The Punta Gorda herald., 1919-05-01
Give the Women a Chance

Ine IOll0Wlng editorial from
the Times Union of the 23rd ult.,
Expresses clearly and forcibly the
views which The Herald has en-
tertained for long time:
| The proposition that women be
given a chance to vote in the
primary on the question Of wom-
an 5 suffrage is very similar to the
idea the Times Union has suggest
ed long ago We take the stand
that there is no such thing as a
natural right to vote, or sll
would have it. 1t is conferred or
certain classes as a matter of con-
venience and, this being true, it
is not treated anywhere as a
natural right. The young man 20
years and II months old has every
natural right that belongs to one
21 years old, but he can vote if he
is Il and can't vote the day be-
fore he reaches that age.
But we see no reason for. per-
hitting men to vote than for per-
mitting women, and there is one
thing we know. 1t is possible
that we may be mistaken about
the earth being round or revolv-
ing in a way to make the sun ap-
pear to go round it every day.
1t is possible that things that are
equal to the same thing are not
equal to each other. But the one
thing we know is this: Ii wo-
men in this country were permit
ted to vote, they couldn t possibly
make a greater mess of it than the
men have. Men have learned to
fly and to talk TO each other when
thousands Of miles apart, and it
is not at all improbable that they
will soon be able to raise the dead,
but they will never be able to
mess up politics worse than they
are messed up in this country
now.
If the majority of the right
class of women want to vote,
they should be permitted to do so.
If the majority do not wish to
vote, they should not be forced to.
Ii as class they do not wish to
vote, the ballot should be with
held from the class. The thing
to do is to find. out what the wo-
men want and give it to them.
They have as much right to their
will as the men have
At first glance, it looks as II
the proposition to have primary
for women, and have all who vote
in it counted as fayoring woman S
suffrage and all who do not vote
counted as opposing it, is unfair.
We know that a large number OF
men do not vote; and, ii those re-
framing from voting were count
ed as opposing the proposition to
be decided, they would defeat 1t.
But this is because the votes OF
some who took part in the elect
ion would also be counted against
it. Counting all votes cast as In
favor of the proposition about
things.
With this question up, every
woman who is strongly In favor
of woman's suffrage. would vote
and every one strongly opposed
to it would stay at home. At
first glance, it may appear that
those taking little interest IN the
subject would also stay at home
and the neutrals or near neutrals
would be counted against the
This would be true,
If it were not the first and possl-
bly, the only election. Being the
first and possibly the only one In
which women have a chance to
participate, curiosity would at
tract many to the polls who cared
little about the matter. They
would want to see how it felt to
be 8 voter and how things looked
at the polls from the standpoint
Of an insider. We think this
curiosity would fully offset the
number who would stay at home
merely because they didn't care
to take the trouble to go to the