Evening journal., 1915-03-04

The Legislature OF New York state
has seen ft to place the question of
woman suffrage squarely before the
present electorate. Every man OF
voting age must meet the issue with
clear vision. The answer Of New
York State TO this long pending query
should be forcible and definite. The
proposed amendment to the State
Constitution should be voted down by
such majority of the voters as 10
deprive the advocates of an objection
able and unreasonable arrangement
of the political and social structure
OF any further hope OF success in
this state The question involved is
not new, all the arguments OF the
suffragists are old and were long ago
refuted and sent to limbo. Their
ceaseless and noisy agitation has not
developed single new idea. Woman
suffrage would result either in a
needless political muddle or In a So
cial and political turmoil which would
tend to weaken the State, to stir
up discord in society and in the home
and would put obstacles in the way
of progress which the wisest states
I manship might fail to overcome.
The grant of suffrage to women is
repugnant to instincts that strike
4 their roots deer in the order of nat
ure II runs counter TO human rec
son. il fouts the teachings of eg-
perience and TIE admonitions of COM
mon sense. Although women have
other capacities without number. held
in equal distinction and some in
highest honor, they have never pcs
sessed or developed the political fac
ulty Without the counsel and guild
ance of men no woman ever ruled a
State wisely and we'll. The defect is
innate and one for which a cure is
both impossible and not TO be desired
That they lack the genius for politics
is no more TO their discredit than
mans unhandiness in hOusewifery
and in the care of infants and his
small endowment of those finer Quai
itics of charm and tenderness thai
steal away half of lile's sharpness.
are a reproach to him. There are two
human estates. the mans and thl
womans Their boundaries are trace'
by no imaginary or effaceablo lines
Nature has marked them by metc
and bounds that no human beine
ever yet overlooked save with tn
conscious intent to transgress he
laws.
For the intelligent use of the ballo
men in their daily callings undergo
ceaseless training The hand of In
law has within its reach every ma
and every woman. but in their bust
ness affairs men are in such itnmedi
ate touch with controlling authOritie
that they find themselves all the tim
forced TO take thought about the law
that help or hinder them, whethe
they be good or bad. and in what wa
they may be bettered. The merchar
and the manufacturer. men engage
in the business of banking. insuranc
real estate. foreign trade, the Law
yer the doctor, the blacksmith, Il
farmer, men in all the thousan
branches of male affairs, habitual
and necessarily form reasoned opil
ions of the efficiency of governmen
the virtue of laws, the policies an
the promises OF parties. the charact
I and the pledges of candidates, an
l they 20 to the polls prepared to ca
a a ballot that will. so far as il ma
give effect TO their convictions an
their desires. Some men, MANY me
. reason foOlishly, vote foolishly, b
their motives and their decisions ha
- az least some discOverable relation
7 the public aspects OF the questions
issue. When that relation is not di