The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-08-29


in direct competition to the married
woman who works and the wage that
will suffice for the one to patch out
an existence with her husbands in
come will not suffice for the woman
who is alone and has to provide her
self with home as well as the many
other things she needs and should
have 70 make life worth living at all.
Equal and universal suffrage would
right this wrong in that it would give
to both the means of sustenance with=
out its having to be patched out by an
other wage.
Mothers need the ballot that they
may firmly stand for improvements In,
sanitation that measure up to the
very last weird in that achievement.
Teachers more than any other class
of women need the ballot. for where Is
there a class Of people on whom the
demands Of civilization are greater
than are the demands made on the
teacher. Yet, taking them by and
large, they are as poorly paid as any
class of persons in the world. Not
only must they spend years in prepa-
ration to teach, but they must keep
preparing all the time to keep abreast
of the times, and they must meet the
views of their patrons who are very
often inclined to be more expectant
than they are inclined to be generous
| in the criticism. And not only must
they be all Of these things while they
are teaching, but they must make
preparation for the time wehn teach-
ing days are over. How can they do
it with the salaries they get?
But, I am assured that with the bal
lot teachers can accomplish much to-
ward a betternfeflt of those conditions
and / am equally certain that the
great majority Of men who oppose the
ballet for women on the grounds their
place Is the home would not them-
selves accept and submit to the con-
diti6ns that now surround the teacher
Of the average public school.
And, since a great many men OPP
pose equal suffrage on the grounds it
takes Women from the hefie | feel it
is but proper to inform them that
women desire the ballot more because
it will make it possible for them to
stay at home than for any other rea-
son. Woman with her ballot viii be
always striving for her .SwF better
fnent and with every advance she
makes for herself will make two fer
man ami eventually her struggles viii
place the value Of her labor on a par
| ity with that of man and when this
is dene then her need of going from
not, of course, be expected to UNDER
stand why the women want the ball
lot any more than the man who be-
longs to the classes can understand
why men Of the masses need the ball
! lot. Such women have no idea what
I it means for one of her sisters to
stand for leng hours over q counter
and cater to her every within simply
because she has the means to buy and
the other has none other than the
ability to be graceful in the face of
her whifns, and the desire to sell her
something.
i There is another class If wemen OPP
posed TO equal suffrage, bat / wish
to qualify their opposition BY saying
4 do not believe they understand it.
And | am going to say to the men
taes' haVa a class too, that do not
understand equal suffrage and be-
4 ~ this is 50 they contradict It. To
both the man and wefnaA of this type
i wish to say that if sthey will take
up this matter and give it thought
!. from the economic side alone / am
Z sure they will be convinced equal suf-
frage IL not a dream Of the ambitious
but the very means by which all can
!. be the most benefited.
!; Equal suffrage is not a new thing.
Wyoming gave woman the ballot in
/ 1859, Colorado in 1893, Utah in 1896
and so on through many western
: states until now eleven states give
! their women full suffrage, twenty
states taxation, bond and school suf-
: frage, one state partial county and
state, and municipal suffrage while
J the rest do not give their women any
suffrage whatever. 1t is significant
that Of the states that do not give
| their women suffrage only two Of
them do not adjoin while the states
that do give their women suffrage
form an almost unbroken line from
coast to coast.
/ Capital has been made from the
fact that Montana which has more
border on Wyoming than any other
state did coast to coast.
not grant their women suffrage for AZ
years after Wyoming had granted /,
to them; it is said if equal suffrage
had been so successful in Wyoming
then why did it take Montana a
| years to grant it to her women. We
! do not know why it took Montan A
years to do this, but assume there
must have been in that state the same