The daily sentinel. [volume] (Grand Junction, Colo.) 1893-current, 1914-02-12
WOMAN SUFFRAGE WILL SOON
BE GRANTED IN EVERY STATE
Congressman Heating Writes
That Sentiment is 0verWheIm-
ingIy in Favor Of Il.
(By EDWARD KEAT1NG,)

| Wy ELI w hhO MA 4xNu,I
Congressman at Large from Colorado
Washington, d. c., Feb. 1.-THE
other night caucus of the demo-
cratic members of the house decided
by a vote OF almost two to one that
woman suffrage was a state and not
national ISSUE" and therefore re-
fused to create committee on suf-
frage. When We gathered in the
Hobbies to discuss the result one of
the ablest of the leaders of the south
ern contingent said:
eve sidetracked woman's suffrage
tonight and | voted with the major
ity, but it's coming as surely as death
and taxes. You might as well pre-
pare to meet it,"
No one who is in touch with pub
lie sentiment here in Washington
and throughout the eastern and the
northern states can for a moment
question the accuracy of this state
ment. The equal suffrage propogan-
da has spread with amazing rapidity
and a man must, indeed. be blinded
| by his prejudices If he fails to ap-
preciate the strength of the move
ment.
In the caucus 81 democratic con-
l
aside the ancient doctrine of states
rights in order to give the women the
ballot. If we could bring the ques-
tion to the floor of the house, | am
confident 1t would secure not less
than $50 votes or more than a third
of the membership. II would prob
ably receive clear majority in the
senate.
| Attitude of the South.
| The issue is no longer dependent
for support on the senators and rep
resentatives of the suffrage" states.
Some of its most ardent champions
represent states where women are de-
prived of the ballot. Neither is 1t
sectional issue, for, although the ov-
erwhelming majority of the southern
members are just now bitterly AN
IT," such men as owen of Oklahoma,
HUMPHREYS of Mississippi, and Hob
son of Alabama, are outspoken in
their advocacy of the proposition.
These men, and others who think
as they do, would experience little
difficulty in swinging the south into
line for the suffrage amendment If
it were not for the race issue. The
south has succeeded in disfranchis-
ing them and in order to bring that
about has strained the constitution
to the breaking point. The majority
of it's representative insist that the
state and not the nation shall fix the
qualifications of voters and they fear
.tthat the slightest from
this principle might lead to the en-
| forcement of the provisions of the
fourteenth amendment and that.
they say--means negro control of
southern elections.
There are some signs that this ne
gro bugaboo is losing it's potency. AS
| have shown, even some of the south
ern members of congress are pre-
pared to defy it, but. what is more
significant the women of the south
are beginning to demand that it
shall not be used as an excuse for
keeping them from the ballot box.
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 family.
| "For more than one hundred years
the men of Kentucky have conducted
the affairs of that state" she said,
land what is the result? Only two
states in the union have a higher
percentage of illiterates. Socially the
men of Kentucky toast their women
with their whisky and their horses;
politically, they catalogue them
with the criminals and the insane.
/ 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
support OF a suffrage amendment to
the state constitution and discovered
that the cultured wife of the COVER
nor was an earnest advocate of votes
for women.
Last Saturday night while spend
ing the weekend with friends at
Warrentown, Virginia, short dis
lance from Washington, | was sur
prised to receive an invitation to dis
cuss equal suffrage at a public meet
ing arranged by the ladies of the
! town. found that the leaders of
the movement in that section belong
ed to the famous IF. F. V.s"-the
first families of Virginia.
These are just straws. but they in
dictate the way the wind is blow
ing in the southland, and they mean,
lif they mean anything, that the wom-
en- of the south will soon join their
sisters of the north and west in their
demand for the ballot. The result in
the south will be just what it has
been in the west and what it will
i soon be in the north and what it
always has been and always will be
when American women make an in