Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-18
LET TIERS TO THE EDITOR


 and knit bandages and pick lint and | get ready to take care of their broth CTS, and sons, and fathers, who are going. to be shot to pieces in the trenches abroad.p
 Is the tone of this speech satisfac I tory to his constituents? Do we wish it to be considered Connecticut,s tone? l Does he. for instance, represent Con- 1 inecticut's manhood in its attitude l toward woman? Women as well as 1 men are giving their all to secure l are carrying on the work of the men l in every line of industry. They are I 1risking-and giving-their lives, at home in the munition works and at 1 the front in the canteens, in the hos pitals as Red Cross nurses, and as ambulance drivers. American women can be counted on to do their part as the demand comes e
 Senator Brandegee says with mag nificence that the country can take my life" He will probably not be called upon to lay it down-but women are laying theirs down daily in the dangers of the front and the labors l of the second line of defense; yet he bids us ''go home and knit CD ban dages and pick lint"
 The position of women. the whole 1 ldISC OL lltc1I DtIil6 profoundly affected by this war than any event since the industrial revo- lution of the 18th and early 18th cen turies The momentous decisions be- l ing made daily by governments are l radically altering the world in which 1 their children are to live. England l and Canada have realized this and have given their women the same 1 right of self determination that they 1 have. promised to the down-trodden nations of Europe. France and Italy are well on the way toward emanci- pating their women. The overwhelm- ing trend of public opinion, the out 1 spoken statements of our president, and of leaders such as Roosevelt, Will liam Hays of the republican national committee and Vance Mccormick of 1 the democratic national committee and l countless others, is all in this direc- tion; but Senator Brandegee can still talk of women .'bleating around about saving democracy by forcing their way into caucuSes and conventions.
 These caucuses and conventions nom mate the men who hold Women's in terests in their hands and yet we are to have nothing to do with their proceedings! The successful conduct of the war, the welfare of the men of
 our families at the front is in their, hands, but we are to keep quiet and l pick lint.
 Next fall the elections will turn on the supreme issue on loyalty, but Con- necticut women along with the women of other non suffrage states are to leave the choice of the new senators, members of congress, governors, etc, entirely to the men left at home by the war. We are sending hundreds of
 thousands of loyal voters out of the
 country, and it looks now as if they
 might thus be automatically disfran-
 chised Among those left home are all the unfit, the slackers, and the dan gerously large number of alien enc
 mies who are still voters (seven states give the vote to foreigners on their first papers and before they are eligi- ble to the drafD. They are to decide , these elections while the soldiers and their wives, mothers and sisters have l not one word to say. Canadian sol , diers found this intolerable and their , women were enfranchised to represent ; them. Is America to be the only , country except Germany that does not trust her women? We are told by MT 1 i}randegee. in unison with the kaiser i that our concern is with cooking clothing and children-are we to be
 allowed. no part in the protection oi 1 these homes and children against en- emies without and spies within?
 Even the New York state anti
 sufragists have recognized the power. I lessness of the old indirect infuencg
 of women," and m their recent state,
 ment have announced that they vii quite rightly use their votes to fgh sedition and pro-Germanism. But Mir g Brandegee would tell them to "gC home and pick lint"
 Connecticut moves slowly, but it has a noble past, and it's record in thi: war has been more than creditable Will it rest contented to have the country take our senior senator as
 representing Connecticut's attitude s toward women? The republican party - has been good friend to suffrage and has given it a very large majority ir , congress. MT. Brandegee does not ! even represent his party
 KATHARINE LUDFNGTON. President Connecticut Woman Suffra ge Association.
 Hartford, May Is, 1918.