Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-12-10
Mrs. Dunovant Presents Cause
of Equal Suffrage 3 !:
Editor of the Advertiser:

Cne equal suffrage petlIiollS Has
brought the subject of woman's sufffT
rage to the front in our community
it may be of interest to your readers
to hear what some of the objections
to signing were, and to have these OBJ
jections explained away. r%;
One of the very first objections
was, that while they were themselves
in favor of suffrage, yet they thought
it best not to sign for private reasons.
Of course it is easy to read between
those lines, and all honor to their
sacrifcial spirits, they will have their
rewards, by and by. s
Our second reason for not signing
reminds us of the pioneer days of the
w. C. T. u. Unless a woman had a
drunken husband there seemed to be
no earthly reason for her to declare
herself against liquor. The Woman's
Christian Temperance Union was tc'
their mind primarily an organization
of drunkards' wives and daughters.
And so, some Of our good women I'M
agine that unless they can stir up a
little friction now and then between
themselves and their "better halves
there is no excuse for them to join
in the suffrage movement, declaring
that there is no reason for them to
vote since they have their husbands
vote in consequence of their perfect
harmony. ~
To these good friends we would
say-there are two reasons why they
should have suffrage. The first is,
that they may be of assistance to
those women and men who do have
friction in their homes, and the other
is that they might deprive their nus
bands of their own vote. 1t is very eV-
ident that where there is bit one
vote cast it is either the husbands or
the wife's. If it is hers, then her hus2
band is disfranchised, and if his then
she is disfranchised. A disfranchised
husband is hen-pecked husband .lld 81.
and j disf ranchised wife is q {(ai'))i
A suffragist differs from an anti
suffragist in that she wants her vote
and wants her husband to have MS
own! There is no friction in that. The
onlv place that friction and suffrage
come together in the home is when
the husband opposes his wife and she
makes up her mind to declare herself
anyway.
The Constitu' Of the United
States says: {" citizens of each
state shall be gtlIled to all privileges
and immunit..es; of citizens in the sew
eral states" and that "no state shall
abridge the privileges or imEunitles
of citizens" Gail persons born or
naturalized in the United States and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof
are citizens" Therefore, women, be-
ing born in the United States, just as
men are, and being subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, just as men are
must be citizens. Since there is no
mention of a family vote being cast
by pater familias or some duly auth
orized substitute, we understand it te
mean that each citizen should have
the right to cast his or her own bal
lot under the Constitution. This has
been the contention of suffraglsts
from the beginning of the agitation
more than 100 years ago.
Another objector gave as her rea-
son that "Mama didn't have to. What
was good enough for Mama is good
enough for me-" But-Mama wore
hoop skirts, or from four to eight pc
ticoats. Mama did the family sewing,
and ready-to-wear clothes were an
extravaganza. Mama wore sunbonnets
and homespun stockings and Shoes
and Mama cooked on the fire; place
until she was made happy in the pos
session of a little wood stove and a
coal oil lamp. Mama didn't ride in an
automobile, nor use type writer, nol
a fountain pen nor an electric iron
! That objection is no good. 1t is mere
lv an excuse. I have never heard
valid argument against equal suffrage
anyway. 1t always has something tc
do with something else beside the
subject.
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