Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-02-19

went to their employers and asked II
they would give them work II Trey FoAei
for the bill. and the employers said TO-
50 many men voted against 1t TO keep the
bread and butter in their mouths she
quoted from Helen summers BOOK
! Equal Suffrage" and gave as misieaa-
ing a quotation as she DID from Judge
Lindsey. Helen Sumner spent TWO years
in Colorado investigating conci1iohs.
, She wrote hundreds of letters TO men ana
women there asking them to answer GER
tain questions; she consulted newspaper
files registration books. state and county
reports, and tried in every way to reach
a fair understanding of conditions there
She published adverse and compliment
tary replies to her questions, which OF
course can be quoted, il one wants
biased opinion, but the only fair way to
get the real facts about the working out
of suffrage is by doing as Dean Sumner
did, take consensus of opinion. the ma
iority report, and this showed, to quote
her conclusions that Equal Suffrage
has brought no loss. and some decided
| gain 10 Colorado-It has enlarged the
interests of women: quiekened their
civic consciousness and developed in
some cases ability Of high order which
has been Of service to the city and the
state
Mrs. Oliphant tried to prove that wo-
men are growing .sss interested in the
ballot. and yet the largest registration
in the history of California was poiied
in November. ooGe more people voting
than ever before. In Kansas the vote
increased by Is9.0t-a in IsI4-lS,ooo women
voted in Chicago last November. al
though they could not vote for the coun-
ty commissioners wlo control the hos2i-
tails and poor farm and many OF the
things in which women are primarily in
terested. Mrs Morrill, Harnlins state
, nent that men had gained nothing by
the ballot and everything by organization
is re:uted by the we'll known fact that
the labor organizations have legislative
committees in every state legislature
and In the National legislature. lobbying
for their bills. Does she think that the
.p41r1 approximately votes i'll the hands
OF the 1.u0Ny members OF the American
Federation Of Labor had 10 efec, uDon
the legislators who voted to exempt the
/ federation from the Sherman Act?
W Quiz LESs nave Ilc.i Tie SE-li- =
if they had been 10000 d!sfranch!Sed
women?
Mr.. Henry 81 ponnelly, secretary OF
the Maine Federation OF Labor. writes
for publication something OF what he In
tended 20 state :, the hearing II time had
permitted. THE Federation OF Maine,
through a..tilla-;ou represents I5.a.l wcrs-
ing men ana women. The Federation
meets annually in convention, and III
three conventions has unanimously en-
dorsed the movement TO extend suffrage
to women. Union members, with few
exceptions. realize that if working con-
ditiors are TO be generally improved the
thousands q working women Il our state
with the power OF the ballot in their
hands viii! sooner or l1ter DO the nec-s-
sary improving Tire American Fedora
ton O Labor which represents 1000 :
workers in the United States and Canada
has time after time endorsed woman
suffrage"
Miss Rcse Wins,ow. working girl and
q member OF the Nonlan's Trade Union
League. said al the Confessional hear
ing OF isli. a woman here he's said that
il was her personal belief that - or -
per cent Of the working women. II
asked swouId be absolutely against get
ting The vote. 50 far as personal opirio-.
amounts 10 anything, l can give my
personal opinion and NY personal ex-
perience 70 the cCntGaTy-but I GO MT
come hare wic7 merely my personal
opinion. and my persona! experience. I
have TIL o2iCion o. tie organized work
ing women Of america. il convention as
senb,ed. These women represent all
trades that omen verk in. III the Uni-el
States, and they hare decided unaui-
uously and passed THIS resolution with
ont a dissenting vote. ard they ought 10
know whether they need the ballot or
rot. One Of the a-ti-sulras:sys sad thai
the thing for the working women was
not the ballot tut that their redemption
was in unions, and in that way they
could ill their lives and get better
wages. Well this is the opinion Of the
organized trade movement OF America"
she then read tire resolution Of the
National Trade Union League to Con-
g:ess asking them TO pass the woman
suffrage amendment in the Interest Of
S,0tadn1 wage earning women il the Unit
ed states ard finished with the follow
Ing: The National Woman. Trade
Union League representing the organized
working women OF America, hereby so,-
EMMY protest against the active oppos.-
ton Of the women OF leisure who persist
in selhshly obstruct!ag tF.e efforts of the
organized working women to obtain full
citizenship"
Congressman Taylor OF Colorado who
t21.s studied conditions through the o.ice
OF superintendent OF schools, county and
district attorney. legislator ard congress
man at large, says, Women are TO.
only learning wha, their natural rights
are, but they are learning tina, the only
way to secure them is by the proper,
frank. and direct way. not BY trying to
! influence anybody else. They are learn
Ing that citizenship is pearl OF great
price. and like other pearls. /, must be
worn and come in contact with human
lives IL II retains its lustre"
| 1 thank you for your courtesy.
Florence Brooks Whitehouse