The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-03
ANNISTONS LITERARY CL LUBS IA VIZ NOW
 COMPLETED PLANS FOR NEW SEASON

{ crack of doom than, to cause one womans
 heart to break because of the drunken
 ness of her husband, her father or her son.
 50 it is with equal suffrage" said 1 Mrs I.edbetter T never wanted the vote. I never sought the vote, and my heart contracts a bit every time l think of going to the polls but if by casting l a vote I can help to shorten the hours
 for women in industry, if l can help to 1 proong the life of the mother and the
 new born babe, if l can make life better | worth the living for women less able to
 take care of themselves than I am. then l am willing to put aside my feelings
 and do what I believe is duty While
 a feeling of depression comes over me at
 the thought of an added responsibility there are 100000 women whose hearts
 are singing a pean of joy at the thought of their added usefulness. There ars those who think that in the twinkling of an eye this planet will be transpianted into a paradise where every human III i will be at once redressed On the other hand, there are those who think the coun- try is on the toboggan slide for Hades because of equal suffrage. When Ten- nessee ratified the amendment speaker
 Walker remarked, Hell is now going to
 break loose in this land, which was once 1 d white mans country with Wnlte
 mans God Margaret Fuller, the philos-
 
 group of savants in England, gravely re-
 marked T admit the universe as fact. Carlisle, the dour /Scotchman. who had already characterized Miss Fuller as
 skinny ola maid who talked too omuch'
 remarked that she might as well admlt
 it. So with us. whether we think equal
 suffrage will drive the nation to per-
 dition or raise it to paradise, at least.
 each and every ore of us must admit
 that it is fact.
 Then what follows? 10 the woman,
 who for years. perhaps for lifetime,
 has been bending all here energies to- wards the accomplishment of this great
 end, the. answer comes: The exercise or this great and glorious privilege But how about the vast multitude of other
 women who were either hostile or indif-
 ferent toward the ballot for women! Their answer is a grave rinatter and one t.i that calls for thought. To the larger
 proposition of thinking women comes the
 answer: 'To me it is a duty-not pleas
 ant one, but, withal sacred one as IS
 every one Let us look into the matter
 and see whether the right of franchise l is merely privilege or duty. Tn order 1 to do this intelligently, me must study
 our form of government and it's relation
 to the right of franchise. Let us LOOK back over the governments of the world and study their evolution into what, we ? believe to be the ideal form of govern- l ment-a democracy or republican form or government. In the dim day dawn or | the race, might made right, and the man who, by physical strength, by sheer brute force. could impose his will upon his Tel | low man, that man was king or ruier l or leader and elevated above his lei lows was given special privileges, was given power of life and death over ms fellow subjects and also over hls sup jects' property. You remember that when the regular avenues of income were ! not sufficient in olden days, the king did not hesitate to put to death the man ' whose property he wished to be seized. But along with this idea of raising one man above his fellows was growing an other idea that man was man, a klps , no more than a man, subject no less s than a man, that one man should not r have mopIete power over another man that man ought to have voice in HIS : own government
 In the days of Greece, Plato that Tar 2 seeing philosopher who was about 2,oot . years ahead of his time, wrote his Ia I mons "Republic" which contains some 1 ideals not yet realized. Before Christ Il Rome had a so-called republic, with V King at its head. We find even at the : close of the middle ages king wn' $ could put an unpleasant subject out O. e the way Kings who did not hesitate
 to rob even churches of their gold or \ silver vessels when they needed money to spend on themselves. It was III ll,.Ivanhoe" where the poor Jew refused to give up his gold and a tooth wa' pulled out of his head each day pelor' he acouiesced Again you 'remembe how the man was put over the fire likt
 a steak on grill until he gave up hi gold. Such things went on until there \ was bred in the hearts and mlnds 0 ! men an idea of their real rights. klns John was forced to give the first O human rights which carried with IL | means of enforcement. From that tim' on the idea grew stronger until finally it burst forth into the great Declara tion of Independence In 1t we Int | these words: We hold these trhths t' be self-evdent: That all men are ere | trted equal; that they are endowed U. | theiraCreator with certain unalienapl rights. among which are life, llbert' and pursuit of happiness; that to secur these rights, governments are instituted
 among men. deriving their just power | by the consent of the governed. Tha Is the cru& of the whole situation. Tn | consent of the governed9 Now tn question arises: How sh%ll the consen | of the governed find an expressionl ! is clear that there must be system an' | organization about this, or confuslo [ will arise. As time has gone on. thi idea has crystallized itself in the or | sanization of certain groups of peopi'
 who in the main think alike, and wh | register their opinion by means or
 written or printed slip of paper. calle | a vote or ballot So we see that Tn ! foundation upon which our governmen | rests is the individual opinion Of tn | governed expressed in the form Of Note We may hold million opnon
 and none so loud as we in the expres ! sion of them but unless 1t finds ex | pression in the vote or ballot 1t IS a
 empty and intellectual as last year | birds nest
 "So men today stand not asacoward ,&xaA7