American Politics.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13679, 22 August 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

American Politics.

.-INDIFFERENCE ' GF, WOMEN. Sydney Brooks, in the London '" Daily Chronicle" of July JLC'ih says : :■ Thirst' year's I'rtnidehtiai electlV.iii 'in America k going to be ;marked by two features, both- of them' due to - the' rsllcx action of British influence and example.On? is em.c-rgence,. if not of -a... tiffin itc Labour party, at least of a, new 'spirit• of class-consciouisnefis. among.: the ... working men of the, eoiintry,,- and -in new reahVation' of jail they, -stand to..gain -by casting their votes as a. unit. The oilier feature is the growing .invasion of"the- field of politics by: American women. • Beth tlwee;phenomena o«-s .their impulse and initiative very largely to the. dew.loptneuts that have taken'place in.Gieat Britain within the past few year..-:. ■ WHAT THEY, HAVE. DONE,' It goes vory much.against the. grain of American'pride to have, to admit that women .play a larger part.in the public life of England than of the- United States.- Yet. the, fact is'incontestable. There, ar-e,. indeed, four somewhat, .rudimentary States. in the \Vest where women ar-e allowed ic vote, where!,they "th'lce.:ilw "r.tump," and whfere they, oven inn for. office.-- One- of the; most-exciting . and. .parGionate campaigns that was ev-er.. fought, out in America. ..was that, in which Mrs. Mary -Elizabetp Lpaee—the. author- of the. immortal admonition, "K.ansaii had batter stop ra-i<> ing; corn and bngin .raising -hell!"—oppo.-ed and defeated the re-election of Senator Ingalls in 1890. 'lt-'.'is also true (hat in more than half the, Sin Its women Are. entitled to vote, at the. election of Schr.o] officers, and to ba themselves elected to those posre.' Women, again, have appeared an duly-aecrediled delegates at ' the . National Conventions. . TL-was a, woman delegate from Utah 'j who seconded Mr.'Bryan's nomination at. the Democratic Convention of 1900. Whenever a clean-cut. moral isi;ue has-been at. "stake they hare often and esffective'lv rushed" into the arena.

The infiiliviy agititim, iot lifetime ow'tl much ti, vvom->n They ire s/ill the bicj bone ol the Pr >hibitiom>t not merely onuntrmnring but seekmr md vlconnng th ir ro opei ition In the municipal up usiiij.! tint from I mi* tr, time disrinh th» even lenor ol Vmirinn Be i»iii in tla\ irrqt >itl\ in in opposition to 1 lie i->c;ulir puL ifiv ind on hshilf rf the indep ndent can rtidite, THrnt DTsVBILTTirS Bii t on the noimil cv<_h di\ crmsr oi politti-, the\ e'Oiru ■> is i m-"\: rnrceh mv lnflupnre vilnlivei Jh"v nmiol vole the uegio nn -\rtc (iinlc<-<. ol coms> t whit -1 m in hipppn* to cilrh him in flu ui), tho linmignnu-, lioni Southern Tt ii\ nn voie, the trimiml ind loilels nt the blums of \evv York ind Clung-> cm vou hnt the highly developed, ilt-rt md mHli g nt \meiicin womm < vnnot \o i unlc ■> ■■he hippens io live in Wyoming tilth Coloi ulo, oi Idiho Tli- Constl'ulimo of thtie foui Sli(a» peimic wom"n to e-xei cno ihe lnmhii , ) in ill the otheis the\ ii" e\cludeil \h\ the piiience oi iho woid, mile m the elm e-> dulling with th" Mifh igc qu ilificilioiis the l\dei il (. rnstitution id elf being not le, s ungil hnl I Thif;. of course, dors, 'not satisfy those iniTu in women who wivli to see then i ex ii-, jnfhienjiil in politics ii m the rrcnl, philanthropic religion and cducit mini rpheics IVi neuK ioit\ -vein CYiiigr n s-, hi s !, inordingh, been bombud ed with petition', pravmg loi Riieh in imendmem to the Constitution is i,h ill pile women on in elcctonl equilitj with men Some few cf thu e petitions ppilnpt. hill a doyen m ill hive been fivonnb\ lepnited on oitliei bv the Senile or House Commilln <• but ol the v t<n mijontj no I nutifo whilevei i-> til en In rht indivi | duil State the mov h iu mcl n illi betiei oiiccPbs, Besides the fnu Slites th it Imo ihrid\ given w rv theie me font oih-M-.—Oief,on Somh Dikoti, Km iiid iWn lung'fon—on the point of cipiluhoon Bui T question vvhcthei the women Sufli igiMi-. will evi mike mm li heidvv iv m the 1 ist, ind I nn \ny ton fident tint Uiej will nrvci be ible to the rei"dil Constitution They hive mmy to oveicomo Mri b \niencin m n llnnk politics i pine ly mirculine iffair, in winch women have no concern. The big cotnorations and their nllte*, the bo=i °i wniod find ill then calcuhtions upcrt by the intrusion p

