Women Meet In Debate Unique In Annals of Public Speaking.
Mrs- L Crozier French Presents
the Cause of Woman Suffrage.
Men Have Too Much and
Women Too Little Power,
She Declares.
In Governmental Affairs,
Women Only Pay Taxes and
Are Liable to Punishment
Under Man-Made Laws.
An audience that occupied all available space in the great auditorium at
the exposition gathered Thursday night
to listen to the debate on the question
of woman suffrage, in which the principals were Mrs. L. Crozier French, of
Knoxville, and Mrs. Annie Riley Hale,
of Rogersville. The former championed
the cause of equal suffrage, while the
latter voiced her reasons for being opposed to giving the ballot to women.
Although the cause of equal suffrage
in Knoxville has been upheld on numerous occasions by earnest partisans, it
was the first time that the "antis" had
had an advocate on a local rostrum, and
the debate was one of the most interesting ever held here.
With rare skill, the speakers, two of
the best known women of the south,
marshalled their arguments, using all the
finesse of the trained public speaker,
and the results were most effective. Time
and again the speakers were interrupted by outbursts of applause, as they
made some telling point which impressed
profoundly the large audience, and they
were listened to with the closest attention.
No Decision Given.
Mrs. French opened the debate and
presented her side of the question in an
address of about forty minutes, after
which the "anti's" with Mrs. Hale as
their champion, had their innings for an
hour and then the debate was closed by
Mrs. French in rebuttal. No decision
was announced, but last night's discussion of the question as to whether women should be allowed to vote was
heard by one of the largest audiences
that ever gathered for a similar purpose
in the south, and the supporters of both
sides of the question declared that they
were more than pleased with the meeting.
Seated on the platform in the auditorium were members of the Equal Suffrage club of Knoxville, well known club
women, members of the board of directors of the exposition and other well
known citizens. The audience was made
up of representative citizens, and al-
though the debate did not end until
10.30 o'clock, but few of those asembled
left the hall until Mrs. French closed
her rebuttal, so greatwas the interest in
the discussion and the effectiveness
of the speakers. The audience began to assemble about
7:30 o'clock, and a little later the Ellery
band took its place in front of the stage,
and for more than an hour, rendered
excellent music. At 8:30 o'clock, the
meeting was called to order by T. A.
Wright, president of the exposition, who
spoke briefly. The question of woman
suffrage, he said, is one of the great
ones of the day, and, in fact, is of such
wonderful magnitude that its adoption
for all the country would be the greatest step for good or evil taken in the
United States in 500 years. The question, he said, was up to the good women
of the day to determine the answer.
The Knoxville people, he said, were
fortunate in having before them two of
the most brilliant women of the southland to discuss whether or not woman
should have the ballot.
The question for debate, as stated by
President Wright, was, "Resolved, That
Women Suffrage Should Exist." Following the statement of the question, a
laugh rippled over the house when President Wright said that, when the debate
was over, the question would be settled,
and the great conservation for which
all have been striving, would have been
brought about.
Mrs. French was then presented by
President Wright, and was greeted with
a burst of applause. In opening her
address, Mrs. French said that she wished it were possible that she might address those in the audience as fellow
citizens, but that since she was not accepted by the United States, or by the
state of Tennessee, as a citizen, but
was ignored, except when it came to
paying taxes, and was punished by laws,
made by men, without her consent, the
best she could do was to say, ''Citizens,
and fellow servants."
"As a patriot," the speaker continued,
"I give way to none. There are various
ideas of patriotism. My idea is one of
love and reverence for the principles
upon which our government is founded.
Much do I honor and revere the principles of our government, which I hold
to be a government of the people, by
the people, and for the people."
The speaker then read the following
extract from the declaration of independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by
this creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these, are life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the right of the people to alter
or to abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundations
on such principles, and organizing
its powers in such form as to them
as shall seem most likely to affect
their safety and happiness."
Another quotation was given from the
declaration of rights of Tennessee, and
the speaker declared that upon these
she would base her argument for the
enfranchisement of women.
"Many ideas, said the speaker, had
been advanced as to whether all men
are born free and equal. Many hold
that they are not and that the rich
and the poor are not equal. I hold that
no government shall do aught to prevent
every human being born into the world,
having the right to have life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Although
there has been a great hue and cry
about changing our constitution, the
makers of the constitution, the greatest
document ever penned by man, expected
it to be altered. Just as the clothing
of an infant is not suitable for the
child of twelve or fourteen years, so
may constitutions be outgrown. Our
forefathers knew that, and they thought
that if the constitution was not suita-
ble, it should be
changed
We have had all kinds of government in the world
for the duties of the latter, and the two
ideas are incompatible."
Rivals Cheered.
Round after round of applause was
given Mrs. Hale as she resumed her seat
on the platform, and the handclapping
burst forth again as Mrs. French arose
to make her closing speech.
"I am disappointed, but not surprised,
said Mrs. French, as the applause died
away. "The antis 'have no arguments, so
how "can they advance them? I gave you
some of the principles of government, and
yet you applauded the reflections of my
opponent upon some of those principles.
She told you of suffragists abusing men.
I have followed suffragists around the
country for thirty years, but I have never
heard of them abusing any men. Some
suffragists, in fact, have fathers, and some
have sons. Suffragists do not abuse men.
