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!