New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-27
The Cause of Democracy

this country 10 show the WorId III "N"'
practical sense they have learned the les
sons Of democracy-that they are fghtlng
for democracy because they believe IN IT,
and that there Is no application OF demoe-
rscy which they do not believe in'-fTes"
dent W,son addressing the lcomen Of Re1r
York Of tho White House.
There could be no finer, juster plea in
behalf of suffrage than the Presidents
message to the voters Of New York. de
stated fairly and nobly the basic reason
for granting the vote to women-the rea-
son which is carrying the cause around the
world wherever democracy prevails.
The cause Of woman is the cause Of de-
mocracy. Those many women who to-day
demand the right to be heard at the polls
are the true descendants of those Ameri-
cans who fought at Lexington, at Bunker
Hill. that government Of the people might
he born on this continent. They stand IN
great succession. By steady gains the men
have won their way to full manhood SUI
frage. The cause of womanhood suffrage
cannot be long postponed.
Mr.. Wilson's message TO the voters OF
New York will have great and unique per-
suasiveness. No American is carrying as
great a burden of our national response
bility as is Mr.. Wilson. No American is IN
closer touch with the forces which make
for firm prosecution of the war. Super
fcially, it might seem that the cause OF
woman suffrage lay outside the needs OF
the day; that its success was remote from
the vital concerns which occupy every mo-
ment of the Presidents time.
1t is the striking point Of Mr.. Wilson's
speech that he makes clear above all else
exactly why, in this crowded hour, he de-
votes his time and effort to the cause; why
Ia considers that every voter of New York
should give his time and attention to the
vote on November 6; why the war, so far
from pushing suffrage into the background,
gives it a new and present importance to
which no absorbing interests Of combat
should blind us. Said he of the world war
an6 its relation to women:
II is struggle which goes deeper and
touches more Of the foundations Of the or
ganized life Of men than any struggle that
has ever taken place before; and no settle
ment of the questions that lie on the sur
face can satisfy a situation which requires
that the questions which lie underneath and
at the foundation should also be settled,
and settled right. | am free to say that
think the question of woman suffrage is
one Of those questions which lie at the
foundation.
1t was necessary that Mr.. Wilson should
thus state for Americans the close relation
between the war and women In Canada no
such explanation is necessary. In England
it is not needed. Those Of the Allies which
have been in the thick Of battle for three
years, which have seen their women take
their places in peoples war side by side
with the men, did not need to be told of
women's capacity, Of women's rights. In
five Canadian provinces women have al
ready received the vote; the grant is COM
ing for the rest Of the Dominion as a neces-
sary war measure 1t is coming in England
n as a natural and inevitable consequence of
the war.
The sole question in this country, in New
York, is whether our late entry into the
war will so delay its quckening, democra-
tizing influences that we shall stand as the
last English-speaking nation to grant
equal rights 10 women. That is conceivable
But we think it most unlikely. We cannot
believe that the men of New York will be
either so negligent or so unawakened as
10 refuse their women what has become
the final mark Of democracy the civilized
world over.
The President did not refer to the
pickets in his speech. He had already, in
rs letter to Mrs. Gait, discussed their I'M
importance and urged that their actions be
gnored by the voters Of New York pre-
cisely as he had ignored them. His attitude
viii be the attitude of all fair-minded men
10 punish the million and more petitioninp
women of New York, fifty represented by
the high-minded, patriotic leaders who sup
ported Mrs Whitehouse in her appeal to
the President, for the vagaries of a hand
Jul of malcontents is unthinkable.
The time is one neither for indifference
nor for small prejudice. The gravest issues
beset America in the world without. 1t is
an occasion for the wisest council and the
highest obligation at home. If we are to
play our part in world struggle for de-
mocracy we must not deny the spirit of
democracy within our boz ders. The women
If New York; million and more by