments advanced in support of the
proposition are. in my judgment, convinc-
ing.
THE first objection which | remember
to have heard was that as woman cannot
bear arms she should not have voice in
deciding questions that might lead to war,
or in enacting laws that might require
an army for their enforcement. This ar
gument is seldom offered now. for the rea-
son that as civilization advances laws are
obeyed because they are an expression of
the public opinion, not merely because they
have powder and lead behind them. And
as we look back over the past. we may
well wonder whether the peace movement
would not have grown more rapidly than
il has. had woman. who suffers more than
man from the results of war, been con-
suited before hostilities began.
"Second-It is urged by some that wom-
ans life is already full of care and that the
addition of suffrage would either Overbur-
den her or turn her attention away from
the duties of the home. The answer made
TO this is that the exercise of the franchise
might result in change of thought and
occupation that would relieve the mOn0tO-
ny of woman's work and give restful vari-
ETY. to her activities. And surely, the
home will not suffer if the mother. the
child's first teacher, is able to intelligently
discuss with her family the science of gov
eminent and the art of successfully ad-
ministering it.
"Third-Many well-meaning men and
women affirm that suffrage would work a
harm to woman by lessening the respect
in which she is held. This argument would
have more weight had it not been employed
against every proposition advanced in fav-
or Of the enlargement of wOman's sphere.
This objection was once raised to the higher
education of woman, but it is no LONGER
heard. The same objection was offered
each time the door has opened, and wOm-
an, instead of suffering degradation. has
risen.
These objections. however honestly ad-
vanced. have proved impotent TO retard
womans progress. May not the fears sin
cerely entertained by the opponents of
womans suffrage be found to be as ground
less as those that once forced the widow
in eastern India to ascend the funeral
pyre or as those that now exclude Moham-
medan women from the social benefits
and responsibilities which the women of
the Christian world share?
"And are not the second and third OBJ
jections above stated refuted. to some ex-
tent at least, by the fact that in the States
which have adopted woman suffrage (and
in the other nations that have adopted it)
there is no agitation for a return to the
systems under which man has a monopoly
of the right to vote ?
IF one were in doubt as to which side
Of the controversy to take. he would be
justified in giving weight to the fact that
organization and enthusiasm are on the
side of those who favor womans suffrage
Organization is an evidence of earnestness
as well as of comprehension of the sub
| ject.
"As for myself, am not in doubt as to
my duty. 1t is not my purpose to discuss
the subject with elaboration at this time,
but desire to present the argument 10
which give the Greatest weight. With
out minimizing other arguments advanced
in support of the extending Of suffrage to
woman, place the emphasis upon the
mothers right to a voice in mOlding the
environment which shall surround her
children environment which operates
powerfully in determining whether her Off
spring will crown her latter years with joy
or bring down her gray hairs in sorrow to
the grave.
THE Creator has placed upon the mother
a burden which she could not shift If she
so desired, and He has given her the dis
position to bear it, Her life trembles in
the balance at the child's birth her active
years are given to the care and nurture Of
her children; her nerve force and vital
energy are expended in their behalf; her
exhaustless love is poured out upon them.
Because the wealth Of her existence is
bestowed upon them. they are part Of
her very being where your treasure is.