A Few Suffrage Questions It would be gratifying to a great many earnest men and women to hear just one good reason for denying to women a voice in our government, the fundamental principle of which is "consent of the governed" that does not apply with equal force to the disenfranchisement of men. It cannot be her want of physical power, for it does not require any great amount of physical power to cast a ballot or study the questions of the day. It cannot be her lack of intelligence, for in the United States more women can read and write than men. It cannot be a lack of moral force, as our prison statistics show that 95 per cent of the criminals confined to jails and penitentiaries are men. It cannot be because she cannot perform military duty, for two-thirds of the men who do vote are exempt from military duty and the only class of men who are disenfranchised, except foreigners, criminals, idiots and insane men, are the soldiers stationed at our various garrisons. It cannot be that she is too good, for a just government could not compel its best citizens to be governed by its worst. It cannot be her occupations, for they are as varied as those of men and would require no more time from the duties of women than those of men. It cannot be her maternity, for being the one who must give the soldier to the state and rear the citizen for his civic duty, it would seem specially necessary that she should be a living factor in the government in order to educate him to the highest ideal of American citizenship. It cannot be because women do not want to vote, for there have been more petitions sent to the United States Congress and the various State legislatures asking for woman suffrage than all the other petitions combined, and furthermore, the women do vote at every election in the States where they have full suffrage in as great a proportion as do the men. The fact that some men do not vote is never made an argument why all men should be disenfranchised. It cannot be because women do not contribute to the support of the Government, for they are taxed equally with the men for its support. What, then, is the true reason for this unjust discrimination against the women of this nation? Is it possible, as a prominent writer has said, that it is due to the selfishness of man, who having the power in his own hands, reluctantly yields it except to brute force? Elnora Monroe Babcock |