Suffrage Snapshots

Part 1

SUFFRAGE SNAPSHOTS

By IDA HUSTED HARPER

Have a smile with me

WASHINGTON, D. C. 1915

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These random paragraphs are a few of many which have appeared in Judge to express the lighter side of the so-called “woman question.” This centers in the suffrage movement but woman’s quest of the vote is not a joke. It means a great deal of hard work, many anxious hours, some keen disappointments, yet those who are not in the thick of the fray will never know the good times they have missed. Flashes of fun have been scattered all along the way like flecks of sunshine on a shaded path. It will seem very dull for a little while after the vote is won and women get their rights, but they will soon be able to make things lively again and contribute as always to the gayety of the nation.

Copyright, 1915 BY IDA HUSTED HARPER

Original matter copyrighted by The Leslie-Judge Publishing Co. and used in its present form by their courtesy.

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Miss Jane Addams in her suffrage speeches insists that men have nothing to fear, for the women will vote right. That very fact gives some of them everything to fear.

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Edison says, “the movement for woman suffrage is just plain morals.” Maybe that’s the trouble—they’re too plain. Dress them up fashionably and see if the lady “antis” won’t accept them.

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A new Chicago policewoman has qualified as one of the best shots on the force, 92 out of 100. Does she vote because she is such a good shot or can she shoot so well because she is a voter? What is the connection between shooting and voting anyway?

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Annie Riley Hale, a prominent “anti,” says that women want the suffrage in order to establish polygamy throughout the United States. If she can prove it will have that effect the women can take a rest and the men will carry on their campaign for them.

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It looks as if one recall, one defeat and then another election had started wings on Mayor Hi Gill, of Seattle. After the tragic close of his first term his chief of police and alleged partner in sinful practices was sent to prison. The women gave Hi another chance and now he has appointed as chief of police the ministers’ candidate for mayor and is trying to live up to his chief’s standard. Meanwhile the women are standing by with their spectacles on and a recall petition handy.

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If Mr. Bryan writes the next Democratic platform it is safe to wager there will be one plank in it which he flatly refused to put in the last one.

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Why don’t the “antis” get a sewing society somewhere to pass a resolution against woman suffrage? It is growing terribly monotonous to have all the women’s organizations in the country declaring in favor.

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It is said the Ohio Board of Administration is appalled at the number of imbeciles in the State. We thought there must be quite a lot of them when 528,295 votes were cast against the woman-suffrage amendment recently.

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Women have voted for over twenty years in Colorado and twenty-one judges of districts courts have sent letters to United States Senator Shafroth, testifying that they never have known a case of divorce because of political differences between husband and wife. Another anti-suffrage bomb failed to explode!

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Dear, dear, how times have changed! Once a woman was not considered a person by law and a wife and husband were one and he was it. Now the highest court in New York has decided that a wife is not only a person and an individual in her own right but she is a family! “A childless widow or a deserted wife without children is included in the term family”—those are the very words. From nobody to a whole family—what an evolution!

Part 2

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A Chicago girl swam two miles to shore from an overturned boat, dragging her escort who couldn’t swim. Now the delicate question arises, Which shall do the proposing?

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The High Court of Great Britain has decided that a woman cannot practice law because she is not a “person;” but she can be a Queen because a Queen does not have to be a person—at least that is all anybody can make out of the decision.

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Mr. Hugh Fox, secretary of the United States Brewers’ Association, assures the women that it will make no organized opposition to the pending suffrage amendments. Maybe not—but there is something mightily suggestive in that name.

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“Tariff reform, fiscal policies, large international relations are foreign to the consciousness of the average woman,” says Mrs. Dodge, president of the anti-suffragists. Maybe so, but it seems as if she might have sense enough to put a mark on a ballot opposite an eagle, a star or a moose’s head.

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A man was excused from serving as juror in a murder trial in New York lately because his wife wouldn’t allow him to convict any one of murder. Out in Oregon a juror was challenged the other day because his wife had already been accepted and it would be impossible for him to give an unbiased opinion. What makes people think that under equal suffrage wives would all vote as their husbands do?

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The women voters of Arizona have started in on so many reforms that the men can almost feel their wings sprouting.

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The president of the New York State “antis” says, “Suffrage is going, not coming.” Well, it sure does seem to be going some these days.

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It seems as if, when not only State courts but the United States government itself forbids the use of aigrettes, women would give up trying to wear them; but the Injun in ‘em dies hard.

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A French naturalist has discovered that the female oyster is far more palatable than the male. This is the case with all animals that are used for food. It is a common remark about a woman that she looks good enough to eat, but did anybody ever say that about a man?

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It seems as if the suffragists have come not to bring peace but a sword into the world. When Mrs. Chapman Catt, the international president, was sailing across the Pacific homeward from her little trip to organize the world for woman suffrage, all was calm and serene until she was called on for a speech. “Before this,” said one of the men voyagers, “we were all at peace with one another; but after that woman spoke, everybody was fighting over the suffrage question.” This is a hint to hostesses: When your guests seem bored to extinction, just get somebody to say woman suffrage, and then watch the sparks fly!

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It is said that in England whiskers are again to be the style. One thing is certain—if they become the fashion in this country, our women will set their faces against them!

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The dress skirt this fall is to be narrower than ever, and a noted tailor says the only question is, “Can a lady wear it?” Perhaps a lady can, but a modest woman won’t.

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And now they say President Wilson is about to reverse his position on amending the Sherman anti-trust law. When he gets ready to back track on the woman-suffrage question he will have no difficulty in establishing a precedent.

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In the debate in the North Carolina senate on a bill to permit women to act as notaries public it was objected to because women write a “vertical hand” and wear slit skirts. That shouldn’t disqualify them as notaries, but it is as strong an argument against giving them the suffrage as one often hears.

Part 3

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The New York City board of education dismissed a woman fireman from one of the public schools, on the ground that it was not suitable work for a woman. It’s all right for her to get up at home winter mornings and make the fire but whenever there is a salary attached the work becomes unwomanly. Strange that women cannot see these things without having to be shown so often. There ought to be little sign-boards set up along their path, saying, “Public salaries are only for voters.”

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“Yeast,” a new suffrage play, is just being tried out. It is sure to cause a rise among the “antis.”

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