New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-24
MIR. Wheeler Notions
They Still Seem to Him Better Than
Suffrage Facts

Sir: Your correspondents have been paying
particular attention to me. appreciate the
honor. Permit me reply.
| so far as the petition claimed to have been
signed by over 100000 women Of voting age
is concerned, my reasons for discrediting 1t
are, in brief:
! The reports we have from various anti
suffrage associations In tho state confirm my
own personal observation, which Is that the
majority of women do not desire woman SUI
frsge. This convinccs me that the statement
| that I'VE find that 90 per cent OF the women
we approached were glad to sign for woman
suffrage" Is incorrect. We challenge any one
| IN any county to find q district where ono In
every three women over twenty-one years OF
age has signed tho suffrage petition.
Long experience in politics shows me that
It is easy to get signatures to petitions, Tor
the simple reason that 1t Is less trouble to
| sign than 10 refuse. Such petitlohs are
therefore, unreliable.
In any case it is impossible between now
and election to verify 100000 or even lOO,-
900 signatures.
| might add that special investigation
made by the Duchess County Association, IN
which county the petition of that county
has been on exhibition, satisfies US that the
signatures to that petition do not represent
tho women Of the county and are not in any
Just sense authentic.
Let me put a single instance. We are told
that instructions were given TO the persons
who obtained the signatures ito obtain the
signatures of women of only voting age.
What assurance have We that the zeal OF
some Of these agents did not outrun their
discretion7 Such things have been known to
happen In politics, and it is hard to believe
that the many persons employed by the SUI
frrge organization were more scrupulous
than others.
So como back to my original statement,
which Is not denied, that tho snti-suffragists
proposed to the suffragists an open. regular
and legal way BY which the judgment Of the
women Of voting age in this state could be
obtained automatically in the same manner as
at any ordinary election. In every precinct
the female citizen Of voting age would appear
before inspectors. the right to vote would be
subject to challenge, the transaction would
be open to the public. This offer was re-
fused by the suffragsts. They have chosen
TO adopt method not open to the public, In
which, while there 10 an apparent possibility
OF verifcation, there Is no real substantial
opportunity and they must submit to be dis
credited.
do not wonder the suffragists dislike
being discredited. As women they are ac-
customed to receive the Difference due to
their sex according TO the courtesy OF Amer
lean men. But when they go into politics
and become combatsnts they cannot expect
this. They claim that they ought to be
treated in all respects like men; they should
not complain if they receiv, the same treat
ment that men give In politics to their ad-
T. iudo tha
aim 10 be politicians and seek the ballot as
the means of accomplishing political results
would If they succeed, lose the substance Of
what is for the real interest of their sex and
Of the state and obtain only shadow.
The Theory of Our Government
Some of your correspondents argue that
this petition Is irrelevant that women have
right TO vote and ought to have 1t whether
they want it or not. To this argument | am
not blind, as your correspondent says. / do
earnestly desire TO see the truth. The truth
is that there Is no such thing as an absolute
right to vote under the American system.
The theory of our government is that the
rights of every individual TO life, liberty, the
acquisition and security of property are pro-
tected by law and by the courts. Those Of
women are even better protected than those
Of men under the present system. The ballot
involves the government of others, and our
system has always been to give this respon-
sibility to those who could best bear 1t IN
the interest of the public. For example,
man who lives in New York and owns farm
in Vermont has rights in that farm which
are protected, but he cannot vote in Vermont
He may live in New York and own a farm in
Duchess County; his rights to that farm are
secure there, but he cannot vote. He cannot
vote in the place Of his residence unless he
is registered, and if necessary business keeps
him away on the registration days he loses
lis vote. The rights Of children in person
and property are even more carefully secured
by law than those of adults, yet children do
not vote. The question then comes to this
, is it better for the community that the great
majority of women of voting age should have
the ballot? We who oppose the proposition
know, in the first place that the great ma
jority Of women of voting age are wives and
mothers and have the responsibilities of home
and children. We know that the proper per-
! Torrance of this duty is of the greatest value
to the state. Nothing can take It's place. We
believe that to bring those women into poit-
ical activity would tend to break up the home.
/ II the wife voted with her husband there
would be applications; If she voted against
him there would be dscord; either would be
an evil In fact, all the feminists and social
| lists are suffragists for the avowed reason
that they seek to displace the home and fam
/ lily as the unit of civilization. The feminist
would make the individual the unit; the So
cialist would bring everything under the con-
troll Of the state; in either case the family
as a separate and sacred unit would suffer.
1t is logical that in all the suffrage states
divorce is easy. In some of them legally. a
marriage Is only weekend affair. That is
to say, 1t can practically be dissolved at the
will of either party.
| know that there are many good and wise
women who favor suffrage and who do not
hold these mischevous views, but, in my
! judgment, they are embarked on course
which inevitably leads in that direction. I
must therefore ask them to believe that il
| oppose their activity. it is for the sake Of
that which is most sacred 10 me-the mother
and the child, the home and the family.
ID Vrt III