The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-04-10
Justice of Woman S Suffrage.

1dll W put tuGIuSt1Nto Ou ISCOiu lOI VI
against woman suffrage. In each state
a constitutional amendment extending
the suffrage to women is to be submit
ted to the voters at the polls. What |
will the men of Massachusetts, New
York and New Jersey do with the OPP
ightened example of the men of Wyo-
ming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Washing |
ton, California, Arizona, Kansas, Ore
gon, Alaska, Illinois, Montana and Ne
vada? Or will they choose to keep
their states while longer cropping in
the mists of reaction2
Women should vote for four good
and sufficient reasons-and for one
other reason greater than all four. And
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 obliga-
tion-because it will broaden their men
tai and moral horizon. 1t will give
them something new to think about;
and there Is no better, one might al
most say no other, road to intellectual
development than thinking. 1t will
give them new responsibilities = re-
sponsibihties to their neighbors, to the
community, to the state. There is no
better road to moral development than
the assumption and the bearing of
responsibility.
In the second place, to have women
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 traditional 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 one S own position in ar
gument. 1t will sharpen men S moral
= responsibility. For women have a way
of going straight to the heart OF
4 things; and it might be a new and
) stimulating experience for a man tc
= have to explain to his wife. or his
mother or his daughter-as fellow vot
ers-iust why he was voting on the
;, side of a corrupt boss or in favor OF
e the liquor traffic or against the sup
: preston of child labor.
! In the third place, the voting of wo
men will be good for the family. i
viii create new bond of union among
: its members. Husband and wife will
5 a common duty to the state viii fine
q themselves drawn closer together. Tht
. mother who goes to the polls with he
son, the father who accompanies hi
:, daughter to the performance of tina
II common civic task will find a new
e pleasure in their parenthOod and a new
o outlook upon its possibilities. The sol
! who grows, up to find his mother a vot
er informed on public affairs and intel
= ligent to discuss them, Will have nev
e appreciation of his mother S compan
lionship, a broadened respect for VIC
manhood.
In the fourth place, woman suffrag
r will be good for the state. The com
) ment has been keenly made that til
state, like the family, needs not onl
IS a father but a mother. Women, by tn
e i very nature of their being, and o
r their normal existence, are experts o
certain vital subjects And the stat
= needs expert knowledge quite as niue
1t as it needs good intentions and SCUM
a. principles Municipal housekeepin
le could not but gain in efficiency frol
the participation in its affairs of thos
in the community whose peculia
" business housekeeping IS. Women wi
f. bring to the activities of government
ola new point of view, valuable bt
cause it is q sound point OF view an
: no less valuable because it is q diffe
ne ent point of view. On such subjects G
ne the highest Importance TO the well-b,
IL ING of the state as education, workin
conditions for women, the purity {
~ food, child labor, the liquor traffic, ii
IL social evil, and war, women have thu
Mt to contribute in the way of speci;
> knowledge and special sympathy while
the state can i'll afford to be withou
- Women have different qualities
ny mind from men. Men are in theory
ed least and often in practice, reasonir
beings Women are creatures of intu
ton. Men plod to a conclusion; wome
leap to it. 1t is sometimes startling
of observe how woman S intuition su
nr passes man s reason in soundness
- result. But to whichever quality |
awarded the palm for usefulness. the
Ne is no question that the two taken t
Ids gether are greatly more valuable thu
ars either alone.
h. But to come to the last and create
reason of all
" Partial suffrage-the suffrage Of ms
he a1one-is a denial of democracy D
of mocracy will never be full and COZ
ma plete until every individual in t
community has an equal right to d
!" termine how the affairs of the commu1
elr ty shall be managed. Democracy