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Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0076 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0076 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
| MARYLAND SUFFRAGE NEWS 69 to run into mutiny, yet she still pacified them, till at last things were brought to that strait that she must be admitted and declared your Lord- ship's Attorney by order of court." Women of Maryland, we, too, stand as did Margaret Brent, at the be- ginning of a new era in the affairs of humanity. Following her long-ago example, let us not bind ourselves to an outworn past, but let us concern ourselves wholly with the things of today and tomorrow, doing practically and efficiently all things which come to our hands to do. Let us not trouble ourselves uselessly over what have been considered the limitations of sex, but let us regard those about us, whether men or women, simply as capable and thinking human beings, and looking deeply into pur natures, without fear, let us develop as did she all those gifts with which nature has en- dowed us, irrespective of our sex. Then, having become fully the beings of nature's wise intent, let us demand recognition for our efficiency. For as from that long past Assembly of Maryland was won recognition for the efficiency of Margaret Urent, so will our proven efficiency win surely and without demur the recognition which is justly ours! THE WORKING WOMAN AND THE BALLOT By Minna Jackson. THE past hundred years has changed the home life and home condi- tions. Under the old system, each little dwelling was a factory, and with the spinning of the cloth, the making of the clothes and the prepara- tion of the various foods, the women found employment within the four walls. But what a change has come over the household of a century ago! The industries that were once home industries have become factory industries. Large textile mills, manufactories and canneries have revolu- tionized the household, and today the women are com|>ellcd to seek employ- ment at the various trades to help sustain the family. With the rapid changes in the industrial world, owing to the introduction of modern ma- chinery, the working woman is beginning to appreciate that she is an impor- tant factor in society | to understand the value of her economic power and her position in the labor movement; to realize that "exploitation" and "women" are synonymous terms. She is consequently organizing into trades-unions to protect herself from the abuses of industry. Today there are about 9,000,000 women workers in the United States who are employed in various gainful occupations. Of this number, about half are under the age of 21 years. In Maryland, 150,000 are employed at a very low wage. About two-fifths of this number are employed in the manufacturing industries, stores and offices of Baltimore city, and the re- maining three-fifths are scattered throughout the counties of Maryland. In the manufacture of all kinds of clothing women predominate. More than half the workers in the canneries and textile mills are women, and the majority of these workers toil long hours for little pay. under conditions not conducive to their mental, physical and moral welfare. The sheds that are the homes of the fruit pickers during the canning season are first-class breeding places for all kinds of diseases. Each shamble is generally occupied by several families, where sometimes sick men and children are herded together, breathing the same air and using the same utensils. After a hard day's work in the fields, these poor unfor- tunates, who have little time for systematic house-cleaning, are only too glad to throw their weary bodies on the cots or floor to get a night's rest to be in condition for the following day. Bathing facilities and sanitary equipments are unknown in these parts, an occasional shower acting in the capacity of an all-around cleanser. The lot of the women with families is the hardest of all. In their spare time the household duties must be at- tended to. Cooking the meals, caring for the children, tidying their allot- ted corner in the shed and washing the clothes are only few of their extra duties. Personal attention is overlooked in the rush. Victims of cheap labor and the profit system, these women workers are so overburdened that it requires more than the country air to brace them up. Woman's place was once the home, but her home is now the world. Women work side by side with the men in the facturics and shops, and from the want of proper safeguards, very often a hand is severed or a scalp removed by the machinery, sometimes resulting in loss of life. Death knows no sex discrimination. Who could better know what is needed to M.nlion tha Maryland SurTraga Nam protect the lives and health of themselves and their children than the women working under present industrial conditions? What emptiness there is in the spasmodic ravings of our anti-friends, that the ballot will break up the home and degrade woman and remove her from her pedestal! Another farcical argument: "Woman is designed to be a mother, and that is the field for her, to be queen of the home." Imagine, if you will, a tenement-house in one of the congested parts of our large cities, and in a dingy room behold a queen, with the aid of her royal assistants, all under the age of 14, making underwear, from the cheapest muslin to the most expensive silk garment, the princesses sewing on the buttons as fast as their little fingers can ply the needle. By working until midnight they swell the royal coffers with the large sum of 80 cents. Then, grope your way along a dark, ill-ventilated corridor, turn the handle of the door, which will admit you into a small room, with no windows, and by the dim light of the lamp behold another queen with a babe at her breast, robed in tatters, and her head adorned with a highly discolored piece of rag, oper- ating a sewing machine from morning to night to earn a few cents to keep her family from starvation. You would observe thousands of queens in the aggregate whose homes, consisting of 1 or 2 rooms, serving as sweatshops during the day and sleeping apartments at night, making every kind of garment the consumer demands, under conditions that are far from sanitary. Fagged out and weary, these physical wrecks are compelled so to labor because they are powerless to protect themselves from the ex- ploiters of this modern economic and political system, making it plainly understood that the economic position of the wage-earning woman today prevents her from fulfilling her function as director of the home. Laws are made for the protection of property, and for the protection of those who own property. Hut the working woman, who has no other property than her labor, has scant protection indeed for her labor power. Working women demand the ballot to be in a position to vote for their own interests. The possession of the ballot is absolutely imperative to en- force laws, to safeguard the lives of toilers, to regulate the hours of labor, and to influence labor legislation for the benefit of all workers; to obtain higher wages, a shorter day, greater safety and better sanitation. Being organized both industrially and politically, the power of the working women of America will soon be recognized, and the dream of a free nation will at last be materialized. THE JUSTICE OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE By Mary Bartlktt Dixon. E suffragists hate injustice, and we are convinced it is unjust to deny women the right to vote. Here are some of the reasons for our conviction: Woman, under the laws of Maryland, is considered a responsible hu- man being. She can own pro]>erty in her own right. She can make con- tracts. She can enter the professions of law and medicine. She can engage in business. She is punished equally with men for disobedience to law. And, above all else, woman is held responsible for the welfare of the home and the care and teaching of children. When it comes, how- ever, to making the laws concerning all these questions, the State of Maryland classes this "responsible human being" with lunatics, idiots, criminals and minors by denying her the right to vote. Now, we suffragists assert that this is ridiculous. Either women arc too idiotic to be held responsible for anything and should be denied, like idiots, the right to vote, or they arc responsible human beings and should be given the responsibility of citizenship. We believe that if the law allows a woman to conduct business and work for her daily bread it is unjust to deprive her of the right to an opinion that counts in regard to the regulation of business and the condi- tions under which she must labor. We knozc that it is a burning injustice to hold women responsible for the welfare of the home and children and deny them a voice in the government, for we must remember that the government of today concerns itself as much with these special interests of women as it does with the special interests of men. The mothers of children as well as the fathers should have the right to express their opinions on all these subjects at the place where opinions are counted?the polling booth. Whan Patronizing Our Adaartisari. |