The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1918-10-03
WILSON ASKS
SENATE To PASS
SUFFRAGE BILL
President Says Measure NeCeS-
Sary to Win War.
MUST REMOVE OBSTACLES
Asserts Strange Revelations of the
War Have Made Many Things New
and Plain to Governments, as
Well as to Peoples.

Washington. Oct. |. President
Wilson stepped into the breach of the
senate fight over the woman suffrage
resolution and in a personal address
in the senate chamber asked for its
passage as a war measure.
Wilson Addresses Senate.
The president addressed the senate
as follows:
Gentlemen of the Senate: The I'M
usual circumstances of world war, in
which we stand and are judged in the
view not only of our own people and
our own consciences, but also in the
view of all nations and peoples, will,
/ hope, justify in your thought as II
does in mine, the message | have come
to bring you
Il regard the concurrence of the
senate in the constitutional amendment
proposing the extension of the suffrage
to women as vitality essential to the
successful prosecution of the great war
of humanity In which we are engaged.
| have come to urge upon you the con
| siderations which have led me to that
| conclusion. 1t is not only my privilege,
1t is also my duty, to apprise you of
| every circumstance and element in.
volved in this momentouS struggle,
which seems to me to affect it's very
process and its outcome. 1t is my
duty to win the war and TO ask you to
remove every obstacle that stands in
the way of winning it,
Il had assumed that the senate
would concur in the amendment, be-
cause no disputable principle is in.
yolved, but only a question of the
method by which the suffrage is to
be extended to women. There is and
can be no party issue involved in ii.
Both of our great national parties are
pledged, explicitly pledged to equality
of suffrage for the women of the coun-
try.
Neither party, therefore, is seems
to me, can justify hesitation as to the
method of obtaining it, can rightfully
hesitate to substitute federal initiative
for state initiative, If the early adop-
ton of this measure is necessary to
the successful prosecution of the war,
and If the method of state action pro
posed in the party platforms of 1916
is impracticable, within any reasonable
length of time if practical at all.
'And its adoption is, in my judg-
ment, clearly necessary to the sue
cessful prosecution of the war and
the successful realization of the oh
Jects for which the war is being
fought.
"ThIs Is a Peoples War"
This is a peoples war. and the peo-
lle's thinking constitute its atmosphere
and morale, not the predictions of
the drawing room or the political CON
siderations of the caucus. If we be
indeed democrats and wish to leave
the world to democracy we can ask
other peoples to accept In proof of
our sincerity and our ability to lead
item whittier they wish to be led moth
ing less persuasive and convincing
than our actions. Our professions
will not suffice.
"Verficatlon must be forthcoming
NIen NeIlItdllbH IL dShtu lbT. Anu
in this case verification is asked for
asked for in this particular manner.
You ask by whom? Not through dip
lcmatic channels. Not by foreign min
isters. Not by the limitations of
1arliaments. 1t is asked for by the
anxious, expectant, suffering peoples
with whom We are dealing and who
are willing to put their destinies in
some measure in our hands, if they
pre sure that we wish the same things
that they do.
Looking to Democracy Of West.
~ do not speak by conjecture II
IS not alone the voices of statement
md of newspapers that reach me, and
thc voices of foolish and Incorporate
aritators do not reach me ut all
through many many channels I have
feen made aware that the plain. strug
Cling work-a-day folk are thinking
upon whom the chief terror and suf
fering of this tragedy falls. They
are looking to tn great, powerful.
famous democracy of the West to lead
them to the new day for which they
lave so long waited: and they think,
in their logical simplicity that democ-
racv means that women shall play
their part in affairs alongside of men
ana upon equal footing with them. If
we reject measures like this In igno-
rcnt defiance of what new age has
brought forth of what they have seen
bpt we have not, they will cease to
believe in us; they viii cease to follow
or trust us.
"They have seen their own govern.
lGents accept this Interpretation OF de
r Ccracy-seen old governments like
that of Great Britain which did not
profess to be democratic, promise
readily, and as of course, this justice
% women, though they had before
refused It; the strange revelations Of
this war having made many things
new and plain to governments. as we'll
AS to peoples"