Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-09-22
The March of Equal Suffrage.


Editor Kennebec Journal:
My attention has been called to
report in your paper OF an anti-suf"
frage speech made by Mrs. Byron
Stevens of Brunswick, recently, at the
home of Mrs. John Hill, Augusta. Her
principal argument against equal SUI
frage was that she had found 1t q
failure in Colorado and that social
workers there believed that they could
do better work without the ballot than
with it, The testimony of few tn
dividuals against suffrage in Colorado,
can be met with the testimony OF
overwhelming numbers Of prominent
men and women in favor and by the
so-called unanswerable geographical
argument" which leads one to con-
clude that II suffrage had heen the
failure anti suffragists say 1t Is In
Colorado and other states. 1t would
hardly have spread from one state to
another as 1t has in the West. wyon-
ing gave suffrage to women in 1850.
Colorado which bounds wyoming on
the south adopted 1t in 1898. Utah
which bounds Wyoming and Colorado
adopted it in 1895. In 1910 Washing
ton became an equal suffrage state.
California, Oregon, Arizona and Kan
sa followed So that there Is now SOL
id block of states on or near the "a
ciflc coast with the exception OF Ne
vada. In this state the suffrage meas
IRE has gone through two legislatures
and the amendment goes TO the voters
in November. When Secretary Bryaa
recently wrote Il shall support the
y nd ha1 oh
rights for myself that / arm not Willing
te grant to my wife," the suffrage
workers felt that their cause had se-
cured an advocate that would infiu-
ence thousands of voters.
A report from Nebraska says: "rhe
opponents of equal suffrage n Ne
braska must be listed with thu active
helps. Their talks have served to
break up the Indifference that EXISTS
in some districts. Men who have not
cared If their wives were disfraRchised'
resent being told that their wives are
too emotional to vote, or that they
should not be allowed to vote because
they do net make good soldiers, or
that their wives will cease to love
their children If they are given the
ballot. When the question of extending
full suffrage to the women OF Kansas,
where they had had municipal SUI
frage many years came up, the LA&ss-
lature appointed commission to In
vestigate the working of equal SUI
frage in the states where it obtained.
The report of the commission was
unanimously in favor of submitting an
amendment to the veters and Kansas
came into the ranks of the suffrage
states in 1912. 1t is a reflection on the
intelligence of the men of these west
ern states to believe that one state
after another would have adopted
equal suffrage if it had been a failure
across the border. The legislatures of
Wyoming and Colorado have passed
resolutions declaring that woman suf-
frage has been an unmixed advantage
to home and state, and urging other
legislative bodies everywhere to ad-
vance suffrage legislation"
Hon. Edward T. Taylor, United
States representative from Colorado
says: There will be no backward
movement in the fight for equal rights
Not one foot of ground that has been
gained will ever be surrendered. The
continued Acknowledgement OF women
is a relic of antiquity that belongs to
other days. Rurblind politicians and
people who cling to prejudice in spite
of facts as plain as the noon day sun
may keep on fighting and misrepre-
senting the good women of the SUI
frage states, but they are coming to be
as absurd as old Canute when he nlae-
ed his throne on the beach aid coma
manded the waves to recede.
Sincerely yours
HELEN n. BATES,
Pres. Maine Woman Suffrage Assn.
Sept 10