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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1915)
U ' v The Commoner 22 VOL. 15, NO. 0 t ernment and seeing that tho men run it right. They remind mo of an in stance that I obaorvod when I was in iKansas. There was a line field of wheat of some 80 acres near Topeka, and a gentleman told me that a man and his wife had raised the crop and ' harvested it. I told him I had seen the man on the reaper, but I had not seen tho woman taking any hand. He said that oho had done so all the same; that she had always sat at the door and whenever tho man sat down to rest sho had shaken tho broom stick at him. That is the vocation of the woman, as a rule, where they vote. It does not follow because the women are not office seekers that they are incompetent to fill office. We know that in Scripture times Deborah was "judge overall Israel." Besides many other female rulers, the best two sovereigns that England has ever lenown were Victoria and Elizabeth. ' Tho greatest sovereign of Russia was Catherine the Great; in Austria Maria Theresa, and in Spain, Isabella, to whom the world owes the discovery Of America by the aid she gavo to Columbus. A LOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 5. Equal suffrage is not only a ueveiopnient or uomocracy wmen nas gradually extended the suffrage to all men and is now extending it to wo men, but it is also a logical develop ment of the movement which has elevated women to the rights of hu man beings. Up to abou.t one hun dred years ago, as a rule, they were . not educated. When the first college for women was established some eighty or ninety years ago its danger ous tendency was denounced even more than suffrage is now. After education was acquired, then the movement began t) give them prop- , erty rights. Up to 1868 in this state, upon marriage all a woman's per- ' eonal property became absolutely that of her husband, and, her real estate tfj became his for life. When it was proposed to change this, there was a howl all along the line that if wo men owned their own property every couple would become divorced. But that movement succeeded. Up to 1874 the supreme court of this state held that if a man thrashed his wife with a switch no larger than his thumb and did not permanently in jure her, that tho courts would not protect her. In that year, just forty one years ago, Judge Settle of this city conferred, lasting honor upon : himself and upon tho supreme court of this state by holding that we have "at last advanced from that barbar ism," and denied the right of hus bands to flog their wives any longer. In the last few yearo tho court has held that if a woman acquired any property by her needle or otherwise it became the property of her hus band, and that if, like Mrs. Price, of Charlotte, she lost a limb in a rail road accident her husband and not herself was entitled to pay for her physical injury and suffering and ' loss of time. The legislature haB ince changed this and many other Unjust things which would never have existed u the women had. had the right of suffrage. I will not take time to mention numerous discriminations in the law against women, which have obtained hecauso they had no voice in choos ing legislators and judges. The shad- : ow cast by tho coming era of equal suffrage has already caused some of these discriminations to be repealed. At this session of your legislature they have already permitted women to add to their means of livelihood . the fees of tho vocation of notary t 'public, and they have enacted (re versing tho decision in Gill v. Com missioners, 160 N. C, 1.75) that on all propositions to lay a local tax up on realty where a petition of "free holders is a prerequisite, that women $ ' 4raakv shall be deemed freeholders. They have also radically changed the stat utes by which property, real and per sonal, has heretofore gone - to the father instead of equally to the father and mother upon the death of children. When women vote for judges an(d legislators there comes a change in the attitudes of courts and legislatures. One of the greatest discriminations in the law, aside from that of the custody of children, is the effect that a lack of equal suffrage has upon the pay of women. Justice demands the rule of equal pay for equal services. Though in Qregon and Washington and other suffrage states, tho teach ers of both sexes are naid the same compensation for the same services, the rule in North Carolina is,.; I am told, that female teachers get about one-third of the pay that is given the men for the same work. INEVITABLE Finally, we might aa well recog nize the inevitable. The world-wide movement is irrestible because it is founded upon justice and the econ omic demands of the times. If the friends of equal suffrage shall organ ize and urgo the movement method ically as it lias been done in other states, I prophesy now and here that the Very next legislature that sits in Raleigh will pass the bill to submit equal suffrage to the -people by a two thirds vote with promptness and cheerfulness, and that at the succeed ing election it will be carried at the ballot box. Like Davy Crockett's coon, the opponents of the measure might as well "come down." Some years ago I was at Atlantic City. Those of you who have been tliere will remember that they have pla cards on each side of tho walkways on which there are inscriptions amus ing or instructive. One of them reads thus: "God made the world, and rested. He then made man, and he rested. Ho then made woman, and neither God nor man has had any rest since." I will say to the un converted that they will have no rest until this question is settled, and set tled right. I had not intended to talk more than thirty minutes. I have been led on by the subtle flattery of the atten tion of this audience. It reminds me of what my friend, Major Hale, now our distinguished minister plenipo tentiary to Costa Rica, told -me hap pened to him on the subway in Lon don. They call it there the "Tup penny Tube.," because the fare is two pence. Some of you have been on it, and will remember that the car doors are on the side of the coach and the seats are crossways the track. He saia that once, when nearing Charing Cross station a lady in the little com partment seemed quite excited. It is not the custom there to speak to any one without beingntroduced, but she seemed so much alarmed that, like a true southern gentleman, lie asked if he could be of any service. She said, "Sir, I wish to go to Tra falgar Square and need to get off at Charing Cross station." Ho said to ner, "wnat preents it?" "Why," said she, "You see I am a bit stout and when I get