Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1916-07-27
REPUBLICANS
WILDLY CHEER
West Virginians Are Swayed
BY EIoquence Of a Woman
GREAT SPEECH BY MRS. FUNK
Recent State. Convention at Wheeling
Gives Woman Greatest Ovation on
Record-Foreshadows Success
In Fall.

The greatest reception ever given
woman or cause in West Virginia
was accorded to Mrs. Antoinette Funk
of Illinois and the cause Of equal SUI
frage by the recent Republican state
convention in Wheeling. At the re-
quest of the West Virginia Equal SUI
frage Association the convention ac-
corded Mrs. Funk the privilege OF the
platform for 80 minutes. She talked
for Just &c minutes and at her con-
clusion she received an ovation sell
dom eQualled. The chairman stated
that IL a vote had been called record
ing the convention in favor OF tne
equal suffrage amendment II Wouio
have carried overwhelmingly.
Mrs. Funk said in part:
How do you Eastern men feel
about equal suffrage? Do you realize
that Woodrow Wilson was elected Dy
a little over 100000 votes and that
the women of the West are holding
the balance of power?
"Do you know that Illinois leads III
the voting of this country? That we
have crowded the great Empire state
into second place and the great Key
stone state into third place? 1t Is the
women voting that has brought about
this change. The women are not AFRAID
to trust the men in the affairs OF state
we know they will handle the affairs
of the country nobly and well, but
there are so many things in whlcn
women are deeply interested by an In
herent right that the men apparently
overlook, and it is to take care OK
these things that we ask the vote. But
women's places are in the home, the
ants say. We admit that, but, listen,
men-hoW much easier would 1t be
for the woman to take care or her
home, improve its surroundings, en-
large it and care for her children II
she had the right to say what laws
shall be made dealing directly with
the home.
There are many children who are
born into the world who do not have
the care of loving mothers as they
should have. Schools have been build
ed for their care and their education.
but do the men take the care they
should of these little folks? They do
the best they can, but their time Is too
much taken up to look after the hui
manitarian side OF life as much as
they should, and the things that lie
dearest to their hearts. Men, to help
these poor souls and to further the
cause of humanity, is one Of the rea-
sons why women want to vote. Surely
you will not deny her the right to take
care of her own children-to teach the
blind, the deaf and the dumb.
"The boards of health were original
ly composed of women until the Of
fees were filled by vote and Of course
she was left out. Let me carry you
back to the state of Illinois for time
and pardon my personal illusions. My
mother and the other mothers OF my
home town after it had been ravaged
with disease, decided to try and find
organized, they went to work, the gar
bage was carried from the doorsteps
to the rear lots and buried. The COM
bustible waste matter was burned.
The water supply was purged OF any
contamination, and the diseases which
had threatened their children became
lesser as the work Of their hands pro-
crossed. But a change was made.
Women lost their power and apparent
ly their right to care for their homes,
and their children. The work which
the mothers had been satisfied to do
for humanity's sake and for the love
of their homes, the men were paid
glorious salaries for doing. In the first
place the work was done because Of
the love and feeling Of my mother and
the other mothers, in the second 1t
was done by the men because Of ad-
ministratiye power vested in them by
virtue and reason of an election.
LET us leave the home, from the ba-
sis of the smaller although important
duties of it, to the larger duties Of the
state and nation. l feel that l have
as much right to gay what shall be
done with my country and my flag as
either my father, my husband or my
sons have. The ants like to say that
II we are given equal rights with the
men that we will become traffic police
men and that we will forget our sex.
Do we forget our sex when we enter
the markets and work shoulder to the
men in the shops and In the factories?
Do we unsex ourselves when we enter
a crowded street car and grab strap
and sway backwards and forwards be-
cause of our tired muscles? Then, IL
we are allowed to do all these things,
and almost forgot, do we women who
have property unsex ourselves when
we go to the tax office and pay our
taxes-then will the granting Of the
vote prove our downfall? Such has
not been the case where the women
vote In the West
I'VE recognize that men are more
1T to be policemen, to take the harder
and broader side Of life than we. We
recognize the fact that men know
more about the digging OF the canals,
the building of railroads, the building
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