Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-05-16
BRYAN GIVES BOOST
FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE.
DRAWS BIG CROWD
LEGALLY IN SPEECH ON WHY
WOMEN SHOULD VOTE.
CITES MOTHER ARGUMENT
AS STRONGEST AND BEST
r ises Occasionally to Heights OF Ora
tory, But Gives Plain and Straight
forward Facts as Well-Answers Nu-
merous Objections With Strong
Words in Favor of Woman.

4 Presenting series of arguments IN
favor of woman suffrage that were re-
plete with simple yet effective logic,
l aud which were delivered with an en-
phasis and an occasional rise TO ora
tory which completely captivated his
audiefEte. William Jennings Bryan
spoke for an hour and a half at the
Meth dist church Monday afternoon.
] Ever, availab bic seat in the church was
full and many were forced to stand
Turnout the speech.
Nj Bryans talk was entirely in Ia
vor OF woman suffrage. By process
Of elimination he proceeded to show
all the advantages OF woman suffrage
by the successful method of enumerat-
ing the disadvantages and then show
ing how these same disadvantages
could be turned into benefits.
Mother Argument Strongest.
.ltho Mr.. Bryan presented in his
talk a number of strong reasons why
women should have the vote his
strongest and best presented was the
mother argument" which he brought
forth in his best and most silvery style
Several times during his talk he re-
verted for a moment TO his old-time
way of soaring up and up until he
reached the heights of oratory. For
the most part, however, he confined
himself to plain and straightforward
stat ements. ~.
Taking up the mother argument, Mr..
Bryan spoke first of the mother love.
the greatest thing in the world, exceed
ing the love of the father. because the
mothers Investment in the child is by
far the greater.
The mothers life trembles in the
balance when the child is born, she en-
folds him in his infancy, and endows
him with her love such as no man ever
received again. She dreams over him
as a baby building air castles of what
he will do when a man. and o, If all
mothers dreams could be realized. what
a world this would be-" declared the
speaker. The greatest pathos in the
world is not that met with on the bat
tlefield. but is the pathos Of a mother
trying to save her boy against the
N traps Set for him by men-Inen who are
given the ballot to do with as they
choose. These men are given the bal
lot, men who deliberately try to lower
the boy On whom the mother has cher
ished all her love. Why not give 1t to
the mother herself, in order, that she
may help her boy along the way by
actual deeds?" II
Other Arguments Presented.
But there were other theories ad-
vanced by the speaker in favor of equal
suffrage for women which. he presented
with equal fervor and which met with
the audiences instant approval. Treated
briefly, some of these were: Man trusts
woman when he marries her, he trusts
her with all the vital things Of the
household. such as bringing up the
children, and starting them out on life's
road in the proper manner. He trusts
the mother not only with the body Of
the child, but with the mind as well.
1t Is the mother who helps the child
with the school work, and here Mr..
Bryan proceeded to draw a realistic
picture of the mother helping the child
with arithmetic and other studies. In
the third place. man trusts woman with
the moral development of the child,
giving her free hand to turn the schild's
ideals into the right channels. Having
trusted her with not only himself, but
with his child, man with characteristic
logic. said the speaker, refuses to trust
her with the ballot. He must either
have very high regard for the ballot,
or else very little regard for himself"
declared Mr.. Bryan.
Mans Inconsistency.
Man Is always ready to talk about
his wife. mother and sister, and brag
about how bright they are, and how
many things they can do, but when it
comes TO voting, he changes and says
sadly that they don't know enough
was the speakers rap at men.
II coiI tL.{ ff,-.c
had once been tried. it never went
back. showing by comparison. how the
I tariff has never been fixed at sat
isfactory basis. while suffrage In all
states that had it was satisfactory
from the day 1t went in to the pres
ent time. Another point advanced by
anti-suffragists is that woman doesn't
want to vote, declared the speaker.
IF they hadn't wanted the ballot, they
would have got rid Of it long ago. for
who ever heard of woman suffering
in silence with something she didn't
want?' was Mr.. Bryan's conclusion
on this point. .,-.-'
What Voter Needs. rs 3D.,
Another of the speakers weighty
arguments, according to his words,
was advanced when he declared that
only two things We're really necessary
/ ~ sotS, AuO morality
Bryan then showed that IN the Ne
braska state penitentiary there were
at present 359 men and FIVE women.
clinching the morality side OF the
argument AS for the other. he simply
called attention to the fact the woman
always stayed in school longer than
men, and that more Of thensUecame
teachers justifyirg the presumption
that their intelligence was at least on
par with that of the sterner sex. :
Again. judge woman suffrage by the
company it keeps, was Mr. Bryan's
plea to his audience. He declared that
facts showed 1t TO be true that the
strongest opposition to suffrage came
as general rule from men who prof
tied by vice, who made money out OF
sin. People who traffic in wicked
hess feel instinctively that woman's
conscience is against their business.
and therefore oppose their voting on
general principles" was the speaker 8
f.ltpcfPr nY, this -nOfpt E,cYtal FRO 70