Mrs. Witmer Explains Why She Thinks Women Should Be Allowed to Vote, June 20, 1919

Statue of Frances Willard given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Illinois in 1905. Photo courtesy of Architect of the Capitol. https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/woman-suffrage/willard-frances-elizabeth-caroline-1839-1898-leader-of-wctu/

From the Brevard News, Friday, June 20, 1919

Mrs. Witmer on Suffrage

Dear Mr. Editor:

I wonder if you would be kind enough to publish a few thoughts which have come to me as a result of an incident which occurred a few days ago. The writer was standing in one of the stores when the news of the passage of the Senate of the Susan B. Anthony bill was announced. A bystander, of the male gender, in an agitated manner said, “I suppose that is Wilson’s doings! I want to tell you I wouldn’t vote for him for constable!” He went further—he said if he married a wife and she went to the polls to cast a vote he would leave her and wound up his dissertation by threatening to leave the country should woman suffrage really come to pass. Right here let me warn this young man, should he ever be forced to carry out his threat, to be care at what port he lands, for even benighted China has granted the right of franchise to her women.

The reasons given by said young man for his opposition to woman suffrage were 1^st. That Home was the place for her, the place for woman to stay, and secondly, no polling place was a decent place for a woman to be seen. He was magnanimous enough to say that men did want women to vote on the whiskey question. Think of it! Allow us to engage in the dirty work of putting whiskey out of commission but refuse us further privilege. Whiskey is, without doubt, an unspeakable evil and women are glad to aid in putting it out of business, but there is another evil worse than whiskey which like a canker, is eating at the vitals of our nation. An evil which eludes the law and strange to say in many instances there is no law to elude. Perhaps when woman gets the franchise she may be able to help our pure good men to purge the land of this abomination.

As regards woman’s province being the home, that statement admits of no argument. The average normal woman desires above all else a home and with the right kind of husband or father, one who is true and pure and loyal, and properly provides for her, she will need no coaxing. The maternal instinct is too strong for it to be likely the average woman will turn her back on a real home to seek other employment. There has been some few great souls who have foregone the pleasures of home life and spent their lives bettering conditions which surround the home. Frances E. Willard, the pioneer temperance lecturer, was one of these. She it was who said, “We need a mother heart in politics.” In the beginning of Miss Willard’s career, as a lecturer she was sneered at, ridiculed, and called unwomanly by many whose vision was not clear enough to see that she had adopted homemaking as a profession.

In the Hall of Fame within our beautiful capitol stands a solitary female figure among the galaxy of heroes. This beautiful woman, of dignified mien, lofty and noble expression, is none other than Frances E. Willard. The sculptor with his chisel has wrought as,

“Verse cannot say how beautiful thou art,

How glorious the calmness of thine eyes

Full of unconquerable energies

Telling that thou hast acted well thy part.”

As regards the polls not being a fit place for women to go, if this is so, then most emphatically it is not a fit place for our sons and husbands to go. The American woman appreciates and loves the chivalry and respects that men entertain for her sex. She has no desire to get down off of this pedestal where he has placed her, but she will never be satisfied until her husbands and sons stand right by her side, when shoulder to shoulder they may work out together the mighty problems which confront our nation. As mother, as taxpayers, and oftentimes as breadwinners, we feel we have a right to a hand in the government of our country, which in its very essence is homemaking. If the states ratify the Susan B. Anthony bill a new era for thousands of women will be ushered in, bringing with it grave responsibilities and great opportunities.

The clarion call of Joshua to the children of Israel will ring forth “Quit ye like men—choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” And every woman’s prayer, and every woman’s vote should be for

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands.

Men who the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will

Men who have honor; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public view and in private thinking.”

--Mrs. M.B. Witmer