Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-02

the best things for the nation, STATE
community and individual. She warned
the members of the committee to con-
slider thoroughly before they called
down upon the women folk the burdens
and trials of political life.
In the suffrage campaigns through
New York, Massachusetts and Iowa,
said Mrs. Ford, the task of the anti
suffragistS was made harder because
there was not hamlet so. small or city
so large but what was filled with the
Contemplate lie" that the anti-suffra-
gists were linked up with the LIQUOR
interests. Just imagine it," said Mra.
Ford. This campaign method on the
part of the suffragists she classes as
unfair. and said she hoped before the
ladies of Maine get into campaign this
question will be fairly settled once for
all.
The condition of women being or
ganized against women doesn't seem
quite normal, does it, said Mrs. Ford,
and her question was greeted with a
chorus of Noes" from the suffrage side.
NO, it isn't" she went on. and I'm
going to try to show You ladies that
you ought 10 come oNCi Will uS.
This serious PERIOD she said. is a
time for straight thinking and caution.
not a time to revolutionlze our system
of suffrage thoughtlessly, Giving suf-
frage to women. she declared means
thrusting political responsibility upon
them. Either they must neglect politi-
cal questions or they must neglect their
duties. She declared that such neglect
would result and has resulted in the
suffrage states in inefflciency in one de-
partment or the other, usually on the
governmental side.
The democracy for which the suf-
fragists plead is not, she claimed.
real democracy. but nominal democ-
racy. Already we have real democ-
racy. in that all classes are represented
in the suffrage. 1t is true that the wo-
men who pay taxes cannot vote, but the
women of that class are represented by
the men of that class. This, she said,
disposed of the argument Of taxation
without representation.
Within the past four years, she said,
10 states with an aggregate population
of 41OO0. 900 have rejected suffrage.
Adding to these the southern states,
known to be opposed to suffrage, and
the states where suffrage had never
enough support to be referred, she said
states containing "a per cent. of the ma
tons population were opposed to suf-
frage.
The high cost of government is one
of the factors in the high cost of liv-
ing, she said, and in Massachusetts,
many men voted against suffrage be-
cause they were convinced that it
would sonly increase the cost of cleo
tions without improving the vote, since
the average woman is only equal to the
average man.
The suffrage claims. she declared, are
false in economy. false in their refiec-
tons upon the men who carry the bur
den of government and utterly false to
the principles which have made posi-
bic the development of family life. She
spoke of the valuable contribution to
public life of a large body of non-par-
tisan women
I'VE as women want to keep out OF
politics." she said. and every man with
red blood in his veins who isn't dom
mated by some female suffragist in the
family wants us to keep out" AS a
parting word She asked the committee
not to confound woman's progress with
woman suffrage.
Hon. Robert Luce
The last speaker for the anti-suffra-
gists was Hon. Robert Luce of Wal
tham Mass, former lieutenant governor
of Massachusetts, and for six years
chairman of the Massachusetts legisla-
tive committee on elections.
He spoke as former Maine man, be
ing a native of Auburn, son of Enos Z.
Luce, former judge of probate of An
droscoggin county, as one who was in
terested in the welfare of Maine because
he owns property in this State and
spends from a quarter to a third of each
year here.
He said he was always struck with the
difficulty suffragists had OF realizing the
problem before committee. The prob
lem of the committee was whether the
question of suffrage ought to be submit
ted to the men of Maine, whether they
were sufficiently interested. not whether
1t should be submitted to the people OF
! Maine.
He characterized as political threat
the statement that the Legislature
should submit the question because a
band of political leaders. behind closed
/ doors, possibly for political purposes,
had incorporated that in a party plat
form. The Implication" said he, lis
! that YOU gentlemen ought to be mere
monographs, fountain pens, of those po-
litical leaders. They do not ask you to
use your own brains and think this ques-
ton out. When you took your oath of
office did you swear to submit resolve
because the people of Wyoming believe
! in it, or because the people of Maine be-
| leve in it and should vote upon it?''
If every human being has the right to
vote. he said, there would be no argu-
ment
His statement that "all legislation
should be made for the good of all the
people was greeted with loud applause
and cheers from the suffrage side, which
was repeated when he added: II am
glad to find that the women Of my native
State agree with me that not factions,
not classes, not sexes or individuals. but
all the people are entitled to the benefits