Judge, 1912-05-04 · page 15 of 23
Judge — May 4, 1912 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1910s satirical page attacks anti-suffrage arguments through columnist Ida Husted Harper's "Suffrage Snapshots." **Main cartoon (Lou Rogers)**: Shows a well-dressed woman striking a man with a club labeled "SUFFRAGE"—mocking claims that voting would make women unfeminine or violent. The cartoon's irony: if women become "bold and masculine" through suffrage advocacy, why were society women who publicly opposed it also considered bold? **Key satirical points:** - Mrs. Marvin (Pasadena) was an anti-suffragist forced to register and vote despite opposition - Fire Commissioner Johnson admits women workers outperform men, yet opposes their political participation - Mayor Gaynor fears suffrage will destroy marriages—Harper's rebuttal: it hasn't in equal-suffrage states - A Kipling poem excerpt mocks wealthy women claiming men treat women honorably while ignoring poor women's struggles **The argument**: Anti-suffragists use selective logic and self-interest to deny women's political equality, contradicting their own observations about women's capability and integrity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
T HE Suffrage Snapshots. by IDA HUSTED HARPER. 'AKE off your hat to Mrs. Marvin, of Pasadena! She was a leading anti-suffragist and if worked hard to keep from having the ballot thrust upon her; but when the awful catas- trophe happened, she hied herself at once to the registration office with the president and other officers of the Anti-Suffrage Society. When she went to the polls last week, they wouldn't let her vote, because there w s some mistake in her registration. She insisted so vigorously that the election officers had to call up the district attorney, and he sent a deputy, and they finally fixed matters so she could cast the ballot that had been forced upon her, The suffra- gists, wherever women can vote, find that they have to get up early to reach the polls ahead of the ‘‘antis.”” To advocate suffrage makes women bold and masculine, but isn’tit odd that every one of those society women who wrest- led in public with the Japanese circus performers at Terrace Garden @ pronounced anti- suffragist? AN Man is the natural protector of woman, and if every woman does not happen to have one— like, for instance, those one hundred and fifty ticket agents of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, who sit all night alone in the elevated stations—how fortunate to be supplied with a police whistle as a But what are they to be protected from? Nothing and nobody but their natural protectors. * substitute! Fire Commissioner Johnson, of New York, excuses himself for putting one woman inspector in the new bureau for fire prevention by saying, ‘Women are not the loafers men are. When a woman works, she works conscientious- ly her full hours and 4 spends none of them go- 4 ing out to get a drink or World—* MO D E RN Logically, then, since the offices are given out as politi- cal rewards, if women were just as much have a friendly chat.” entitled as men to be rewarded politi- cally, the city and State would be much more efficiently served. The woman-suffrage question seems to worry Mayor Gaynor, who has just de- livered another opinion, this time be- fore the Iutheran Ministers’ Associa- tion. He “hopes it will not break up the unity of man and wife, for the divine unity of man and wife is absolutely nec- essary for happiness.’? He has been assured it has not been broken up in the is sure equal-suffrage States, and he Lou Roctrs UNRECKO OF SUFFRA' Hey, you! quantity, in this day and generation ?"" FOR WOMEN “this is because the women have voted like the men, in order to have peace and happine Mem.: To have ‘divine unity’’ in the home, the wife must do exactly as the husband wishes. Spin- sters please take notice. How easy it is for a woman, robed in purple and fine linen, cradled in the lap of ease and luxury, to declare from the platform, ‘‘American men have alway: treated American women with the rev- erence and honor which they have de- served!’’ For her perusal in her abun- dant leisure are recommended Kipling’s lines: “The butterfly upon the road Preaches contentment to the toad; The toad beneath the harrow knows Exactly where each sharp tooth goes.’’ WwW oO 'D CAUSE FOR THE DEMAND Can't you realize that we need quality, not M A N A Matter of Priority. At a suffrage meeting in Cheshire, England, a disgusted farmer of the old school rose in the body of the hall to protest against the views expressed by the fair speakers. Chairm , he, ‘‘there’s been a deal of talk, but never a one has mentioned any war- | rant from the Book 0’ ~ soe Books. And why? Because there they will find that man was created first, and that’s why he is first to this day.”” As the old farmer sat down with an air of finality, a suffrage speaker rose retorted, ‘‘Mr. Chairman, our friend’s knowledge of the Bible seems rather hazy. He claims that man is pre-eminent inas- much as he was created first. But he forgets that all the low- er animals were created before him.’”" and To the British Suffragette. Brave Amazon, With brows firm-set (And knuckle-bone), 1 in your train Would march to prison grim; Yet I've just one Inquiry yet, For I must own The manly brain Is often dull and dim. When the little son Of a suffragette Throws a stone And breaks a pane, What does she say to him? James Linceln, The Only Key. where, “And my fellow-citizens,’? appealed the political speaker, ‘‘can we find an instrument so fit, so delicate, so adjustable, and at the same time so un- assuming and popular that it will unlock every department of state for the bene- fit of the people?” “The hairpin!"’ shrieked an enthusi- astic suffragist in the audience. Ed—"'! see. those London merchants have a plan to stop the suffragettes from smashing win- dews. Ward—*‘ What is it?”” £d—‘‘They’re putting mirrors instead of in plate glass.”” comicbooks.com