Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-10-29
THURSDAY, OCT. 20, 1914.

Opinion on the Women Suffrage question by one who is con-
coded to be the most profound American statesman Of TINS per1oo"
Address Of Hon. Ehhu Root before the New York State Convention
Aug. 18th, 1894:
l am opposed to the granting Of suffrage to women, because !
believe that it would be a loss to women, to all women ana U
every woman: and because l belle We it would be an INJURY to the
State and to every man and woman in the state IL would pe ~
less to argue this if the right of suffrage were a natural rlght. II
it were a natural right, then women should have it though the heav-
ems fall. But if there be any one thing settled IN the long discus
sion of this subject, it is that suffrage is not a natural right, pt IS
simply a means of government; and the sole question 10 De us
cussed is whether goveramet by the suffrage Of men and women
will be better government than by the suffrage OF men alone me
question is, therefore, a question Of expedency and the question I
expediency upon this subject is not a question OF tyranny, IS Ve
gentleman from Cattaraugus has said, but a question u perry d
question Of the preservation of free constitutional government, OF
law, order, peace and prosperity. Into my judgment, sir, there en-
tiers no element Of the inferorhy Of woman. There could not SIT,
for l rejoice in the tradition and in the memory and the posses
sion of a home where woman reigns with acknowledged superiority
in all the nobler and the higher attributes that by common, by uni
versal consent, determine rank among the highest OF the children
Of God. No, sir. 1t is not that woman is inferior to man, put II IS
that woman is different from man; that in the distribution OF pow
es, Of capacities, Of qualities, our Maker has created man adapted
to the performance Of certain fun ctons in the economy OF nature
and society, and women adapted to the performance OF other func'
tions. One question to be determ ined in the discussion OF this sub
ject is whether the nature Of WON an is such that her taking upon
her the performance of the functions implied in suffrage will leave
her in possession and the exercise of her higher powers or will be
an abandonment Of those powers and on entering upon a field IN
which, because OF her differences from man, she is distinctly in
ferior Mr.. President, l have said that J. thought suffrage would
be a loss for women. l think o because suffrage implies not
merely the casting Of the ballot, the gentle and peaceful fall Of
the snowflake, but suffrage, if it means anything, means enter
ing upon the field Of political life, and politics is modified war.
In politics there is struggle, strife, contention, bitterness, heart
burning, excitement, agitation, everything which is adverse to
true character Of women. Woman rules today by the sweet and
noble influences of her character. Put woman into the arena Of
conflict and she abandons these great weapons which control the
world, and she takes into her h ands, feeble and nerveless for
strife, weapons with which she is unfamiliar and which she is I'M
able to WELD. Woman in strife becomes hard, harsh, unlovable, re-
pulsive; as far removed from tn at gentle creature to whom we
all owe allegiance and to whom we confess submission IS the
is protection. The whole science OF government is the science OF
protecting life and liberty and the pursuit Of happiness, Of protect
ing our person, our property, our homes, our wives and our chill
dren, against foreign aggression, against civil dissension, against
mobs and riots rearing their fearful heads within this peaceful land
during the very sessions of this Convention. Against crime and dis
order and all the army of evil civil society wages its wal, and gov
ernment is the method of protect on, protection Of us all: The trou-
bic, Mr. President, is not in the pr inciples which underlie govern
}ment. Men and women alike acknowledge them and would enforce
them, honor. and truth and justice and liberty; the difficulty is to
find out how to protect them. The difficulty is to frame the meas
IRE, to direct the battle, to tell where and how the blows are to be
struck MF. and Pe1. %asn ii ths nd det tS7ins as ar sr IS ss s' e. ed,srs; the auy and
the: right Of protection rests with the male: 1t is So throuehout nature.
divine Sssht Of protecting ): my wife, my daughter the women whom I love
ps that f%s duty il ! the $ssS n asayssss nsaas 81 those ssssass
severD%sn S / In my jodsmsa a's sir: this y whole s1ss; movement ~ e1 arise arises from from q a
Vase We al ie on g. s. see ss the o pesin aa Of 81 es s Hses. " w %ea All 3 see T no% po ss'a a
taiss i i ' s:Ss sss = ta ;ss; v = &; Ms s al It Il ;ia sssy 's sss {, to . ;ssss tie Ii t5 5ss;
affairs. What others may do seems to IS noD1er more important, more
take K sas,i ]; IS a.; : ts !. mistake {sstto1 5sa + these hes , excellent 51ssdo women n 9,.,s ns5 {, Wien 5se
t tes%s, the 5s in eo sns sssssn iesosn sss 5 a's' sn ss se";ses ct tS seT impulses us that Of r nsa'
and there today woman is supreme and woman rules the world. Mr..
President, the time will never come when this line of demarcaion be-
tween the functions Of the two sexes will be broken down. believe it
70 be false philosophy; i believe that it is n attempt to turf backward
upon the line of social development and that If the step ever be taken:
we go centuries backward O. the march towards a higher, a nobler and
a purerc civilization, which must be found not in the confusion, but in the
higher differentiation of the sexes. But, Mr. President, why do We dis.
GUS this subject? The convention has already acted upon it. A com
mhee, as fairly. constituted a. ever was committee, has acted upon it. a
committee which had among its members four who were selected by the
women who lead this movement, which had a smaller number Of gen
tlemen who were known to be opposed to it, the great body of which
was composed Of me whose ideas and feelings upon the subject were
utterly unknown, has acted upon 1t, and reported to the convention. The
convention. has, by a unanimous unanimous vote decided that it will not strike the
word male" from the Constitution. Now we are met sir, by a propos-
ton that instead of performing the duty which W e came here to perform,
instead of exercising the warrant given to us ny the people to revise and
amend the Constitution, we shall have recourse in a weak m shuffinp
evasion, and then throw back upon tbs people the determination which
they charged IS to make in this convention. We are asked to do it,
Why? To 90 it from good nature, TO do it because my friend. from New
this lady or that lady, who have been mportuning members about Sms
hall for months; to do it, heaven knows for how many reasons. but all
reasons Of good nature, e, Of hndhnes mes $ Of complaisance, opposed to the
the sanction, of OUT aths. Mr. President, I hope that this convention
Will discharge the duty of determining who shall vote, discharge it with