Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-10

UllleH llldt SOOu ANU iiiili-
tant, Anna Shaw.
All America admires Anna
Shaw Everybody who knows
her respects her. She has united
great ability with fine character
and unswervingly consistent de-
votion to great ideals. And 1t is
to be hoped that she will think
better of her published resolve to
refuse compliance with the de-
mands made upon her by the new
income tax law. IL she persists
in her determination to offer
passive resistance" then Ameri
can women ought to turn a deaf
ear to her appeal to "go and do
likewise"
DR. Shaw will refuse-so the
report goes-to fill in the sched
ules and render the accounts
asked by the collectors. Presum-
ably she will refuse to pay the
amount of the tax arbitrarily lev
led. And, If need be, she will go
to prison for her contumacy.
In prison-if the newspaper re-
ports may be trusted-she will
start no hunger strike. Sensible.
even in the choice of a mistaken
policy, she concludes that she is
worth more to the suffrage cause
as strong, healthy person than
as an invalid reduced to semi
insanity by starvation and tor
ture. But with the prison before
her, she chooses passive resist
ance" for the purpose of voicing
in this resounding manner the
protest OF women against being
taxed by Government which
they do not help to elect. Taxa
ton without representation is
tyranny"-as said Simon de
Montfort, Earl of Leicester, when
the first English House of Com
mons was called together, some
500 years or more before it &C.
CURED to Samuel Adams to say 1t
In Massachusetts,!
Votes Are Needed.
Dr. Shaw's example should be
repudiated by suffragists through
out the United States on two
grounds. First, because such a
course will do little good; second,
because 1t may do great harm.
Votes are needed, the votes OF
men Before men give their
votes their opinions must be
changed. Will convictions be
changed by, the course on which
DR.. Shaw has resolved?
For the purpose of the inquiry
we may divide the opponents Of
woman suffrage into the thought
full and the unthoughtful-not
necessarily the educated" and
the Ignorant" vote, though in a
measure they correspond to these
distinctions. Both types of OBJ
lection were IN evidence during
the campaign for woman suffrage
in California in 1911. 1t is a pity
that some Alice in Wonder
land" kind of topsy -turveydom
could not arrange that the cam
paign should come after the cleo
tion-for we could all fight the
campaign so much better if we
had the information before
which we had after!
On election day we learned the
secret of the opposition as we had
never learned it before. Three
men were spoken to, one after
the other. by a woman of educa-
ton and refinement. She stop
ped them in the street, asked if
they had voted, begged them to
vote for us" The first was a
gentleman. He looked a prosper
Gus business man; he spoke very
courteously: he knew his own
mind. He lifted his hat and
said. mo, madam; l do not mean
to be offensive, but | have thought
about this carefully, and | am
satisfied that you are wrong. I
do not believe that it would be
good for you or for the State. l
am going to vote against you"
There was, of course, no more to
be said.
From a Working Man.
The second man was young
and a cad He said, IF you want
to get votes. why don't you send
young and pretty women into
the streets, not middle-aged
women like you?" The lady re-