The Woman's Journal, vol. 43, no. 6, February 10, 1912, p. 43

Boxes

Weren't TheyDelicious? Educator Wafers, buttered as you would butter bread. Of coune you've tried them. But I bake another Educator Cracker, which 'm sure you'll enioy just as much. t has that rich, sweet, nut-like flavor peculiar to all EDUCATOR CRACKERS

N. Charles street, Baltimore. It is a great satisfaction to feel that one may drop in at Headquarters any Thursday, hear a sood speaker, and indulge in an informal talk while sipping a cup of tea. Many converts have been made by these little satherings. Antis will often come when they would not go to a large meeting. Of course, there are some who will never be converted. With regard to these it is perhaps best to follow Bernard Shaw's advice, just take them out in the back yard and bury them.

Woman Suffrage Association of Mont. gomery County

Montgomery County occupies a unique position in relation to the woman suffrage movement, for in that county, in 1889, among the Friends at Sandy Spring, the Maryland Woman's Suffragse Association was formed, the first suffrage society south of the Mason and Dixon line under the present national suffrage organization. A number of its “charter members" had for years been members of the National directly, and until 1894 there was no other suffrrage club of any kind in the State, all the adherents of the cause that could be reached at that time, wherever located, belonging to this State Woman's Suffrage Association.

Iin 1894 the Baltimore City Club was organized, an auxillary to the State Woman's Suffrage Association, and in 1897, under a revised constitution, the residents of Montgomery —who had practically constituted the State organization until the Baltimore City Club began in 1894—established the Montgomery County Woman's Suffrage Association, also auxiliary to the State Association. This was, of course, a mere formality, to comply with the constitution, as the membership of the individuals composing the Montgomery Association dated. from the organization of the Maryland Woman's Suffrage Association in 1889.

Just Franchise League of Talbot County This League has been concentrating its work in the last few months endeavoring to enlist influence and support for its bill, which is now before the Legislature. The bill, if passed, will enfranchise the tax-paying women of Talbot County, of whom there are 115 white and 8 colored.

By means of propaganda the League has greatly increased its membership, and in addition to other activities, publishes “Sufrrage Columns" in three weekly papers.

THE WOMAN'S JOURNAL, FEBRUARY 10, 1912

Dr. Howard A. Kelley, President of the Maryland Men's Equal Suffrage League Mrs. W. M. Ellicott, President Equal Franchise League Dr. Florence Sabin, active member Just Government League . $ f f Suffrage Headquarters of the Just Government League . ————

Political Equality League of Baltimore County This League, organized in' the spring of 1911, covers the whole of the largest county in Maryland, and has committees working in every section. Roland Park is the centre of activity, being the home of the president and most of the members of the executive committee.

After the meeting of the National Suffrage Association in Louisville last autumn, it was unanimously voted to affiliate with the State Equal Franchise League. As the Lesislature is now in session at Annapolis, all the Delegates and Senators were written to or visited, with most encouraging results. The League is proud of the fact that a Delegate from Baltimore County—Mr. Thomas G. Campbell— introduced the bill for State-wide suf-

frage in the Legislature the other day, the fate of which is awaited with widespread interest. The League has increased its membership at the numerous parlor meetings held this season. These meetings have been found the most effective and practical means of obtaining new members.

SUFFRAGE MASS MEETING

To indicate the solidarity in the suffrage forces, the Maryland Woman Suffrage Association, the State Equal Franchise League, the Men's League for Woman Suffrage of Maryland, and the College Equal Suffrage League of Maryland, a mass meeting has been arranged for tomorrow afternoon, Feb. 11, at 3 P, M. It is to be held at the Maryland Theatre, one of the largest downtown theatres in Baltimore, where Congressman Edward H. Taylor from Colorado, and his wife, will speak on “The Results of Woman Suffrage." This will be probably one of the greatest suffrage meotings held in Baltimore,

IN MARYLAND Do women vote in Maryland? Certainly they do—in several places. There may be many Marylanders who are not aware of this, but the interesting fact remains.

In Annapolis, the State capital, for instance, women may vote on certain bond issues of the city, a right which they always erxercise. Maryland anti-suffragists, who declare that the majority of women are so indifferent that they would not vote even if they were permitted, can thus find a refutation of their argument right within the boundaries of their own State. Another privilege which Annapolis grants its women citizens is service on the School Board. It is provided by law that the Board of District

School Trustees for the school district of Annapolis “shall always" be composed of three men and three women, and all vacancies in this board shall be filled by the Board of County School Commissioners of Anne Arundel County, but a “woman shall always succeed a woman and a man succeed a man."

