Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-14
THE RESULT IN MAINE

THE decisive defeat of suffrage in
Maine is unfortunate We do not be-
lisye that it is discouraging, for it is on
q succession of such defeats that the
women have built their most significant
triumphs. Nevertheless, it had been
hoped that the right of woman to the
vote had been so definitely proved by the
services she has rendered during the
travail of civilization that in no locality
would there be found a majority of men
willing to deny her the simple justice she
asked. The conservatism of Maine Is
proverbial. but even conservatism is en-
pected to give way before overwhelming
evidences of the necessity and justice of
proposed innovations. II conservative
England, in spite of Pankhurst militar.
ism, was converted to suffrage. certainly
picketing ought not to have been a de.
cisive deterrent to favorable action by
American citizens.
There is quantity of misinformaton
disseminated about suffrage When Theo.
dore Roosevelt came out in favor of it,
reactionary newspapers all over the coun-
try declared that he had been converted
overnight. for political reasons only, and
that his opinion was worth nothing what.
ever. A distinguished editor. who has
an uncanny faculty for getting at the
bottom of things and who was himself at
the time opposed to suffrage, talked the
matter over with the Colonel along these
lines. "I'll send you a book or two on
the subject that may be informative"
said the Colonel. Several days later a
wagon loaded with heavy boxes drove up
. to the editors house. Apparently the
product of furniture factory. had been
shipped to him. But every box contained
books and every book in. every box
treated of woman's suffrage. There were
authoritative accounts of suffrage in
New Zealand of experiments in the Scan
dinavian countries. of arguments pro and
con in the different nations of the world.
Furthermore, within the books themselves
was evidence of the fact that every one
of them had been read by the former
the cause overnight? Not a bit Of it. |
He had been converted by an extensive
\ md int Stn
months, and probably knew more about |
the subject than any other living man |
in the United States.
: The chief barrier to suffrage is ig. |
norance. There were eminent gentlemen |
lovers of liberty. in 1915. who were sim
,cerely and heartily opposed to the Decla-
ration Of Independence. There were
equally sincere men who opposed the |
emancipation Of slaves, and the slave |
autocracy was able for decades to control |
national affairs by merely appealing to |
the prejudices Of voters. There never was |
a cause so good that men did not live to |
ight it. And why should the fact that |
some women are opposed to their own |
emancipation carry any weight? There
were slaves who opposed manumission. |
The question is not how men do vote, but
how they ought to vote. A good cause
gathers support as it goes along. It was
three centuries after the birth of Christ
before civilization repudiated paganism,
and the reputation then was not com.
plete.
Suffrage will make a far better show.
ing In New York than was made in Maine.
There is, indeed. strong probability of a
favorable verdict II the picketers will
substitute patience for restiveness at this
critical period "A cause which has won
its way through fifty years of open de-
bate cannot afford to rely for success
now on cruder and less convincing
methods. The expediency of any course
of action is often as important a con.
sideration as the absolute right to pursue
such course. If every man insisted at
ell times on his absolute rights society
would be in chaos.