New Britain Herald Newspaper, April 16, 1917, Page 5

" HELP CONNECTICUT |7HE OTHER SIDE OF | SUFFRAGE QUESTION Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn Tells Why Her Sex Should Have the Vote in Reply to Mrs. Bronson’s Anti-Arguments, AND HELP YOURSELF Committee Has Ear " Sate Food Open for Suggestions (Special to the Herald) Th Connecticut committee of H. Holcomb to consider means est crops poasible and utilize 540f the state. The nhamed by Governor Holcomb ture. America’s entry into the war. A Middletown, Robert W. Perkins Norwich, Wilson H. Lee of Elton of Waterbury. The committee's one aim at present is to devise ways and means whereby this year may be increased to the highest The methods by which this will be uccomplished are now be- Connccticut's food production posaible point. food sapply, created by Governor Marcus by “# Which this state can produce the larg- its lands to the utmost, has opuned an office in Hartford and the members have begun working out the program which will be advanced to the people committee was under the power given him by the emergen- ey law recently passed by the legisla- Under this the governor may take any action he considers neces- eary to meet the situation caused by The members of the committee ure Joseph W. Alsop of Avon, Clifford I. Stoddard ©f Woodbridge, Charles T. Davis of of Orange, Robert Scoville of Salisbury, George M. Landers of New Britain, Willlam C. Cheney of Manchester and Joha F. NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1917. Ultimate and positiva success of the suffrage movement in this coun: try was predicted by Mrs. Thomas H. Hepburn, president of the Connecti- icut Woman Suffrage association, in her address at the Methodist church | last night, and so sure was she of her | facts that she made the declaration: “We are sure to win and the only thing anyone can do is to prevent it for a very short time.” Very courte- | ously Rev. Warren F. Cook introduced Mrs. Hepburn as the “war horse” of the suffrage speakers—and she lived up to the introduction. She proved an enthusiastic talker on the subject, with a multitude of pro-suffrage statements which, by 9:30 o’clock, had come to resemble Tennyson's famous | brooklet. In her arguments for the i right of women to vote Mrs. Hepburn threw harpoons in all directions. She declared that Miss Bronson, the anti- suffragist speaker who was at the same church two weeks ago, always says the same thing and she further- more wmade the comment that Con- necticut politics, as witnessed by the women at the capitol in Hartford, are corrupt but are being covered up. They will continue to be covered up, she predicted, until the women get the right to vote and shows things up in iag worked out and the first part of | their true light. E Y nounced within a few days. Many {ndividuals and organizations have teken up plans for increasing the There arc home | garden committees in many Connecti- The plans of the sovernor's committee on food snpply food crop this year. cut towns and cities. # Will in no way interfere tore which are already the same purpose. 10 co-ordinate all work aléeng lines. to encourage the efforts of in- dividuals and groups. and to help any man or any organization which has a plan for fncreasing Connecticut’s food production. The office of the food committee is ¥ on the socond floor of the Connecticut Alutual building in Hartford. Sufi- cient space hus been leased for the cummittee’s oflices and rooms for gatherings of small groups of inter- ested persons. The telephonc number is Charted 9520, Hartford, and the ‘members of the committee can be reached at the offices at any hour. “We want the co-operation ' of every man, woman and child in Con- necticut,” sald a statement issued by the committee today. “We want sug- gestions, we want help.. We need the _cordial support of the entire state to put through this great undertaking which means so much. to Connecticut. In the past the state has produced not more than one-fifth of the food it has consumed, and we have had to re- 1y upon the surplus of other states. This year that surplus will be small. Our only hope is to utilize the land of our own state to the utmost. We must use: every means possible to in- crense the states production of food #tuffs. Every person who can do any- thing toward that end should do it, and may be ussured of the sumhl co- operation of the committee. CUMINGS ON DRAFT Views of President on Service. (Special to the Herald). Washington, April 16.—*“Public * opinion in the Untied States will soon * efystallize in favor of the administra- tion’s plan of raising an army \h'y means of the selective draft system,” saia Homer S. Gummings, Connecticut member of the democratic national ee, at his hotel here. e w?r'?