for my right to vote; but I could not forget that I lived in a land
which tolerated the things I saw that day." The women who know cannot
rise to "The Star-Spangled Banner" without a "lump in their throats,"
for they recognize the terrible fact that hidden under the beautiful
pretense of democracy is a hideous menace to our national liberties,
which no political party, no legislature, no congress, has dared to
drag out into the daylight of public knowledge.

[Footnote A: The number of states which permitted men to vote on
"first papers" was formerly fifteen. The following eight states
still perpetuate this provision: Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas,
Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas.]

Bear these items in mind and remember that Congress enfranchised the
Indians, assuming its authority upon the ground that they are wards of
the nation; that the Negroes were enfranchised by Federal amendment;
that the constitutions of all states not in the list of the original
thirteen, automatically extended the vote to men; that in the original
colonial territory, the chief struggle occurred over the elimination
of the land-owning qualifications and that a total vote necessary
to give the franchise to non-landowners did not exceed fifty to
seventy-five thousand in any state.

Let it also not be forgotten that the vote is the free-will offering
of our forty-eight states to any man who chooses to make this land his
home. Let it not be overlooked that millions of immigrant voters
have been added to our electorate within a generation, men mainly
uneducated and all moulded by European traditions, and let no man lose
sight of the fact that women of American birth, education and ideals
must appeal to these men for their enfranchisement. No humiliation
could be more complete, unless we add the amazing fact that political
leaders in Congress and legislatures are willing to drive their wives
and daughters to beg the consent of these men to their political
liberty.

The makers of the Federal Constitution foresaw the necessity of
referring important and intricate questions to a more intelligent body
than the masses of the people and so provided for the amendment of the
Constitution by referendum to the legislatures of the several states.
Why should women be denied the privilege thus established? The United
States is one land and one people. All the states have the same
institutions, customs and ideals.

Woman suffrage has been caug