The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-11-17
WHY men WANT VOTES FOR W0MEN|
BY DR.. ARCHIBALD HENDERSON

iooSe tyranny of our man-ma6a -.
ii.-atloh, only imperfect and naftisl
mas yet been accomplished
"A hundred years ago, that s,,nranoa
championship of democracy and 80
uiar liberty, Thomas jefferson trep
ci'dheiy declared, "A government ;s
not yet complete that withholds from
us most enlightened women what if
Freely gives to its most benighted
men. flfty years ago, Abraham Lin
80 Salu: l go for all sharing the
privileges of the government who as
slst In bearing its burdens, by no
means excluding women ONLY YES
.erday, Mr.. William J.. BRYAN said.
woman has proven herself equal to
every responsibility imposed upon
her; she Will not fail society in this
Let her vote"
Responsibility.
me greatest contribution of civili-
zatlon TO the life of today, in my judg-
ment, is the development of the sense
or individual nd social responsibility.
Inc new content of contemporary life
is epltomized in the two words: So
clal conscientiousness. Men every
Wnere today recognize that things
Will not come out right in the long
run unless we ourselves labor to that
consummate end. In this day Of
manifest social injustice, when labor
is loudly clamoring with demands just
and unjust, when women are beating
with frail hands against the portals
OF the future, when poverty, disease,
social wrong, the unSpeakable TRACE
dies and terrOrS of a Orld-W rise
up to confound Us with their accusing
faces. men can no longer shirk their
duty and their responsibility. The
guilt of the particeps criminis weighs
upon us. We feel that we are some
how involved in these affairs. The
conscience of man is at last slowly be-
ing oused If in man is implanted
something Of the divine, if in man
works the conscience of God, then also
do we share His responsibility for the
world; and woe be unto us if the
world goes wrong.
All of us, l daresay, would assent
to the statement that we should labor
to the end that this world ma be a
fit place for man to inhabit-a better,
a brighter, a juster world. Under
meath all such proposals for the anne
Iteration of social conditions lies one
fundamental problem: the problem OF
giving to every man and every woman
equal opportunity with every other
man and woman for the development
of personality and the attainment OF
true liberty, to the end that each may
take his and her share in the priv
lege and the duty of bearing the bur
1 Z Il VI I'm L AN
competition, is the sign manual OF
modern life. Not social ameliOratiOr
merely, but social reconstruction, Is
the fundamental issue. The call Of The
age is to political and social service
to a fr~aternalistic common endeaVol
towards the achievement of human
brotherhood and the attainmen OF
equality Of opportunity. The time
has come in this country, as Dear
Brown, Of Yale, has recently pointed
out, when it is being generally ac-
knowledged that men and womeT
reach the highest levels Of individual
expression and social obligation, no
as they reach the highest pinnacle O.
material success, or pray loudest, bu
as thew serve best the state and tn
world.
The Fullest Opportunity.
NV friends, men want votes fol
women because they believe tina
thereby women will be given the full
est opportunity to serve best the Stat'
and the world. The ballot for WON
an is simply a dignified and orderl.
expression OF her VIII ana oplhloli
and the means for their effective exc
cution. The difference between in
huence' and "power"-between fem
mime influence and political power
is i~ncalculable, infinite. NO class O
people has ever maintained its Legal
natural, or even moran IlSll'S "itiiou
the ballot. Opinion n lnHuenc'
the ballot is no better than al
unchanged weapon Woman with tn
ballot gains the power which rest
uopn her ability to make her OPINION
effective. Her influence, Whlch rest
nnon her character her intelligence
and her charm, remains thereby ab
5 solutely unaltertd. | do not doup
5 that. when women have the pallo'
, 80, will exercise both their persona
!, ;,AI,ance and their political power Il
f the direction of many of the mos
| ia, and fundamental social reforms
: habitually neglected by men-in par
ticular reforms educational: clNle' an
onnunaI Woman's tenacity of pur
: nose. her instructive sense OF rectltuot
: her passionate faith. her lnnex1o
moral courage. her divine spirit o
Observation-Disclosures qualues IN Won
a on which men admire ana mono
above al, others-these are the qual
tics so inexpressibly needed today /