-? words ‘draft’ and ‘conscrip- tion’ have not a pleasant sound in American ears. A good many old- timers recall the draft riots in. New York and fear we might have a repe- tition of those lamentabile occurrences. They are mistaken In this, however, for there would be nothing of the sort. The truth is that a plan of en- forced military service with the gov- ernment selecting these to go to the ), front and those to stay at home is the only efficient and businesslike plan that can be adopted, and in the end it will be the only nu-tlctory'one. The volunteer system ‘listens well’ but it won't work. Its advocates are sin- cere and patriotic men but they are greatly in error. We can never get an army in that way, and as we are certain to have to resort to conscrip- tion sooner or later, there is no wis- dom in procrastination.” ith the fac- i L& D. A. R. CONVENTION. Four Are Candidates for Office of J President General. . ‘Washington, April 16.—Patriotic sddresses and exercises marked the opening today of the twenty-sixth an- nual congress of the Daughters of the American Kevolution. On Wed- nesday will be the election of new of- ficers including a president-general to succeed Mrs. Willlam Cummin Story. A number of social events have been arranged for the 2,500 delegates, A large part of today’s meeting was devoted to organization and after that the program called for addresses by Mrs, Story, J. J. Iussrand, the French ambassador; Lieutenant General Young, U. S. A, retired, and others. Ths candidates aro Mrs. James . Hamilton Lewis, wife of the senator R from Illinois; Mrs. George Thatcher Guernsey of Indcpendence, Kas.; Mrs, John Horton of Buffalo and Mrs. George C. Squires of St. Paul, the committee’s program will be an- | orking for The effort will be these A New Speaker Appears. Mrs. Hepburn brought with her Mrs, Thomas M. Whitney, an embryo suffragist orator, from Hartford. The speech made by Mrs. Whitney last night was the first one she has ever delivered in public in favor of the cause. She said she believed in wo- man. suffrage because she believes in democracy and in the home. She de- clared that the woman of today, as of the past, is the home maker but con- ditions have so changed that her home extends far beyond the limits of her house. A vote is. an opinion and wo- men should have the right to express their opinion in regard to all things that concern them, she said. Tracing the history of manhood franchise, Mrs. Whitney explained that in the colonjal days only property owners had the right to vote and up.to 1821 but few Catholics, Jews or Baptists were given the right of franchise. In arguing that the limits of a woman’s home are not marked by the four walls of the house Mrs. Whitney ex- changes have come about, the speak- ; many men who had before that voted er sald, because men have a sense of | the republican ticket voted for Mr. Jjustice and a few women have given | Wilson because they believed in him their lives working for a change. Be- | more than in the other candidates. cause women live according to po- | To say that women are the only ones litical law. Mrs. Hepburn believes ' who can be non-partisan is an insult they should be classed according to |to the men who put duty to country political law instead of with criminals | and principle above party loyalty. and children as they are not that they “According to the Anti reasoning | have no right to vote. Her argument | the only people who would be capable | in this respect was that the women of filling positions under the civil i should be recognized in political 1aw | service in a disinterested way would as she is in civil and criminal law. The | 1, women because men, having the chief reason why so many peoble ob- | 510 would be incapable of disinter- Ject to giving women the right | ested non-partisan administration of vote is because human nature revolts any, ofice. Now the actual facts of at any new change from old tradi- | 4 tions, she stated. ithe case are that by far the largest number of positions under the Civil Mrs. Hepburn told the congrezatlon go . icq are filled by men and for the that practically all the women in this most part they fill these positions in country who have a national reputd- ., 'y o5t way and are as free from tion are in favor ;fi s““mgjfih 1“;{1:"' political wire pulling and party in- ample, Jame Addams, Tlla TUAEE irigue as any women could possibly Young for a number of years at the p "y p,ve heard Mise Minnie Bron- head - of the Chicago schools, Dr. son who was here a few weeks ago Katherine Bement Davis, chairman of . 410¢ Mies Julia Lathrop, who is the board of parole and ex-commis- ") o 'yoag of the Children’s Bureau stoner of correction In New York city, {1 (ue Jt8d of the CRIATENs Buvear T Lo e e moq @ department who was retained when ngto: 3 4 President Wilson first became pres- Robbins, Mrs, Kate Waller Barrett, . -: . » ident, that all the other heads of bu- president of the National Association oot it £ e BUIST BEacs of Bo of Florence Crittenden Homes, MIS Now the facts are that of the Afty Florence Kelly, national secretary 0f ;055 in Washington most of the the Consumers’ League, . Mrs. Jullan ;.45 of these bureaus were retained. Heath, president of the Housewlves' Miss. Julla’ Lathrop, the only League, Clara Barton of the Red g oo o monn e b he oY Cross and many of the most dls- ,opington, is a voter. After hear- tinguished literary women and with ing Miss Brénson Hiale that diaterment rare