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Prize Essay on "Woman frage," Written by Mii Martha Bell. (Published by Request.) Resolved That We Should Have man Suffrage in South Caroli We come to you to-night wit! world-wide subject, and I hope you hear what I have to say, yoi agree with me. The first thing I .say-what would this world be were not for a woman, or what a man marry for if he doesn't e to make his home better, then shouldn't the laws be better ii men could vote? It is true, we sonie bad women, but we have good ones than bad ones. Ther< more women in the churches men, and more men in the jails penitentiaries than women, vicious and criminal class is com tively small among women. Ir prisons of the United States, whole, including those for all 1 of offenses, women constitute five and one-half per cent, of prisoners, and the proportion is g ing smaller. Equal suffrage wouli crease the moral and law-abiding very largely while increasing vicious and criminal vote very li This proves htat women, as a ma, ty, are better than men. This is n matter of conjecture but of st tics. Women of one-fourth of the Un States voted for president in 1! these were Illinois, Montana, "V ming, Kansas, Colorado, Oregon, vada, Idaho, Utah, Washington, ( fornia and Arizona. Women sh< have the same right to vote in Sc Carolina as in other states. There never been a man or woman of spectability and prominence in of OUT- Suffrage States who has p lic.j said that woman suffrage not been a success. No state or co try which has ever extended suffr to women has taken it away, a i which would not be true if it hac any way injured women or men the home or in any way harmed community interests. m In Colorado where women have ted for twenty-three years, the peo are enjoying a period of greater pr perity than ever before in her 1 tory. She has grown steadily by lc strides from poverty to great wea under woman suffrage. Since won had the vote in California, one leg lature passed more constructive h islations than had been passed in t _previous decade. ^At the same tin though these laws necessitated m government activities, government penses increased at a five per ce lower rate than in the previous fr\ year period. Extending the franchi to women actually increases the pi portion of intelligent voters. The is now, and has been for five yea] according to the report of the coi missioner of education, one-thi: more girls in High Schools of tl country than boys, and according the last census, the illiterate men i the country greatly outnumber? women. Extending suffrage to wome also increases the moral vote. In s states and countries that have adop ed equal suffrage the vote of the di reputable women is practically nej ligible. The slum wards of the cit? invariably having the lightest woma vote, and the respectable residenc wards the heaviest. Only one out c every twenty criminals is a womar Women constitute a minority c drunkards and petty misdemeanant: ard for every prostitute there are a least two men responsible for her im morality. In all the factors that tend t handicap the progress of society, Wc men form a minority, whereas, ii churches, schools and all organza tions working, for the uplift of hu manity, women are in the majority Do you know any sound, l?gica reason why women should not hav< the vote? You can have no such rea sons, for they do not exist. The rea sons why women should vote are th< same as the reasons why men shouk vote. Just the same as the reasons for having a republic rather than i monarchy. It is fair and right thal the people who must obey the laws should have a voice in choosing the legislators and senator who make the laws. Laws affect women as much as men. Laws which affect women are now passed without consulting them. Laws affecting children should in clude the woman's point of view as well as the man's. Laws affecting the home are voted on in every session of the legislature. Women have expe rienced things which would be helpful to legislaton. To deprive women of the vote is to lower their position in common es timation. Having the vote would in crease the sense of responsibility among women toward questions of public importance . Public-spirited mothers make public-spirited sons. A . bout 8,000,000 women in the United States are wage workers and the con ditions under which they work are controlled by law. The objections a I gainst their having the vote are I on prejudice, not on reason. 1 who must pay the taxes should a voice as to the amount of tax 'the way in which the money sr. be spent. If a woman owns proi she has to pay taxes on it. Isi fair to let some of their tax mone used to print their own ballots? might say that women are repres ed by their husbands, fathers brothers. No, this can't be true, instance, here is a man who h wife, widowed mother, four or unmarried sisters, and a half-di unmarried daughters; his vote re sents himself and all these wo and it counts only one, while the of his bachelor neighbor next d without a female relative in world counts for just as much, if a woman commits a crime she c be represented by her father, i band or brothers, she has to re; sent herself. i Since the object of taking a i is to get at the wish of the majoi it is clear that the only fair and curate way is for each grown pei to have one vote, and cast it to re] sent himself or herself. American men are the best in world and if it were possible for men to represent women, thro: kindness and good will toward th American men would do it. But a r is by nature too different from a man to be able to represent 1 Whatever his good will be, he can fully put himself in a woman's ph and look at things exactly from point of view. Unless men and won should ever become aW*e? wofi must either go unrepresented or present themselves. ! Women are citizens. No one den that fact, for the constitution of ' United States, the law which sup sedes all law, declares them citize The government of our nation and all the states recognizes women's sponsibility and forces them to b< the burdens of citizenship. Worm citizens' especial sphere is the ? knowledged cornerstone of our I public. When we say that worn would be eligible to an office, what we mean? Simply that if a major of the people in any place wot rather have a woman to hold a c< tain position than anyone else, and she is willing to serve, they should allowed to elect her. Women are sei ing as officials already. My opponents may say that worni don't have time to attend to politic duties. 