off, I get out back wards, and the guard (they call the conductor the guard over there) 'e sees me and thinks I am getting h'on. He rushes up and shoves me h'on and slams the door, and I have passed my stopping place three times already." I fear that I am like the good lady I have passed my stopping place Sev eral times. I thank you for your attention. SOUNDING A WARNING Recently a very distinct warning has been sounded by republican or gans against the assumption that the country is ready for a return of such political control as was exemplified in Hannaism, Aldrichism and Can- nonism. The other day we com mented on the significant statement of Tho New York Tribune that "all over the United States, men and wo men are asking themselves what are the spirit, the purpose, the mental and the moral fiber of those who are leading a republican party recently returned to control in tho United States." Tho Philadelphia Public Ledger, which very recently seemed to be maintaining that tho only essential to repuoncan success was the elim ination of Penrose and Barnes, now adds this warning: "Unless the leaders of the repub lican party frankly recognize the fact that they have in the past filled a reactionary role, that they have been in larce measure out of sym pathy with the teuper of the peoplej on questions of social legislation, and that even in the republican strong-, holds, the path . victory in19 16 will not be so smboth and easy as it now seems to some of them. The repub licans havo excellent campaign am munition, but they must ive heed to their organization and personnel -if they expect to make the most effect ive use of it."- The' Ledger still iriclines to a- phasize personnel, bufit admits thfct trie leaders of the party have been "in large measure out of "svmnnt.iiv with the temper of the people" and mac tne "leadership bl the past lias been deeply distrusted even in re publican strongholds." This is an admission that the coun try is not ready for conservatism that moans Aldrichism. Nor Hnoa aih richism mean simply the tariff of xjuy. mere are many men who do not particularly oblect to that tnrifp who are unalterably opposed to the doctrine that interested nnrHna should write their own legislation on the -s.tat.utie books o the country and that the government should be turned over to Big Interests in return for campaign "fat." In New York, in Ohio, in Wiscon sin, the course of thte reactionary republicans recently returned to" con trol is being watched, closely. What they do in these states will in large measure be the index of what the party is to stand for in 1916. The confident assumption that any kind of republicanism n w,- u 1 of depression has received some very r" r 1U L"e ias rew years, and "ervawve republican quar ters. Milwaukee Journal. . GETTING UP .The Boston Post, commenting on pne of the most remarkable changes I Prty organ tactics of cent years, says . "Conditions were not up to normal and business slackened when the Eu ropean war broke out, it is truP Rut some of tho republican irgaS "seized upon such signs of dullness as there' were, magnified ,md L:?r5! them in every possible Ta shouted that as a result of the Un derwood tariff and the democratic policies the country was goinc to tl 2 dogs and business and prosnerUv along with lt By concerdsPneor y and a certain amount of persistent they created some disturbance in the minds of many good and nnln! ,., ,? ,some'Mne happened. These ,! , witu considerable unan- for from that as was an" other Cm of commercial activity. Furtw more, they began to see that in , making them look foolish Ami . about that time they quit - at It is only a very few week qi republican leader were planninl campaign on the hard timM ?g alone The fact that the war Z brought hard times all over the lorn was disregarded when not openly 2? nied. The Underwood tariff a 1 on. t mports had almost ceased, ft ".iw overselling Short nf actually producing the war itself I, Milwaukee a republican gaS" was advised to go out and get vf, on the cry of democratic hard tSes and was solemnly assured that the war in Europe and actually prevent! ed panic and moderated denresZ, in this country. repression That the better class of independ ent newspapers was no party to this campaign of. misrepresentation i3 true. Such -papers warned against falso issues. "bamst But now, the out-and-out repub lican organs are reminding the party leaders that 'they have not been n sympathy - with the people of the country, Milwaukee Journal. it BQOKS RECEIVED The World-War In-the Light oe Prophecy.; Part I. Gog and His De feat Proven by Rev.' D. W. Lange lett, Luzerne, Iowa. Published by the author. The German Literary Board, .Burlington, Iowa. Price 50 cents. The Micrhtv nnr? Tin T.rtri,r t Katrina Trask, author of "In the Van guard, etc The Macmillan Com pany, New York. Price $1.00. Quarrytowri. By Douglas Dobbins. Published bv Amerfonn Teon r.,K lishing Company, Westerville, O. Speeches of 7!io i?ivino- cnn,w Edited by J. Prank Hanly, Oliver Wayne Stewart. -. Published by. J. Frank Hanly, Oliver Wayne Stewart, Daniel A. Poling and Ira Landrith. Distributing Agents, Hanlv & stew art, 707 Odd Fellow Bldg., Indianap olis, Ind. Price $1.50. Ad-em-nel-la. An Indian legend ary love story. By Ethan Allen Hurst, Hereford, Texas. A. E. Hurst & Com pany, general agents, Hereford, Tex. Price $1.00 net India and the War. With an in troduction by Lord Sydenham of Combe, formerly governor of Bom bay. With 32 illustrations. Hodder and Stotighton, publishers, London, New York, Toronto. Price one shil ling, net. Fruit Recipes. A Manual of the Food Values of Fruits and Nine Hun dred Different Wa. 3 of Using Them. By Riley M. Fletcher Berry. Illus trated from photographs. Double day, Page & Company, Garden City, New Y.rk. Price $1.50. THE EVIL OF TIPPING The great objection to the tip was long ago formulated by Professor Sumner when he said that "a frev man can take no tips." The practice is undemocratic, and hostile to that liberty and equality that should pre vail among free people. If this is trup, the remedy seems to lie in du cation rather tnan in legislation. However, Uie Viocorsin experiment will be watched with interest. It iJ not, if wo remember rightly, tne first of its kind. One other objec tion to the system should be men tioned, and that is its hold-iii fea ture. Many perhaps most people tip because they dare riot refuse, and many a lordly waiter virtually de mands as a right what ought to bo regarded as a gratuity a sort oi freewill offering, to be withheld or bestowed as the patron chooses. The Wisconsin law is really legislation in aid of tho cowardice of human na ture. Indianapolis News. ?&