OCR Text |
Show BRYAN FAVORS WOMAN RIGHTS Washington. Julj 16. Secretary Bryan, In a formal statement, issued tonight, came out for woman suffrage. He declared that he would ask n political po-litical r r li t for himself that he was not willing to grant his wife, and announced an-nounced his intention of supporting the proposed state constitutional 1 amendment extending the franchise to I women to he voted upon In Nebraska next November Woman Mr Bryan said, had proved herself equal to every responsibility imposed upon her, ami would not fall i society in this emergency. Above all I other arguments In favor of giving ; her the ballot he placed the risht of the mother to a voice in the molding of the environment of her children. "The mother." the secretary said "can Justly claim Hip ricrht to employ ; every weapon which can be made ef-fectlve ef-fectlve for the protection of those whose interests she guards and the ' I ballot will put within her reach all Of the instrumentalities of government, including the police power " Statement in Full. The statement follows In full: "The voters of Nebraska will at the election next jNnemher adopt or reject re-ject a proposed amendment extending suffrage to women on equal terms with men. s a citizen of the state it will he my duty to participate in the decision to be rendered at the polls. I have delayed expressing an opinion on this subject, partly because T have been seeking Information and partly because my time has been bc-cupled bc-cupled with national questions upon which the entire country was actlnc. hut now that the Issue Is presented in my state I take m position I shall support the amendment 1 shall ask no political rights for myself my-self that I am not wTllinc to grant to my wife "As man and women are cotenants of the earth and must work out their destiny tocether. the presumption Is on the side of equality of treatment In all that pertains to their joint life and Its opportunities The burden of proof is on those who claim for one advantage over the other in determining determin-ing the conditions under which both shall live. This claim has not been established in the matter of suffrage. On the contrary, the objections raised to woman suffrage appear to me to he invalid, while the arguments ad-j vanced In support of the proposition! are. in my Judgment, convincing. The first objection which I remember remem-ber to have heard was that as woman cannot bear arms she should not have ; a voice in deciding questions that ! might require an nrmv for their en-1 forcement, This argument is seldom offered now. for the reason that as , civilization advances laws are obeyed because they are an expression of the public opinion not merely because they have powder and lead behind them. And as we look over the past i we may well wonder whether t tie j peac e movement would not have grown more rapidly than it has had woman, who suffers more than man from the results of war, been consulted consult-ed before hostilities began Second, It Is urged by some that woman's life is already full of care and that the addition of suffrage would cither overburden her or turn her cttcntlon away from the duties of the home. The answer made to this Is that the exercise of the franchise fran-chise might result in a change of thought and occupation that would re lieve the monotony of woman s work and cive restful variety to her activities. activi-ties. And surely the home will not suffer if the mother, "the child's first teacher. ' is able to intelligently discuss dis-cuss with hr family the science of government and the art of successfully success-fully uministering it Old Argument Invalid, "Trird Many well meaning men nnd women affirm that suffrage would work a harm to woman by lessening the resnect In which she Is held This argument would have more weight had it not been employed against every ev-ery proposition advanced in favor of the enlargrnent of woman's sphere This objection was once raised to the higher education of woman, but It Is no longer heard The same objection was offered each time the door has opened and woman, instead of suffer ing degradation has risen i inree uujci ;uuui , iiuive tr uoncsi- ly advanced, have proven impotent to ietard womm's progress. May not the fears sincerely entertained by the opponents of woman's suffrage be found tc be as groundless as those that once forced the widow in eastern east-ern India to ascend the funeral pyre or as those that exclude Mohamme- dan women from the social benefits and responsibilities which the woman of the ' hristlan world shares9 "And are not the second and third objections stated refuted, to some ex tent at least, by the fact that in the states which have adopted woman's suffrage (and in the other nations that Lave adopted it) there Is no agl tatlon for a return to the system under un-der which man has a monopoh of the right to vote0 Is it not fair to assume as-sume that an effort would be made to correct the mistake if woman's suffrage had really failed to give satisfaction sat-isfaction to the. people where it has been tried? Enthusiasm as Proof. "If one were in doubt as (o which side of the controversy to take, he would be justified in giving weight to the fact that organization and enthusiasm en-thusiasm are on the side of those who favor woman's suffrage. Organization Organiza-tion is an evidence of earnestness, as well as of a comprehension of the subject People do not associate themselves together to secure a given end until they have reached a definite def-inite conclusion in regard to its desirability de-sirability and feel that Its accomplish, ment is worth the effort for which it ca'le. It is quite evident that those who disinterestedly desire woman's I suffrage are willing to make greater sacrifices to secure it than those who disinterestedly oppose woman's suffrage suf-frage are willing to make to prevent it." |