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Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0102 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0102 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
| 24 MARYLAND SUFFRAGE NEWS [April .7, 1920.1 PuHlnhmd Wfkty b, Me IVJ7 GOUMMMMMT LBACVE 0* MJHtYLJUID M N. Chart,, Strut Sv&acripf font: $1.09 mm jwmr. Mmkm CAeefta payablm to Dora C. Off*, atuai'naaa Mmna/rr. DEDICATION. To the poor woman without homo*, to tho little toilers who should bo in tho ichoolt and playgrounds, to tho white (lares in their tragic bondage, and to tho children who die, these pagoa arc dedicated! May every woman who i* not too idle to have a thought, or too vain to have a soul, or too rich in gold to have a heart, join in the great struggle for women's freedom t Purity, Liberty, Justice—these we must work fort A PLANK FOR ALL PARTIES AT the behest of the Marvand Suffrage News last autumn, ap- proaches were made to the American Labor Party, then in conven- tion in Chicago, looking to the incorporation of a plank in the party's platform declaring for the single standard of morals. Much to the gratification of all right-thinking people, the Labor Party promptly went on record as favoring the following plank: "In all national and State legislation affecting divorce and the sexual relation, and in the enforcement of such legislation, the single standard of morals should be firmly adhered to; and in every case the age of con- sent should be fixed at not less than eighteen years." At this juncture, when the notional platforms of all political parties are in process of formation, the Maryland Suffrage News again sug- gests the appropriateness of incorporating planks providing for the estab- lishment of a single standard of morals and the proper protection of minors of both sexes in all political platforms. The physical and moral integrity of the United States as a nation depends fundamentally upon the observance of the monogamous mar- riage law; sexual promiscuity predicates venereal disease, sterility, prosti- tution and illegitimacy. Yet at the present time monogamous marriage is practically defence- less in many of our States, and the seduction of yoking children and the patronage of prostitutes is generally connived at. In Maryland, for ex- ample, the sin of adultery is punishable only by a fine of ten dollars, and the age of protection for girls extends only through the fifteenth year. Under the Democratic Administration during the war the age of con- sent for girl children was stated to be ten years, it being specifically pro- vided in the manual that a soldier seducing a child under the age of ten years should be punishable. Despite the earnest protest of large numbers of women during the war, neither Secretary of the Navy Daniels nor Sec- retary of War Baker saw fit to raise the age of consent so far as it affected the conduct of the men in the service. In view of conditions such as these it would seem of prime importance that women should utilize the power of the franchise as soon as it comes into their hands to establish the single standard of morals and to demand that all political parties should endorse a system of ethics adapted to pre- serving the health and welfare of the nation. AN INTERESTING QUESTION IN the issue of the Baltimore Sun of April 14, in an editorial on the Hoover campaign, the editor writes: "What more natural, with all the world in flux, than that both the old parties should disintegrate, and out of their fragments be formed two new parties, with a real and living line of cleavage between Ihemf" The question here presented is of very great interest, especially to the new group of women voters, for there is a growing feeling in the elec- torate that the old parties are inadequate to their task and that they differ from one another more in name than in principle. But for our part, we should like to ask the Baltimore Sun a question. What is this "real and living line of cleavage" between the old parties that the Sun contemplates as the potential basis for the formation of two new parties? After the old parties have disintegrated and the process of realignment has begun, what will be "the real and living" issues that will differentiate the new parties in their formation ? The tariff is a bit stale; even the League of Nations has not very sharp edges; "State's rights" appears to be more a matter of convenience than of genuine political belief. What, then, is to constitute the "line of cleavage" that even the Sunpapcr seems to feel imminent in the approaching future ? Can it be that the Sunpapcr is preparing to capitulate to the economic reformists who desire that the "line of cleavage" shall conform to the wide difference of opinion that exists with regard to the economic organ- ization of society ? Can it be that the Sunpapcr contemplates with composure a straight- out political battle on the question of the public or private ownership of public utilities and natural resources ? At all events, this issue is broad enough and pressing enough to pro- vide the "real and living line of cleavage" for which the Sunpapcr is looking. MAKING MARTYRS THE law of the land does not allow a person to commit suicide. But the English Government at the present time, by allowing political prisoners to hunger strike in order that the principles which they hold inviolate might be upheld, is practically permitting these people to die for the cause they hold dear. Even the Baltimore Sun has the right idea, as evidenced by the following editoiial. which appeared on Tuesday morning: "A fire departn-ent which handled a fire as the British authorities do the Irish situation could be justly accused of deliberate incendiarism. In- stead of putting the Irish fire out, the British governmental policy is con- stantly spreading and intensifying it. "The latest illustration is the stupidity and brutality of its course toward the 100 political suspects who have gone on a hunger strike in Mount Joy Prison. Some of these, it is reported, are near death. None of them ap- parently has been convicted or even tried. So far as appears from the dis- patches, they are simply suspected of stirring up trouble, or of being con- nected with crimes. Obviously the wise thing in cases like these and under such conditions as now prevail would have been either to convict the ac- cused or to set them free. To hold them indefinitely was just the way to add to the flames of Irish revolution; and to permit them by a hunger strike to make English justice odious was a puerile as well as heartless blunder. "The British Government, eminently wise about most other things, plays with this great national conflagration like a child with fire. The clear thing for it to do is to do its best. But it seems to persist in doing its worst" TENTH ANNUAL MEETING JUST GOVERNMENT LEAGUE OF MARYLAND Monday, April 26th, and Tuesday, April 27th 817 N. CHARLES STREET Ma.H.n Ike Maryland Suffraf• Nawa Wfcu P.lrani.mi Our Ad.arti.ar. |