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About The daily gazette-times. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1909-1921 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1909)
ffiE ADVANCE OF liN SUFFRAGE 1 How the Movement Has Invaded the Ranks of the Four Hundred In the United States and Become a Riot In London. Methods of the American and English Suffragettes Contrasted - Prominent Women Who Are'" Inter ested In "the Cause." SBV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW. By JAMES A. EDGERTON. THE woman suf frage movement lias been made fashionable. It bas meetings in New port and national Lead quarters In Fifth avenue.. It has invaded the ranks of the Four Hun dred, where it di vides honors with bridge whist and monkey dinners. Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont has opened her exclusive Marble House as a lecture ball for its devotees. As an added in ducement she allows the public to have a peep at her celebrated art collec tion and her palatial Newport rooms. True, this new gospel is not "without -money and without price." but costs :$5 a throw, the funds going into the treasury of the cause. A large array of people were not only eager to 'pay the price to see the Belmont art treas ures, but were even willing to remain to the suffragist lectures as an added price or added inducement, according i to the point, of view. This method of propaganda is somewhat different from that of the English suffragettes vrho go to jail for their principles, but why break into jail when one can break Into society? These Newport meetings, which were the challenge, "I think I am just as good as a man." when the speaker in her heart of hearts probably thinks she is much better than a man and probably is. If this were a question of goodness it is man that would be disfranchised. It is really surprising that women should actually want to vote, however, when a large section of the men do not want to and will not unless they are paid for it Where Suffrage Has Been Granted. Women can now vote In New Zea land, Australia. Finland and Norway. They have suffrage rights in Great Britain In all except parliamentary elections. They can cast a ballot In school elections In most of the states of this country and have full suffrage in Colorado. Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. In the state of Washington a constitutional amendment is now pend ing before the people which, if adopt ed, ; will add a fifth suffrage state. Wherever the experiment has been made the result has been neither a retrogression to barbarism nor a flying leap into the millennium. On the con trary, little or no change has been ob served in political conditions. The women have voted, in a very few cases have been elected to office, and that is all. The great machine of popular gov ernment bas ground on very much as it did before. Those who had been wildly shouting either for or against the proposition saw that there was tit- -AMERICAN SOCIETY WOMEN INTERESTED IN THE SUFFRAGIST MOVEMENT AND ARREST OF AN ENGLISH SUFFRAGETTE. 4ut recently held, were addressed by Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage society,' and by Professor Zueblin of Chicago. Over one meeting the mayor of Newport presided and over the other the gov ernor of Rhode Island. Mrs. Belmont, tvho. by the way. was formerly Mrs. Vanderbilt, spoke briefly. Mrs. Julia Ward, Howe was present and was ac--corded an ovation. It should be said In the interest of accuracy that. In ad dition to the five Collar tickets, which admitted to the house, there were also one dollar tickets, which admitted only to the lawn, where the meetings were beld. Even at these prices there was a large attendance, which shows devo tion to the movement. A Social Fad. ' - 3Sor Is Mrs. Belmont the only wom an of the Four Hundred who wants to Tote. Mrs. Clarence H. Mackay,- Mrs. Philip Lydig. Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr.. Mrs. George Gould. Mrs Richard Stevens. Miss Caroline Duer and others whose names are sufficient to make 'flunkies of two hemispheres kotow are alRo enlisted. If this keeps on the thing will become as fashionable as she peach basket hat. Then there will ibe no stopping It. Every, .woman in the land will be talking for it. and mere man will be compelled ,to grant ier request if only to stop the din. A .certain section of the unmarried suf fragettes have even gone to the length of resolving that they will not wed awy man unless he is in sympathy with the cause. This ought to make some converts, also a lot of masculine hypo crites. When a man really wants to get married he is as clay in the hands of . the potter he will promise any thing. There is no question that the suf - frage cause is advancing. In New York it has become a fad and in Lon . .don a riot, It is even crowding milli nery as a topic of feminine conversa tion. On every band one can now hear tie occasion for brainstorms and mer cifully subsided. The writer lived for four years in a state that has woman suffrage and has been quite calm on the subject ever since. Those persons who imagine that votes for women will make any