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Before we get to the article on woman's suffrage by Meta L. Stern, we offer this news from Minnesota's Princeton Union:
Please note that these results are preliminary and that some sources are reporting that Montana has, in fact, voted to enfranchise the women of that great state. If that turns out to be true, then, to the map below, we could add the states of Nevada and Montana in the year 1914:
KILL WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE-TEN REASONS WHY
By META L. STERN.
Reason No 1.-Because your mother, who gave birth to you, nursed you, reared you, loved you, taught you and made a man of you, does not know what is good for her. She is utterly incapable, of course, of deciding which political party she would prefer to see in power, and what kind of of legislation is desirable for the families and homes of her city and state. Though she has grown old and gray in toil, service and experience, she doesn't know enough to vote. It is up to you, young man, even if you are only just 21 and very ignorant of social problems, to represent her at the polls. So by all means don't let your mother have the right to vote!
Reason No. 2.-Because your wife, who makes both ends meet with your limited income, takes care of your home and of you, and rears your children, cannot possibly have any interest in such public questions as safe and sanitary dwelling, pure food, pure water, clean streets, proper schools, public parks and playgrounds, etc. If she and all the other wives in Minnesota could vote, you might live in a more attractive home on a cleaner street and might eat better food. Your children might enjoy school facilities and might play in safe places under shade trees, instead of in the streets where physical and moral dangers threaten them. So be very careful not to let your wife become enfranchised!
Reason No. 3-Because the working women of Minnesota, the thousands of women who must work for wages in offices, stores and factories, might help the cause of the working class at the polls, as they are helping it in the trade unions. Many of them work for starvation wages or work far longer each day than any human being ought to. Great numbers of your girls are toiling in unwholesome surroundings or at dangerous occupations which undermine their vitality and threaten their future motherhood. If all these working girls and women had a vote, they would surely use it to establish a living wage, shorten the workday, and improve factory conditions., thereby helping to raise the standard of living for you, Mr. Workingman and Voter. Therefore the right of suffrage must be withheld from your sister toilers.
Reason, No. 4.-Because women are so emotional. Most mob riots precipitated by the aroused emotions of crowds, are caused by men. Most crimes springing from the passionate emotions of individuals are committed by men. All the wars of the world, that only become possible by the crazed emotions of entire nations, are carried on by men. Yet women are the emotional sex. Since homemaking and mothering has been their business for ages their emotions are mainly expressed in love and service. They might use their political power emotionally-as they have already used their indirect influence-by establishing reformatories, model prisons and children's courts. They might use it to cause the appointment of probation officers, protectors of young girls, and other sentimental folk. Such outbursts of emotion would be and imminent danger to the welfare of the state. Accordingly, the emotional sex must be left out of politics.
Reason No. 5-Because woman suffrage would cause women to neglect their families. Of course we are aware of the fact that at present many rich women neglect their families for bridge parties, tango tea and prize poodle dogs. We are also aware of the fact that many poor women neglect their families because they must help to support them. But all this neglect is as nothing compared to that which will ensue when women are enfranchised. Intelligent women voters will spend about half an hour daily in reading the papers, to acquaint themselves with the political situation. Sometimes they will stop in the midst of hanging up clothes in the yard or on the roof to talk politics to a neighbor, instead of discussing Mrs. Jones' new hat; and once a year-just think of it-once a year they will spend from 10 to 15 minutes at the polls! It is evident that all this will lead to the utter neglect of every family in Minnesota from the grandma down to the baby. You can only save the threatened family life of your state by voting against woman suffrage.
