The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-03-02
THE BEGINNING.

f.I|Ia r ~ e-SlNtNllNNtstt u ~ 800
In meeting to be held in Hunt,
tngton this afternoon the campaign
for equal suffrage In West Virginia
will be opened.
This represents an extraordinary
occasion The Huntington meeting
as far as information serves, will take
pecedence as the first held In the
state since the adoption OF the Joint
resolution submitting the suffrage
amendment TO the yotere.
The campaign in favor OF ratiRca,
tton will be unique in more than one
particular. The men OF West Wiz.
gtnia will be called upon by the SUI.
frage advocates to place within the
reach OF women an instrument OF law
which will make her the equal OF
man in the most solemn duty which
devolves upon citizenship. 1t will be
for the men to say whether the women
OF West Virginia shall be given this
recognition and its attendant priv.
leges. But. as the Herald. Dispatch
has already pointed out. the attitude
OF the men will be governed by the
interest shown by the women them.
selves.
II 1t shall be shown that tho pre-.
ponderant sentiment among the wo.
men is friendly toward the new order,
the men will be inclined to support
the suffrage amendment. The women
OF the state have the fate OF suffrage
in their own hands. II they show an
enthusiastic, an Understanding and
an aggressive interest commensurate
with the Importance OF the issue us it
confronts themselves and tho state,
the men will rise to the occasion and
give them what they want.
But, in the beginning, and today
Is the beginning 1t must be remember.
ed that West Virginia, though the
suffrage amendment hns been sub.
mitted, is virgin territory for the
sufragists, the non.suffragists and
everybody else when the amendment
was submitted. There had been a
minimum OF suffrage agitation in West
Virginia-almost none. There was no
deep.seated feeling, no statewide de.
mand for submission. The women
themselves have never been appealed
to, except in a very few localities, aud
even then only in the most perfume.
tory way. 1t remains, therefore, for
the West Virginia sutfragists, who
have been miraculously tided over
the preliminary battle for legislative
submission, to begin at the beginning
in the campaign for ratification. 1t
may be that, the legislature being a
representative body. the action Of its
members in submitting tho amendment
can be taken to Indicate tho state OF
feeling in the masculine mind through.
out the state. But 1t would be unwise
to accept this theory and act upon It.
Before November, 1916, there will
have been IN awakening on this qucs.
ton. The public mind will be stirred,
and q yiriie, decisive public 5entl.
ment will be engendered. and the pre-.
ponderant side OF this sentiment will
decide the question OF suffrage.
It would be a pity, as we view 1t,
for the women--the suffrage women,
to fail, now that the outer breast.
works, the legislative barrier, has
been broken down before them, leav-
ing only the point OF ratification 10 be
won. The susfragists OF West vir:
ginfa, where little heed has been paid
to organization, and where little edu.
cationai effort has been. put forth,
have had thrust into their hands a
gift for which their sisters in other
states have fought for twenty-five
years, only to meet defeat after de.
feat.
1t would be folly to contend that
equal suffrage is not the destined
state OF affairs in this country. 1t
would be the weakness OF folly to try
to avoid the issue. Equal suffrage is
Just as certain us is that great day
wherein unclean politics, vcnal meth.
DDS. unfaithtul service and all The
relics OF callous civic conscience will
be relegated to the eternal past. In
some states this condition will arrive
ahead OF woman's chance with the bal.
lot. In others It will be of stimuli.
taneous advent with their enfran.
chi5ement. There are two theories
upon which men oppose the suffrage
Idea. Both are pretudicial. Ono Is
because OF an ideaiism, q good, old.
fashioned feeling which Is inherent in
many men. They believe in women
as thing apart, and they believe
honestly, but not as the result OF any
deep thought or analysis OF facts,
that her contact with politics will
work contamination OF the fine vest
ments in which the ideal mind has ar
rayed her. The other is selfish. SIMS.
ter, The latter theory OF opposition
is one Of the best arguments on earth
why women should be given the bal.
lot. II politics Is not good enough
for women, the men are to blame.
Politics, political affairs, are what
the men have made them, what they
permit them to be. And the men are
no cleaner than any political state
that they permit to obtain by grace OF
Indifference. 1t will De no worse for
the women to engage In that grade of
politics that men have made for them.
selves than 1t will be for them to con.
tinue to associate with the men who
permit the continuation of a contami.
mating political condition. It is
rather for the men, the truly honest,
responsible, patriotic men Of the na.
ton, and more particularly OF West
Virginia. in the immediate instance,
to make politics fit for women. The
man does not believe that politics, the
very source of our laws and OF all ad.
ministration, ought to be clean enough
TO permit woman's participation there.