The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-10-11
GREAT AUDIENCE


placed women on the same level with
male lunatics, idiots. and criminals
inside the neutrality-suspicious. on the
outside are all right. Children and
women they are perfectly content to-
have placed in that class. Now, II
have no objection to women being
placed there II they want to be there.
but do object TO other women being
there. and object to being placed
there myself, and / object TO being
compelled to stay there against my
will.
Why They Want to Vote.
What are we asking for? What is
it We want? The great trouble with
men and women Is that they don't
know what woman suffrage is. have
had men who had been voters for
twenty years ask me what we wanted
with suffrage and what we would do
with the ballot II we had It.
Why. of course, we would eat II! We
would not know what else TO do with
1t. ! replied to him that we would
cast 1t. That Is oil we would know
TO do with It II we had feast It!
Then they make a great-to-do about
1t and say Why should you be in
terested in votingf Why should a
woman want to NEEDLE with politics7 T.
There is only one reason-because pol
ttics NEEDLES with me, and have a
perfect right to NEEDLE with any
thing that NEEDLES with mo. To the
time when l go TO my grave. to the
time when lie in my casket, politics
controls the entire condition in the
environment Of my life. II Is an evil
dence Of intelligence TO be interested
in the concerns that effect our lives.
Then 1t Is an evidence Of intelligence
for women to be interested>>in poll
tics. The great difficulty with us is that
some OF US have made life one thing
and politics another. We have as
sumed that politics and government
were something that did not belong
to our life. We have assumed that
the government Of the state is down
at Charleston under that gilded dome
If the dome is gilded-and that We
and our interests are hero. That is
not the government; the people who
go there are the servants OF the gov
eminent; the government is in the
people themselves in republic, and
in no other place in republic Is the
government to be found. The govern
ment is like the Kingdom OF Heaven
lit is within you. have never heard
a better dltinition of the word gov
eminent than one given by little
school girl. A teacher asked the class
one day what was the government
A little girl said, The government is
u.s." We are the government Take
us away andiall the other uses"
where would the government be-?
Now, II We are tho government, ev-
cry concern which effects the gov
eminent effects us. Then why should
not intelligent women as we'll as in
telligent men be interested?
Condition Changes.
The condition of the government is
changing. The government Of today
was what It used TO be, women might
not be Interested. II government were
what 1t was whe the buccaneers came
over the sea and fought and defeated
and captured all the weaker men and
nations, women might not be inter
ested. We are not interested in in
creasing our territory, unless 1t were
10 buy 1t, as the United States is try
ing to do with the Danish West In
dies. But the government of today
interferes with everything having to
do with the external affairs for the
first time in the history OF the world
The government Of today is turning
to development, to the attention of Its
own people. and to their own inter
ests. Government expresses but three
things and nothing more:
The protection Of person and prop
erty.
The administration of justice.
The development of society.
Can anyone think of anything else
for which the government exists? Now,
are men only interested in the pro-
lection Of property? Does not the pro-
lection Of property concern women
equally with menu Do not women
have property?
Are we not as interested as men in
the administration OF Justice? Ger
tainly we have had such n little bit
of justice that when we get little
bit OF 1t, we ought to hang onto It
with all our might and main. We can
think of no better illustration of this
point than the story Of a stranger in
town, who was passing court house
in company with colored brother and
asking what 1t was, he was told That,
sir, is a place where they dispenses
with justice"
That is usually the way with wom-
en-, because the laws are against wom-
On. Every law which has ever been
made by men has been made for our
benefit, II we only knew enough TO
see It, so that we have nothing TO
complain of so far as the desire is con-
cerned, but only in the operation Of
the law.
Suffrage Development.
The development of suffrage is the
state of government which we have
reached today. The first thing that
brought men together was, OF course,
in the olden days. Man fought his
own battles and went out to war,
each individual man by himself. So
did every other man. BY and by man
got sufficient experience to realize 1t
was not wise thing for each indi-