'How much time must si spend on her political duties? If si belongs to the well-to-do class ai hires others to do her work, she h plenty of time, and if she does hi own house-work, she can take tc minutes to stop on her way to ma ket to vote once or twice a year. SI can find half an hour a day for tl newspaper and other means of ii formation. She can talk with the fan ily and friends about what she read If she does this now, she will then d it more intelligently and will giv and receive more from what she saj and hears. Women as a majority hav more leisure than men to devot their time to such as this. Where wc men have the full ballot they have oi ten defeated bad candidates for higr er offices, and no riotous uprisin has ever followed. This particular ot jection is a libel on our America manhood. You may say that if women vot they should fight. If no men were al lowed to vote except those abl arid willing to do military and polic duty, women might consistently be d' barred for that reason. But as long a the old, the infirm, the halt, the lami and the blind are freely admitted ti the ballot, box, some other reasoi must be found for excluding womel than the fact that they do not fight All men over forty-five are exempi from military service, yet they vote If women do not fight in time of war they help in other ways. What woulc the Red Cross have amounted to ir this world-wide war if it had not beer for the women? Who would have nursed the wounded soldiers, and who would have made the clothes foi all of the soldiers? Not only did they do this, they bought War Savings Stamps and Liberty Bonds to help fi nance the government. When war was declared one-half of the territory already had woman suf frage. Since we entered the war, the largest state in population, New York and the largest state in size, Texas, have given the vote to their women. Great Britain gave the vote to 6,000, OOO women as a war measure. Den mark, when threatened by war, gave the vote to her women a3 a measure of national protection. Canada, in May 1918, passed a bill giving full suffrage to her women. In France the Chamber of Deputies has announced that the municipal vote will be given to her women at once. Are you awake to the fact that 14,000,000 women throughout the world have been en franchised in war time? Are you a live to the enormous demand of the I * I women of this state who in large num hers are petitioning for the vote? My opponents may say if women had the vote they would lose their in fluence. What gives a woman influ ence? Beauty, goodness, tact, talent, pleasan manners, money social po sition, etc. A woman who has any of means of influence now, would still have them if she" had a vote and she would have this other potent means of influence besides. My opponents may say that it would double the vote without chang ing the result. If letting the women sing in church merely doused the volume of sound, it would still be a good thing, because it would double the number of persons who had the lung exercise and the inspiration of joining in a good hymn and it would make the chorus stronger. If equal suffrage merely doubled the number of votes it would still do good, be cause to take an interest in public af fairs would give women stimulus and greater breadth of view, and it would also bring to bear on public prob lems, he minds of an increased num ber of intelligent and patriotic citi zens. But the great advantage of wo men in music is that they add the so prano and alto to the tenor and bass. If women were exactly like men, e qual suffrage would merely double the vote. But women are different 'from men, and women's voices in the state, like women's voices in the choir, would be the introduction of a new element. This is recognized even I by opponents, when they express the ^fear that equal suffrage would lead to "sentimental legislation." Fifteen states have full suffrage, others have partial suffrage, only twelve have no suffrage at all for wo men. Woman suffrage is inevitable Jail the world round; few deny it. Why ?should South Carolina delay? A man has all the advantage over a woman. A man and a woman can hold the same position in business and the man I will at least get one-fourth more sal ary than the woman and anyone : with any reason at all knows that this i isn't fair. The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and u 'surpations on the part of man to wards woman, having in direct ob 'ject the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To . prove this let facts be submitted to a candid world. He has never permitted her to exer cise her inalienable right to the elec franchise. He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. He has with held her from rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men-both natives and foreigners. He has framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes, and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women-the law in all cases going upon a false sup position of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands. After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support the government which rec ognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it. He al lows her in church, as well as in state, but a subordinate position, claiming apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and with exceptions from any public partici pation in the affairs of the church. When the day comes that women have as much freedom and liberty without the vote as men have with it, I will assure you they will no longer ask for it. Victory Liberty Loan Medals. Columbia, May 22.-The Victory Liberty Loan medals, to be present ed by the United States Treasury De partment to the leading workers in the recent drive, were received at State headquarters this week and are being sent to-day by Mrs. Frederick S. Munsell, State Chairman of the Woman's Liberty Loan Committee, to all county chairman for distribu tion. As the number is limited the medals are to be presented only to those who may be cited for signal ser vice. The Vctory medals were made from captured German cannon and bear this information on one side to gether with the inscription: "Pre sented by the U. S. Treasury Depart ment to - for patriotic ser vice in behalf of the Liberty Loan." On the reverse side are the words: "Victory Liberty Loan" and a. pic ture of the White House above the American eagle. It is requested that everyone to whom a medal is awarded have his or her name engraved on the space al lowed for such inscription. The med als will, in time to come increase in value and make permanent record of individual distinction in the great army of Liberty Loan volunteers who have so valiantly served the Govern ment. 'Chain * Usco* A Good Tire Year You have doubtless noticed thevgrowing preponderance of United States Tires. Every one is asking for tires of known value and proved dependability. And that is precisely what United States Tires represent in the minds of motorists here and everywhere. 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