The Washington herald., 1916-05-21

Senator shafroth says: THE money
raised by taxation for school purposes in
Colorado is greater in amount, consider
ing population, than that raised in any
other State of the Union" The Bulletin
of 1912 of the United States Census Re-
port (the latest published reporD shows
other States in which a larger amount
of money was raised by taxation for
school purposes in proportion to the
population than was raised in Colorado.
The statement Is made by the Senator
that The women in. those equal suf-
jcage) States in proportion to their num-
bers cast about as many votes as do the
men," Irstead Of making fair and
reasonable comparison. by taking the
number of men and women OF voting
age in the equal suffrage States. finding
by the election returns how many Of
them voted, and then ascertaining the
number of men in the adjoining and
neighboring male-sufrage States where
the laws concerning voting are similar
except as to sex. and then computing the
per cent OF men who exercised the fran
hise, the Senator, by some unknown
process of reasoning, prefers to take into
consideration the entire population, men,
women and children, of the two States of
Washington. and Connecticut-States 5000
miles apart-and makes a comparison of
the number who voted in 1914 Connecti-
cut contains a smaller percentage of
population of voting age, and a larger
percentage of aliens than there are In
the State of Washington, but the Sena-
tor endeavors to bolster up his assertion
that women in equal suffrage States vote
in proportion TO their numbers about the
same as the men. Had he taken the
population Of the State of Washington of
voting age: deducted the number Of
aliens, and the citizenship not reported,
he would have found that only about Sc
per cent OF the men and women in that
State, who were entitled to vote in 1914
cast their ballots at the election that
year while with the men of voting age
in Connecticut. emitting the aliens, and
the citizenship not reported, he would
have found that approximately IS per
cent voted In 1914.
An Unfair Comparison.
comparison between the States Of Kansas
and Oklahoma. The latter State, with
its "grandfathers' clause" and other
laws discouraging certain classes of vot-
ers from using the ballot, is not a State
that can fairly and honestly be compar-
ed with Kansas, where there is no
"grandfather's clause" or other legisla-
ton such as exists in Oklahoma, nor is
the percentage of iluteracy in Kansas to
Dt compared TO lIdl reported Dy the
Census statistics as existing in Oklahoma.
Taking the Senator's own figures of the
vote in Denver. Colo, in 1872. where the
male and female population is about
equal Q07,395 males. and los, 1856 females).
the number of men who voted in that
election was 1852, and the number of
females who voted was 25,3l5, thus show
ing that about 5S per cent of the vote
cast was voted by men, while only about
~ per cent of the vote cast was voted by
women.
Did Senator Shafroth forget, or inten-
tionally omit, the vote cast at the Chi
cagO, Ill. election. last month? In
Illinois the votes cast by men and by
women are kept separate, and while the
number Of men and women in the city
of Chicago who are entitled to register
and vote are about equal Cthere being
more alien men than alien women in that
city. about three times as many men