The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1919-08-01
AN OPEN LETTER

Maysville, KY, July 80, 1919.
Mr.. Calvert Early,
Maysville, Ky.
Dear Sir:
Your statement as quoted by "A
Suffragist," In the July 80 issue OF the
Daily Independent that a woman's
place is in the home and that you
could not, as you see 1t, vote for the
ratification of the Federal Suffrage
Amendment, is as interesting as 1t is
naive
Do you come to that conclusion as a
result of your own original investiga-
lions and study or have you caught 1t
up as one of the shibboleths of the
"gang?"
Let us try It for one day. Let all
the women stay at home. Every
housekeeper gets her own breakfast,
cleans her own house, nurses her own
baby, nurses her own sick-the cook,
house maid, children's nurse, and
trained nurse are at home.
The laundries are all closed-the
women employees are at home.
The mills, shops, factories are
closed-the women workers are all at
home.
The department stores are inoper-
ative-the women clerks are at home.
The schools are closed-the teach
ers are at home.
The hospitals are paraIyzed - the
nurses are at home.
The lawyers, doctors, bankers, and
business Offices of all kinds are prac-
tically paralyzed-the stenographers
are at home.
The government offices, municipal,
county, state and national, are Grip
pled-the women stenographers and
clerks are at home.
The wheels Of all business are stop
ped-the telephone girls are all at
home.
Most retail businesses are reduced
to the. minimum-the shoppers and
moving picture goers are all at home.
The streets are in large measure de-
serted, and pleasure resorts depress-
ing spectacles-the women are all at
home.
What shall we say of the poor
with only the men who are
in the habit of attending present at the
services? The women are all at home.
Did you really mean what you said?
Or did you mean something like this
That the highest, most blessed work
that woman can do in the world is
to keep well home and to rear heal
thy, well-trained children?
But, can a woman keep her home
well and rear healthy children in COM
munities where the housing conditions
are bad and unsanitary, where the
water supply is impure, the milk sup
ply impure. and the profiteering of
selfish male citizens, empowered with
the vote, makes the cost of wholesome
living beyond the reach of her meager
purse?
Can she bring up children of clean,
nigh character in a community where
The laws for the preservation Of order
and the general good are either poor
else poorly enforced?
Now, the most effective instrument |
hat has been devised up to the pres
ent time for regulating the conditions |
If civilized life Is the ballot, and since |
are so vitality interested in all
he conditions that are affected by the |
ballot, they have not only the right to
he use of the ballot but they have !
duty to do all in their power
o remove every obstruction that |
stands in the way of their rightful use
If this effective instrument
You said some women would use |
he ballot but others would not This |
s just as true of men. We have not |
yet come to the place where the State
eels justified in requiring its citizens |
% vote, but certainly you will not de-
ny that it Is the function and the duty |
If the State to remove any arbitrary
Obstacles that may stand in the way of
itizens exercising the right to vote.
Now, Mr., Early, YOU have fallen !