Women -- Massachusetts; Women -- Suffrage -- United States; Women's Anti-Suffrage Association of Massachusetts
The interesting point about this is that English women have for many
years had the vote on all matters pertaining to housing, care of the
poor, sanitation, education, liquor regulations, police, care of the
insane, care of children, etc. Probably Miss Addams does not know this.
They have failed completely to do with the vote what even Miss Addams,
confirmed and prejudiced suffragist that she is, admits that they could
do perfectly well without the vote. This is certainly a striking
admission on her part.
Why have they failed so lamentably? Mrs. Pethick Lawrence tells us. She
says:
"I never saw so many women working for social betterment as I have seen
in the American cities I have visited. _In England women have turned
their attention to politics and have accomplished nothing like so much
in civic reform._"
Anti-suffragists ask women not to turn their attention to politics and
neglect civic reform; not to make this appalling mistake, which will set
back the social progress of our cities for many years; not to make
powerless, through woman suffrage, as the New York World wants to do,
the women who are now working for social betterment.
The suffragists apparently do not care what evils follow, provided they
get their way.
The Rev. Anna Shaw, president of the National Suffrage Association,
says:
"I believe in woman suffrage whether all women vote or no women vote;
whether all women vote right or all women vote wrong; whether all women
will love their husbands after they vote or forsake them; whether they
will neglect their children or never have any children."
In introducing this astounding statement, Dr. Shaw declared: "I believe
I speak for the thousands of women belonging to the national
association."
Perhaps she does. At least no one of them has been heard to deny it; but
fortunately she does not speak for the 24,000,000 women of voting age in
the United States who are not members of the National Suffrage
association. Many of these do care for public welfare, for social
well-being, and for human happiness, all of which would be destroyed if
all women voted wrong, if they deserted their husbands, and neglected
their children. Anti-suffragists protest against having political power
put into the hands of women with no higher ideals than those of Dr. Shaw
and her followers. They neither wish to be ruled by such women nor do
they wish to have to wage an eternal fight not to be ruled by them, and
one thing or the other will be necessary if the ballot is forced upon
women. In California the men are begging the home-making type of women
to come out and fight the political women, whom they already recognize
as a danger and a nuisance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account