The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1915-10-09
COMpERS APPEALS
FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE.
Ballot Not a Sex Problem.

Declaring that a solution of the prob
lem Of Industrial freedom rests upon
every toiler having a role in the fixing
of working conditions, Samuel Com
pers. president of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, in an official bulletin
urges organized labor to fight for wo-
man suffrage.
Women cannot assume equal rights
with free men, he said, lin the indus
trial struggle while classified with
idiots and irresponsibles in political
affairs. The ballot cannot be long de-
MED them. Industrial freedom is not
a sex problem. 1t is a human prob
lem. Men and women work side by
side. and until both hav. a voice in
the establishment of working condi-
lions the problem will not be settled
Men workers will find women workers
exploited against them just as long as
women are denied responsibility as
members OF the political society.
There are two tremendous move,
tents for freedom at the present time
the labor movement and the woman
suffrage movement. The Women's
Trades Union league is visible proof
of the ability of women to determine
and manage their own affairs and to
appreciate and assume responsibility
as members of society. Not only do
they assume responsibility, but they
demand rights that go with RESPONSE
bility.
las a result of former conditions,
traditions and customs, protection and
support have beer assumed for all wo-
lei This fiction was maintained even
though women went out of their homes
to earn liyings in shop, factory and
store. some women have learned to
break through stultifying traditions, to
brush aside fiction and to recognize
facts. They have learned that a free
individual must stand erect, be respon-
sible for her own life and acts, give
and accept justice, not special priv
ilege. If women would be free they
must achieve their own freedom.
Wage earning women have begun
to work out Their own Industrial free
dom. As the president of the Wom-
ems Trades union says, there are now
two great groups of exploited workers
liz the United States-immigrants and
M But women have felt the
thrill of the impulse that leads to free
dom In all the walks of life they are
demanding an equal voice in determin-
ing those things which touch the COM
non life. This impulse stimulates pro-
test against industrial exploitation.
Strong women who earn their living
In the struggle of the world feel that
their protection and salvation lie in
organization.
Women realize that they cannot es.
tablish and maintain industrial free
dom and responsibility unless they
have also political freedom and respon.
sibility. Wherever opportunity and de-
velopment are restricted their influence
and power are also restricted.
las a matter of justice, workingwo-
men demand the ballot. They demand
"a right to participate in the determine
ton of political affairs because they
are affected by the determinations
The ballot will bring power because it
will bring full citizenship.
'There is no easy way, but if any
thing in life is worth while it is the
beautiful ideal of a rational individual
ordering his or her own life in full
a~cceptation of the opportunities and
the limitations of freedom. Protection
and regulation may offer immediate re-
lief, but they are not freedom.
Men must join the women In the
effort to solve their common problem,
Or else they will find women used
against them as competitors"