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DEGBMBBR,1917
The Commoner
eign minister at a public meeting held in honor
ofc Premier Venizelos at the Mansion House. The
question of the freedom of the beas was among
those.raiaed at the outset by our American allies.
The formula is an ambiguous one, capable of
many inconsistent interpretations, and I doubt
whether it will be seriously contended that there
is no room for profitable discussion, that an at
tempt should be made to bring about the kind
of pact suggested in section 5, and, I believe,
common ground to all the belligerents, and
probably to all the neutral powers.
"If it be once established that there are no
insurmountable difficulties in the way of agree
ment upon these points, the political horizon
might perhaps be scanned with better hope by
those who pray, but can at this moment hardly
venture to "expect, that the new year may bring
us a lasting and honorable peace."
Thte Great Suffrage Victory
From The Philadelphia North American.
' Nearly three-quarters of a century ago a
small group of American women, in convention
assembled, put on record the declaration that
this nation could not fulfill its professions of
being democratic until it granted to women
equal political rights with men.
- Although the proponents of this doctrine
were persons of prominence in intellectual cir
cles, their .utterance was received with derision.
Some "advanced' writers and students of pub
lic affairs supported their contention, and the
cause won the, advocacy of such leaders of
thought .as John Stuart Mill; but it made no
concrete gains until 1869, when full suffrage
was granted to women in Wyoming, and it was
not iintil the last decade of the nineteenth cen
tury that three other states Colorado, Utah
and Idaho conferred the same right.
All these were sparsely settled regions, re
mote from the populous and more highly civ
ilized parts of the country. This circumstance
led the people of the east to frame an explana
tion, or an excuse, for the drastic innovation.
It was said that in the far west, where the con
ditions of life were primitive and its exactions
rigorous, women naturally developed some of
the rugged characteristics of the pioneer; they
lost the soft Charms of helpless femininity, be
came masculine in their attributes and demands,
and acquired the electoral right as a conse
quence of their peculiar status.
Ariother popular idea, not without some
foundation, perhaps, was that equal suffrage
had been adopted as a means of state advertis
ing, devised by ingenious promoters and land
boomers to attract new population. But most
easterners dismissed the phenomenon as a prod
uct of the untutored, erratic habits of thought
prevailing 'in the far west.
Most of" -us can remember when a man from
a suffrage state was regarded in the sophisti
cated east With a sort of mild curiosity. If he
proved, as he usually did, to be norma! in his
conduct and mental processes, he was classified
as an exception, confirming the belief as to the
abnormal character of his fellows "back home."
A woman from a suffrage state, on the other
had, was considered in much the same light as
would have been a visitor from Mars; even
within recent years she was likely to be inter
viewed, for the benefit of an interested public,
and asked to tell candidly how it felt to have
the right to vote.
This impression that equal suffrage was an
evidence of the "wild and woolly" character of
the people adopting it persisted until a short
time ago, and was not wholly eradicated when
California, which was considered more highly
developed than some other distant states, en
franchised its women. Despite the admissions
of disapproving newspapers and the almost uni
versal opinion of statesmen that the granting of
ballot rights to women was only a matter of
. time, there remained a deep and widespread be
lief that the change would become general only
when the suffrage states, which were wilder
. nesses when the movement began, became col
lectively powerful enough to impose their rad
ical views upon the "conservative" regions . of.
New England, the central states and the middle
' W6Tliat politically backward Pennsylvania de
feated the proposition on a referendum two
years ago by only 55,000 votes out of . total of
a million did not change the conviction that suf-
Betta Ma? 2" ,B"U0' Wh?n Massachu
setts, Maine, New Jersey and Now York wont the
2 WtT ih0 result 8cemel a reflection of the
aTdYJUMgm0vM oxprC88ed at the time b?
,? B w York newspaper:
J? y e otato cast o thG Mississippi has
woman suffrage, limited, and that by no popu
lar mandate. Most of the suffrage states In pop
ulation would not make a sizable city. The
east, the great states of the eastthere Is the
suffragists' difficult field of labor. So long as
the woman suffrage territory consists, for the
most part, of thinly settled or radical western
states, the belief or prejudice that it is unsuited
to eastern conditions will not bo shaken."
Only when the returns began to come from
New York a week ago last Tuesday night did
multitudes of observers begin to comprehend
that the suffrage movement was something more
than a tide from the west beating against the
breakwater of eastern conservatism. Both city
and state had given their verdict for the wo
men, and equal suffrage had become overnight a
fact where it had been regarded as a distant If
not impossible dream. The result was a stun
ning surprise. Although an intelligent and vig
orous campaign had been waged by the suffra
gists, this undertaking was viewed elsewhere as
merely one of the annual demonstrations of ac
tivity. Even the practical political strategists
of the state were oblivious of the mighty sweep
of sentiment that was to carry the cause to vic
tory. It will no longer be possible for rational
minds to persuade themselves that the demand
for equal suffrage is a sectional question or a
product of the thought of imperfectly developed
communities. For they face the fact that the
movement has captured the citadel of conserv
atism and reaction that more than 2,000,000
women have been enfranchised in a state where
the political machines have never given the
cause a respectful hearing, where it seemed to
be antagonized by public sentiment, and where
the political influence of liquor has been power
ful enough to make both the great parties re
gard it as a natural enemy.
