The Daily Missoulian., 1917-05-13
efficiency Of women
RAISED BY SUFFRAGE
Political Disfranchisement
Has Been Holding Fe-
male Sex Back.
CONSISTENCY ASKED
Suffrage Leader Believes
Government Should BE
True to Its Principles.

Columbus, o., May 1.-THE eff.
cheney OF women in wartime is crippled
by their political disfranchisement. de-
clared Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait.
president OF the National American
Woman Suffrage association, in an adj
dress delivered here today before the
Mississippi Valley Victory conference
under the auspices of the national as
sociation.
We stand today" said Mrs. Gait,
upon the verge OF what may prove the
greatest test OF endurance yet put
upon our republic Women, the great
est force our nation possesses for the
creation of public sentiment, are asekd
to mobilize their forces in aid of a
government which has wronged them.
Our nation Is engaged In the de-
fense OF democracy, for the right OF
those who submit to authority to have
a vote in their own government. The
hearts OF women would beat more
happily could they feel that our own
government had been true to the
standard 1t now proposes to unfurl
upon an international field"
Reviews Victories.
Recording the victories already
achieved by the suffrage cause, Mrs.
Gait said there are in the United
States IL states, besides the territory OF
Alaska, where suffrage is universal
In ni0hf nthnr tot n
right to vote for President, and in six
they have municipal suffrage. In 13
other states they have only school
suffrage and in four have the right to
vote on taxation or bonding PROPOSE
tions.
After reviewing the progress of suf-
frage in foreign nations. Mrs. Gait
said that women are about to receive
the parliamentary franchise in Eng
land. that woman suffrage Is favorably
regarded by the commission on uni
versal suffrage in France and that the
Italian minister Of justice has present.
ed to the chamber Of deputies a bill to
abrogate every law by which woman's
juridicial capacity is curtailed. Russian
Noiiltu IIS W ItttlNe SUFFRAGE Sut
said.
THE grievance which every thinking,
self-respecting American woman
feels" declared Mrs. Gait. lis the dis
elimination which invites to our land
the men of all the nations of earth.
naturalizes them after a five years
residence automatically enfranchises
them under all state constitutions, and
then commands American women to
seek the ballot at their hands. With
the notions Of woman's sphere in mind,
which were formed in countries where
the status of men Is low and that of
women lower they are given the task
of deciding whether American college
presidents. teachers in the public
schools and the Christian mistresses of
our homes are worthy to be trusted
with the vote.
Women Growing Rebellous.
I'VE have been patient, infinitely pa
tient; but we grow rebellious because
the wrong done to the women of the
United States Is rendered more con-
spicuous by contrast with other lands.
In no other country thus far has a
referendum to a general electorate
been demanded: in no other country
could it happen that native women
would be forced to plead with men of
other races and nntionalities for their
vote.
why have the men of our nation
been SO unmoved by the plea that if
the principle of self-government is
right. 1t must be consistently applied?
No woman understands. We are told
upon the one hand that the hour OF
autocracy has struck, that democracy.
the rule of the people, is coming to its
own: on the other we are warned that
this is no time to speak of democracy
for that half Of our own people who do
not possess its advantages.
In the light of these facts. the
'mumbo jumbo of sectionalisnl. states
rights, political party balance, and
other forms Of mental anesthesia. used
to quiet the consciences of otherwise
progressive men, become mere junk to
be cast out OF our national thought
They represent not principles, but ex-
cuses. Posterity will not respect them
as suitable causes for delay; posterity
will take note of the date when the
American republic did it's duty by its
women-a duty that had always been
EXPLAINS PAPER SHORTAGE.