Life, 1909-03-25 · page 27 of 36
Life — March 25, 1909 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes editorial letters with advertising. The main content consists of **reader responses to a debate about women's suffrage** (the "To Vote or Not to Vote?" column continued from page 409). The letters present opposing views: one arguing women should vote to address social problems (particularly the "social evil"—likely prostitution); another countering that women already wield sufficient influence through domestic and family roles without voting rights. **The political context**: This appears from the early 1900s when women's suffrage remained contested in America. The debate reflects genuine period arguments: suffragists claimed voting power was necessary for reform; opponents claimed women's "indirect influence" through husbands and sons was adequate. The **large Kranich & Bach piano advertisement** dominates the page, positioning piano ownership as evidence of cultured taste—typical of early 20th-century marketing linking consumer goods to social status and respectability. The page reflects the pre-1920 suffrage debate, when voting rights for women remained controversial among educated readers who filled Life's letters section.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TEN LIMITED, conducted pa EUROPE Gane Oa word’ Foutue Ete DE POTTER TOURS, 32 Broadway, N.Y, To Vote or Not to Vote: ? (Co ed from page 409) ccuse the wife of extrava- no prudence, no caution, no ct the wife from misrepre- How cas gance. generosity can p sentation . t is misunderstood by weak intel- who only see a part of it, judgment of the whole. How ion might we present had the oted a few moments every day in s business life. There are excep- iter of marital confidence, as in vestions. Still, daily we view the usion of unsettled affairs. (Mas.) Lourse A. Lauxep. The Social Evil To me Evrrow or L Sir ery sure that this letter will not be print riheless I am so strongly of the pinion * or something analogous to it, car wherever the interests or women are given expression, lemic reasons which may nchisement of wome' one ly tion x for both sexes concerning the reat p cial evil shall cease. The his such dominance has bee continues v, the sacrifice of the liv cn, And these women m for reason—and for one their economic and social unpro- consent in the State of Dela- years—and the age when a child in honorable marriage, of \Il through the chivalrous South ) thirteen to fourteen years. suffrage states the minimum is is true of every country where This is but one of the immediate effects of that franchise brings. The re- race to elevate to posi- y the men who have exploited And the last is a fixed deter- instruction as to the present and their absolute needlessness, lo every member of the com- cipation exists. lemand the powers of citizen- ‘¢, slow methods of “indirect in- tbe followed were the questions omentous, and had not this pretty vithfully played and found totally Yours truly, Jurta R. Rano, M.D. The Other Side To tr EF: or Lire:— Sir:—Ha women I know spend a good deal of ime making things possible be- tween th sshands and their grown sons. To rown man in the house is exactly to mankind as the similar ex- hers and daughters. Make Your New House a “Craftsman” Home Ss adv. may mean far more to you 1 you now realize. Oar ills. booklet © Craftsman House, ill tell ye hy. Sent free on request by GUSTAV STICKLEY, The Craftsman, Desk No, 133, 41 West 34th Street, New York. LITERARY work is judged by the fame of its author, a painting by that of the artist, a statue ly that of the sculptor; so should a Piano be d by the Character and Abilty of ite When You Buya Kranich & Bach Piano you buy a piano which bears the names of men whose life-training, education, ambition and capital ave aways been and always will be directed to the one sole single intense purpose of making the Best Piano that mind can design and hands construct— The Standard Piano Investment of America and Europe A Kranich & Bach Grand or Upright in your home is an unquestioned evidence of cultured musical taste and discrimination. Write for catalogue and name of dealer nearest you. If none is near your home we will ship direct from factory. Very convenient instalment terms, gq With each catalogue we will send free an interesting Composite Portrait and Sketches of the World’s Greatest Pianists. Factor? KRANICH G BACH 23% Winrboons PIANOS New York And as for women not getting on as well with other women as men with men, may I offer this suggestion? After men succeeded in arrogating this amazing spectacle—an International Coun- to themselves every interesting (and self sup- cil of Women, representing twenty-three coun- porting) activity they became necessarily a busi- tries, and millions of members, and transacting ness proposition to women. Every door of op- its business in absolute accord. (One branch of portunity and independence and experience save _ its business is investigation and control of the one they locked to her. Then other women in white slave traffic.) In this country alone there the way were just as necessarily regarded as is an organization of women numbering business propositions also. 8,000,000, From out a mass of similar testi- Men have always had continual business dif- mony I quote the letters of two eminent men ficulties one another. Look at dissolved who have had constant dealings with them: partnerships, political factions, law suits, Wall “My chief contact with the women’s clubs has street. A few men have been superior to thi: been in the cause of pure food. In this matter a few women have been sugerior to the other. (Continued an gage 412) a Now that women are permitted some oppor- tunities in the world they live in, we see already comicbooks.com