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Show FIGHTING FOR RIGHT TO VOTE There are 500,000 men in the United States capable of voting intelligently, irrespective of any political party, who are disfranchised! These men, all American citizens and 75 per cent of them American born, constitute the traveling travel-ing public, made up of traveling salesmen and traveling theatrical people men who understand .the business conditions and needs of the country; who pay the highest cost of living; who- maintain the railroads and hotels, and who are in reality the blood that is ilowing through tno veins of commierce. Yet they are disfranchised. Why? Because on election day they are away from their homes and therefore unable to vote. These men want to vote. They are waging, at the present time, a systematic, nation-wide battle bat-tle for the privilege of suffrage. United into "Tho Travelers' Good Government Association," an organization or-ganization of 120,000 members, they are fighting to pass the Absent Voters' Act a bill which provides pro-vides that any citizen may vote in any district in which he happens to be on election day upon presentation pre-sentation of a certificate of identification from the election judges or county clerk of his own district. Already the association has been instrumental in passing this act in eight states Minnesota, Arizona, Ari-zona, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ne-braska, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, and dt is now up foi consideration In Oregon. One of the most ardent supporters of this measure is Billy B. Van, famous comedian, who was responsible for the organization of "The Travelers' Trav-elers' Good Government Association." "I live in Van Harbor, a town in New Hampshire Hamp-shire named after me," said Billy Van. "I own most of the town, pay two-thirds of the taxes, am justice of the peace the highest office in the town and yet I have no voice in its government! Can you beat that? Although I own everything but the jail, still I can't vote in my home town! Now you understand why we traveling men are waging the fight for the Absent Voters' Act. If we can pass it in two-thirds of the siates men wo have the right to demand that it be made a constitutional con-stitutional amendment, (thus giving us the privilege of voting on national Issues as well as local problems." |