The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-28
LIQUOR INTERESTS AND ANTI 'SUFFRAGISTS ARE FORCED INTO ALLIANCE OF COMMON DEFENSE

gotten in a straight forward way" 1 she declared.
 | Then she recalled the recent elec- l t1on, in which the national headquar- | ters of the suffrage movement sent | to several women candidates of po | lltical parties of widely divergent 1 views, telegrams expressing hope of | their election, when frank expression was given to the fact that the suffra | glsts were not interested in the party principles, but were interested only in considering the sex as a qualification of a member of Congress. Attorney A. w.. Veil of New Haven ] attacked tl1e excise measure as a di~ rect blow at the liquor interests of the state. He termed it a device by l which the prohibitionists are hiding 1 behind the skirts of the women. ''This bill makes possible, and l highly probable, almost immediate prohibition in Connecticut" he de- l clared.
 Well did not state whom he repre- l sented. A. L. G. Hohenthal/ a long 1 time leader of the Prohibitionists at the capitol, demanded to know, but l the committee refused to press MT. Well. He did not tell but later the l statement was made, and not denied l by MT. Veil, that he was retained as l counsel for the State Brewers Asso- l ciation.
 l Charles Gay of New Haven, repre- senting the Universalist church of the state, cited a pamphlet of s. s. Kresge. the five and ten cent store magnate, embodying the endorsements of many governors, mayors and other officials, of the prohibition movement. | Attorney Cornelius J. Danaher of Meriden, recalled the story of the epi- taph, Here lies a lawyer and an hon. est man." which runs that a visitor to the graveyard inquired why two persons so different should occupy the same grave.
 Thus he characterized the union oi the prohibitionists and the equal suf- fragfsts. He was disappointed in the suffragists, he frankly admitted. He thought the movement worthy of a purer, higher motive than the es- pousal of the cause of the Prohibi- tionists Two years ago he had been persuaded to speak in their behalf, but now all was changed. MT. Danaher, too, the Prohibitionists said, was in the pay of the Mquor interests. l Several spOkesmen of the brewery workers, discussing the proposed measure 'as a vital blow to the liquor business, put forward the familiar ar guments as to- the unemployment of brewery workers, the loss of income to the state. and the infringement on personal liberty by the enactment of prohibition laws.
 Walter B. Lanphear of Collinsville, speaking for the f1ibitionists, ar gued in favor of the excise measure. Women have the right to vote in school and library questions, now, on the theory that they are directly in terested in these matters. How much more so should they have the vote in questions affecting the home? And where is the liquor traffic of more inn portance than in the home?
 B. T. Bartram, a Sunday school teacher in the state prison, spoke eloquently against the liquor traffic declaring that his experience in the prison had shown him it's evils. He solemnly warned the committee tc bear in mind that the welfare of their daughters married lives may depend upon their action >oh the pending l measure
 E.NL. G. Hohenthal deprecated the effort of the liquor interests to op- pose the measure as prohibition measure. He argued that it should be considered upon it's meries as g suffrage proposition, but added, as prohibitionist that he had utmost confidence in the vote of theS woman in excise matters.
 "Give the women a chance tc vote" he said, 'and you can trust them to do the right thing at the right time, and in the right man. ner."
 Mrs. Hepburn closed the days for. ensic struggle. She expressed regret that the opposition should have tc bring as its chief representatives il the debate two persons from other states. Lauding Miss Dorman's abil ity, she added that Miss Dorman's re lations with the opposition never have been other than commercial
 As to the constitutionality of tht proposed excise measure, she said tha l, in Illinois repeatedly. the liquor in
 terests have sought to have it upset but have failed
 Taking up the argument advanced
 by many of the antis, that the equa suffragists favor the excise measure as means of avoiding the reference of the question to the whole people NJ under a constitutional amendment she asked pointedly how they could reconcile this argument with argu- ments they will make at the hearing next week, on the proposed constitu- tiona1 amendment, calling for, uni versal suffrage for the Connecticut women.
 She urged upon the committee the necessity of making the measure a law, that the women of today may fairs because of her responsibil with the ballot and that she may thereby bring up her boys and girls to have a better knowledge of public questions.
 She refuted the argument that women, if they get the vote, must take up mems responsibilities in the sense of military service and jury duty. Sex alone is taken in the equal the woman from jury duty. As for militery service, she quoted former Premier Asquith, long an opponent of woman suffrage, now a convert, to evidence the fact that without woman in the munition plants and in the hos pita1 work of England, the war could not go on.
 Men serve their countries as sol' diers in order to destroy life," said Mrs Hepburn women serve their country as mothers in order to bring