Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-12
WOMAN SUFFRAGE


NUR erandmothers were young women
" debutantes and brides, when they began
an agitation in two of our largest Eastern
States, which they passed on in turn to their
daughters and granddaughters, and whlch mas
finally, after 60 years of uninterrupted strug-
gle resulted in victory for the women OF
both States.
1t is an interesting coincidence that during
all these years, while the men of 13 Western
States have given the vote to their women
all the Eastern States have stood out against
any compromise, even to referring the mat
ter to the men for q referendum vote.
Finally in 1915, not only Massachusetts, and
New York are the scenes of the go years
struggle, but two other Eastern States as
we'll have capitulated and will present the
question of enfranchisng women to their
voters this fall The States are Massachu-
setts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsyl-
Vana.
As the voting time approaches, September
for New Jersey and November in the other
three States the women Of these four Com
monwealths are putting up a great fight for
the "cause." In the meantime, the newspa-
pers are already publishing special suffrage
numbers given over entirely or in part to
women editors and suffrage news, and the
magazines and weeklles are devoting an in
creasing amount of space to articles on suf-
frage and feminsm.
The Independent % summarizes editor
tally five reasons for giving women the
vote:
Women should vote for four good and suf
fcent 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
But to come to the last and greatest rea-
son of all. Partial suffrage-the suffrage of
men alone-is n denial of democracy. De-
mocracy will never be full and complete until
every individual in the community has
equal right to determine how the affairs of
the community shall be managed. Democracy
the rule of the peoples no democracy
while half of the people are excluded from
the ruling. The United States is nation
Conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal"
There is no liberty while women are free only
TO be governed and not to govern. There is
no equality which does not include political
equality-and political equality for all per-
sons regardless of sex.
Woman's ingenuity is classic, Her appli-
cation of it to new and startling uses in the
next six months will form one of the pleas
ures of the campaign. The Woman's Journal
(2) reports one of the propaganda methods
already in use:
Telephone publicity is one of the methods
recently adopted by the New York women
in their active campaigning. Instead of say
ing Hello" when they answer the telephone
these days, every good suffraglst when she
takes down the receiver, simply says Votes
for women" The psychological effect OF repe-
tition of the slogan is valuable
The Woman's Journal also comments on
the results of a suffrage census taken recently
by the New York World.
nlRa II ytVNR rs mar INaHgz l.
GREATER NEW YORK.
Percentage
of Replies
Received.
For woman suffrage. age................... 1904
Against Observation-Disclosures. 22.sB
SEVEN UPSTATE CITIES.
For woman suffrage. e.................,. 7O.s7
Against Observation-Disclosures. 1888
Reference to suffrage or anti-suffrage or
carnations was carefully avoided In making
up the lists OF women who might be con-
sidered fairly representative. The polls by
upstate newspapers were taken mainly
through the publication Of coupons which
women readers were asked to sign. The
World avoided this method in New York eity
and confined it's inquiry to representative
lists OF women, TO whom return postal cards
were addressed. These cards were sent out
by the thousands to women in every borough
The list was made up by the Oldest organi
zation in New York that spsclalizes in mall
Ing lists Of all kinds The manager OF this
urn was tn9lE lEuStSu 70 compile a mailing list
that should represent in fair proportion all
classes of women, from domestic servants
and scrub women TO the wives OF millonaires.
Madam Rosika Schwimmer. OF Budapest.
Hungary. the publicity secretary OF the In
ternational Woman Suffrage Alliance, has
been touring this country as the representa-
tive OF one million women OF Europe. ap-
pealing 70 the women Of America 70 lend
their aid and influence IN helping to bring an
end 10 the war. The Outlook Cs) writes;
The women Of Austria-Hunsary, said