The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-01-17
MRS. BRYAN MAKES
TALK TO SUFFRAGE
CLUB OF MIAMI

CLUB OF MIAMI
Just about every woman Of prom
inence in Miami. in Cocoanut Grove
and in Fort Lauderdale, not TO men
ton those winter visitors who come
from every part of the country, were
present at the suffrage luncheon yes
terday noon at Ye Wayside Inn.
Women of importance along every
line of social endeavor, in fact, the
women of the community who are
doing the most important work for
the community, made up the huge
number of women who filled the two
long lines of tables at the inn yester-
day for the luncheon which was so
splendidly served and to listen to the
speakers of the afternoon, in particu-
/ lar, Mrs William Jennings Bryan.
Mrs Bryan, received an ovation on
her introduction and began her speech
with the statement that she was in
Iterested in the question of suffrage
because she wanted to vote before
she died and if she couldn't in Ne
braska she wanted to in Florida. And
in consequence. no matter what Mr..
Bryan did her residence is going to
be where she could vote
Mrs. Bryan continued with one of
the cleverest and wittiest expositions
on the reasons why men are opposed
to the vote for women. She used the
reduction ad absurdam argument with
so much clearness and force, and
with such a wealth of delightfully."-
funny example that her listeners were
fairly weeping with joy into their nap
kins. All the old stock arguments
of the opposed, the argument which in
themselves refute themselves she cit
ed most cleverly. Going on with the
more serious arguments, Mrs. Bryan
said she believed absolutely that WON
ans place was the home and tina,
: mans place was in his business pro
. viding for the home. But since the
men seem to be able to do their prin
cipal work and other things beside
she felt it was not too much to hope
that if women get up little bit ear
/ lier in the mornings and went to bet
r little later at night they might BIZ
able by trying very hard indeed, t
cast ballot two or three times {
: year. She also used the delightful
) reduction ad absurdam method on the
) statements that if women have the
| vote they will become unsexed ant
lose their femininity and stated thai
! If one believed this to be the case ne
, doubt one believed that after womer
, vote men will plead their love in vain
, there will be no more marrying, ne
, more happy homes, no more chill
dren, and mankind will die out while
the voting women will go on voting
from morning to night, day in and day
out, month after month, year after
year. She emphasized the fact that
the woman suffrage movement was
not the whole of the woman question
, and urged her audience to read Olive
Schreiner's woman and Labor" or
the question. Women should be not
only mans physical counterpart, she
said, but his mental and moral coun
terpart. Women are more than breed
ing machines as men are more thar
sires. In concluding Mrs. Bryan
urged these we'll educated, comfort
able women to show the world thai
they did not need to be anything more
than thoroughly womenly to want the
ballot.
"a tandem team" she concluded
sis never used to pull anything. The,
always put the horses side by side FOL
that. Metropolis.