Arizona republican., 1917-09-09
WOMEN ENTITLED TO BALLOT AS RIGHT, NOT AS FAVOR, SAYS
 ROOSEVELT TO SUFFRAGISTS
Republican A. P. Leased Wire]


 OYSTER BAY, N. Y, Sept. S.-Wom- en are entitled to the ballot as rlght and not as a favor, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt told a gathering of about 300 suffragists at Sagamore Hill thls afternoon. He declared himself most emphatically in favor of woman sutf- rage and was heartily applauded when he said: On the whole the citizen to whom l will nay the greatest difference as do- ing the most indispensable of all duties is the mother I will put her ahead Of every other human being. To deny the mother the vote seems to me something so preposterous that our descendants will fail to understand how we could call ourselves sef-governing and dem ocratic and yet deny it.
 This is the only meeting dealing with any matter not directly connected with the war at which have consented to speak at all," said the colonel lit opening his address T consented in this case because I wished to see this war put through to a successful con- cluSion at no maximum cost. l wish to see every man and every woman in this country devote every ounce of his or her strength to that end, and when l wish that demand to be made upon eV- cry one 1 wish corresponding justice to he done everyone.
 During the last three years We have Teen in the habit of thinking about what democracy means and l believe that as we grow wiser we will stead ily come to the belief that on the one hand We must in a democracy, suffer no injustice and, on the other hand We must do no injustice. In other words. democracy must be a type of political organism in which every right enjoyed is conditioned upon a duty performed and every duty performed means the corresponding enjoyment of right.
 q wish to state with all the empha- sis in my power, that if either man or woman refuses to do his ol her duty, 1 hold that they have no right to the privilege of the suffrage. l do not put it on the ground of sex I put it on the ground of duty. l do not ask the ballot for women as a favor. l say that it should be given to her as a right. Peo- pie say that if women are given the ballot they will fail to perform their other duties. I notice that the average man who is most apt to say that, is the individual who is not particularly of the duty performing type himself
 People have said to me that we must not have women vote because they would all be pacifists. The world knows I despise a pacifist, and l have made no special effort to dissemble my feelings about that. But 1 have failed to notice that among them the shirking sisterhood of pacifistS outnumOers the bleating brotherhood of pacifists.
 This white rabbit special that has been going around the country has not found place for the soles of it's feet to rest. l believe that when the right appeal is made, the mothers, wives and daughters of will triTla anead of their sons, husbands and fathers in sacrificing everything, even though whose loss means in- flnitely more to them than their own lives. They will sacrifice every thing to great and lofty ideal
 "On general grounds have absolute 1y no doubt that suffrage must come, as a matter of right; if we are to continue our democratic experiment of government, it must come.
 Now for the special needs cre- ated by this war One of the cur ious things of this war is that it has brought much nearer the day ir every country participating in il and every country adjacent to the participating countries when womer will pc given political right just as men are given them, because il has been proved by the actual event that in this, the greatest and most terrible war of history, the war 1T which greatest demands have beer made, the whole woman force o1 each country has to be put squarely behind the whole man force of thai country.
 'Tt seems to me that in the last decade or two we have had a tend ency to lag behind the older nations and only what they had previously pointed out as being the proper thing to do 1 hope we will get ir the position where other people car point to us as leading the way in- stead of our advanced leaders o1 thought having to beseech us tc do so.
 Now let us make a beginning England has admitted that her wom en ought to have the suffrage Tn, French have for the first time ser iously been considering the subject ct us take the lead. Let the United States, as it's first act of leadership in planning for the immense socia and industrial reconstruction whicl is to follow, as matter of right an' justice, take the lead and i'll thi country put the women, in fact, ol a level with the men by saying tha every woman who does her dut. shall stand at the ballot box exactl. as every man who does his duty i entitled to stand, and shall have al the privileges of free man.
 The privilege of voting is
 privilege which has been grante neither to a man nor woman wh flils in the performance of dut and should be withheld neither iron thom man or woman who perform the duty allotted to them.'
 
 ARRESTED WITH MAPS