exceptions, the women colleBe 'y oo 1o Miss Lathrop myself and presidents. The Antis, she sald, have /g)o gave me the facts just as I have only two women left of national repu- oo FSn R ECE tation whom they quote as opposed to | Many Favor Sllflrngé. woman suffrage, Ida Tarbell and| .ppe American Federation of Labor Mabel Boardman, and. they have no ;. .. orsanization COMboRba. mostiy right to quote them. Miss Bronson ,¢ men 1t is non-partisan. Would spoke in Hartford a little time ago they be more powerful without votes: and sald that thesc two women were mge,uone knows that they would not. opposed to suffrage. I went home. " ..pho National Federation of Wom- and wrote to them. Miss Tarbell sald | 1 vg clubs is an organization of wom- that she thought that woman suffrage en,-non-partisan too, and most of its was inevitable but hoped that it would ,¢mpers are without votes. In eleven come slowly. Miss Boardman sald ,¢ the states the women in the fed- ! that if the Antls had quoted her as, orotjon have worked both with and opposed to suffrage they had done S0 yithout votes, How do they stand on without her authority, the speaker as- | th;s question? ey have endorsed serted. woman suffrage. Not only the Na- Again Criticizes Miss Bronson. tional Federation of Women's clubs Answering Miss Bronson's argu- |and thirty-three state federations of ment that women can do the most | women’s clubs have endorsed woman good, even in politics, without the suffrage but most of the national non- vote because then they would be ! partisan women's organizations stand strictly non-partisan, Mrs. Hepburn | for woman suffrage. The National sald: Women’s Trade Union -League (the “Our opponents tell you that wom- | largest organization of working wom- !en will lose all their non-partisan|en in the United States), the Asso- power if women get the vote. They |ciation of Collegiate Alumnae Sthe seem to assume that the only people | Women college graduates of the Unit- who can be non-partisan are people | ed States), The American Nurses As- without votes. Now, this is untrue | sociation, The International Council of on the face of it. A great many men | Women, representing over 7,000,000 are non-partisan, they put policies | Women in different countries. Not and parties above party lovalty. Many | one single organization of women ex- socialists voted for President Wilson |cePt the Anti organization has gone at the last election, many progressives, | on record against woman suffrage. Of : plained how the woman has to buy { her beef from the stores, which get it from slaughter houses, her-clothing from firms which obtain their prod- ucts from other factories and so on down the line. Inasmuch as these things arc part of the home life and materially affect the home the wo- man should have a right to vote on the men who make the laws which govern all these points, was one ar- gument. Mrs. Whitney also attacked those who say that they have no de- sire to vote. It is only in ignorance that any women wculd refuse the right to vote, she said. As did Miss Bronson two weeks ago, Mrs. Whitney said the only difference between suff- ragists and anti-suffragists is the fact that one belicves she can do the world the most good by voting, while the other thinks she can do the most 800d in a different manner. Inasmuch as eight million women in this coun- try are employed in factoyies or other forms of labor, the women should have the right to vote and protect their interests, just the same as far- mers or railroads have the right to have their interests represented in the law making bodies. Mrs.. Whitney's suffrage slogon, in reply to the anti- suffrage slogan that ‘“the woman's place is in the home,” is that “a wo- man’s place is wherever she is need- e She then asked the question: “Are they not needed in the state just as much as in the home?” Replies to Antis Arguments. Unlike Miss Bronson, the anti- suffragist who spoke two weeks ago, Mrs. Hepburn criticized ~ the antis freely and in her opening words she fired a broadside at Miss Bronson. She referred to the several illustrative stories told by that speaker on her visit here and then remarked that Miss Bronson tells her storles well. The reason that the women of today want the vote is because their status ; has been changed, argued Mrs. Hep- burn. She recited historical facts to show that when the constitution was drafted the women of. the country held an inferior position to the men and how conditions had gradually changed until in 1900 the women were legally given half ownership of their own children, where before the hus- | band, in law, was recognized as being the sole.owner of the child. All these the men’s organizations the only ones on record against woman suffrage are the Union League club of New York, the liquor associations of New Jersey | and Pennsylvania and other associa- | tions connected with the liquor trade. | On the other hand the American Fed- | | eration of Labor and the Connecticut |Fedemtion, the National Grange and | the Connecticut State Grange, the Na- | tional Education association and a | number of other national