-one, and naturalized citizens.
No one among them has ever been asked whether he wishes the vote. It
was "thrust upon them" all as a privilege which each would use or not
as he desired. To extend the suffrage to those who do not desire it is
no hardship, since only those who wish the privilege will use it. On
the other hand, it becomes an intolerable oppression to deny it to
those who want it. The vote is permissive, not obligatory. It imposes
no definite responsibility; it extends a liberty. That there are women
who do not want the vote is true, but the well-known large number of
qualified men who do not use the vote, indicates that the desire to
have someone else assume the responsibility of public service is not
confined to women. It is an easy excuse to say "wait until all the
women want it," but it is a poor rule which doesn't work both ways.
Had it been necessary for members of Congress to wait until all men
wanted the vote before they had one for themselves, we should be
living in an unconstitutional monarchy. More, had it been necessary
for women to wait until all women approved of college or even public
school education for girls, property rights, the right of free speech,
or any one of the many liberties now enjoyed by women, but formerly
denied them, the iniquities of the old common law would still measure
the privileges of women, and high schools and colleges would still
close their doors to women.

A certain way to test whether any class of people want the vote is to
note the numbers of those who use it when granted.

As men and women voters do not use separate boxes and as initials
are often employed by both sexes in registration, election officials
invariably reply to queries as to the number of women actually voting
in their respective states, that positive figures are not obtainable.
Yet the testimony, while lacking definite statement, is overwhelming
that women in all lands vote in about the same proportion as men.
Women in Illinois, not being possessed of complete suffrage rights,
have voted in separate boxes, and figures are therefore obtainable.
The report from the City of Chicago for 1916 as submitted by the Chief
Clerk of the Board of Election Commissioners is as follows:

REGISTRATION
Men Women Total
504,674 303,801 808,475

VOTES CAST NOV 7
Men Women Total
487,210--96.5%