Gunnison news-champion., 1914-02-13
~ EDWARD KEATING
st Large from Colorado.


Q state and not 9 nstloaal issue, and
therefure refused to create comm'ttss
On suffrage. When We gathered IN the
k,bby ~ discuss the result. one of the
sbiest Of the southern contingent said:
We sieie-trscked woman suffrage To-
night and | voted with the majority,
bat it's coming ss sure as death and
taxes. You might AZ well prepare 70
meet it. -
No one who is IN touch with public
sentiment here IN Washington and
throughout the Eastern and Northern
states. can for . moment question the
accuracy Of this statement The equal
suffrage propaganda has spread with
amazing rapidity and q man must, in
deed. be blinded by his prejadices If he
fails to appreciate the strength of the
movement
In the caucus 81 Democratic Con
gressmen were prepared to brush aside
the ancient doctrine of states rights IN
order to give the women the ballot. II
we could bring the question to the floor
of the House. ] am confident IT would
secure not less than $50 votes or more
than one third of the membership. 1t
would probably receive a clear majority
in the Senate.
ATTITUDE OF THE SOUTH
The issue is no longer dependent for
support on the Senators and Represen-
tatives of the suffrage states. Some Of
it's most ardent supporters represent
states where women are deprived of the
ballot. Neither is it sectional issue,
for, although the overwhelming MAORI
ty of the Southern members are just
now bitterly ''anti''. such men rs Owen
of Oklahoma, Humphries of Mississippi
and Hobson of Alabama are outspoken
in their advocacy Of the proposition.
These men and others who think as
they do, would experience ifttfe siff'icut
ty in swinging the South into line for
the suffrage amendment if it were not
for the race issue.
The South has succeeded in disfranch-
that about has strained the constitution
to the breaking point The majority of
the members insist that the State and
not the Nation shall fix the qualifca-
tion of the voters, and they fear that
the slightest deviation from this princ-
pie might lead to the enforcement of
the provisions of the fourteenth amend
ment and that, they say, means negro
control of Southern elections.
SOME SIGNIFICANT sTRAws
Among those who appeared before
the House Committee on Rules TO plead
the cause of suffrage was Mrs. Desha
Breckenridge, wife of one of the most
distinguished members of this famous
Kentucky families.
For more than one hundred years
the men of Kentucky have conducted
the affairs of that state" she said, and
what is the result? Only two states in
the Union have higher percentage of
illiterates. Socially, the men of Ken
lucky toast their women with their
whiskey and their horses; politically.
they catalog them with the criminals
and the insane.
A few weeks ago was invited by
the women of Maryland to appear be-
fore joint session of the two Houses
of the Legislature of that state in sup
port of a suffrage amendment to the
state constitution and discovered that
the cultured wife of the Governor was
an earnest advocate of votes for wo-
men.
Last Saturday night while spending
the week end with friends at Warren
ton, Virginia, short distance from
Washington, ] was surprised to receive
an invitation to discuss equal suffrage
at a public meeting arranged by the
ladies' of the town. ! found that the
leaders of the movement in that section
belonged to the famous IF. F. vs.
First Families of Virginia.
They are just straws but they show
which way the wind blows in the South
land, and they mean, if they mean any
thing. that the women of the South will
soon join their sisters of the North and
West in their demand for the ballot.
FUNDAMENTAL DEMOCRACY
There is one phase Of the suffrage
fight which interests me intensely. As
II is conducted in the East it is fun
Samental Democratic movement. Ii
has broken down the walls of caste as
nothing else could have done You find
the wife and daughter of the millionaire
working shoulder to shoulder with the
girls from the shops and factories
They meet on terms of absolute equali-
ty. For the present they are concen-
trating their energies on the effort to