non-par- | tisan organizations composed of both | men and women are on record in favor of woman suffrage. Practical experience and common sense have {wconvinced the great non-partisan or- ganizations that their power would be greatly increased if their women members as well as their men mem- | bers 'had "the vote. | “‘Our opponents have told you that if you give women the vote it will simply double the vote and not change the result, that it is useless for' wom- en to vote if they vote in about the same proportion for the diffe: t par- ies,” Mrs. Hopburn argued. ow, is it? Take Illinois at the last presi- dential election in 1916. The women voted in about the same proportion for both of the major parties. Ac- cording to our opponents reasoning it would have been just as well for the women not to have gone to the polls at all. As a matter of fact it was of fundamental importagce for the women to vote because it stimulat- | ed the interest of both scxes in the public question- of vital importance | which were before people. I can prove this to you. At the election in 1912 before women voted sixty-five per cent. of the men voted. In 1916, af- ter women could vote, seventy-eight per cent. of the men went to the polls, jar increase of thirteen per cent. in It'he men’s votes alone. And besides i this increase in the men’s votes 876,- | 000 women went to the polls. “When women vote public ques- !tions are discussed in the home and | | the woman’s influence is felt, not by | her vote alone, but by the increased |interest that she arouses on the part | of the men in her family. The fact that the government. recognizes the woman -as a part of the sovereign power, equal to the man, reacts orn the man by giving him a greater re- spect for the woman's point of view, and reacts on the woman by stimu- lating her interest in public questions. In- this way the sum of the intelli- gence of the community which is brought to hear on public questions is greatly increased and one of the fund- amental reasons for having a demo- cratic form of government is fur- thered. Moreover, the new influence of voting women as mothers ‘and teachers in bringing up the rising generation to a clearer understanding of their political duties should not be underestimated. The womeén who say that politics is a dirty business, that politics does not concern mo that politics does not concern home, are not the kind of capable of bringing up sons daughters to carry forward a republic. Calls Conn. Politics Corrupt, Today, Mrs. Hepburn said, the in Connecticut politics are being ered up but “we see the corruptf it is practised at the capitoh™ ever, the speaker said that Conn cuts corrupt politics will continue 4 be covered up until such times the women get the vote and .t shows conditions up in their te light. If the people want to clean politics one of the first steps, said, is to give the women the ¥ Improving political conditions is ing to take a long time and is h for most people to look into the | ture. “But, after all,” she “If we are wise we are trying to the foundations for the gene that are to come after us, and’ make them sound- If you give en the vote today it means simj Little by little women will get! sted in public questions; they 3 bring up their boys and’ girls better knowledge of public questiof and gradually we shall take things ¢ of politics by putting in poltics and women of - sufficiently high iber so that they cannot be and cannot be intimidated.” Before concluding her address. Hepburn sald: " ‘Woman suffrage has not b about the millentum. Evil ‘e tions still exist in the suffrage stal but to ask intelligent people to’ lieve that it is because of woman sf frage is like asking them to bel that evil conditions exist in Co ticut because men vote, whereas i .exist in spite of it.” ‘Women Ask Questions. Given an opportunity to ask' Hepburn any questions desired, lady ih the congregation u:;: 3 she explain about the igno v “The ignorant voter,” Mrs. Heph repeated, and then she said, lo at her inquisitor, that when she that question she always feels § acking “are you it?” 1In reply the question the suffragists’ ? said that no one will admit being§ ignorant voter and all say it is other people. She sald the voter cannot be put in any one @l for it is found in all. Another asked why the women of Com do mnot vote on the school qu when they have that right. “For the same reason that the wouldn’t if they were permi vote on only one thing,’” Mrs, burn said. She did however, and heartlly recommend - that women of Connecticut do take | vantage of their right to vote this item. F— -— —3 — o— — — -— — — — — -— -— - — - — - - -— pe—y 3 — — — -_— = —— — - — 1 - = — — llllllill!llfllllllllllmllllmflmHlllllllllfllillllllllullllHllllllIlIIllHIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllI|IIIIIIIIllllllllll.llIIIIIIIIIIHIIlflllllllllllllllllllll! L T T T TR — e — o Pt ———— e —— ————— — —— ———— Pt —————— e —— e THE TURKISH | il // N FIFTEEN CENTS D l'"," CIGARETTE s nnnammn. T L | il famous tobacco for R !L REMEMBER — Tarkish bacco is the world’s most. i i 1 T a0 T to- T cigarettes i = MIRES