of thi.s unaccountable element. The liquor interest:;, especially, would even all their power. (o Keep women away from inllie jmlJs, and I hey would be seconded by Ihe same influences t hat Chav* hitherto 'thwartod ' all attempts 'lo diminish or prottilVil, child labour, or io write anything approaching cur Factory A els on'lhr American Siatufo Book. ..

But the grealnt. obstacle ahead of, the. movement k imquaaionahly (lie 'apathy of |he women themselves. ' .\Y( only ,a,rv most, of litem indiil'erent to il, but alargi■iinmb.?r..go to-the (rouble of .forming as [■ociations for the single, ptirpr.ex.' of >pp"iV ing.ii. Xtir. after all', it. that «f> very imji •' prising. As a. sex irorapn in America have Jew. legal or social grievance. A,-, womeii they enjoy a. full'share of Hie benefits of that,free expansion ci. (he individual which is Ihe maii.,;pring of American life. Tli.> traditional inequalities and disabilii i<r> • of ihe i-ex have .very largely abolished, -and the .career, in, nearly .ill department of industrial and proffy r -ional ■ life, its I hrown as ' frei-iy, open to feminine as io masculine, talent. APATHETIC,. AXD WHY. . The. American woman dnfe tun tmtble about her '• righh;" bscau.-e she has few, if any,-wrongs." bar. .kef,. i n short, rio far as politics, are. concerned, the collective sons? of i-ox.in the enjoyment, of. her pergonal privilege: and the VupporlcM of women Rttfl'rage in America argue ihr-ir ease-, in, the main, from the. abstract and theoretical standpoint, and no(. from the, practical and economic. Moreover,, American politics are a gord deal of a mystery, even-jo American men. To American women they are fo.r the tnccli l>art incomprehensible.." ' I could as eauily imagine a'woman (o be. an nuihoriiy %\\ military tactic; and strategy as on th* operations ihaf Americans' <?xall by the name, .of politics. These opera I ionc," ai; a, rule, are carrie.fl on by men who are not' coiispieijour, for their refinement, and' in an atmosphere: which is anything but. that of Hie, drawing-room. Politico and society iii America do not. go hand in hand. The bosses and I lie' "'machine'' .r/ive- killed tlr pcssibilily 'of a, political „ Kalon and] when women go in for polhios it is either for Kocial distinciion or liecatise some great moral question is on the. carpet. ' American .politics being both vulgar and mercenary, American women,' or, at any rate, the- vast, majority of them, are quite: content to leave; thenv to the. men. They would regard it", indee'd, ar, a sort, of contamination tr. be drawn into them, anil • woman ■• Suffragists : in England, I -inspect, will have, to wait a long while before they are, ; able to point to "their American. sisters as .an example to be copied. There has been visible, however, during the last, eighteen months, a r dfetinct revival of political ambition among American women. They arc. becoming conscious that; they are fas-behind their English sislcvn in their influence upon public life. Whether .-an extension of the suffrage .will', give them, (lint influence, I do not. know., lit England the power of wemrn in polities is mainly a pncial and personal power of a kind (lint (he grant, of the. suffrage, will neither add to nor detract from. In America, where politics are not. ■ a prnI'c.'Kion, but a trade, will) an exceedingly complex organisation, there, is little, scope for the arts ,of the salon. Women, t imagine, will .-always >.» « ■ potent: force in English"■ polities, with, or wiihotif .jho isufl'rago. Tn America'l very much doitbf, ■ whether (he. extension of the 'snfi'ragf* would break down a single one of ■the, permanent barriers that, stand .between women and political power.