"Mv opponent distracted your attention
from the United States to England. It is
not necessary for us to go back from the
United States to England, as we seceded
from that country long ago. Only a small
part of the suffragists now in England
are militants. There are no militants here
now I can't say whether there will be,
or will not be, for I am not a prophet
nor the daughter of a prophet, but since
ten states now have equal suffrage, l
think that the enfranchisement of woman
in this country will be peaceably done.
There will be no great cataclysm, if women
are given suffrage, no great differences to
be noted in the boy after be casts his first
ballot.
Both Have Faults.
"Men and women both have faults. The
former have two much power, and the latter have too little power. The enfranchise
ment of women would be better for them
for their homes, for their husbands and
their children. I don't know why men
should want the government over the
women. It is better for both men and
women to be friends and companions. The
newer a country is the higher women are
valued, that is one reason why suffrage
has spread so rapidly in the west, where
women are fewer and harder to get. In
some of these western states I'm going to
tell you of the results of equal suffrage.
In Colorado, ninety per cent of the territory is "dry," and there equal
suffrage has prevailed for twenty
years. California is also rapid-
ly moving to the "rdy"[sic.] columns,
while the same may be said of New
Zealand. If women control society, we
would have not prostitution, no white
slavery. Prostitution is a natural consequence of the subservience of women. I appeal to you to study this question as a principle. Women should not be subordicate to any one, she should be free.Not until you apply principles to thie question will you be ableto judge what is for the best. Take the matter under serious
consideration, and
we are confident what your verdict
will be."
Should Feel Complimented.
"If greater pains were taken to safeguard the ballot, women might feel the
exclusion more. Under present conditions, women should feel complimented
without it. I am very thankful that
my self-respect does not rest on anything
so insecure as the ballot. The weak
male voter is the trump card in the
suffrage pack. The injustice of comparing the best women to the worst men
does not seem to strike the suffragist.
Because the electorate may be injured
by masculine unfitess, I can't see how
the question would be helped any by
adding a like quantity of female unfitness. Two wrongs do not make a right.
I fail to see how the matter would be
helped by doubling the amount of weakness or unfitness. It is well to say that
women should be informed about gov-
ernment matters, and they should, if
they had time and the informa-
tion about government matters, two
very big 'ifs.' How many would
have them? Would the bestowal of the
ballot change woman's tastes? The ballot is an expression, not a university
extension, nor an education. To talk
of educating an ignorant woman by her
own ignorant ballot to me is very like
having a man lift himself by pulling on
his own boot straps. No anti-suffragist
could have a more superficial view or
idea of the ballot than the 'high-brow'
who speaks of running to the corner to
vote, as of running to the store on the
corner after some 'Uneedas,' or a pint
of pickles.
"I hold no brief for the ignorant or
penal male voters. I think that they
should have a test to exclude unfit voters. It is a curious thing to me that
the women are always pointing to the
unfit male voters, but never ask for his
exclusion. However, she wishes to add
his wife, his sweetheart, his mother to
the number, I think it proper to leave
well enough alone. Women are more
unfit to vote than men, and a woman
of the same class in which the unfit
male voter is found would be even more
so. The personal note in the woman of
the world is inevitable. She has greater
preoccupation than man. Type for type,
class for class, there are many reasons
why women would be less intelligent
voters than men. The women should
devote their time, aside for their household and home duties, and others, to
recreation, and should not be bothered
with political troubles. There is another, a biological and psychological reason. A noted New York physician told
me that women inherently depend upon
man and were never so happy as when
they do. If you suffragists want to liberate women, liberate her from her own
slavish instincts. The net results of
giving the ballot would be to strengthen
the hand of the man boss in the political world. Suffrage got its first
stronghold in the Mormon states of Utah,
Wyoming and Idaho, and the corruption there in things political is well
known. If women haven't sense enough
to take care of themselves without the
ballot, they certainly would not have
sense enough to take care of themselves
with it. Any one saying that I need the
ballot would have trouble on his or her
hands at once. The following of the
men by women in politics is illustrated
by the story of the Irishman who, when
asked if he favored woman suffrage.
said yes, because since where he now
has but one vote, he would then have
six, having a wife and four daughters,
and thus would be a powerful man in
his district. An ex-senator from Idaho,
where they have had suffrage for twenty-
years, who was formerly a suffragist,
said that he had reversed his opinion.
The women there, he said, voted with
the men even in "wet" and "dry" elections. Since they are going to persuade
men to obey good laws, made by wo-
men why do not the women persuade
them to make good laws? The great
strategic advantage woman has over
man is that she makes candidates for
iboth sides, and if she makes them right,
no election can go far wrong. Which
is the most important, to make laws, or
law makers? The foundation or the
superstructure? Social standards and
moral codes rest in the woman of the
world. No civilization over went ahead
of her. The mother has continuous association with the child in the first ten
or twelve years of its life, and if it
grows irreparably bad in after years,
generally there is something wrong at
the start. Women should pay more attention to the men they select to be the
fathers of their children. Whatever men
are, we can't fling stones at them, for
they are just what we make them. Man
has ever dominated woman in the world
of thought, and woman can dominate
man in the world of emotion and feeling
"The greatest good to be derived from
the suffragist movement is that women
may have the right so long denied them as
seeing themselves as they really are. The
trouble with woman is not so much conscious violation as unconscious ignorance.
It is not more power that she needs, but
more light. Not the ballot, (missing)more responsibility that is needed. (Missing) a differ-
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