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MARYLAND SUFFRAGE NEWS
203
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to tin' print, r.-Kn.
Mr. Heflin's Southern Chivalry Goei
Down to Posterity in the Con-
grtufonal Record.
To the liditor of The Maryland
Stittrat/c Xcies:
When l uiiKns>inan Mann of
Illinois tippitscd the investigation of
poHcc indhViem-y in protecting the
su.Yn.gists in the Wellington pa-
rade hy asserting that the women
"ought to have heen at home." he
aduptcil methods of open and un-
inisluk.iMe hostility; when Con-
gressman lletliii of Alahama op-
posed the resolution providing for
the suffrage parade, he re-orted to
low raillery designed to he none the
less hlasttng. Congressman Ilellin
was overruled and the parade took
place, hut it was men of his stamina
who marred the heatity of it and
suhjected the marcher- to such an-
noyance.
The full text of lletlin's "speech"
occupies nearly two columns on the
front page of the Jcftersonuw of
March Sth, a newspaer closely al-
lied with i>altimore county ring
politics. The Jcftersonkm takes
l«tius to inform its readers that
the text as printed is taken from
the Congressional Ueeord. and is,
therefore, accurate. The speech,
fur tlie most part, is made up of a
conglomeration of uilgar jingle,
designated hy the Jetfersou'um as .t
"pome." VITROM chief claim to liter-
ary merit lies in its rhyming; and
we are assured that the >peech. and
CoiigrcsMiian lletlin's mode of de-
livering it, was received with ap-
plau>e hordering upon hilarity.
Think of the stately record that
chronicles the proccdings of a na-
tion gracet 1 hy the follow ing, for the
edification of an admiring posterity:
"The lark was up to meet the sun.
The hce was on the wing;
And soon the sufVerin'-yels hegtm
To make the welkin' ring."
And the following choice morsel,
which serves to illustrate the (nud-
ity of the Congressman's wit:
"Said the big red rooster
To the little speckled hen.
'The way you air crowin'
Around here is a sin.'
"Said the little speckled hen
To the big red rooster,
'I'll crow around here
Whenever I chooster.* "
Congressman Ilellin comes from
the South—from the extreme
South, where women are supposed
to be soft-voiced and too fragile
for everyday wear; but it is .-igniti-
eant that it is in the South where
the laws discriminate more harshly
against women than in any other
|»art of the country. Perhaps the
fact that in a number of the South-
ern States a married woman is a
mere chattel, and upon her wed-
ding day all that she owns or earns
forthwith becomes the property of
her liege lord, accords with Con-
gressman lletlin's idea of the func-
tions of the "big red rooster" to-
wards the "little speckled hen."
I >ne of the grounds for his objec-
tion given by lleflin was that the
street cars would have to stop run-
ning upon which his "constituents
may ride for 5 cents apiece, when,
if the cars stop, they will have to
pay two or three dollars for a cab
to ride around another way." The
solicitude of the officeholder for his
"constituents" is worthy of notice.
If women were numbered among
Mr. 1 lellin's constituents, this
would probably put a "crimp" in his
chivalric impulses towards the
weaker BttX ; or. what is even more
desirable, purge legislative halls of
foul-nioutluil ribaldry, and improve
the moral tone of the people's rep-
rcscntathes. K. (i. T.
EQUAL SUFFRAGE LEAGUE
At the weekly meeting of the
Kt|ual Suffrage League of Haiti-
more, held on Wednesday after-
noon. March i»Hh. at 4 o'clock at
their headquarters. Sj)> North
Charles street. Hon. Jacob M.
Moses spoke on the best form for
the next >utTrage hill to he present-
ed tu the Legislature, and >trongly
urged the introduction of a bill pro-
viding f<>r the enfranchisement of
women mi the same terms as men.
After Mr. Moses had spoken the
meeting was open to informal £***¦
cu>sion and tea was served.
TALBOT COUNTY LEAGUE WINS PRIZE!
The prize of S5, which was offered to the enmity league sending in
the tirst too names on the |>etition, was awarded to the Just l;ranchi>e
League of Talbot County on Thursday, March 30.
