Norwich bulletin., 1914-05-27
WHY WOMEN SHOULD NOT VOTE
Arguments Made by Mrs. A. George Befere Biz Anti Mees ing in Town Hsll-Bettes Citizenshp Net te Gene Through votes Socialism and Feminsm Loom Alarm inely, She Says

II An audience of we'll over 4ee that practically occupied all the seating accommodations at the town hall on Tuesday evening, gave the closest at tention to Mrs A. J. George of Bos- ton whe was the speaker at the meet ing, held under auspices of the Ner- wien Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage Mrs. George took up point after point of the argument against Votes For Women and was several times vigorously app.auded for some telling expressions of opinion of a 1 mated her presentmeHt of reasons held by the antis why women should net have the suffrage:
 Flag and Flowers. On the desk stood basket of American beauty roses and other flowers were in vases at the corners of the desk, while on the wall behind the speaker hung large American
 flag. Seated on the platform with the speaker were the officers of the local leaguei Mrs. Eben Learned presi-
 dent, Mrs. Horatio Bigelow secretary and Mrs. Archibald Mitchell. dr. treasurer. Rev. R. R. Graham and Horatio Bigelew also occupied seats eH the platform.
 Introduced the Speaker. Mrs. Learned opened the meeting shortly after 8 o'clock. saying that she
 was glad to welcome such large au- dience and that the Norwich league felt pride iR what it hads been able to
 accomplish since its organization four
 months ago. She took pleasure in in troducing Mrs. George. whose abilities had earned her the reputation of be- ing one of the foremost of woman packers in the anti-eHffrage cause Mrs. Geerqe Speaks Mrs. George spoke in an easy yet forceful way. making her points with
 distinctiveness. and developing the Subject in logical order fFem the be- ginning.
 The opposing parties to the subject under discussion were more alike in their aims than were apparent on the surface. They both want a better state. more special justice and the fighting of the wrongs of which so- says is te be accomplished by a larger electorate and places emphasis upon law. Those on her side say give us not more but better voters, not law but the elevation of the standards of character and citizenship.
 Burden of Proof on suffraslsts. It is not for us to prove that suf- frage would not work well, said Mrs.
 George. The burden of proof is upon
 those wanting change. Gladstone came to see the folly of putting wo-
 men into suffrage and the suffragists must prove that the avsrage voter will
 be made more safe, more sane, stead
 fer, less emotional. perhaps. through
 the giving of the suffrage to women. What Is the Vote? What is the vote, she asked A congressman from Colorado says that it takes no more time to vote than to | A-I~ LD--.~- ~er fr.
 Colorado would indicate that there had
 been much mismatched silk. The vote is not a right. The state
 reserves the right to say in whom it is expedient to rest the right of gov ernment. It is a responsibility and
 so great an authority as Dr. Edward Everett Hale says he does not believe the women want these responsibilities and he does not believe they could carry them we'll if they had them. It is a costly economic proposition to have two persons to what one can do do we'll
 Woman's inferiority or superiority
 does not rest with doing everything that man does in the same way he does. It is a question of efficiency. Are you going to get a better Connecti- cut if you give women the vote? It
 is not for any one group of women that you ara aaking but you are ask ing that all women shall vote. all wo-
 men or none.,
 Taxation Without Representation. Mrs. George said that she supposed there would possibly be 200 women in the ranks of her hearers who would l be moved by the plea of James Otis: | taxation without representation is tyranny. But James Otis was refer ring then to a government over seas and had no thought then of even un- niversal male suffrage.
 You don't vote where your property is but where you have your residence and if you say that the vote follows the tax is to say that you don't like oui American system
 If the tax paying woman urges that her lot is hard today because of ire sponsible voters she should look to 1t that she is not preparing the way for l a much larger army of irresponsible, non-p property owning voters. It is somewhat of an amusing situa- ton, pointed out the speaker that wo-
 men who do not want to get into po- litics are forced into political activities l to avoid being forced into politics. Women's Rights in 1s4s. The tendency of the suffrage move
 ment today is precisely what was the declaration of the woman's rights party in 184S. She went to read from their declaration which spoke of "ty- rant man" and the subject state" of woman, and Mrs. George said that from that time to this the civil and le- gal rights of women had been more fully recognized. but none of this had come about because woman had the vote. Women have also entered and advanced in the professions and in ed- ucation and this also has not been be- ] cause they have had the vote nor will i it ever be.
 ! In 1s48 the complaint had been that man had closed the avenues of trade against women or had taken the best i to himself, but in the most recent cen- | sus figures it had been shown that Of ! 103 occupations followed by men. wo-
 men were represented in all but eight. Women in Industry
 But the argument Is now raised that times have changed and that women ' in industry must have the vote to pro- | tect herself. The woman in industry, | said Mrs. George, raises a problem | against which many there sink int0 in