Norwich bulletin., 1914-03-14
Suffrage In California.

for, and the other against, Woman Suf- frage
 have l read in Eastern papers of the unsa tisfactory and disastrous result of giving the franchise to women in California, that l feel I must make de- nial of the false. and often malicious, reports.
 If you were in California today or even on an election day, you would see nothing out of the ordinary. Moth ing to proclaim that women were cit izens and voters, nothing of a mili- tant character. Quietly they go to the polls alone or with others, step into the booth and write their ballots quick ly and understandingly and deposit them and leave the place, without als. as the saloon men and Anti Suffragists tearfully predicted would be the case
 Things move as usual-there are no startling results but that the votes of the women are a power for good is proved by the fact that all the evil elements of society are opposed to them. The saloon, the brothel, the white shaver, the crooked oficial( for We have the recall in California; all stand in fear of, and opposed to woman suffrage. Does it not seem strange that good women should ally themselves with forces like these in order to prevent other women from doing that which they consider not only a right, but a duty?
 The first thing the women of Cali fornda did when they received the ballot was to fit themselves to vote in telligently. 1 cast my first ballot at the last presidential election. l did not quite understand the meaning of some of the directions, although 1 could tell just where to put the cross es; but I wanted to understand the whole thing Imagine my surprise when I had asked three different men -one who was always on the election board-and not one of them could ex- plain the meaning of the sentence. I finally went to the registrar and he was able to tell me what the sentence meant.
 But the women are not satisfied to vote as father did, or because their sympathies had been with a certain party in the past. Now their sympa- thies could be expressed by d vote that would count, and they intended it should count for the right When did we ever hear of men forming clubs for the study of civic and state problems. and the duties entailed by the right to vote? Yet that is just what the women of California did. Throughout the state the various clubs and the W. C. T. U. took up the work, until after only two years of the franchise it is safe to say that the average woman is as well, if not bet ter, informed in regard to such mat ters than the men.
 Here in this city 8 four months course of Science of Government was taken up, and lectures were given by prominent legal and professional men, and it was no fad-results have proved they were dead in earnest.
 And l wish to say in the most un- equivocal terms to the senators and congressman at Washington-tO many of the Ey9 n9npTC-tn fhnCa logical uniformed women who call themselves Anti -Suffragists, and any others who have said or written that Woman Suffrage has been a disap- pointment or a failure in California, that such a statement is a falsehood, pure and simple.
 As I have said, a stranger here might never know by anything he would see on the surface that there had been a great change in the vot- ing list. So quietly did the women take up the work and fit themselves into the new order of things that the wheels of the government never slip ped a cog. There have been no great or radical changes, but Governor Johnson gives the women credit for the passing of most. if not all, of the reform measures that have become laws through submission to the vote of the people. The red light injunC
 ton bill. the bill to stop prize fights. Lit6 hiiI IO tibSC tue otc tIclCh dAlh put a stop to gambling, and many other reform measures were enthusias- tically supported, and carried by the votes of the women.
 Anything that stands for civic bet terment for the suppression of vice. for the protection of the home for improved conditions for working men or women or the welfare of the child ren, is sure to receive the support of the enfranchised women of Califor- nia; and they have a deep and rever- ent sense of the responSi bility of the ballot; and one cannot but be impress ed with the zeal and earnestness as compared with the casual male voter Woman has come into her own in 1 migflyaeris q. zgveapght htarot Woman has come into her own in California, and so far has it been from causing friction between them and the men of the state that they are working together for the general good as never before. The women have an added respect and admiration for the men who were broad minded and generous hearted enough to ac- knowledge their right to help make the laws under which they must live. And Get me say this sotto voCe for we would not want them to know we had noticed iD, I am pretty sure the men of California are secretly proud of their women folks. Anyway, I know this. that in matters of civic better ment. and especially in the question of better schools, the women are all ways in the van and the men applaud and appreciate their work, and give them credit for results.
 And none of the glowing predictions of our opponents have come to pass.
 Our ship of state is still sailing on level keel. There are no broken hearts or homes because the wife would vote for Teddy while hubby voted for Wilson. The orphan asy lums are not filled with helpless ehil- dren whose mothers deserted them for politics. Our women have not grown
 coarse er unwananIy nor have they been insuited or treated roughly at the polls.
 We have not brought in the mill lenium yet but We are feeling the elation and the joy of being able to strike fer the right in way that will tell; for however much the opponents of woman suffrage may prate of wo- mans influence if she will only stay quietly in her nome, there is no in fiuence she can wieid that can be made i te be felt and feared by the wroRgdoer like the ballot.
 The arguments against womans suffrage (honestly, dc you call them arguments21 2 either make me sizzling mad or else they tickle my funny bone There is one stock argument, always used by the tAntis" that is in
 the latter class. l read it in an ad- ! dress the other day. Said the speak CT. Women don't want to vote, and when they don't want te do a thing, T