The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-09-28
WAKING UP.


Nv the better element Of men. Yet
when Richmond entertained the con-
vention If southern women in 1913, TO
confer on the franchise, through state
enactment, there was much antagonism
towards even this forward movement.
Rut some of the most progressive
women Of that Virginia city stood
hack of the suffrage movement, ana
some Of the most representative WON
en- of the South gathered at that con-
yention.
To-day the women of Richmond have
formed a strong force for state and CIVIC
betterment, and are preparing them
selves to take their part in national
politics.
one year ago in Escambia county il
anyone had predicted that in one day
at one registration office the names
Of three hundred women would have
been enrolled on the books of Escam-
bia county, such a prediction would
have been scoffed at. Yet that is what
happened Saturday in Pensacola.
It is estimated that Escambia county
will polI the greatest vote in many
wears in the general election. and that
more men will vote than in many
years?
What do these activities suggest?
Nothing more nor less than that the
great curse of indifference is at last
being broken, and that not only Amer
lean women but American men are
awakening to their obligations and are
transIating that sense of responsibility
into the greatest service they can do
their country-the casting of the bal
lot.
When we come down to the funda-
mentals. there is no other power that
compares with that of the ballot.
There is no other obligation that COM
pares with that of voting. Yet there
are men and women in this country
today who will tell you that they do
not, care to be mixed up in politics.
that they are sick of the rotten game,
that there is nothing in it," that they
have not time nor inclination to take
part in anything so dirty"
This is not through Ignorance so
much as indifference and prejudice.
Certain types of mind act always along
certain grooves. They speed eup Or
slow down along certain lines. These
are one track minds. There are. other
minds that have been one tracked but
the machinery is rusty and they have
ceased to operate even along one line.
These minds need to be walked up
and it looks as if the woman vote is
going to have a hand in the
awakening.
Strangely enough, comparatively few
voters look upon the vote as an obli-
CATION to their country. They look
upon it as a right invested in them
selves to cast their ballot as they
please, rather than an obligation laid
upon them to study conditions and
| having acquainted themselves with
! these, to fight for them through the
/ ballot
| Whatever we may choose to say
about this country, it is the greatest
in the world. The richest in raw ma
terial, the most resourceful, the most
| enterprising There is no other coun-
| try in the world that compares with it,
Yet do we fully appreciate its bles-
sings?
The foreigner who comes to this
| country, realizes its privileges. He is
seldom Indifferent. He uses his vote.
and frequently to a wrong advantage
We have given him the ballot. through
| legislation. Yet. having placed this
weapon in his hand and knowing it to
be dangerous one. we let our own
weapon rust in its scabbard. and re-
| fuse to draw it AGAINST the foe, be-
cause we are too indifferent or too
lazy to strike the blow for freedom.
The force of a thousand guns is as
nothing to the force of a thousand
votes. There is no power in the world
| so great as that of the ballot. But no
force is of any account until it is util-
lied All the man power Of this coun-
| try during war was as nothing until
| It was used.
| The great menace to this country is
| the indifferent voter. The man who
| does not think it worth while to cast
his ballot, is as truly a Stacker, as any
man who evaded service for his coun-
try during the world war. For every
vote that he fails to cast, there is a
vote cast by some other man who val
ues his right and whose vote NAV
| threaten the very safety of this gov
eminent and the sanctity of the home
| The man who refuses to vote is like
the man who refuses to fight.
Why was it that. the democratic
party recognized the women of the
South by placing a woman from every
southern state on the national commit
tee? Was it merely as a compliment?
Far from it. The democratic party had
Weakened to the realization that that
party needed the woman vote. The re-
publican party has awakened to the
same need.
And the chief reason for this is that
wherever the woman vote has been
utilized it has been found to quicken
the political life. 1t has been said
that the woman vote will not bring
about the millennium, and that is true.
1t never has and it never will. But
it has put new life into the body pol
tic. Women and men, working to-
gether. have always done more than
women and men working separately.
Women have helped to revolutionize
business. They have proven their
value in industry and in professional
life and in nOlitipol Iifo Tho lo-t