Reason No. 6-Because only the bad woman would vote. This has been positively demonstrated in every state where women have been enfranchised. That is why the number of suffrage sisters is growing so rapidly. That is why the good elements of society, teachers, women's clubs, trade unions, etc., are in favor of votes for women, while the evil elements, exploiters of little children, liquor interests, white slave traders, etc., are opposed. To keep the few bad women from voting, you must keep all the good women disfranchised. Incidentally, you will also accomplish the noble purpose of maintaining these so-called bad women in utter slavery. By withholding the vote you withhold a possible means of improving their lot. You will maintain them in a state of helpless subserviency to the evil men who live on their misery, the evil men who, remember, nevertheless have a vote. In the interest of panderers, pimps and the owners of disorderly houses, you must vote against woman suffrage.
Reason No. 7-Because woman' place is home. When you leave your home in the morning to go to your place of business, shop or office, you behold thousands of women going to work like you. Evidently their place is not home. When you enter any
office building you behold in almost every office some woman clicking a typewriter, taking down communications in shorthand, bending over account books or doing other clerical work. It seems that their place is not home. When you enter a factory you usually find almost as many women employed as men; women performing all kinds of manufacturing tasks, from the simplest to the most intricate. You must conclude, therefore, that the factory woman's place is not home. If you stroll through a department store in any of the large cities you can observe a whole swarm of women behind the counters and on the floors of every department. The saleswoman's place too, does not seem to be at home. In every public school you will find a large force of women teachers more women than men, from which you may observe that the classroom, not home, is the woman teachers's place.
If you walk through the shopping districts or go to restaurants, theaters, concerts and other places of amusement, you see crowds of women everywhere. It seems that all these women can afford to leave their homes for hours each day without the homes thereby being broken up.
It appears that even anti-suffragists occasionally leave their homes for such unwomanly purposes as delivering lectures, interviewing editors, and buttonholding legislators. All this is good and right because you and I and all of us are used to it. But the idea of a woman leaving her home in order to vote is preposterous. The home, being left in this way, will surely be destroyed. So use all your moral and political influence keep women in their homes on election day
Reason No 8.-Because voting would unsex women. This has been irrefutably proved by the eminent scientists employed by the National Association for Prevention of the Cruelty of Extension of Suffrage to Women. After a few years of voting, women show all symptoms of incipient masculinity. Their voices become harsh and deep; their feet grow large, and a growth of hair begins to show other upper lip. If the habit of voting is continued for decades, they don men's clothes, wear their hair cut, smoke, drink, spit and swear. If you don't believe that, look at the unsexed woman of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Kansas and Illinois! Would you keep your sweetheart from becoming a man? Then don't let her vote!
Reason No. 9-Because women are so reactionary. Wherever they have been given political power they have used it for the advancement of such reactionary measures as anti-child labor laws, protection of women in industry, equal guardianship laws, raising of the age of consent for the protection of young girls, etc. The reactionary tendencies of women are so generally recognized that the most progressive people believe in woman suffrage. If you don't believe in progress, if you don't believe in human betterment, if you don't believe in juster social conditions, vote "no" on woman suffrage.
Reason No. 10-Because women cannot fight. Fighting is such a noble, admirable, humanizing occupation-as is being clearly demonstrated in Europe at this very hour-that we must grant political right only to those who are willing and able to indulge in this occupation, and must withhold them from those who are not. It is true that a great many men never can, do, nor wish to fight. But then every man is a potential soldier while a woman is not. So by all means let us give the vote to the destroyers of life, but not to the creators of life! Let us give it to the makers of cannon and battleships, but not to the makers of clothes and bread! Let us give it to the man who devastates the fields, burns the homes and murders his fellows, but not to the woman who saves the crops, maintains the home and gives succor and comfort to the suffering and bereaved! Not only do women not fight themselves but they are actually opposed to men's fighting. It is to be feared that they wold use their political power to oppose, diminish and eventually put an end to all warfare. If you believe in bloodshed, carnage, destruction, pillage, murder, rape-if you believe in war with all its concomitant hatred, horror and despair-then continue to hold out against votes for women.
[Note: The Labor World appears to have printed this article with a few sentences out of order. We have attempted to restore sentences to the intended order.]