The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-08-09

compensation act was Nevada. a male
suffrage State bordering on Idaho and
Utah.
As to child labor. we see that Wyoming
and Utah prohibit the working OF chill
dren only In mines In suffrage States.
no documentary proof Of a child's age
is required.
These conditions are not charged
against the women Of these States. but
they exist. and women would undoubt-
eddy rectify them IL they were able. II
the ballot does not make them able, what
does II amount TO?
And II We admit that woman alone is
the reformer. the true worker for hu-
manIty's best interests. We must admit
that she has accomplished most in the
States where she is a non-votlng and non
partisan citizen. Massachusetts,, New
York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska. and
Indiana lead the country in progressive
legislation for women and children in in
dUstry. The sufiraEists cannot claim .
single exclusive achievement in the whole
history OF reform that was due to the
action OF women at the polls.
Politics In seattle.
In Washington last March we had an
interesting election in Seattle. Mr..
George Creel. In an Illuminating but pre-
mature article IN the March Century.
described Mr.. Hiram Gill, Of Seattle. and
the description was not that Of a man
fitted TO be mayor OF any city. When
Mr.. Gnrs activities as mayor became
too dreadful for endurance. Mr.. Creel
informed US. thousands Of women rose
in arms and helped recall him Unfor-
tunately for this great concrete example
OF womAn's publication Of politics. Mr..
Creel's essay appeared in print before
March J, on which date Mr.. Gill was
again elected mayor of Seattle with a
shockingly large majority!
Instead of admitting that they were
powerless to prevent Gilrs reelection.
the sufIragists declared that strange
as 1t may seem, Gilrs election was
victory for the right-for the other man
was many times worse than he was"
This is a strange argument from those
who assert that under woman suffrage
the character OF candidates will be ''un-
Unless candidates are to be men OF
higher order 1.-THE direct result OF
women's entrance into politics. what's
the use?
The Seattle election proves either that
women voted for a questionable man or
that they did not vote at all. II good
women do not vote, when the right"
Is thrust upon them, are we bettered by
giving women the ballot? The vote Of
good women has been and will be I'M
How are you going to con-
vince the future mother. or the woman
with a sick baby that she ought to go to
the polls to prevent the other kind Of
from helping corrupt poll
ticians?
Where was the good women's vote at
the Seattle election? Statistics are lack
ing-but one may reasonably suppose the
other kind OF woman did go out and
vote for a mayor whose interests were
Identical with her interests. women's
votes increased the number of his plu-
rality Where were the good women
when the machines named their candi- |
iates? Why was one candidate so much !
worse than the other that the recalled
mayor was reelected?
That interests me more than where |
hey were at election time.
Must we ask the busy housekeeper and |
the anxious mother TO do sentry duty at
political conventions and party caucuses
merely as a check to the activities OF
corrupt bosses and the sort OF women |
hey can control? Is that not a mans
Job? How many Of the women Of your
would you like to compel to
10 it?
Alcohol and Woman Suffrage.
One word more: Alcohol has been
oattledore and shuttlecock for suffragists
and antI-suffragists. 1t flies over the
head Of the sitter-on-the-fence; II there
IS reason for suffragists to assert that
wives and mothers would vote for pro-
there Is reason for the anti
suffragists to reply that there are
women, much concerned in the ruination
of men. who would scarcely vote for
prohibition since alcohol Is their power
'ul aid in a nefarious profession. And
hat the votes of women who favor alco-
aol are more potent than the ballots Of
hose who do not. Is sufficiently proved
BY the fact that OF the entire ten pro-
aibition States, only one, Kansas, is a
suffrage State and got prohibition three
years before Its women were enfran-
.hised, while Wyoming, where women
nave voted forty-four years, has not one
dry" county.
To the casual observer IL seems a bit
'idiculous to think that suffragists or
are hand in hand with
he brewery interests" But II I were
/ suffragist. I would go lightly on that
point, however strong my esoteric con-
'iction. for 1t u difncuIt for the lay mind