While the result was a tribute to the courage,
ability and resourcefulness of the campaigners,
and a striking vindication for the organization
which seeks to gain suffrage by states, the mag
nitude of the victory surprised the most sangu
ine. That at no remote time equal suffrage
would prevail throughout the nation has long
been a foregone conclusion; but the addition of
New York to the group of suffrage state will
immeasurably hapten that result.
While the methods which the women have
employed with such marked success in the past
will no doubt be used in the future, the char
acter of the contest will be changed in that it
will have a political significance which it never
PUTTING IT UP TO UNCLE SAM
J 9tftSakJifIS -'AST. ' Mitt' ' ' s.ll . A"
J yHni7jBL'f'TK Tilts j. Vfc i"''
had heretofore. At tho next presidential elec
tion, even If no more states fall In lino, 7,000.-
000 women will havo tho right to vote for pres
ident. In every state which has adopted tho
system they hold tho balance of power lictwoon
the two old parties; and In such close statoa as
Washington, Oregon and Colorado a small pro
portion of tho womonVi vote will decide. Fur
thermore, the Inst 2,000,000 women enfranchised
vlll cast their ballots In New York, which Is con
sidered a pivotal stnto In national elections,
which has forty-threo member In the houso of
representatives, sends ninety delegates to oach
of tho national convent'ons and casts forty-five
votes in tho electoral colloge.
Henceforth It will not be ho noccssary for tho
women to appeal to the polltlc'ans; tho pol
iticians will bo busy trying to appeal to tho wo
man. A majoilty of tho country's statosmon
have put themselves on record for equal suffrage;
hut hitherto the pract'eal polltlc'nn has boon In
different or incredulous to tho movement. Ho
will awake now to tho fact that ho must exert
himself to Invito tho woman vote Just as ho has
schemed to attract tho "old soldier" voto, tho
1 foreign" vo.e and tho "church" vote. And, of
course, n suffrage victory in no other state, In no
two states, would make such an Impression upon
the practical politician as tho result In Now
York.
Not only statosmon and political leaders, but
the national ndmlnlstrnt'on, will be found tak
ing a more active Interest In the movement. Ffvo
cabinet members Indorsed It In the recent cam
paign. The sweep of contimont has had a no
ticeable effect ipon Pnsidont W'lson; last year
he was chargod with be'ng Inimical to tho cause,
but this year It had h's open support In New
York, a circumstance which undoubtedly Influ
enced the result.
The administration plays politics every day In
the year, and will not overlook any opportunity
to Ingratiate itself with the swiftly growing
army of women voters. And the republicans
will not permit tluir opponents to capturo this
strength by default; they will urge upon th.o wo
men that the republican west was long a strong
hold of suffrage, while tho demand has been ob
stinately opposed In tho dcmpcratJc south.
Five years ago, when the Progressive national
convention declared that equal suffrage was an
essential factor in the establishment of true
democracy, the action was assailed as radical,
and even irrational. Yet In tho short Intorval
tho cause has advanced to a position whero It
no longer has to plead for, but commands, tho
attention and support of the old parties.
It is probable that a federal constitutional
amendment will be submitted by congnss to the
states before the next presidential election. But
even if this should not be done, nothing is moro
certain than that both parties In their platforms
will declare for equal suffrage. Thus swiftly and
peaceably do revolutions accomplish themselves
in these days
If world affairs were normal, early and com
plete triumph of the movement would be as
sured. But the great war has given to women
an unprecedented opportunity to which they havo
gloriously risen; they have taken their places
along with men in virtually every activity of
life, and have demonstrated their fitness, their
indispensable capacity, for carrying on the work
of civilization and a'ding In the defense of hu
man liberty. In the face of what they have done
and are doing it Is impossible any longer to In
terpose against their demand for political Justice
the outworn arguments of past days.
But apart from this consideration, the war has
awakened and Intensified the spirit of democracy
and brought to the peoples of the earth a real
ization of its high significance. It has demon
strated to the American people and to all man
kind the truth of the declaration of the suffrage
pioneers three-quarters of a century ago that
the political system which disfranchises women
defies the principles of democratic government.
"I've done my best to raise it. Will you put an
end to liquor-making and conserve this
grain-?" From The American Issue.
Congress is again In session and apparently
capable of doing business. One of tho big Jobs
it has on hand is that of seeing that the broad
est shoulders bear the greater burden of the war.
There are hundreds of business men and manu
facturers who are deliberately and des'gnedly
utilizing the war for the purposes .of adding to
their wealth. The time to show effective re
sentment against men who coin money out of
the blood and tears of their fellow-countrymea
is before they make the money.
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