The Washington herald., 1914-04-12

munity. Many of them own or maintain
homes. have families and pay taxes. Yet
because they cannot vote. there never
has been word from them over the
dissipated bubble Of the suffragists-
taxation without representation They
live. in most cases. away from home.
away from the privileges of participating
in elections. in order to uphold by force
before the world. II necessary. the DEGREES
of those who make the laws.
No Vote in District.
The District of Columbia had S3l. .OSg
citizens. according TO the last census
enumeration. While no man has a vote
as a citizen of the District of Columbia.
neither has any male resident therein had
the audacity therefore to ask exemption
from taxation
What many women need today is
emancipation from the fallacies of suf-
fraGism. from the prejudices and erro-
neous teachings. diffused by the spirits OF
discomfort. OF unrest and OF revolution
airy, socialistic tendencies.
Broad-minded. public spirited. home
loving women cannot be narrowed into
the presumption that they have no voice
In the government. in the making of the
laws. in the establishment of customs
because men have assumed the difficult
ties and the burdens OF the ballot Men
also have taken upon themselves the en-
forcement of law and order. and while
men are men and women are women. men
will have this duty to perform
woman's privilege is not to vote
Women appreciate relief from this re-
sponsibility. and the great majority OF
them are immune from the infection OF
plcaders for their enfranchisement Full
well do the anti-suffragists realize that
women's influence. unfettered by polit-
tcal partisanship, has put on our statute
books many Of our best laws, and that
this work Of progress has been hampered
and retarded. rather than advanced. in
the States where women are rivaling men
with the privilege Of the ballot. and
seeking and filling such public offices
as only men should occupy
The granting of the vote to women
would weaken the prestige and inpair
the stability Of the State, and its effect
would be no less disastrous on women
themselves. Surely We are all conscious
OF the ever-increasing pressure which life
today forces on women. There NAV be
some women who still find time hangs
heavily on their hands hut thev do not
see the work there is for them to do.
II is daily problem for many of us how
to meet all the claims of home life. pub
lie and phlanthropic work Surely we
have spent ourselves to the extreme when
We act in an advisory capacity and tell
men what legislation We need. II We are
forced into the political arena as prin-
cipals. We know ths; the burden will
be tmmeasurably inCreased-a burden
which we cannot refuse, which would
cause injury to the health OF many Of u.s.
to the health of future generations And
we would have to leave undone work
which. IL not done by u.s. would. toA,a
large extent. be left unacomplished.
AntaEonIsm of Sex.
It is the merest materialism to think
that women can achieve influence in the
State only by means of the vote To
believe that we can ever win anything
from men by force. is to fly straight in
the face of the daily experience of many
of US. A voting paper is pacific and
harmless, but the vote plays much the
same part in modern constitutional gov
ernment that the sword welded in the
past. The vote is the emblem of force.
II we use the weapon of force, men will
ieny us the right to special influence,
and the anita gonism created between the
sexes will have betrayed US into thoughts.
words, or actions, which will have made
Is. less capable of welding that influence.
One Of the saddest features of the
feminist movement is the pernicious sex
lntagonism which 1t has called forth. !
70 help them to all that is highest. men !
want the belief and trust OF women-of
he women they love and respect They
will not be disposed to help us. If women [
make men feel that We distrust or de- i
'pise them.
In this strenuous, modern life. driven !
IS We all are by the pressure Of many !
conflicting interests and opinions. each I
half living a hundred different lives"
women need to keep that inner peace,
Tision and love, with which to soothe