LIMITED OR UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
Hy Edith Hocgktos, Hooitwt
As the legislative work has begun to lake definite form, it has liven
found essential for the suffragists to know precisely what kind of suffrage
bill or bills they intend presenting to the Legislature next winter, t >ne
of the first questions asked by every politician and prospective candidate
who is interviewed, is "v\hat kind of suffrage do you want, limited or
unlimited, municipal, or State-wide *'" A clean-cut answer to this question
is prerequisite to securing from the candidates endorsements which will
he of use when the Legislature takes action. It is. for example, no use
to secure the promise of a Kepublicm to vote for a State-wide bill if a
limited bill is to be introduced, and vice-\er>a. it is no use to persuade a
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Democrat to endorse a limited bill if a State-wide bill is ultimately to be
decided ui>on.
Hy accepting endorsements for holh limited and unlimited bills, we
merely work toward splitting the pro->uffrage vote, which is precisely
what we cannot afford to do. All of the candidates who endorse suffrage
as a part of their per>on«l platforms tmt>t endorse the same kind of suf-
frage hilt or the roult will be that the friends of suffrage will antagonize
(.aeh other.
This is perhap- even more plainly the case when we come to the party
platforms. The Progressive party which numbers among it> member-
Mr. (ieorge l>obhiu I'enniman, Mr. (ieorge U. f iaither and Mr. X. W in--
lovv Williams, is already pledged to support equal suffrage, which in this
State at the present time mean> unlimited suffrage. The Progressives
cannot be so untrue to their own principles as to venture the introduction
of a limited manhood >uffrage bill at the next se»ion of the Legivlaturc.
and consequently they cannot logically as individuals or members of the
party support a limited woman suffrage bill. Such a monstrous violation
of their own platform would wreck the party at the outset.
With regard to the Republican and Democratic parties, the situation
is somewhat more obscure. The Republicans are already pledged to uni-
versal suffrage. They dare not put in a limited suffrage plank for women.
Their own constituents would be up in arms. Moreover, the pro-q.ect-
ON very bright for the insertion of a woman suffrage plank in the Re-
publican platform.
N'ow, if the Republicans put in an unlimited plank, ami we permit
the Democrats to put in a limited plank, we shall he defeated at the oiit-et.
for with a split vote, we can never get the nccosary three-tifths majority.
The Democrats are. however, more or less pledged to restrict the suffrage.
ami here we come at the root of the matter. If we are to hope for sticces>,
we must persuade the Democrats that woman >uffrage has nothing to
do with limited or unlimited suffrage, that it is a question apart by it-elf.
i.nd we must force the Democratic patty to go on record a> supporting or
1 p|>osing the sex qualification alone without relation to education, prop-
erty or color. In other words, we must emphasize the fact that we ftffl
trying to do hut one thing in our present campaign, namely, to estahli-h
'he fact In law that the >iugle eireuin-tat.ee 0$ having bovO born a
woman is insufficient in itself to disqualify one-half the population from
the franchise. If we permit the que-tioii of limited suffrage to enter in.
the whole discussion will be diverted from woman suffrage to qualified
-uffrage, and as ha* already been thoroughly demonstrated the Hglitne--
or vvrongncss of continuing to hold sex as a qualification for the fran-
chise will be lost sight of.
It is extraordinary (o realize how many kinds of qualified suffrage
can be suggested, once the question is raised. There is municipal suf-
frage, with or without qualifications, one man believes in a high prop"
erly qualification, another opposes it. < hie believes in an educational
qualification, another thinks it useless. The county people in general
object to municipal hills, for they would bring them no benefit-. Then
there is the limited State-wide hill tor both men and women, which on
account of the limited manhood suffrage clause would unque-tionaUy
meet defeat in the referendum vote, even if it passed the Legislature.
The voters of the State have already expressed themselves pretty fre-
quently at the polls with regard to limiting their own rights, they arc
oversensitive and suspicious where qualifications respecting their own
1 r their male offsprings' right to the >ufl"rage is concerned.
It is only when we come to the limited State-wide woman suffrage
bill, however, thai we find what limitless variaiious may he played on
the que>tion of qualified suffrage; the grandmother clause, the county
option suffrage hill. pro|H.-rty qualifications of differing degrees, educa-
tional qualifications of every sort, combinations of them all that posi-
tively make you dizzy—the thing ends in a different opinion for even
mdiv idttal. a graceful "ay out for every candidate, disruption, split v)ite>
;«,
Upholatafr Stuffs
501-3-5 N. Charles St.
At F rmnk I In
BALTIMORE, MO-
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