Newark post., 1915-04-14

The men OIL tnree eastern states
Massachusetts,, New York and
New Jersey,-will have an op-
portunity this fall to put them
selves on record for or against
woman suffrage. In each state a ,
constitutional amendment extend
ing the suffrage to women is to be
submitted to the voters at the
polls. What will the men of Mass
achusetts, New York, and New !
Jersey do with the opportunity?
VIII they follow the enlightened
example of the men of Wyoming,
Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Washing
ten, California, Arizona, Kansas,
Oregon, Alaska, Illinois, Montana,
and Nevada? Or will they choose
to keep their states a while longer
cropping in the mists of reaction?
Women should vote for four
good and sufficient reasons-and
for one other reason greater than
all four. All the four reasons are
these:
1t will be good for the women.
1t will be good for the men.
1t will be good for the family.
1t will be good for the state.
In the first place, then, it will
be good for women to vote-not,
it should be noted, to have the
right to vote, but to vote, for the
suffrage is not only a privilege but
an unacceptable obligation-be-
cause it will broaden their mental
and moral horizon. 1t will give
them something new to think
about; and there is no better, one
might almost say no other, road to
intellectual development than
thinking. 1t will give them new re-
spOnsibilities-responsibilities to
their neighbors, to the community,
to the states. There is better
road to moral development than
the assumption and the bearing of
responsibility.
In the second place, to have wo-
men vote will be good for men. 1t
will put them on their mettle, for
it would go hard-with masculine
pride to find the weaker sex"
beating them at their own tradi-
tional task. 1t will make the men
think too. For there is no greater
incentive to clear thinking than,
first, the necessity of explaining a
matter to an inquiring mind and,
second, the need of defending
ones own position in argument. 1t
will sharpen mems moral respon-
sibility. For women have a way
of going straight to the heart of
things; and it might be new and
stimulating experience for a man
to have to explain to his wife, or
his mother or his daughter-as
fellow voters-just why he was
voting on the side of a corrupt
boss or in favor of the liquor traf-
fc or against the suppression of
child labor.
In the third place, the voting of
women will be good for the family.
1t will create new bond of union
among it's members. Husband and
wife with a common duty to the
state will find themselves drawn
closer together. The mother who
goes to the polls with her son, the
father who accompanies his
daughter to the performance OF
their common civic task will fine
a new pleasure in their parent
hood and a new outlook upon Its
possibilities. The son who grows
up to find his mother voter, in
formed on public affairs and in
telligent to discuss them, viii
have a new appreciation of hi
mothers companionship, a broad
ened respect for womanhood.
In the fourth place, woman sui
frage will be good for the state
The comment has been keenl!
made that the state, like the fam
lily, needs not only father but
mother. Women, by the very ma
ture of their being, and OF thel
normal existence, are experts OF
certain vital subjects. And the
state needs expert knowledg
quite as much as it needs good in
tentions and sound principles
Municipal housekeeping could no
but gain in efficiency from tn
participation in it's affairs of thos
in the community whose peculla
business housekeeping is. Womel
will bring to the activities OF gov
ernrnent new point of view, val
liable because it is a sound pom
of view and no less valuable be
cau$e it is a different point O