ter half" of the people?

Every argument which enfranchises a man, enfranchises a woman.
There is no escape from this logic except to declare sex the just
basis of suffrage. But this position can not be maintained in
view of the fact that women already have full suffrage in
Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, municipal suffrage in Kansas,
school suffrage in twenty-five States, a vote on tax levies in
Louisiana, on bond issues in Iowa, and on minor questions in
various other States. They have every franchise except the
Parliamentary in England, Scotland and Ireland, the full ballot
in New Zealand and South and West Australia, and some form of
suffrage in every English colony. In a large number of the
monarchical countries certain classes of women vote. On this
fundamental question of individual sovereignty surely the United
States should be a leader and not a follower. The trend of the
times is clearly toward equal suffrage. It will add to the credit
and future strength of any party to put itself in line with the
best modern and progressive thought on this question.

In the division of the world's labor an equal share falls to
woman. As property holder and wage-earner her material stake in
the government is equal to that of man. As wife, as mother, as
individual, her moral stake is certainly as great as his. The
perpetuity of the republic depends upon the careful performance
of the duties of both. One is just as necessary as the other to
the growth and prosperity of the country. All of these
propositions are self-evident, but they are wholly foreign to the
question at issue. The right of the individual to a vote is not
founded upon the value of his stake in government, upon his moral
character, his business ability or his physical strength, but
simply and solely upon that guarantee of personal representation
which is the essence of a true republic, a true democracy.

The literal definition of these two terms is, "a State in which
the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people and
is exercised by representatives elected by them." By the
Declaration of Independence, by the rules of equity, by the laws
of justice, women equally with men are entitled to exercise this
sovereign power, through the franchise, the only legal means
p