 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0031 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
Maryland State Archives Maryland Suffrage News Collection MSA SC 3286 msa_sc3286_scm7805-0031 Enlarge and print image (1M) |
| 216 MARYLAND SUFFRAGE NEWS [October J, 1914. MARYLAND SUFFRAGE NEWS Published Weekly ¦y tht Jual Government League of Maryland. AND MIES. DONALD It. HOOKER, nim.mst, Mt. Waahlngton, M«l. Contributing Edltora: Mas, John <;. Wilson, I »K. i'HAIlllll H 1'. THOMAS Mas. |». J. Htbhe. I»H. O. KlUVAHI. .lANNET, Da. I'mitr N( K It. SAHIN, Miss Mildred Rankin. Managing Editor: Miss M It. Dixoif, »7 N. CtiarlM Street. ¦uslnasa Manager: MRS. CHARLES JOSEPH OOM UiMitiii May, Baftetajk ttstgata, MA Subscription Rates: WMESTIC. One Year.......................$1.00 fffeMi MuutlM on Trlnl........... .2S Six Months,.....................00 HliiKle Copy..................... .06 I'ANAUUV. F»I«EI«K. One Year.......................$1.50 One Year..................:....$t.50 IIi;< i:iI* 1 of payment iiKiht not (»¦ eipected to show ,,n addn>aa Ithel under two wfi-ki from ilnlp wesloi htStfWCffSM for lli;\i:\v 11., iiimhmim »mk or ( IIANUK or AnilMR«s tbaoM i»- BHM twi weeks uefitre Hie dute they are to no lulo effect llitth «»¦•¦ mill urn itililrcNNVM inn* I Always Ik* given. Checks nnd drnftt nnd patJaete Bfdsff alimild lie made payable to The Maryland Suffrage New*. Advertising rati-* will as sent u|">n annHi-atlon to advertlilog manager. BALTIMORE, OCTOBER 3, 1914 A PUBLIC DUTY A shrug of tin- shoulders, a somewhat grudging noci, a half->inile, ami thin, "Oh, yes; ! know it's coming!" This is quite the worst sort of re- butf that suffragists lia\e to put up with nowadays. Kverybody. even the h(|iior dealers and other anti-suffragists, admit that suffrage is coming. That granted, the M \uvi..\xn Si'i-i kaok Nkws S*fcl what will the women of Maryland do with the franchise when the victory is won? Most women are as ignorant as most men are with regard to the social ami economic conditions amid which they live. They do not even realize the potential power of government in relation to living conditions. They do not know that in N'ew Zealand, Australasia and in some of our Western Slates social legislation is in ctTcel, which, if adopted here, would relieve the people of some of their most disheartening hurdens. We ask our leaders how much they themselves know of social insurance, the minimum wage, cily government hy commission or old-age pensions? What States hoast of a mothers' pension law and what is the consensus of opinion with itgard to the value of such legislation? These are questions which all suffragists should he able to answer if they are to do their share toward achieving the fulfillment of deniocrary. In order to enable our readers to become thoroughly informed with regard to the potential economic powers of government, each Ksuc of the M \kvi \m» S'i i i(\ck Nkws for the next two months will contain a leading article devoted to some phase of advanced social legislation. A bibliography will be appended to each article in order to facilitate further study. With Miss Nankin's article in this issue on the Minimum Wage the series begins. Next week the question of the commission form of government for cities will be presented. WELCOME TO HEADQUARTERS One of the most interesting features of the work of the Just tiovern- ment League this w inter will he the Tuesday Teas at I Icadquarters. Those who are interested in social and economic problems will find these meetings excellent opportunities for increasing their store of knowledge. The com- mittee in charge of the meetings is to be congratulated upon securing Miss Mildred Rankin as the first speaker. She has made a very thorough study of the Minimum Wage Law, which will he her topic for discussion on Tuesday afternoon. Those who are interested in this reform should make a point of being present at the meeting. HELP THE CAUSE.