Milford chronicle., 1960-08-05
WOMEN HAVE VOTED FORTY YEARS

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under the same laundering oratory and roll
ing bandwagons that comprise presidential
election campaign, with one hair-raising diff
ference-women were about to cast their vote
for the first time on a nationwide scale. Har-
assed men of politics had let down their
guard and regardless of whether women
might become desexed or turn politics into a
morality play as opponents Of feminism
charged, they were going to have their say.
1t wasn't the first time women had voted,
however, reports World Book Encyclopedia.
Congress had left the decision to the
states and New Jersey at first permitted its
women to vote. But the men had second
thoughts and the state took back the priVil-
ege in 1907 AS women joined the labor
force in the new factories, and began to help
men fight for temperance and the abolition
of slavery, they gained a forum to air their
pet peeVe. At meeting at Seneca Falls, N.
Y, which has been called the first woman
suffrage convention in the u. ST. stirred pub
lie discussion in 1848. Two years later re-
formers, male and female, from the entire
country assembled at Worcester Mass, as
the Woman's Rights Convention.
The crusade was in full swing when the
adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment di-
vided the forces of reform. The radicals,
led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, opposed the amendment because it
-
men. They organized the National Woman
Suffrage Association. A more moderate
group founded the American Suffrage As
sOciatiOn and concentrated on persuading
the states rather than the federal govern
ment to grant voting rights to women. In
1872 the determined Miss Anthony was ar
rested for voting and her trial focused wide
attention on the feminist fight
Several states granted woman suffrage
in bn nd 9TH fo fol1 fbo
idea more seriously. At the same time, the
suffragists reunited in the National Ameri-
can Woman Suffrage Association and pre-
pared for the big push. Their chance came
with World War / and the expanding role
of women. Militant womanhood descended
on Washington, D. G. They paraded through
the capital, picketed the White House and
carried on hunger strikes in jail In 1917 a
woman suffrage amendment to the Consti-
tuition was submitted to the House of Repre-
sentatives. The pressure was stepped up and
IN 1918 Woodrow Wilson personally went
before joint session of Congress to urge
passage. Congress took action and the last
of the necessary three-fourths of the states
the Nineteenth Amendment in Au-
gust, 1920, just in time for the presidential
election.
After forty years of woman suffrage you
can still find opponents to the practice. On
the best interest of our nation.
~Se&S
WHEN THE COLD WAR DEEPENS
The collapse of the Summit, the present
Communist saber-rattling, and the deepen
ing of the cold war have produced many a
grim possibility. One is that American de-
tense spending may be increased materially
beyond the current $40 billion-a-year-level.
Ill n
IS certain--in the present state of world
affairs, the American government needs to
tighten its belt in all areas of spending that
are not essential and unavoidable The tax
payers money has to go where it is really
needed.
This means, among other things, that
government services, wherever possible, be
placed on a self-supporting basis. To take
0ne example, parcel post is now running, as
it long has run, on deficit basis. Every
one pays part of the cost of providing the
service, whether they ever use it or not
Parcel post is thus substantially responsible
tor the huge losses sustained by the Post
Office Department
There is neither reason nor Justice in
-his.. Parcel post is a purely commercial
service. 1t is competitive with private en- E
IerprlSes providing comparable services 1t L
is not basic Post Office function, as is the
carrying OF mails, magazines and neWspa-
pers-material which contributes to the en-
lghtenment and well-being of the public.
Under these circumstances, the least we
should demand is that parcel post charges
honestly equal the cost of providing the
service.
FACTORS IN JAPAN
There is no logical reason for suppos-
ng that the troubles in Japan are past, now
hat the new Japanese United States secur-
nnnt hoe s,n4r,