Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-10-14

first taste Of an actual woman suffrage
campaign. writes Charles T. Hallinan
in the Chicago Tribune under n New
York date.
For when the men OF New Jersey go
to the polls on October 10 to vote upon
an amendment to the State constitution
enfranchising women they will be-not
counting those who took part in an
abortive 29-day campaign in Rhode
Island in 1sS7-the first voters In the East
to pass upon the suffrage question.
They will be followed on November
by the voters of New York, Pennsylva-
MIA, and Massachusetts.
From all fndicati tons tho East finds
the suffrage question pretty exciting
one. While the many close students of
the various campaigns refuse to admit
that tho women can win, there are
others who assert that the dry vote
and the Tabor vote are going to put
suffrage across
FEAR OvERCONF1DENcE.
In fact. so strong are these lunches
that the suffrage leaders are afraid of
generating overconfidence In their fol-
lowers and are drilling the women ia
turn deaf ear to the optimists and to
fight ito the last ditch"
DR.. Anna Howard Shaw even went SO
FAR as to say, GROSSLY, the other day, that
only a miracle could carry New Jer-
sey for suffrage" but she is known to
be more sanguine about the New Jer.
sey campaign than she usually Is about
suffrage campaigns.
New Jersey has been tho special care
Of tho National American Woman suf
frage association, by an agreement
reached with the four campaign State.
early in the year. While DR.. Shaw her
self has given services equally to al
four States. the national association ha.
raised big squad of speakers for specia
service In New Jersey, has sent out in
Vulnerable automobile parties. and ha.
strewn the State with millions Of suf
frage flyers and leaflets.
OTHER ISSUES LOST SIGHT OF.
The election. which takes place. as ha.
been said. on October 10. will be speca
election to consider three constitutional
amendments One amendment woult
give municipal and other public bodie.
the right of excess condemnation. TIL,
second provides for the submission OF
one constitutional amendment each veal
when desired. But both amendments
are almost lost to public view in the
incessant discussion of tho woman suf
frage issue.
On this question New Jersey has beer
split from Philadelphia to New York
and the end no man can tell. The ant
fOrcou Il t,.iJ ;,+o
of which seems to have much to do with
the other. One wing is very respectable
and influential and the other wing 1.
influential without being exactly re-
spectacle.
The respectable wing. made up OF
those who might DO described as dis
interested antis." Is led by some Of tn,
old families in the State. This wing /.
especially strong at Trenton and a
Princeton. where Mrs. Thomas J. Pres
ton. who was formerly Mrs. Grover
Cleveland. lends prestige to the cause
The other and less respectable wing Is
doing the bulk of the work: it is the
wing led by James r. Nugent OF
Newark, the eX-boss whom Woodrow
Wilson drove out Of public office MI
pie. and in Essex and Hudson counties
the fight Is pretty much wet ant
dry" fight
The suffrage question has cut acros.
all party lines. While Senator MARITIME
Is against the amendment-and ha.
been roundly denounced for frankne
millions OF copies OF an anti-suffrag &,
leaflet throughout the East-his col
league, Senator Hughes, is for the amend
ment and is speaking nightly
NO DANGER IN SUFFRAGE.
An influential committee Of -, headed
by Col. George Harvey. Banking Com
missioner George Lamonte, Senate
Hughes. Attorney General Wescott, an,
ex-Gov. Franklin Fort, Is made IN o
representatives from all the politica
parties. This committee after wadin,
heroically through what Is known in tn
campaign as 1.-THE MARITIME pamphlet,
has Just issued statement declarin,
roundly that the extension Of woma,
suffrage from one neighboring State T.
another In the West disproves alarms
and reactionary anticipations OF It
workings and shows that woman sui
|
institutions" The statement goes on t,
declare that 1.-THE enfranchisement o
moro than 3,Jooo 900 women In tho western
States makes the continued disfrnnchise
ment OF the women In tho East In
creaslngly anomalous, unjust. and un
dignified, This statement seems lkel!
to carry considerable weight
But the fact remains, when all Ia sal,
and done. that the fight Is primaril,
that Of the women. They have Done tn
systematic training and routing .
speakers have organized their own pub
liclty machinery. and have met the ex
traordinary expenses of the campaign
with the most heroic self-sacrifice. Nov
Jersey Is small State. 30 far as votinl
population goes, and tho women hav
canvassed 1t, so 1t is said, from end t.
end.
The factors upon which they count are
first. the labor vote; second. the rura
vote with dry" leanngs. and, third
the intelligent middle class commutins
population which has been under the In
fluence Of the papers OF New York nnt
Philadelphia. This influence has. II
general. been strongly pro-suffrage, anc
the women count upon It heavily.
HAVE WILSON'S SUPPORT,
There Is one other influence. blgge
than any one Of these, and that is Wood
row Wilson New Jersey Is, OF course
his home State, and now that he ha
come out with a decisive statement Il
their favor, he will carry thousands o
doubling Thomases with him.
Perhaps the "snappiest" single influ
ence In tho Campaign has been the ma