The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-06-07
EQUAL SUFFRAGE SURE TO WIN,
It Is Politically "Going" Proposition,
Says Boston Transcript.

states of the constitutional amendment
for woman suffrage, both the senators
from 90 states voted for or were paired
for the resolution, and both the senators
from only nine states voted against II
or were paired against it. 1t Is fair
assumption that the states both OF whose
senators were for the amendment are
fully committed by their own institu-
tions or by recognized popular choice to
the ratification of the amendment 1t is
not by any means so sure that the states
both of whose senator's are now opposed
to the amendment will in every case re-
fuse to ratify it; but if we assume that
these senators reflect the prevalent opin-
ion Of their constituents, we may put
down nine states on the negative side as
to ratification. To defeat the amend
ment, only Is states are needed; and If
only four more states in the union were
added to them, the amendment would
be defeated. At first glance this seems
to present a certain chance for defeat.
Ii is said to-day that the southern states
alone, most of whose senators voted yes
terday against the amendment, have it
in their power to defeat the amendment
So indeed they have; but ii is to be OBJ
served that southern sentiment is really
divided on the subject, and there is a
strongly growing opinion in all the
southern states in favor of equal suf
frage. The opponents everywhere stand
against growing current OF opinion in
| its favor.
| : Ii is interesting to observe the indiea-
| tions contained in the Senate vote of
what may be called the territorial char
acter of the sentiment for and against
suffrage. OF the nine states both of
whose senators voted mo" on this
amendment, seysn were southern-to
wit, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi
and Tennessee. One, Connecticut, was
New England, and one, Pennsylvania, is
central eastern. The southern states I'M
| divided in their opposition do not 60 west
of the Mississippi river; and at least one
southern state, Texas, cast both its sen
atorial votes for the amendment Won
an suffrage has come from the West.
| The first state to introduce il was Wy
oming, and the next Colorado. 1t has
moved slowly across the country, inyolv-
| ing New York and Maine at last The
last refuge of the extreme and unyield
| ing sentiment against ii is found in the
| two most conservative states of the
| East, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and
! in the eastern south. Ii is found also
/ in the Democratic party, as guided by
/ the South. 1t was the Republican party,
| founded on the basis Of resistance TO
human slavery, and declaring itself, in
/ its platform Of 1856, Sin favor of giving
full and efficient protection to the
rights of all classes of citizens, whether
native or naturalized both at home and
abroad which put through this amend.
ment for it was the change OF parties
in the Senate THE same resolution hav-
| ing been defeated in the last and Demo
cratic Senate) which made the present
success of equal suffrage possible. The
| Senate vote is in fact the logical com
pstion of the work of party which in
1860 nominated and elected to the presi-
dency man, Abraham Lincoln, whose
first declaration of personal principles
as candidate for the Illinois legislature
included woman suffrage.
There is, in fact, in the policy and
purposes and composition of the Repub.
lican party more hope for the ratification
of this amendment than there is in any
other influence, Equal suffrage is po-
litieally going proposition" The con.
viction prevails that it is bound to win.
/ It ia in harmony with the tendencies of
the time Resistance to it means relega-
tion to the back seats of politics. Fiji
teen states of the union now have full
suffrage; IL possess it with certain linn
itations which tend yearly to disappear
and will soon reach the vanishing point;
and even the southern states of Texas
and Arkansas permit women to vote in
| the primaries, which in those states are
| the determining elections. Woman suf-
frage has gained altogether too much
Roadway TO be checked by the resistance
Of corner of the country. Its complete
national achievement, toward which the
Republican party influence in Congress
has looked in decreeing the submission
of this amendment, will continue, if it
does not crown, the work of the party
of Lincoln and Sumner, of Grant and
Wilson and Blaine.-Boston Transcript.