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Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0077 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0077 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
| 70 MARYLAND SUFFRAGE NE.WS DOES A WIFE AMD MOTHER NEED A VOTE? By Mona G. Cockey. OVER and over again, in all sincerity, 1 have asked myself the question, Uf what use is a vote to the woman whose life is devoted to her husband and children? To answer this, it is first essential to define the terms wife and mother. There are still a few moldy survivors of a past phase of human evolution who cling to the antiquated notion that any woman who is legally married is a wife. But where are the husbands, so resigned to a slow martyrdom that they would be entirely satisfied with this vicious definition of wife- hood ? There is, however, another interpretation, which is decidedly more fair to the men of our race and a tritle more to their liking. According to this conception of holy wedlock, a woman is not truly a wife if she is merely a Hashy-looking, twentieth-century vampire, feeding on the ability of the man who was unfortunate enough to marry her. She is no wife if she fails to accept her share in her husband's responsibilities and labors. She is far from a wife if her interests are chictly personal and her activities only calculated to meet the requirements of her own whims. She is, in fact, not a man's wife unless she rises to the obligations of a mutual love, a mutual purpose in life and mutual efforts. A real wife is a woman who, somewhere, somehow, has met and recog- nized her proper mate; has openly and honorably, in accordance with the laws of her country, accepted him as such, and has consistently assumed her legitimate share in all that pertains to their united lives. She is a woman that has found a man whom she loves, not with reservations and in half-measures, but with all the tenderness of which her nature is capable, freely, fearlessly and without stint. She is a comrade in her husband's struggles, a companion in his pleasures, one who has bound herself to her mate, not simply with the fragile bonds of religious and legal ceremonies, but with the indestructible ties of a lasting delight in the man of her choice, with the strong fetters of spontaneous response to him, and by complete co-operation in all his undertakings. In the same way we understand by the word mother something much more glorious than merely being the parent of a child. Young or old, rich or poor, a real mother is one who willingly and joyfully bestows a con- scious existence upon another creature, then who ever afterwards strives unflinchingly to provide for, protect and advance her child. There are countless such wives and mothers, and it is to them that I wish to repeat my question. Uf what use is a vote ? A vote, of course, is just a means by which any citizen expresses his opinion and wish concerning the laws and government of the community under whose protection and authority he lives. The ballot is not an instru- ment especially designed for the exclusive use of political crooks, and the possession of it should not be held as incriminating evidence against an individual. Quite an impressive number of highly respectable gentlemen have from time to time made use of the ballot for other than criminal pur- poses. We are inclined, therefore, to believe that, at least, a fair percent- age of decent women would follow this example. In addition to these facts, we arc compelled to reflect that the obliga- tion of citizenship is, like many others, inherent in human life. Like other duties, too, it can be shirked and renounced; but, unlike an ami or a leg or an appendix, it cannot be "removed." Let us glance at a few of the most personal questions of government which a man attempts to control at present by his vote. The husband and father of today who performs his duty to society feels responsible for an opinion and a ballot that will insure clean streets, good roads, pure water, good sanitation, proper school buildings and efficient teachers, decent re- strictions upon child labor, pure-food laws, fair hours for employes, proper laws concerning liquor, racing, gambling and community morals in gen- eral, proper police service, proper administration of our laws, proper laws pertaining to charitable and public institutions, proper laws governing the railroads and railways, proper tariff, proper tax rates, revenue taxes ami duties, and all the thousand and one necessities that, directly or indirectly, affect himself and his family. Needless to say, no one man can be fully informed on such a variety of subjects. Yet the fact that he is not an expert on all the political issues Mention the Maryland Suffrage New* of his age does not disqualify him for the ballot. Neither should the same fact bar a woman from a real and effective citizenship. A wife could use the ballot as another means of co-operating with her husband. W hat is to prevent a couple, at the beginning of a political cam- paign, from following it together, through the press and other available sources? Then, when they have discussed each point with frankness and sincerity, and each has given due weight to the convictions of the other, why should they not cast two votes representing the co-operative citizen- ship of two parents? Indeed, it is just exactly in this position of natural guardian of her children that a vote is most useful to a woman. For example, the water supply and sanitation of any community are matters that depend principally upon the type of men elected to office. And, since impure water and bad sanitary conditions can cost the children's lives, it is obvious that the mothers are entitled to a vote for or against a candidate whose election means so much to these parents. Then, too, it is difficult to see why a mother should not be able to use a vote in matters pertaining to her children's education. Is it none of her affair if the school building is heated so poorly that her little sons and daughters are exposed to serious illness? Is she to make no protest if all the children in the class must drink out of one dirty cup, because some poli- tician has been put in office who is much more interested in squeezing the last cent from the school appropriations than he is in protecting the health and lives of school children? If free tariff affects the earning capacity of her children's father in one way, and protective tariff affects it in another, why has a mother no right to vote on this subject? Remember, it is vitally important to her babies. Moreover, why should a woman not be allow ed to vote for a candidate who would introduce and fight for the proper pure-food laws ? Without legislation of this sort and its strict enforcement, it is impossible for a mother to know whether the food she sets before her family is wholesome and nutritious or just so much deadly poison. These are a very few of the practical uses which a mother could make of the vote. There are still other ends it would serve equally as well. To illustrate, let us suppose that the mothers were privileged to vote against candidates who depend for their political power on the immoral element in the community. In such an event, politicians of this class would stand a small chance, indeed. Each mother knows in her heart of hearts that her own son or daughter may become a victim of the saloons, gambling dives, racetracks and disorderly houses. She says to herself: "Even if the boy never is a drunkard or gambler, he may become the business partner or personal friend of such a man without knowing it, and be ruined finan- cially and otherwise by the association, and the girl may marry a man whose character has been destroyed by the vices that were allowed to grow and thrive for the want of an opposing electoral vote." Of course, the hue and cry is that all this voting which is so sadly needed for the protection of the children is the man's business. Well, we have left it to the men, our children's fathers, for more than a hundred years, and the men have not measured up to the children's needs. The fact of the matter is that Nature appointed two instead of one guardian for the child. Things are in the present unsatisfactory condition because the father is struggling desperately to carry both his own and the mother's share of the responsibility. Mothers of Maryland, God gave you the right to provide for and pro- tect your children. That privilege is yours by divine authority. All this division of duty to the offspring is merely artificial, for Nature knows no such apportionment. The beast-woman and the wild animal fought and hunted for their young, side by side with the male. The vote is the only weapon available with which you can protect your children against many dangers. When, mothers of Maryland, are you going to stretch out your hands and demand that weapon? Are you too cowardly or too indolent to defend your very own against disease, temptations and misgovernment ? Are you willing to sacrifice a few more When Patronising Oar Advertisers. |