The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1915-09-18
VOTES FOR WOMEN.
Southern States Woman Suffrage
Conference. Alt Camp Stre@h
New Orleans, La.

| Seriously enough many states art
| considering the organization of 8
citizen army as a measure of de
tense or preparedness. This will be
following the method of Australia
from which country we have borrow
ed many advanced governmental
| ideas One cannot but wonder if Wo.
men will be included in the scheme
of citizen preparedness?
That they will be called upon for
service when the disaster of war is
an actuality, goes without saying.
But the benefits of participation in
training and opportunity to suggest
and plan may be arbitrarily with
held from the women who have their
all essass.stake in the governments ae-
tions.
Never war has been Waged that
women did not become a factor. In
colonial days when lurking Indians
menaced the hearthstone, men could
not sit beside the chimney to defend
its sanctity; they carried their clumsy
firearms into the forests and fields,
against surprise in combat. The wife
and mother left to guard her brood
sprang alertly to doorway or window
with ak or. musket to receive the saw
age trespasser, and deadly was her
aim.
When in the days of colonial revolt,
the minute-men left the cattle yoked
in the field, as, hastily shouldering
their guns, they rushed to the ranks
of the soldiers, the minute-women of
the Revolution titled the fields, sowed
and harvested the crops for the
sustenance of the soldiers, spun and
manufactured the clothes for the
army, and for the nine long, dreary
years Of war privations their deeds
of heroism rivalled those of their
men folk. Women too tasted Of the
bitterness and despair of Valley
Forge.
And during the conflicts Of the
civil war, neither chivalry in the soath
nor lavish affection in the north suf-
feed to protect the women from the
privation, the rigors and sorrows,
and the financial ravage of war.
Whether in the field, the hospital, in
industry, or maintenance of the con-
filcts of nation, the woman upholds
and pays her share.
This entities her to consideration
in the plans Of citizen army.
Governments derive their just pow
ers from the consent of the govern
ed. = A government without women
is bound to be ineffective.
Australia well knows this, and in
her advanced legislation women are
equally recognized with men.
Seventeen new organizations for
woman suffrage is the record making
result of Flying Squadron No. / Of
the Louisiana Equal Suffrage Asso-
citation. This unusually large num-
ber of new organizations, recruited
within the short space of fourteen
days, is an indication of the tremend-
Gus amount of woman suffrage senti-
ment in Louisiana. Legislators will
not be able to dodge the question at
the next session, nor can constitu-
tional convention evade the issue.
Southern states other than Louisi-
ana are agitating votes for women, |
and it is not without the bounds of |
possibility that southern women will |
out-run their northern sisters in the |
ace for freedom.
The Louisiana State Equal Suf-
sragists will continue their activity I
the constitutional |
proposal was defeated |
The ballot for Louisiana women is