Evening star., 1944-10-26

I n n m II II
America?" Lowell Mei'e".
Who says SOP" I asked, ano
she answered, "the United States
census"
Did you knew" she demanded
"that out of the 88,500,000 men and
women of voting age in the United
States, about 100000 are disfran-
chised by the poll taxi"
Did you know" she demanded
"that out of the 78.500,000 left, S.
100000, or 10 per cent Of those In
the armed services. will be unable to
vote this year? That leaves 73 mil
lion possible voters. Did you know
that normally about 80 per cent OF
those who could vote don't do 1t?
Thirty per cent of 73 million comes
to 21.90O 900, doesn't it?"
I agreed with her for fear she
might be right.
Year for Women.
well" she said, slamming home
the point she had been driving at
"at least half of those nonvoters
must be women. And-that-means
--there-are-over million
-women-Who-w -won't-vote-unl
e-do-something-about-it!'
"We?'
Eyes, we. We can make this the
woman's year in American politics
We can be the decisive factor. We
can say who's going to be President
and everything else. We've got to
get out the vote! If those IL million
men want to ignore their RESPONSE
bility as citizens that's their busi-
ness, but we can't allow ii million
women to follow their example. And
the ones we've got to get after are
the young women.
did you know'-now she had
started demanding again-"that only
50 per cent of the women between
the ages of 81 and 80 voted in 1910,
whereas 76 per cent OF the women
over 40 voted? And do you realize
that it is these young women who
ought to be thinking most seriously
about the impact of national and
international decisions on their lives
and the lives of their children?
These are the ones who work In
the war industries and whose hus-
bands, brothers and boy friends are
fighting the war. The kind of citi-
zens we are to have in the next 80
or 40 years will depend on the kind
of homes these women are able tc
create. These women should be
studying not only the candidates
for President but the candidates for
Congress. If these women do not
take advantage of their voting privi-
lege they will find themselves losing
many other privileges they have
come to take for granted.
IS Million in Industry.
There are 100000 women in
industry right now. Many of them
are single and dependent entirely
on what they earn for themselves.
They want full employment after
the war or at least until they get
married. Without full employment
they can't be sure of jobs and they
can't be sure OF decent wages. Well,
they'd better get out and vote for
full employment.
Women wan. to own their own
homes or at least to be able to have
decent houses at rents they can
afford They want nursery schools
for their children if they have to
go out to work. They want to be
protected against excessive prices
for the things they have to buy
They want medical care brought
within the reach of their incomes
They want adequate pensions pro-
vided for war widows.
And they want real assurance
against another world war. What
ever it's called, League of Nations
United Nations or whatever, they
want an international security Or
ganization that will work. They
want no more war.
But they won't get these things
just by wanting them. They've got
to get out and vote"
She paused to light another ciga-