Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1916-04-25
Court Room is, Packed to Hear Fort
" Dodge Speaker Discuss the
Subject Of Equal ~
Suffrage.
n INTERESTING ADDRESS
Rising Vote of Thanks Extended t.
Speaker Hon. Wesley Mar.
tin Chairman. ~ =


ence of men and women, who went,
knowing they would hear something
worth while from Hon.. M. F. Healy
of Fort Dodge, and they certainly
got more than they expected. Mr..
Healy's wit and eloquence is we'll
known in Webster City, but he never
displayed it in a more mastery man
ner than he did last evening in be-
half of the cause which he has TAX
en- up in memory of his mother.
It is impossible to give more than
a partial resume of his remarks, but
in brief, he said: ~
am asked "What makes you do
this? What do you get out Of it," l
don't like the question. l am doing
this in memory of my mother. I am
not afraid to trust my mother to
have a voice in electing the school
director who shall elect the teacher
to teach her child. That teacher
must instill lessons of patriotism in
her boy, and lessons of all the high
est domestic virtues in her girl and
the mother should have voice in de,
termining who shall do that. She
should have voice in determining
the environment of her home. She
should have some say as to whether
her boy and girl must go past the
open door of the saloon and the
gambling house on their way to
school Yet she has nothing to say
She can't say one word that means
Anything. And why? 1t is mere
matter of prejudice. Why it should
be SO, l don't know. The Spartan
mother brought her babe before the
elders and if it were slightly deform-
ed, SO that it could not be perfect as
to bearing arms, that babe was put
out on the bleak mountain to be food
for the vulture. Before the coming
of Christ, women were slaves, abso-
lutely at the beck of their lords and
masters. Since the time of that gen.
tie and merciful teacher of all hui
manity, her condition has improved.
But that Improvement has been
tardy. 1t was not until 1911, only
five years ago, that law was passed
here in Iowa that wife could sue
and recover for her own services. Not
till then could the husband, whose
wife had been killed through Grimm
|al negligence, recover damages for
her value as wife and mother. You
ask what this has to do with it? In
1876, the state legislature passed
the first equal suffrage resolutions,
and it took from 1875 to 1911 to get
this crying injustice in regard to
woman's just dues legally. recognized
in this great state of Iowa. If wom-
en- had had the vote, could such c
thing have been possible?
We ask for fairness in the treat
ment of women. You say you are
afraid to trust them to vote! Afraid
to trust them! Don't you turn your
child over to the teacher, from the
age Of to IS? Don't you expec,
her to train your child in all that is
best? What do you turn over to her?
A throbbing, living heart, brain and
soul; and yet that teacher can't vote,
while big red nosed hobo can!
/ Woman can't bear arms. l wish
she had borne them before she got
the blackened eyes and bleeding nose
given her by drunken brute of al
husband. If woman's place is in the
home, she should have voice in
determining the environment of that
home Yet men allow every element
that breaks down the home to grow
under the guise of business" and
the wife and mother has naught to
say.
She does something greater than
bear arms. She has gone down into
the valley Of the shadow Of death for
the life of that son. The mother, the
wife, the babe have right to say
there shall be war, and God
keep us from it, but that war which
shall rob her of her husband should
not be put upon a woman without
her vote The widows of our soldiers
pay their taxes to help pay the war
debt, and they can't even vote for
the assessor who levies those taxes!
The loafer, the idler, the drunkard
and wife beaten and negro can vote,
while your wife and your mother
cannot!
In Ft Dodge not woman, prop
erty owner and tax payer though she
be, was allowed to put her name up
on a petition which should control