The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-05-08

 SUFFRAGE NEWS
CA. G. Porritt ]


 It was scarcely a stroke of political genius that pnudd1ed the suffrage amendment in New Jersey so badly that the governor has had to call the legislature into special session to | remedy the mistakes. If such a blum i der had been made by an organiza- 1 tion of women, it would have been | hailed by the country as an eTainet | example of the unfitness of women l for the vote. But the women had | nothing to do with the mistake that
 was made, and very many of them feel that if women had been consulted ! neither the blunder of 1913 which | delayed the suffrage amendment for 1 sage three times by the legislature. nor the bIunder of this year which 1 has made necessary the extra session | tof the legislature would have been ! made. 4 l The straw vote that was taken re- <centIy- by the New Hork-@sun on wo- man suffrage was not taken very -se- Iriously by the New York suffrage Headers. The vote was confined to professional men, financiers, mer- Ia similar limited electorate were asked it's opinion concerning votes For working men. it is extremely like l ly that it would be unfavorab1e and I that these men would declare for l qualifications which would limit the ] voters to men of their own. classes. The men and women who oppose wo-7 1 man suffrage, usually oppose demo- 1 l cratic goYernment; though it is hard ] Iy conceivable that an electorate of rnilIionaires, tempered by an adn1x- l ture of college professors would prove fsatisfactory to the American nation 1 The chief work that will be under taken by Connecticut suffragists dur l ing the coming summer will be the 1 Organization for suffrage of the small | f are Y7O Sl1f- frage clubs or 1eagues- This work 1 will be undertaken, not by the state Organizers who are this year at work in the neighboring states where the I popular vote is to be taken on suf- frage amendments in the fall. It will I be done by the large and strong equal l franchise leagues in the nearest city or town. The county. chairmen will Ebe in charge. of the plans and each ! county chairman. will form a com- I pany of volunteer helpers who will go into these. small towns canvass the in I habitants, get ups public meetings and see that healthy suffrage organi-
 zations are set on foot.
 I The next suffrage event of -fn1por-s l tance in the state is the convention
 Of the Congressional Union which will be held in Hartford on June and l g. The convention will begin with
 luncheon at the Hotel Bond, and there E will be sessions afternoon and even
 
 on the following day. The special work of the convention is to organize
 suffragists in Connecticut in support
 of the Susan B. Anthony amendment.
 This is the aTnendnnen N to the
 United States Constitution first intro duced by Miss Susan B. Anthony in 1878, which would enfranchise wo- men in every state by the sprohibi-7 ton of any restriction of sex in re- J Isgard to the right to vote It would
 
 tions that the states may impose on the suffrage so far as educational tests or even property tests are con- cerned- It would merely guard the cred full citizens and to be allowed
 to qualify for the suffrage under the
 same conditions as men.
 This is the amendment that was 1voted upon on January 12 in the : house of representatives at Washing ]. as against 204 cast against it. Since ; then the 63rd congress has come to an end and in the 64th congress a : number of menswho voted against g l the measure will not reappear5 The ,, 4th congress is known to be already
 more favorable to woman suffrage 2 than the 63rd, and to make the nern- : bers still more favorable organizations : are being formed in every state of the s Union to bring pressure within thei1 R 2 convene in Washington in the begin.
 ming of December. Tn the senate
 when the amendment was voted upor
 last year, it had a majority of the < s votes cast=35. to 34-but it had no \ the two thirds majority necessary fol
 the passage of a constitutional amend e Inent This session-that is the ses 5 sion opening in Decembe ber-it is hop ed that both house and senate vii s give the necessary two-thirds najori : ties and that the amendment will theI g be submitted to the states for thei 's ratification
 < Among the speakers at the Connec ticl1t convention of June 9th and 9tl will be Mrs. Inez MiIholland Boisse
 vain, Mrs. John Rogers Mrs. William B. A Prendergast, wife of the sconptrol Ter of New York city, Miss Alice Paul d Mrs T. N. Hepburn, Mrs. M. T. Ben H. nett, Miss Dotha Stone Pinneo. Mrs n H. IF. Knox and Professor and Mrs it Charles A. Beard. congressman Hil sy has promised to be present and t, re speak at at the luncheon if he i r-t within reach of Connecticut. He i sf not only in favo1 of woman suffragt oz but he approvesethe plan of enfran Is chisement by the Susan B. Anthon. is amendment.
 The Bethlehem Steel Corporation i ,v rushing work on the completion Of large addition to it's merchant mill a
 South Beth1ehen,a Pa, and the e7zten : sion is expected to be completed with