Apparently the women of West Annapolis have even greater rights than their sisters of Annapolis. Judsging from the wording of an Act of the Maryland Assembly—"That the citizens . .. shall elect," etc. ... and from the fact that a woman is a citizen, the women of this place have a right to vote in municipal elections. And, again, certain women of “Anmne Arundel on Bay" apparently have a right to vote under an Act which provides that “all persons who own any interest in real estate in said town, of the age of 21 years and upwards, shall elect by ballot . .. commissioners." The situation in "“Still Pond" is even more thrilling. There the women have an express right to vote, the Act providing “That the legal voters of Still Pond, females included, who pay taxes and who have resided within its corporate limits six months, of the age of 21 years and upwards, shall elect by ballot on the first Saturday in May, 1908, three commissioners, all of whom shall be qualified voters of said town elections, and above 31 years of age,"

Mrs. Ellicott Explains Reasons fo Baltimore and Easton Bills

All suffragists are one at heart. The injustice of sex differentiation in a government which affects the interests of all human beings is vitalizing a vast body of potentially admirable citizens. But a sense of injustice, enthusiasm, nay, even intelligence and high standards, cannot at once sive experience and practical knowledse. The West, with American initiative, has created its own methods and won its own battles.

Englishwomen, already named poll scians for generations, are handlins their campaign with a practical ability which wins admiration, even if it

sometimes provokes criticism. East and West and North are thus working out their own salvation. So must the Scuth. While grateful and appreciative of advice and experience, we Southern women must study local conditions—the temperament of our people, and the character of our Legislatures, before we can hope to get the practical results which the importance of the cause justifies. A State-wide universal bill for suffrage and an ideal recognition of the rights of every human being sound fine, and they are fine.

“C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." In fact, the whole East coast might well consider why it is that fifty years of intelligent agitation have failed to win any practical legislative resultt. We should study the reasons why the average legislator listens, reads, often agrees, and then votes overwhelmingly against suffrage. It is not always sex opposition, nor ignorance, since suffrage arguments are in everyone's hands; and it is not always political opposition of the leaders; but, in the South at least, there are other reasons, which must be reckoned with, whether justifiable or not. The sudden enfranchisement of a nation of illiterate voters by the enactment of the fifteenth amendment created a profound instinct against another unlimited extension of the franchise. We may or may not agree with this feeling, but it exists to such an

extent that there is a srowing party in every Southern State to establish some fair qualification test for men as well as women. When to this sentiment is added a strong State-rights, local representation feeling, which makes each county and town tenaclous of its special rights and privileges, the difficulty of concentrating legislative sentiment upon an immediate and comprehensive settlement of this question adds many complications.

At this point the Southern chivalric sentiment about women is a still further opposing factor. Many men really believe that a participation in national, State, and municipal politics would injure their ideal of womanhood, although the injury to the women themselves is disproved in every State and country where they are voters.

These are only some of the many local conditions which Southern women may study to advantage in a practical legislative campaign, and which have induced the State Equal Franchise League of Maryland to introduce two supplementary bills into the Lesislature, to grant municipal suffrage to taxpaying women in Baltimore and Easton.

1f the State-wide universal bill should pass, these bills will be unnecessary, but, in the event of its failure, the promoters of these modest bills offer the practical possibility for Southern men to grant some form of franchise to women.

To States where universal suffrage prevails or is impending, this action may seem conservative to the last degree; but it is earnestly believed that, once the sex barrier is removed, and the concrete realization of municipal housekeeping given to at least those women whose taxes go to the support of the city in which they live, it will not be long before the solid advantages of woman suffrage are obvious, and will serve as the key to the situation when the next Legislature meets. As these lines go to the press, Maryland legislators have before them the bill to grant a State-wide universal vote to women; but if they will not pass it, they still can grant a simple, practical solution which could offend mo conservative sentiment, but which would be an immediate benefit to the cities involved, and which would recognize that women were citizens. Elizabeth King Ellicott.

President State Equal Franchise League of Maryland.

MARYLAND SUPPLEMENT TO THE WOMAN'S JOURNAL

In Maryland, as elsewhere, the most difficult part of the suffrage work is to keep properly in touch with the suffrage workers. It has been decided, after much thought, that the only way in which this difficulty can be successfully overcome is to have a Maryland Supplement to The Woman's Journal, to be published weekly by The Journal and to be forwarded weekly to all Maryland subscribers with a copy of The Journal. This Supplement could contain all local nmews and detailed directions for the workers, as well as local advertisements, which would help cover the cost of printing, etc. It is sincerely hoped that this project can be put through at an early date, and that other States will take part in the plan and publish their own Supplement as well, thereby adding largely to the value and circulation of The Journal.

A VALENTINE

The members of the Maryland Lesislature are receiving a Votes for Women Valentine sent out by the Just Government League. It bears a large red heart labeled “Votes for Women," and a little Cupid with bow and arrow aime? ot it. The legend runs: “Cupid with his silver dart Has secured this longed-for heart, So I send it you with mine; will you have it, Valentine?"

Miss Sylvia Pankhurst lectured in Milwaukee on Feb. 2; in Fargo, North Dakota, Feb. 3 and 4; in Madison, Wis., Feb. 7, and Appleton, Wis., Feb. s. she will speak in Detroit, Mich., March 3; Toronto, March 4, and Toledo, O., March 6.