Judge, 1912-04-20 · page 15 of 24
Judge — April 20, 1912 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1910s Judge magazine page satirizes anti-suffrage women opposing voting rights. The cartoon depicts absurdist anti-suffragist arguments: that women voting would stop hens laying eggs, cows producing calves, and birds nesting—reducing motherhood to livestock reproduction. The text mocks the "Anti Machine," organized anti-suffrage campaigns that ironically adopted the same political machinery (assembly-district organization) they claimed to oppose. It highlights the hypocrisy: these women abandoned home duties to actively campaign politically while arguing women shouldn't vote because their place is the home. The featured speaker, "Mrs. Homan-Childe" (likely a fictional composite), typifies the opposition: she claims voting would "unsex" women and destroy their moral authority over men, yet she's publicly speaking—contradicting her own argument. Judge's satirical point: anti-suffragists revealed their arguments were illogical and their activism hypocritical. The more they organized politically, the weaker their claims that women shouldn't participate in politics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
T H E The “Anti” Machine. HE Antis, whose fears for the disso- lution of the home and the neglect of the universal baby are the basis of their campaign against the ballot for their sex, have left these considerations to the cook and the nursemaid, while they have rushed into active politics to give battle to the foe. In order to cope with the strides of the suffrage belligerents, they have un- wittingly perfected an anti machine. These ‘*Don’ts’’ of the cause, who have hitherto hesitated to call themselves anything but committees of those op- posed, now are organized straight across the country. In New York City, where the Woman's Suffrage Party is the first feminine rival of the G. O. P. and the Democratic machines, they have been forced to the extreme of assembly- district organization, to prevent the enemy from getting ahead of them. These warriors, who erst- ff while appeared before y State Legislatures in twos and threes, secure in a panoply of becoming mil- linery and a sweetly ut- tered ‘‘No,’’ now contend for the same length of time as that granted to the plaintiffs in which to Wy? WwW OM A N “What Will Become of Mother- hood When Women Vote?” Anti-Suffragist Query. She wouldn't be a suffragist, because she was afraid There’d never be another egg within her hen house laid. She didn’t wish the ballot, not the whole of it or half, For fear the cow might never have an- other bossy calf. She wouldn’t try to get a vote, for fear the cat would sit Before the fire throughout her life with- out another kit. And, oh! the thought brought agony unto her gentle breast! Suppose no fledgeling e’er would peep from any birdie’s nest! Wye: Yi PA Verbatim Report of an Anti-suffrage Speech by Mrs. Homan-Childe. (Mrs. Frederic C. Howe in the title role) I am greatly embarrassed to appear in such an unfeminine position and to speak in a public meeting, but it is better that I should unsex myself for a few moments than that all women should be unsexed: forever. I am only a poor, ignorant. woman, but I understand the original. scheme of things from the bottom up. God made woman of the rib. The rib she should remain, and not seek to be- come as man. The vote is the right of manhood. We look up to men on account of it. If we voted, we would stop looking up to: men and become just the- same as they are. What would happen to the world then? And how could we explain it to our- children? Woman's place is in the home, and every woman should have one. It is her business to get one They can all find some YU //| kind of a man to make a Wiy/) home for. Anyway, the Yj more I see of the men God put in the world, the more convinced I am that God did not intend us wo- men to be too particular. The Bible says, ‘‘Wo- describe the weakness of the simple, home-loving woman as a political potentiality. They travel all over the Union unhorsing statistics in their efforts to prove their point. While the Antis have admitted that, should the vote be forced upon them, they would reluctantly see fit to exercise it as a duty, they have assumed in the interim a speaking part in the drama, which increases in zest and emotional display as the fight progresses toward its logical conclusi: They may not desire the responsibility of the ballot, but they manifest the same avidity for going through the motions as the most violent vote-seeker of them all. — Emma H. de Zouche Often the better half gets no quarter. SUBLIMELY RIDICULOUS! ‘Oh, why would women be so rash? ’Twas quite beyond her ken! There’d never be a little pig within the big pig’s pen! Great heaven! What a world of woe, all wrought by woman's vote! There’d be no further progeny for her old billy goat! There'd never be another colt, a duckling or a pup, For woman's vote would turn the world completely down-side up! A man might vote and be a dad—but what a thing to face!— A vote for women, and no pig or baby round the place! —Lurana Sheldon. In California First anti—'‘How inconsistent you are! I hear that you voted.”’ Second anti—‘‘Our bridge club had a ballot-box afternoon, that was all.’’ men, obey your hus- bands.’’ We would have a fine time doing that if we had the ballot! It would simply double the igno- rant vote if we did, and it would defy the Bible if we didn’t. Any lady can see at a glance that she has no place mixing with the coarse, low, vulgar men who make the laws of our nation, any more than she should mix with other vulgar laborers who drink and swear and cheat and make money. Besides, if women got the vote, they would either not use it at all or they would spend all their time at the polls and neglect their husbands and their homes. Women are creatures of habit. Anyway, if women were fit to be mayors and Governors and Presidents (Concluded om page 2t.) comicbooks.com