New Britain herald., 1924-07-15
WOMEN IN TIE CAMPAIGN

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 Before woman suffrage was reality the antis charged that women wouldn't know what to do with the vote If they had it, that such or them as were married would vote like their husbands told them to do. and that the single ones wouldn't tell their age to the election clerks.
 The fair sex has been voting for some years, and nearly all pre-suifrage forecasts have failed to matorlaliZe' Probably many wives vote like their husbands do; but nobody can tell Perhaps some husbands vote like their wives do; that's another thing that remains a secret Perhaps some husbands and wives discuss the can didates and issues over the family table or over the reading lamp. or while automobiling, and are able 10 deliver more intelligent votes as a re- suit. The latter method seems the best and if generally in vogue would be Of benefit to the state and nation and a blow to self-seeking politicians, and unconsconable bosses Tn control of electioneering machines.
 Unmarried charmcrs don't seem to hesitate about telling their ages Some of them may never get much older, according to the records, than they were when the voting privilege start ed; but at least, they make a show of telling their ages, meellly and in whispers.
 Woman suffrage hasn't as yet broken the power of political ma chimes nor has it reduced the blight of blind partisanship. As soon as women obtained the vote clever ma chinists in charge of political cam paigns set out to obtain their good will and enlist them into the services of their stamp candidates. It must be said that the plan has been generally successful. Instead of wom- an suffrage creating an army of fe- male voters who would not be led by mere man, the result has been that most of them have failed to take ad- vantage of their political redemption and vote right along with one or the other of the cliches.
 Some observers are of the opinion that women will not continue in this groove; that they only began the exer- else of new function in this manner, and that they will grow more inde- pendent as time elapses. It Is to be hoped that this premise proves cor rect.
 It is said that women are' inclined to be political reformers by nature; but no striking political reform has as yet been ascribcd 10 their balloting. It is generally believed that they had a great deal to do with the reelection of Woodrow Wilson in 1916, when the west rallied around him upon a kept us out of war" slogan. IL is likewise believed that they had much to do with the defeat of James M. Cox in 1920 when postwar psych ology came into play. But these are suppostions, and may or may not be correct.
 If women are to have q genuine voice in politics they should exert in dependence in thought and action. They should not permit man-n made in tcrprctatons of issues to becloud their minds. Women in the United States are given credit for being more indo- pendent than women are anywhere else in the world--in everything but in politics. IL is to be hoped that, If necessary, they shake off the lethargy that comes with partisanshi and In this, as they do in almost everything else, think for themselves and accept no mans sey-so. If they will follow this principle they can do much to place politics upon the plane it ought to be. and which from time i'm memorial has been vainly attempted by man alone.