Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-10-01

tive for state initiative, if the early
 to the successful prosecution of the
 proposed ill he party platforms of i
 reasonable length of time, if practical \ Necessary Measure.
 And it's adoption. in my judgment clearly is necessary to successful
 prosecution of the war and the suc- l cessful realization of the objects for which the war is being fought. "That judgment I take the liberty of urging upon you with solemn ear- | nestness for reasons which I shall state very frankly and which 1 hope will seem as conclusive to you as they seem to me.
 "This is peoples war and the l peoples thinking constitute it's at | mosphere and morale. not the pre-
 affections of the drawing room or the ] political considerations of the caucus. If we be indeed democrats and wish 1 to leave the world to democracy. we
 can ask other people to accept in proof of our sincerity and our ability
 to lead them whither they wish to be
 led nothing less persuasive and con- vincing than our actions. Our profess lessons will not suffice. Verification l must be forthcoming when cerifica- i tons is asked for. And in this case verification is asked for-asked for 1 ill this particular matter. You ask 1 by whom? Not through diplomatic l channels; not by foreign ministers. Not by the intimation of parliaments. l It is asked for by the anxious. expect ant, sufferng peoples with whom we l are dealing and who are willing to put their destinaties in some measure l in our hands. if they are sure that we wish the same things that they do.
 From Many Voices.
 VI do not speak my conjecture. It is not alone the voices of statesmen ! and of newspapers that reach me and ! the voices of foolish and intemper- ! ate agitat0rs do not reach me at all. Through many, many channels have been made aware what the plain, 1 struggling works-day folk are think | ing upon whom the chief terror and suffering of this tragic war falls hey are looking to the great, power- | full, famous democracy of the west to l lead them to the new day for which 1 they have so long waited; and they think, i'll their logical simplicity, that democracy means that women shall | play their part in affairs alongside | men and upon an equal footing with
 them. If we reject mdasures like | this in ignorant defiance of what a
 new age has brought forth of what l they have seen but we have not, 1 they will cease to believe in us: they
 will cease to follow or to trust us | ments accept this interpretation of democracy-seen old governments 1 like that of Great Britain. which did | not profess to be democratic, prom ise readily and. as of course. this | justice to women, though they had before refused it; the strange revela-
 tions of this war having made many 1 things new and plain to governments, ! as we'll as to peoples.
 We Learn Lessons.
 l Are we alone to refuse to learn the lesson? Are we alone to ask and
 take the utmost that our women can give-service anad sacrifice of every | kind-and still say we do not see what title that gives them to stand
 by our sides in the guidance of the
 affairs of their nation and ours? We have made partners of the wo- ] men in this war; shall we admit them only to partnership of privilege and 1 right? This war could not have been fought, either by the other natons l engaged or by American if it had not | been for the services of the women services rendered in every sphere
 not merely ill the fields of efforts in l which we have been accustomed to see them work, but wherever men have worked and upon the very
 skirts and edges of the battle itself. | We shall not only be distrusted but 1 shall deserve to be distrusted if we
 do not enfranchise them with the fullest possible enfranchisement, as I it is now certain that the other great | free nations will enfranchise them. | We cannot isolate our thought and action in such a matter from the l thought of the rest of the world. We | must either conform or deliberately reject what they propose and resign the leadership of liberal minds to others.
 Women Are Noble.
 "The women of America are too mo- ble and too intelligent and too de- voted to be slackers whether you give or withhold this thing that is 1 mere justice; but I know the magic ] it will work in their thoughts and spirits if you give it to them. I pro-
 pose it as l would propose to admit soldiers to the suffrage. the men | fighting i'll the field for our liberties and the liberties of the world, were they excluded The tasks of the wo-
 men lie at the very heart of the war, and know how much stronger that
 heart will beet if you do this just thing and show our fwomen that you trust them as much$ as you in fact and of necessity depends upon them.
 Have ! said that the passage o'