Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-08-27


hciently. this also is true of men.
think more women would look into
questions more thoroughly than men.
All men vote with some party or the
! other. Let 100000 women start out
! to vote in Maine and you would great
ly enlarge the Independent and INTEL
ligent vote.
! "One Of the reasons for not voting
by women Is because this is govern
ment by force and so women should
| not vote. Such an argument would
place the voting privilege solely on
an athletic basis. That is not an ar
| gument.
| The most persistent one Is that
women should not mix in politics but
| should remain in the home. Last wlr-
| ter we had a discussion as to whether
| a woman should work more than ninc
| hours day. l know some OF the men
who financed and backed the fight
! against the 54-hour law and everyone
of them is opposed to woman suffrage,
| because they think the woman's place
is in the home, although they were OPP
posed to having the women pass on
| hour less in their mills AMI an hour
more at home. Many thousands Of
women are now the breadwinners il
| their homes.
| Politics Science Of Government
Another argument is that women
! shouldn't vote because politics is Il
dirty business and women should not
debase themselves. II politics is tie
science of governing the State of Maine
/ the best possible way then modern
! government touches the life of every
person and regulates everything. The
| women are just as capable of taking
part in this work as the men I look
about me and wonder if women cannot
| govern the cities as we'll as The men.
| In Augusta and Waterville we nave to
pay three per cent in taxes and every
business man knows that is too much.
! Women or anybody else ought 70 he
welcome to help out Some people say
| government by men is all right and has
been run by men for many years, what
do you want of women? Men are not
now giving men their right Of life. lib
erty and happiness. The whole civil
lied world now is engaged in the
wholesale destruction of life and prop
erty and I cannot see how men can
! say we have made success of gov
erning the world. We should not pride
ourselves on our success.
! The argument that women do not
want to vote is the one most used. Sup
pose that a majority Of the women Of
Maine do not want to vote, and we
must conflne our argument to Maine
| because they vote most everywhere
else, is that any reason why the rest
! should not be allowed to? Last Sep
TENDER $4,000 men did not go to the
polls at all and I Go not know how
many more were hauled to the polls
| In November $4,000 men who were able
| legally to vote did not do So Add to
that the men who did not 60 until they
were dragged there and nearly one
half Of the voters Of Maine did not go
| to vote. but that IS no reason why
men should not have the vote and the
same reason should be covered in the
women's question. 1t Is only a matter
OF time when women will vote
Those Who Oppose Suffrage
! Now who opposes it? do not
mean the thoughtless and Indifferent.
! Maine is full Of people who sit on the
back of every cart going forward and
drag their feet
! There is an active opposition to suffrage
that has reason, every public utility is
opposed to womens voting At one time
public utilities could change anything
they wanted and now thev are getting
regulated some, but not much, and being
conservative they do not want a change.
! Anti-suffrage advertisements said they
did not have money to fight suffrage. At
the same time two prominent Augusta
men were over in Lewiston getting money
from mill owners for the fight and they
were in Bangor the next day I know
that an effort is being made to interest
large employers Of labor against it be-
cause if women vote there will be some
new labor laws.
! Qualifications Of o Voter
What are the qualifications Of a good
voter? Intelligence and patriotism, and
don't you find as much of this among
women as among men? There is no logic
in drawing the sex line. We think over
public questions but we finally leave the
matter to one man to decide. Many vot-
/ CHS III w dttTNtiIc Thought tNdI JuSllCo
Hughes was a good man to leave things
to and he is in favor Of Women's Suf-
frage so is President Wilson and so is
Theodore Roosevelt. Do you know any
other public question that these three
men agree on? They must be right
Years ago Thomas B. Reed, the ablest
man that ever went from Maine to Con-
gress. was in favor of 1t. and SO was Lin
coin. When he was President there was
not a woman voting but he was in favor
of it. Don't you think that the advice
of Wilson, Roosevelt Lincoln, Hughes
and Reed is worth something?
There is one thing more. Men are 60
! ing about saving to Democrats that the
/ granting votes to women would hurt
them. If this is so the policies OF the
party should be changed and then they
will appeal to open-minded people.
No Religious Division
Then there is the religious division, It
! being spread about Maine that the Irish
| Catholic vote would be against it. If
there Is any person on earth who should
! vote for suffrage it should be an Irish
man. He should be In favor Of It because