radical difference in political conditions either for better or worse should see the thing actually tried out and be disillusionized. Women may be better than men. but they vote about the same way. In some elections they scarcely vote at all.9 In others they flock to the polls as they would to a bargain sale. One thing can be said that very lit tle fraud has been discovered In their exercise of the ballot Nor are they insulted at the polls. Nor, again, are they degraded or made unwomanly by taking their part in politics. These are not questions of opinion, but of fact They are bugaboos that ha'v been ban ished, but with them disappeared the fond dream that woman suffrage would bring Eden back to earth. On the whole, perhaps, the effect has been good and yet not so glaringly good that there" is any cause for wild ex citement. I am neither arguing for nor against the proposition, you under stand, but am giving the results of my own observation of suffrage as It ae tually works. , .Increased Nervous Prostration. In England the suffragettes, under the lead of Mrs.' Pankhurst and her daughter, have gone np in balloons, started riots, mobbed the home of the prime minister, made several vain at tempts to break into the house of com mons, held outdoor meetings, raised disturbances at Liberal rallies so that the speakers could not proceed, gone to prison, had themselves sent through the malls as living letters and done every other odd and striking thing that their . fertile imaginations could sue- tlonably Increased the nervous pros tration of England. They have also made a ltughlngstock of the govern ment and the police. That is the sur prising part of their performance and reveals true generalship. It would nat urally be supposed that these outland ish stunts would have brought ridi cule upon their perpetrators, but they were so engineered by the. resourceful' suffragettes that the ridicule was turn ed against their opponents. They showed that, whether or not women know enough to vote, they are suffi ciently wise to outmaneuver men. i This was not a new realization, however. We knew it before., ; Compared to their British sisters our American suffragists have been quite mild and circumspect Id other words, they have been perfect ladies. No screaming, howling and dervish danc ing for them. In the United States "the cause" is In the pink , tea stage. A' number of ladies gather in some other lady's parlor and talk it over, or if they grow exceptionally radical and militant they hire a ha.lt, make speeches and adopt resolutions.- They also send out tracts. All this is quite harmless and unexciting. It does not attract the spot light or the police. There is no chance for an American suffragist to become a martyr. The worst she can do is to go to meetings and leave her tyrant husband to nurse the baby and wash the dishes. It is one thing to be dragged off to a dun geon by a ham handed policeman- and. quite another to go up to Mrs. Astor bilfs and hear somebody orate in a contralto voice. You will never get the American sister to go to a damp and stuffy jail. If it comes to that she -will simply take her hubby by the ear and tell mm that she wants a new ballot box and will he see about It when . he goes downtown? He- will The, American man is' well trained. He is in a proper state of subjection and when wifey gets good and ready to vote there will be nothing else to- It Moreover, the American brother is. foxy. He will never give his woman kind a chance to play to the grand stand iri the martyrdom role. When- she wants to present her petition to ' the legislature he invites her right into ,the main hall, smiles, listens and then ! forgets It John Bull is different. He : imagines that if he ever lets Mrs.. Bull ! have a say and help run things his dignity will get mussed up, so he- will I not even listen to her. This gives Mrs. j B. a chance to scream and gain the j sympathy of the neighbors. Now, if I the British government had been wise ! there would have been none of thi i hullabaloo, but Mrs. Pankhurst, Miss Pankhurst and - all the other Panfr- hursts would have been allowed : to 'present their petition and speak their .little piece and that would .have "heen the end of it ? ; Less Nerve Backing Methods. It is a far cry from an English jail to Mrs. Belmont's ; Marble ; House at Newport, i And even at that the Eng lish jail may live longer in history. Who knows? For my single self, however, I. must say that . I like the American way better. ' It is more com fortable even though it may not sound so heroic and thrilling in- the school histories of the future. '- And in the : long run It will probably prove just ;as effective. - The women of Finland i got the ballot without making any hioise about It. Australasian ladies did not go up in balloons and muss lip their hair, yet they have thei ballot box now as an ornament on the center table. The wives and mothers of Col orado did not chain themselves to the railings in the statehouse. and still they proudly march to the polls and spoil as many ballots as the men. Nor way had no Pankhurst family, but the Norse husband has had to divide the suffrage watermelon