The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1920-02-06
wouan,s Suffrage Question.

NE W0maR's ounA"e0
allowing letter has been sent
ottica fer publication in re-
70 Womans Suffrage:
a - there appeared in the news
ms OF a local paper an open let
~ the Legislators Of Maryland by
~ Issociation Opposed to Woman
30 Sufragists, in a paid adj
liaapnent on Saturday, January 10,
q nointed out that this letter was
IT, mis-statements. The letter
nws plainly that the same tactics,
;cb have been employed in other
Us where unsuccessful attempts
az been made to hold back the rati-
lion of the Federal Woman Suf-
100 Amendment, are going to be
aJ in Maryland by its opponents.
The Federal Suffrage Amendment
os passed by the Congress Of the
" q" States on June 4th, 1919. The
ltication campaign opened with
srpmendous momentum. Special ses-
ian has followed special session for
Ratification purposes. Every Mary
Under, for suffrage or against it, will
gree that it is of the utmost import
%nce that the decision of the General
Assembly Of Maryland on this ques-
lion he made, with full understand
kng of it's merits.
In Maryland, as in each Southern
state where this question has been
before the Legislature, Legislature
and press are going TO be flooded with
|anti-suffrage literature of a bitterly
personal, acutely sectional, viciously
Unfair character. Every sectional
prejudice, every local problem will be
traded on. Truth will be distorted.
Suffrage leaders, local and national,
will be personally DETAINED. Their
words will be misquoted.
We know this because it is kind Of
publicity that the opposition every
where INDUCES in. So shocking has
been the character of it's publicity
that the Lower House of the Legisla-
ure of one Southern state last spring
passed resolution condemning it as
cheapening and traducing all wo-
manhood 1t was in May that the
membership of the House of the 36th
Legislature Of Texas went on record
"as condemning the circulation Of this
character Of literature, the like of
which was placed upon our desks to-
day"
With the personal attacks made by
the anti-suffrage material, we are not
concerned Our business is to present
the argument for the democratic prin-
ciple OF suffrage and for the ratifica-
ton of the Federal Suffrage Amend
ment as an economical eXpedient for
applying that principle.
In the interest of fair play we ask
the press of this State to open its col
umns to the suffrage side of the case
and we ask the people to follow the
suffrage question, in general, and the
ratification question, in particular,
with thai regard for justice and truth
that has distinguished the highest
ideals OF our State in the past. We
believe that the General Assembly Of
Maryland will ratify the Feredral suf-
frage amendment because the mem
bers Of that body will realize that the
principle Of justice inherent in it must
rise superior to distinctions between
state and federal sovereignty.
We believe, too that Maryland's
representatives will realize the in
justice Of having the woman electorate
Of America irregularly placed about
the country as it is today. Women
are voting in The West. They are
voting in the Central States. They
are voting in the Southwest as in the
Northwest. They are voting in New
York. They are voting in Maine
and Rhode Island.
What is the matter with the South
ern women, including those of Mary
land, that they should be excluded?
The South will find, as the National
American Woman Suffrage Associa-
ton has found, but one answer to the
question. There is nothing the mat
ter with Southern women. Their DO
ltlcal acumen, their wit, their beau
y, their enthusiasm, enliven and
strengthen every gathering in the
and. They are to be counted among
he most ardent supporters Of the
federal Suffrage Amendment. Their
'easons for that support, together
with the reasons of representative
southern men, form the basis of our
presentation of the suffrage case, for
which we earnestly ask your unprej-
ldiced attention
MATILDA B. MALOY,
Publicity Chairman.
Both France and the United States
ave recently disclosed the fact that
here are about $4,000 American
aTOnS huripd in ESronoo