—Mention the Maryland Suffrage News Whan Patronising Our Advertisers. DEMOCRACY'S REPLY In spite of the current attitude towards (iermans ami liermany, almost everyone, in discussing the Kuroj>ean situation, finally brings up with the admission that the (iermans are at least efficient. This senti- ment often ushers in a discussion of the comparative merits of aristo- cratic and democratic forms of government. "To live in, ah, yes, give me America, even if the government is not so efficiently administered as Kaiser Wilhehu's." It is quite taken for granted that democracy predi- cates a certain measure of inefficiency, (iraft, waste, political appoint- ments, the wrong man in the wrong place, a lack of responsibility on the |>art of officials—all of these untoward conditions are supjiosed to be the inevitable outcome of democracy, and until the |>eople become aroused, so they are, for democracy, being a government of the j>eople, represents the attitude of mind of the people, and gives back to the voters just about what it has received from them. The fountain of eternal youth was hardly more sought after in America's youth than "something for nothing" is today. The voter wishes to get a well-administered popular government without at the same time contributing his own share of intellect and attention. The man who fails to vote on primary election day and who takes no interest in the jiassage of progressive legislation deserves as much as be gets in the way of jKiorly administered govern- ment. The trouble is not with democracy, hut with the electorate. Uni- versal suffrage, which is gem-rally confused with democracy, is nothing more nor less than the starting |M>iut of true democracy. The initiative and referendum, the right of recall, the commission form of government for cities, the short ballot, and various other devices for securing the right of self-government to the voters must be adopted K'fore democracy will be deserving of the name. At the present time in Maryland we have an oligarchy, and not a democracy, and although the oligarchy is re-elected once in so often, it does not change its essential nature. The difficulty in the way of im- proving conditions lies mainly in the fact that the |>oliticians are practi- cally the only people in the State who realize vividly that there is any- thing to be got out of government. It is a pitiful and disheartening thing to see the manner in which the average |>olitician sets his sails to the wind, lie is perfectly aware that so far as actual sup|H>rt is con- cerned there is more to be hoped for from the vicious elements in the community than from tlu- virtuous elements. This is because the virtu- ous elements, so called, are complacently salving their consciences with philanthropy ami trying to fulfill their duty toward their fellow-men hy occasionally dropping a copper into an empty cup. People in comfortable circumstances forget that a proper adjustment of the laws will at one and the same time relieve them of burdensome philanthropic obligations and some of the evils of democracy as well. With a proper minimum-wage law on our statute-l»ooks. and with an efficient bureau for its administration, much waste effort in the way of reforming young girls could he done away with. Our cartoon this week pictures a situation which is, alas! only too frequently met with in Baltimore city. When the average wage of the working girl is less than a living wage, what shall the community do about the matter? To over- look the problem is not to assist in its solution, and yet this is precisely the course which most of the well-meaning |>eople of Maryland are fol- lowing at the present time. In the West and in certain advanced States in the Kast where the function of government is more broadly comprehended an answer to the working girl's problem has been found in the minimum-wage law. In our leading article this week the merits of legislation of this nature are thoroughly discussed with the inevitable inference that a minimum-wage law is one of the crying needs of Maryland. A REFORMATION Suffragists, realizing, as they do, the value of time and money, view the recent activities of the anti-suffragists with sincere pleasure. The transformation of the auti-suffrage headquarters from a bleak and dismal room into a well-stocked clothing shop is matter for general congratu- lation. It is far more wholesome for women to demonstrate their efficiency by materially assisting the Ked Cross Society than for them to reiterate the anti-suffrage doctrine that women are too useless to be worthy of the franchise. There is an ancient proverb which stales that *'Satan finds some mis- chief still for idle hands to do." Possibly now that the anti-suffragists' hands arc so well occupied, they will refrain from trying to demolish Democracy. |