Perth Amboy evening news., 1915-09-30
Noted Suffrage Exponent
Couples "Divine Right of
Sex" With "Divine Right of
Kings" in Fine Message.
NEEDED FOR LIBERTY
Raps u. S. Senator MARITIME
Makes Wonderful Effort to
Win Votes-Many Present
from Out of Town.

In an address to monster crowd
that filled Palace hall to an overflow
last night, DR.. Anna Howard Shaw,
the noted exponent of woman suff-
rage, coupled the divine right of
SEX with the divine right of kings
and declared that these old-time the
cries, now in their death throes,
were incompatible with political, do
mestic and personal liberty.
1.-TWO old theories-theories that
have been inflicted for years and
years upon the human race-are now
dying" said Dr. Shaw. "One OF
them is dying on the fields of Flan-
ders, and on the bloodstained noun
tain passes of Galicia. This is that
old-time fetish, the divine right of
kings'-the right of man to as
sumo that through the will OF God he
is empowered to rule over nation
of people; to own them body and
soul; to send them out to fight and
to die and all to crafty a personal
wish, an ambition. | tell you that
never while the world stands viii
there be a repetition of this awful
conflict now raging on the battle
fields of Europe. for men will never
again yield themselves up to their
kings as a sacrifice on the altar Of
ambition and selfishness.''
Divine Right of Sex.
"And let me tell you that the other
old-time fetish, the divine right of
SEX" is equally as foolish, and, like
the divine right of kings" 1t is soon
To pass from existence. Years ago.
/ remember, we laughed. at the
young German emperor, who, upon
ascending the throne, laid stress on
the fact that he was diyinely selected
to rule over the German people. r 1
remeaber bow the papers caricatur-
ed him; how they Knocked his SEEM
ing pompousness, and how they r1d1-
cuied his divine right to occupy the
throne, and yet I do not know that
1t is any more egotistical for this
emperor to assume that he rules by
the divine right of kings it is soon
for the men of New Jersey, by the
divine right of sex to assume that
they have any more right to cast
their ballot to select the lawmakers
than do the women who are also to
be affected by the laws that are
made"
1t was a remarkable address that
DR.. Shaw made, and it was a remark
able audience that heard her. Sym
pathetic from the start, they laughed
with her as she fired her missiles OF
delightful sarcasm into the ranks of
the anti-suffragists; they reasoned
with her when she argued the tech
nical points of political equality,
and they mentally accompanied her
as she descended into the slums of
the great cities; as she told of her
work there among the girls and wo-
men who are compelled to earn their
own livelihood who are compelled
to work at the counters and in the
Sweat shops" and who have no
voice in selecting the representatives
who are to go into the law-making
bodies and regulate the hours and
the conditions under which they
work
Her address was one that stamped
DR.. Shaw, upon the minds of those
who have never before been able to
hear her, as the possessor of unusual
mental faculties and as keen judge
of human nature. She presented ar
gument after argument to show why
a voice in making the laws of the re-
public, and she set them logically
before her hearers; she interspersed
her talk with pointed bits of humor
directed at the "antis," she cited
quaint human interest stories, and,
Just as readily, she answered ques-
tions that were asked her concern
ing the equal suffrage movement.
Men Are Inconsistent.
''The trouble with men," said DR..
Shaw, sis that they are consistently
inconsistent in this matter. In fact,
they are so consistent in their incon-
sistency, that they cannot see how
inconsistent they really are. They
declare that this government is a
republic. l say that it is not re-
public; that it never has been a re-
public, and that it never will be a
republic until 1t is republic A re-
public is country in which the law
making representatives are elected
by the people. I'll grant you that
men are people, admirable people
as far as they go-but they only go
half way. They only have given half
the people the right to vote"
Briefly DR.. Shaw made historical
reference to what she termed 'the
evolution of political liberty" She
tod of our Puritan ancestors seek
ing the new-found country in the
nope of securing religious liberty;
later, of the wave of religious intol-
erance tnat swept over the colonies
and then of the Revolutionary war,
the war to throw off the yoke of op-
Continued on page A.