with his better half. Throwing bricks, marching In the middle of the street and screeching on cart tails may be necessary in Eng land, but here it would simply be laughed off the map, and the women would, do moss of the laughing. We have no Pankhursts in America. but we have Mrs. Howe and Miss Shaw, and we have the memory of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Susan B. An thony and Frances E. Willard. Miss Shaw, who is both an ordained min ister and a doctor of medicine, was herself born In England, but escaped at a very early age before she felt the bad effects. , She was reared on a Michigan farm and had scarcely more educational advantages than Abraham Lincoln, yet she was so assiduous In gaining every possible scrap of knowl edge that at fifteen she was a school teacher and shortly after was preach ing in a little church. The girl preach er was eloquent, and the congregation sent her to a theological college in Bos ton. Her church, the Methodist Epis copal, refused regularly to ordain her because she was a woman. Then she went to the Methodist Protestant and received her ordination papers. vFor years she occupied a Massachusetts' pulpit, being one of the first women preachers in America. She also work ed in the slums of Boston and, in or der that she might be of more service to , the poor, studied and took the de gree of M. D never charging a penny . however, for her medical services. She became widely known as a pulpit ora tor even before she became promi nently identified with . the suffrage movement Now she Is regarded as one. of the most effective speakers on the : platform. Perhaps- her greatest power- lies In her deep religious senti ment, bnt she Is also a wit and can tell stories. . Her voice is rich and musical, and her white hair and rosy face add to her charm. More than all else, she believes in her message. With such a leader and with such financial and social backing as. that furnished hv Mrs. Relmont.- Mrs. Mackav nnd !. I others, -the American suffragist move- The partnership of Johnson and John son, owners of the Toggery, Corvallis, Oregon, has been this day dissolved, K. C. Herron having acquired the in terests of J. C. Johnson and B. W. Johnson in the business, wirieh will be hereafter conducted by C. V- Johnson and K. C Herron, under the firm name of Johnson & Herron. The latter firm assumes and the liabilitie of the business.. '-r:' - ;; Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Hereon Corvallis, Ore., Sept, 1, 1909 9-3-10t DISSOLUTION riOl E Sister's Academy Opens Sept 7th The Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help will re-open on September 7th. . By means of the new addition and the remodeling of the building the school is now equipped with all modern in- provemenfs, and with a corps of competent teachers may be de pended upon to do thorough work both in the grades and high school course. I For particulars apply to Sister Superior, 225 West Ninth St, Albany, Oregon. 8-19 to 9-19. Homes Newport Property. Sixty choice lots more or less in New port, Oregon, (one of the most health ful and popular summer and winter re sorts) for sale or will exchange for oth er good property. Property near Cor vallis preferred. Will supply funds to buyers of these lots to build homes thereon. Address M. S. Woodcock, Corvallis,' Oregon. thurs. tf RES T- BOMP -RECUPERATE At the Seashore Tl .NEWPORT- Is a delightful resort and a happy combination of pleas ure ground possibilities. An ideal climate diversion of recreation perfect bathing-boating fishing riding driv ing, and exploring, make Newport a most charming and popular play ground. . - . Southern Pacific Co. HAS A Special Summer Excursion Rate to Newport of ; $3.75 From CORVALLIS, OREGON Ask for our booklet "Outings in Oregon." ' R. C. LINVILLE, Agent, CORVALLIS, ORE. WM. 'M'MURRAY, General Passenger Agent Portland, Oregon GEO. W. DENMAN Attorney at Law CORVALLIS, OREGON Office In Fischer building, oyer Graham & Wortham drug store , Th eDa ily Gazette- Times By carrier or mail, 50c per. mo.. Let os send it to you "THE SCHOOL OF QUALITY' Tenth and Morrison, Portland, Oregon 3 3 A. P. Armstrong, LL.B., Principal KXia in years, new in methods, admittedly the high-standard commercial school of the Northwest. Open all the year. More calls for help than we can meet position certain. Class and . individual instruction. Bookkeeping from written forms and by office practice. Shorthand that excels in every respect. Special penmanship department. Write for illustrated catalogue. Gazette-Times Biggest and Best Paper in the Willamette Valley gest. all for the good of the cause. Whether or not they have added to the j ment may : be heard- from during the suurage sentiment, tney nave unques--. ues.i iew jetuu. -. . i; . ., Oregon - j State ' Pair SALEM Forty-eighth Annual Exhibition Will Be Greater Than Ever $35,000 in Premiums and Purses 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 1909 eptembe Grand Showing of Live Stock Racing Program Complete Reduced Rates On All Railroads COME AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS W. F. MATLOCK, - President F. A WELCH, Secretary.