Norwich bulletin., 1917-05-11
GAVE ELOQUENT ADDRESS
AT SLATER HALL
DR.. Anna Howard Shaw Speaks on
Woman and the State.

Dr. anna howard SHAW addressed a
large and most appreciative audience
1t is seldom indeed that such elo-
quence and intellectual acumen, COM
bined with the most sparkling wit and
a remarkable clarity of vision is pos
sessed in the high degree manifest
| in Dr. Shaw Moving her audience to
laughter or to tears at will she held
them unconscious of flight of time and
lonly anxious not to lose word Of the
wonderful address she gave.
DIR. Shaw was obliged to put the
hour of her lecture forward a few
minutes as she was called yesterday to
q conference by the government, in
her capacity as national chairman OF
the women's committee of the Ma
tional Council of Defense. and was
iObliged to travel continuously In order
to keep her appointment in Norwich.
The subject of the lecture was Wo-
man and the State, although, said DR..
Shaw, she has more recently replaced
state by nation. The call to has come
to all to regard ourselves as a ma
ton and it is time for US to hear it.
We have not heard 1t because we are
not really solidif1ed nation but only
a conglomeration of nationalities. We
have not yet graSped the idea of ma
uonal existence. The theory of states
rights is the expression of an inde-
pendence of one another not condu-
Give to the national idea. AS yet con-
gress has not outgrown the idea of
states rights as opposed to national
ism.
Women have begun to get a glimpse
of this. Out of the seventy years of
DR.. Shaw's life, forty have been spent
In trying to gain political freedom
| from the government whose funda-
mental principle is freedom for ALL
In the recent address by the presi-
dent to congress he speaks of the thing
for which we fight as the thing dear
est to our heart-democracy- right
of the governed to have voice in the
making of the law. Yet one-half of
the people in the eastern part of this
nation are refused that right And the
worst thing about it is that undoubt-
eddy he never thought of the women
when he wrote that sentiment. These
claims of democracy and the failure
to live up to them are bad Only since
the war has Asquith. formerly the
chief obstacle to suffrage in England,
changed his view and conceded the
fitness OF women for the ballot, on ac-
count of service rendered during this
var. Is 1t not strange that such in
tellects refuse to see that the service
rendered before war as mothers OF the
race was superior to working In the
munitions factories or running a horse
car?
Women themselves have failed to
realize their intimate relation to the
state Government is part of our
selves. Government takes its source
from US and government concerns us.
Women are not peculiar who are in
eminent exists for three purposes:
first, protection of person and prop
erty- For that reason combination Of
groups became necessary. Primarily
women were the workers of the race.
They accumulated property. In time
It was discovered that protection was
needed from those within as well as
without so arose the second function
of government namely the administra-
ton of justice. The third purpose is
the development of society. In the
first two named women are not
much concerned But in the third
they are of vital necessity. Nine out
of ten problems in city life concern
women most. Few cities know how
to keep their streets clean, the water
supply is a vital question and there is
no doubt women use Is much inter-
ually as well externally as the men.
The questions of disposal of garbage
and ashes, education of the children.
health Of the community all concern
us as individuals, and as a commu
nifty
The government is now taking over
the duties of motherhood: regulating
our food, courses OF study enforcing
of vaccination. 1t says that the child
belongs to the state and it takes the
right to promote it's best health. Thus
women to control their children must
have their part in the state.
Every human hope and experience
is common to us all But we are
afraid of democracy That is the his
tory of all our life. Beginning with
the Pilgrims who came to this land
to worship God according to the die
tates of their own hearts the same
visions of freedom have come down
to us. Governments derive their right
to govern from the consent of the gov
erned. We have called ourselves a re-
public always but we are not yet a
republic. Men are admira BILE people
as far as they go, but they only go
tolerates government of all the peo-
PIE by half the people. That IS an
aristocracy of sex. Every citizen pos
sessing the necessary qualifications
should be allowed to cast one vote at
the polls. How we admire our faith
ers when it suits our purpose. The
constitution which fitted thirteen
states is not adapted to forty eight.
The wisest thing in the constitution
was the provision to amend.
has been one of advancement and
when We take this final step we shall
have taken a great stride forward
With our Heavenly Father there is
no Jew or Gentle, bond or free, but
all are equal and that is democracy
What we need is the spirit of dem
ocracy- What stands in our way?
Two million women are organized for
1re could congress pass than that en-
franchising the womanhood of the
countryi
Before this great crisis is over we
shall need the greatest service from
both men and women.
The opposition 20 enfranchisement
is based on expectancy, never on right
and justice. The arguments are many
and opposing and upheld by statis-
ties. Figures of course do not lie,
but we know that liars figure some
times. 1t is said women would not
use the ballot-what harm done then?
They would neglect home, children
increased but no mention is made of
the increase fourfold of the. popula-
ton largely from the east). They
would vote as their husbands do. They
would not have the time to vote, ten
or fifteen minutes. Who would take
care of the children on election day?
Probably the same one who cares for
them every other day in the year
In time of war the last word is not
z,oI<or he ha4f1afeid I'm in the