New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-09
The Woman Suffrage "Crisis II
"The Times.

lature of the state TO place the question OF woman
suffrage squarely before the voters Woman SUI
frage will come in spite of everything IS the dis
turbing phrase Of the hour. Politicians are nm
pressed. Many men have taken She matter 100
lightly" Every high-minded. responsible man IS
prayerfuily urged TO do his best at least ITO post
pone the evil day."
"The Times" is wide awake TO the danger.
7, is still deaf and blind to what the advancing
battle line means. In its masculine SUPERIOR
;ty, II has missed utterly what has happened to
women and their work in the last decades ana
wears. Therefore to-day it argues against SUI
frage in the words Of 1850. 1t conJures up
dozen suffrage bogies from its memory and pro
ceeds 10 stamp on them furiously. Or the real
force and living power behind the present day
desire of American women to do their full share
BY the state Of which they are members THE
Times" has no more perception than a medieval
monk.
Let us take the first and main contention Of
"The Times" We are compelled to select isolated
sentences owing to the dislocaton Of its excited
utterance Here is the idea:
Either women must work as men worn VI INV
will never be qualified to vote as men vote
II there be those who would contend that "ome"
must become less womany. that they snould Decohc
masculine in thought and feeling ana tenn ,,rlnr
neither will they openly admit that they would Ilhe
10 sec women become more like men Bnt Wlthout
that transformation women cannot qualify Tor the
vote as men qualify, and there is no other way 10
acquire the qualification.
This is clear and forcble language 1t is sin
cere. beyond question. 1t is. unfortunately so
amazingly ignorant as TO amount almost to an
historic example of superior minds inability
IN heed and listen. ITO vote as men vote" says
"The Times" But no one wants women TO vote
as men vote! 1t is just because they have diff
ferent mental character, a different training, a
different contribution 10 make to the political wis
dom of the state that it is proposed TO enlist
their aid "To see women become more like men.
The basic suffrage idea is to preserve woman
mind and character in their essentially feminine
form and to present their own point of view, their
own hopes. ambitions methods and ideals to the
service of the state. The Transformation at
which "The Tines shudders is pure nightmare
Of its own raising, utterly without relation TO
the facts or tendencies Of the present suffrage
movement.
We hope The Times" after an observation of
the facts will correct its error and agree with us
thus far. We do not expect, however, that "The
Times" will subscribe to our faith in the
value Of this contribution which women yot-
ing as women, can make. A reading of "The
Times" editorial Hscloses an utter disregard Of
the whole field of legislation for which women
81, he rtic
planning how the male voter has become qualified
to cast his ballot:
The voter must help to decide the graves public
questions relating 20 labor, international disputes,
measures Of national defence. problems, public
morality, monetary plans, tariffs anC taxation. On
such questions men vote according to judgments
founded observation and knowledge acquired in
the pursuit OF their daily business
II by the words labor" ard public morality"
"The Times" had intended the broadest scope of
those terms il would surely have possessed suffi-
cient sense Of humor not to have added the dec
laration that men learned about them in their
daily business OF course The Times" used the
words as it always uses them-as signifying
those conventional aspects Of labor and morals
which an ultra-conservatve mind can touch with
out dsmay. 1t was intent, in its whole list of
"the gravest public questions upon legislation
concerning property, the purely economic side of
state activity We have no wish to minimize the
importance Of such laws. We insist however,
that such a viewpoint ignores fully half of the
most pressing legislative problems of the day.
Child labor, the liquor question, the regulation of
hours of labor, the safeguarding OF labor in fac
tories. sanitation, unemployment insurance
the list is long one. and we make no attempt to
express approval or diSapprova of any policy or
policies. The unavoidable fact is that these laws
concerning human rights furnish the great issues
of our generation They will be the matter of
public thought long after woman suffrage has be-
come an accepted fact, and "The Times" has re-
signed itself to the worst.
We think that women are amply fitted TO
helm in the solution Of these problems We assert
this on the broadest ground, that the problems
are primarily human problems, and women are,
.oncededly, human beings. 1t can also be based
,pon the narrower but equally sufficient ground
hat the problems in large measure concern
yomen first of ALL The woman at factory loom
10 longer controls her safety, or her health, as
,hen she woye at home The millions of women
workers. who tramped forth into the industrial
attls line when the factory system superseded