The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-14
CONNECTICUT
 SUFFRAGE NEWS

To the Editor,
 It is very difficult for Suffragists
 to meet the accusations of the Antis when these concern the women of the equal suffrage states. It takes time to write to California or Colorado in order to ascertain fhe facts about some of the slanderous stories that are so freely circulated. In answer to recent lcommunicatfons of this kind however. communications which have been widely printed in the papers of the state, may [ ask you to give publicly to the following authoritative state nent by Mrs. Ellis Meredith presi- dent of the Election Commission of Denver, Colorado Mrs. Meredith
 writes in answer to the assertion that in answer to the assertion that in Col orado divorce increases in proportion
 to marriage, and homes and children are neglected; juvenile crime increases rapidly, women voters are corrupt; le- gislation designed to lessen hours Of labor and protect women and children is behind that of the male suffrage states women do not vote anyway; when they do vote they vote for the worst candidates and favor the liquor interests.
 Of these assertions Mrs. Meredith writes: tAI1 this would be important if tru@ and in a sense it is still import ant though untrue, since it amounts 1 to a wholesale islander of about Az per
  state. The divorce rate is high in Col 1 orado; let us grant that at once,, but there are explanations, Denver is a pheasant place of sojourn for those who prefer to seek a legal solution of their woes elsewhere than in their own homes. (Here it may be remarked | that the Hartford newspapers recent l ly recorded that two Hartford women l had been in Denver for this purpose 1 thus adding to the divorce rate of Col
 orado.l To remedy the evil of hasty reTnarriage after divorce, 9 bilE was passed in the 1915 legislature provid- i ing that the decree should not be 1 handed down until six months after the court proceeding
 .sAs to neglected homes and children. l this is stock objection that dates back to the dawn of history, and has never had any foundation outside the ina gination of few people. As to I juvenile crime, Judge Lindsey who is Fcertainly an authority on this subject Issued a pamphlet a year or two ago l in which he shows a marked decrease
 He says that the first printed report 1 1902, showed 560 delinquent children In 1912 only 419 were complained of- Ink these ten years the school popula- 1 ton had doubled. It thus. appears the 1 juvenile crime in Denver in the last l ten years has decreased nearly 200 per cent.
 As to legislation for the protection | of women and children. We have and have had the eight-hour day for sew i eral years and children are not al- lowed to work under cixteen years of age unless they have finished the 1 eighth grade at school. Contrast this 1 with the recent twelve-hour day leg
 islation in New York, or the nine hour
 day of Maine, which proposed law has
 been referred by a petition of 1S GOO l chivaIrous gentlemen; women there are not eligible to sign a petition for a
 referendum.
 As to the failure of women to vote
 and their corruption. Having been
 president of the Election Commission
 of Denver for four years, giving per
 sonaI attention to thirteen elections,
 and going from polling place to polling
 place and visiting the places set apart
 for registration, I know that women
 do vote, that they are intelligent1y in-
 terested, that they make honest and
 efficient election officials, and that there is practically no such thing as
 corruption of any perceptib1e number
 of women voters. As to their voting
 for whiskey and liquor interests-well. l the State went dry in 1914. It took 21
 new generation of voters, but having 1 huence enough with them to defeat
 the forces back of the saloon. The
 candidate elected, most of them on a
 dry platform, are able to defend them
 selves when they shall need defence" | This statement, coming as it does