The log cabin Democrat., 1916-07-08
By Dean D. McBrien.

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 In June it was my privilege to at- tend as spectator the sessions of the great Democratic National Con- ventlon at St. Louis. There I came to realize more than ever the won- derful progress made by the move. ment which has as it's end the en- franchisement of women. I beheld thirteen women seated as delegates and elght as alternates. 1 heard the governor of the great state of Texas plead in vain with his party not to endorse the principle of suffrage for women. heard the roll-call of the states that followed his appeal. l heard the great Kentucky senator announce that by a vote of almost eight to one the Texan had lost and the women had won. Only three del egatlons had cast majority vote against the women.
 Then l recalled that the conven- tion of the Republicans, Progressives Socialists and Prohibitionists had al ready endorsed this great movement. remembered that the Democrats of Arkansas were pledged to submit a | sunrage amendment, and that like advancement had been made in other states. Besides, women already vot- ed on the same terms as men in forty-nine and one-half per cent of the entire territory of the United States, and in many foreign lands as well.
 The reasons for this growing rec ognltlon of the political rights of women are not hard to find. They lie Tn the term true democracy, and Tn the expansion of true democratic Ideas. The present movement is but part of the great movement of the last century that brought the vote to ] man. To large extent that move ment wiped out the distinctions of birth and wealth. Is there any more reason for distinction to be made along the line of sex than in the mat ters of birth and of wealth? can see none.
 It IS just, 1t IS necessary, it is ex- pedlent that woman enjoy all the rights and duties of citizenship. Justice in a democracy demands equal rights for all citizens. Woman is known to be a responsible citizen of the country. She should therefore vote for the same reason that man does.
 Present conditions demand votes for women. The average man fails to grasp the facts of the existence and needs of 8,0OOOOO working wom- en, and the communal nature of the home today. Mans center of activity IS conceded to be the marts of trade and woman's is the home. Just as ne needs the vote in his business, she, too, needs it in her business. Surely the house and it's business is as vital to the state as the office and it's busi- ness. They are not separate. They are lnterrelated and interdependent. quote from a Minnesota suffrage worker, "The business of the office IS to produce money to carry on the home, the community, the state. The | business of the home is to produce people to carry on the home, the com munity, the state. Neither can con- tlnue without the other. Mans busi- ness is principally getting money, hence he measures things more from commercial point of view. Wom- ans business is principally raising people, hence she measures things from human point of view. Are not these points of view equally impor tant and necessary to the state? 2" It is often said that man acts as the representative of woman in gov ernment, and that she therefore does not need the vote. Can the commer- cialist truly represent the humanist |? For example, man might vote for the saloon because to yields the state a revenue in the form of license, His wife thinks of the child, not the revenue, and is opposed to the saloon Is she represented in the government on the liquor question? No. As is often the case her husband does not represent her, he mis-represents.
 Home life and industrial life are no longer one. The family today de- bends for subsistence on ready made goods brought from without the home. Hence, woman's business ot caring for the home is affected by such political questions as wages tariff, dividends, organization of la, Dor, factory sanitation, pure fooc laws, housing conditions, educational systems, liquor licenses, prostitution prisons, courts, hospitals, etc. This is true of all home makers.
 Then there is the woman tax payer and the woman, or girl, who, fol economic reasons, must work outside the home. The man taxpayer an. the man-toiler have had something tt say about the conditions under whicl they pay taxes or under which they toll. They speak through the power l..