Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1916-01-21
PUTNAM, CONN., FRIDAY, JANUARY 2I 1915
PUTNAM E. F. |.
Mrs. NJ. TOscaa Bennett Of Hartford
Speaks
Informal Reception Follows

| Equal Franchise League took place
| Friday evening in Odd Fellows hall.
In spite of the zero weather there was
a good audience to hear Mrs. NJ. Toscan
! Bennett of Hartford. Mrs. Bennett,
who is treasurer of the Z. w. 5. a
| and president of the Hartford League,
is known throughout the state rs a
powerful speaker and effective debater
| for the suffrage cause. She has many
| friends in ,Windham County as she
spent her childhood in Brooklyn where
her father, George II. Day, was
widely known.
Mrs. Benefits topic was"0urFriend
the Enemy" and her ready wit and
pleasing personality held the close at
! tention of the audience throughout her
address.
Mrs. Bennett spoke in part as fol-
| lows: The different elements that so
to make up the opposition to the equal
suffrage movement are quite indepen-
dent of each other, each element being
/
| long rs the suffrage question remainS
academic. When, however, it be.
| comes an active issue in the field of
| politics these elements all com bine in
the task OF defeating it. The anti wo.
men are not proud of the company
they keep, be it said to their credit,o out
they will find themselves in worse, ra-
| Their than better as long as they fight
on that side. There is no doubt where.
| of the anti forces are composed. First
| in political strength come the liquor
| interests, whose most efficient organi-
cations are invariably lined up in OPP
| position. With them for reasons OF
! II cir own, not difficult of comprehen-
sion, are Ithose who profit financially
or otherwise in the degradation of wo-
| men, those who profit by the sale of
impure household supplies and worth
less specifics; those who oppose any
laws interfe with the employment
of little children, the machine peliti-
clan who is not for taking any chance
with new socially conscious element
among the voters, difficult of manlpu-
lation whose favour cannot be won
with cigars, the twin of this last enc
my, the standpat newspaper who puts
pink tassel on its dart to make IL
shoot straight by saying "We love the
Indies, we are chivalrous, we. would
,lo ho,,an
And finally, we come to the Anti
women, whose political influence Is
less than that of any other element in
the opposition. They unconsciously
have a vested interest too in keeping
things as they are, for they sense the
fact that change is coming about In
the standards by which women shall
be Judged, that the social graces alone
will not insure them the supremacy
they covet. They are chivalrous, these
good 3people, to the weaker and less
fortunate. tThey are charitable, SO are
the suffragists, although they are not
content to justify their existence and
earn their right to live by being charit-
able. Many among ithe other classes
of opponents are chivalrous too
1t is surprisesto me that with ell
the effort put out by the ants they
get such slim support. The majority
of people is and always has been indif-
ferent to every great reform. When
indifferent people are asked to sign for
anti-suffrage, it seems assafe and mega
tive thing to do-to stand for things as
they are. 1t is the equivalent OF TAX
ing no stand at all. If they declare
their belief in suffrage they know that
they are taking definite stand in fa-
your of change. They become "Suf-
fragt ties" They may have received
their impression of a suffragette from
a paper like Life, which still depicts
the creature as q short haired, mascu
timely dressed virago with the stern
qualities so adorable in men and so
deplorable in women; on the next
page, illustrating joke, is the wiliowy
and slim angle-less creature, the anti
lady OF course, who, although reclining
in an architectural chair, appears to
have no knees.
An anti-sufirsge speaker said at a
meeting in Hartford a.few weeks ago:
81 have the greatest difficulty when ]
speak as one opposed to woman ,suf-
frage in making 1t clear that | am not
opposed to woman When she had
finished / felt that she was lopposed to
woman, she had proved that she was.
Whenever / meet an Anti 1 try to
make the opportunity 10 ask what is
your chief reason for opposing il? The
answers are always vague, the reasons
no reasons, and he composite result of
/ my queries amount TO this: They have
/ no aspect for woman, no faith even in
their potentialily, no use for "al this
talk about democracy anyway"
/ There are charming and delightful
gentlewomen among the ants who
/ have not the vsguest notion why they
ssdon't like the idea of woman suf
| frage.u Sheltered AS they are, the
world seems 10 be divided into two
| Glasses, those fortunate and favored of
/ the gods, who disburse charity, and
those unfortunate and unfayoured who
receive it. They know nothing Of the
conditions under which those struggle