Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1918-10-26
DALLYING WITH SUFFRAGE
From The Public

the Senate. When thirty-one men in the
United States Senate are so blind to the
trend OF events as to vote against the eX-
tension of the franchise to American women
at time when nations all over the world
are admitting women to the full rights Of
citizenship, it shows the imperative need of
the very influence that is now denied eX-
preston. The defeat of the Amendment at
this time is doubly unfortunate. 1t brings
an unnecessary issue into the November
elections, to the confusion of others that
are still to be decided and it tends to weak
en- the Nations prestige abroad in places
where it is most needed Attempts are be-
ing made by politicians to turn it into a
party issue-and the Democrats deserve
nothing better than to have the Republi-
cans take advantage of their stupidity; but
the Presidents warm espousal of the cause
will neutralize their blunder, and cause the
Suffragists to work against individual can
didates in both parties, rather than oppose
the party to which most Of the offending
Congressman belong.
The opponents Of suffrage in the Senate
not only betrayed their provincialism by
their failure to keep abreast of the times,
but they made it clear that they do not yet
grasp the ideals at stake in this war. When
the President told the Senate that the Suf-
frage Amendment should pass because it
was necessary to the winning of the war
some Of the members thought him guilty
Of gross eXaggeration, and some of the
otherwise more enlightened press were in
clined to agree with them. This is another
instance Of how people misunderstood the
Presidents war position. They appear to
be unable to free their minds of the limita-
lions of the physical plane, and craps the
ideals of the spiritual. By winning the
war the President does not mean the mere
overthrow of the Prussian military machine.
That might be done by military machine
Of the Allies, and leave the oppressed peo-
Piles little better off than before. What he
has in mind is not alone the overthrow Of
a particular oppressor, but the liberation
Of all who are oppressed
President Wilson has declared that Amer
lea had no selfish purpose in entering the
war. We want nothing he says, that we
do not freely accord to others. We seek
only justice for ALL But these are words
Others as high sounding have been uttered
at various times by different men. The
Prussians themselves have used similar ex-
pressions. They prated indeed about the
rights of small nations at the very moment
they were imposing the Brest-Litovsk treaty
upon Russia. It is because such expressions
purpose that they must now be backed by
deeds before they will be believed. If we
had held Cuba, as our imperialists sought to
do; or if we had not put the Philippines in
the way Of independence, which these same
imperialsts SO long opposed how could we
now have the temerity to talk Of the rights
of small nations? The humiliating position
of this country at the time of the Boer war
when British tories were imposing their
will upon the South African republic, is a
case in point. It was the first instance since
the foundation of our Government that 1t
had not expressed sympathy with an op-
pressed people struggling for liberty; but
we were mute when the Boer republic went
down because as one frank critic brutally
expressed it, our mouths were stopped by
Filipino blood. It is because we finally
succeeded in casting out our own imperial
ism that our democratic professions today
carry weight.