Caroline M. Parker, wife of Augustin H. Parker;
was educated in the Boston schools; is a member of the
Dover Grange; Vice-President of the Unitarian Alliance
of Dover; for five years President of the Vincent Club. 1913
J. A. H.
If the energy and vast sums of money squandered
to promote suffrage in this country had been expended
to bring about the reforms which the suffragists claim
will be at once brought about by their votes, the reforms
would all have been accomplished long ago. But
do the suffragist leaders care a jot about the reforms?
We hear of a Seattle woman who, now that she can
vote in her own city, leaves home and husband to
come East and agitate for suffrage. Little does she
care that her husband sues for divorce on the ground
of desertion. It is the excitement of agitation that she
craves—the duties and responsibilities of the ballot
are of no interest whatsoever to her.
A mayor in a city near Boston appointed a suffragist
on the city planning board. Did she eagerly grasp the
chance to plan the city so that it should be a joy and
a blessing to its inhabitants for all time? Not at all.
She said that the mayor did not consult her, that she
had not even known there was a city planning board,
and that she would not think of serving on it in any
case.
Through the Civic Federation, the Municipal
Leagues, and the Women's Clubs, an enormous amount
of work for the good of all has been undertaken; but
the suffrage members of these associations far from
welcoming all public spirited workers, attempt to make
the belief in woman suffrage the test of a worker's
value, and introduce party politics and petty strife
into these great, non-partisan bodies of women, thereby
impairing their services to the Commonwealth to
such an extent that the eyes of many women have
been opened to what the state of affairs would be if
all women were in politics. It is not too much to say
that many women, hitherto indifferent on the suffrage
question, have been aroused by such interested and
partisan methods into joining the anti-suffrage cause.
There is more work waiting to be done than there
are workers to do it. Ministers are constantly asking
from the pulpit for workers. There are more offices
open to women now than there are women to fill them,
but they are the offices that mean hard work and no
notoriety, and these are not what most of the feminist-suffrage
leaders are looking for. These feminists tell
you constantly how badly the men manage the country;
the idea being how much better the women would
govern it. But would they? The anti-suffragists think
that, on the whole, the men are doing well, and that a
government ought to be in the hands of those who have
the power to enforce the laws they make. To have
responsibility without power is to be in a very uncomfortable
and ignominious position. To the observer
it seems that the professional suffrage agitator is not
out for service or the good of her town, state, and country,
but for her own good. This is so obvious that her
self-assertion is not convincing. It is through service
and not by self-assertion that true women contribute
their best work to their country.
Because they are unconvinced by the feminist's
protestations, few women care to be represented by
other women. Approximately half the stock of the
Pennsylvania Railroad is owned by women. They
could elect several women directors if they wished to
do so, but the board is composed entirely of men.
Women do not as a rule, employ other women to take
care of their business affairs.
We anti-suffragists ask to be left free from the useless
turmoil of partisan politics so that we may employ
what time and strength we have in the service of those
who need them most. We do not care to waste them
in the petty personal struggles of the political arena—we
can well afford to let the men fight the battles and
crowd the polling booths because we in our own places
and to the full extent of our power, have an equally
valuable contribution to make to the welfare of the
nation.
The help of all good women is now at the service
of the men who have the nations' welfare at heart,
nor are they hampered by the interference of the less
good as they must be when the vote of the best might
be nullified by the vote of the worst.
We beg the men not to be deceived by the noise
and clatter of a few paid professional agitators, supported
by misguided enthusiasts whose hearts are
larger than their heads; and we ask the men to help us
to uphold the womanhood of woman with all its responsibilities,
its ideals, and its spiritual endowment.
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