Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-02-01
HAVE SAME INTERESTS. nut
DIFFERENT METHODS OF WORK

DIFFERENT METHODS Oh" WORK
The suffrage argument is that it
will be a means of uplifting tho govern
tereSts and the same work We say
that women have the same interests
but different methods OF work. AS law
is the result of disqualification OF pub
lie opinion, we, as part of the public
can go to the Legislatures to ask for
the Legislation we believe right and
necessary for our being. We are not
apart from society, but Il part OF ii, and
. what affects mc3 must necessarily ar
feet us. The laws that are good for
them Will be good for us; the laws
that arc bad for them will be bad for
us. Isn't It wise to let some functions
Of society be performed by one sex and
to have others performed by the other
sex? Isn't it wise TO keep one half of
society ont Of politics, 50 that il may
perform the duties and functions which
the other cannot perform?
Women are working together in a
more wholesoulcd effort to-day than
ever before. except as to the movement
! as to suffrage. But effort is being
| made to give us tho vote, which will
divide us into parties as the men are
divided, and when you do that you
viii take government away from So
ciety.
1T is n masculine egotism when men
say women ought to have the vote
because we know as much as they do
OF course we do; but man must not
think that voting is the most i'm
portant thing in the world. And when
! ii comes to the question of rcforma-
ton OF society and politics. you must
, remember that you can't get real re-
| form and lasting progress by alleviat-
ing the symptoms Of evil. You must
go back Of the symptoms by getting
better people into the world.
WOMAN'S DUTY TO PREPARE
FOR FUTURE OF RACE;
we arc confronted to-day by the
problem Of preparedness, as announced
/ by the administration. If we make
| preparedness to fill the world with
the right sort of people there will he
! no necessity of making military pre-
parcdncss. and that is a responsibility
which rests upon women. If you leave
/ ii to woman TO work in her own
sphere and according to her own ideas,
| in accordance with the duties for
which nature has fitted her. we will
| improve government and law. And un.
! til men are able and willing to do our
part OF educating society and OF work
| ing for and caring for the home, they
| have no right to ask us to help in
| running the government. Government
| is not the only means of salvation.
! What We do means much more to the
world. The theory that mon and
women have different interests is a
fallacy. We believe that there is an
| identity of interests, but that our eff
| fort must be along different lines. We
| believe that any law that will work
out for the benefit of man will work
out for the benefit of woman, for what
ever affects the one must affect the
| other. We laugh at the theory that
we are taxed without representation.
1t is true that the American colonies
were taxed by Great Britain without
! the privilege of representation, but
I that theory cannot hold as between
men and women when their interests
are identical. Women are not class
| of society; they are a sex, whose in
| terests are so indissolubly identified
with and related TO those of men that
they cannot be separated.
WOMEN SHOULD KNOW
| HOW TO DO THEIR PART
There has been much talk about
what the tariff and the currency re-
form will do in affecting the cost Of
| living. / am willing to leave that to
the men. They will affect them as
much as us. What I do know, and
that is from personal experience is
that it is for some OF us TO be able to
tell the difference between cotton and
| wool; it is for us to know how TO
| cook; it is for us 10 know how ana
/ where TO get the best and cheapes,
| food. Ninety per cent of the trouble
with the women At Fall River. Mass,
was that they did not know how to buy
| food. And now please don't go away
! and say that l said women had to stay
| i'll the kitchen and cook
There was uproarious laughter at the
sally.
/ Miss Price hat