an educational force in life itself which very often is
more efficient than that which comes through textbooks of
college.... The ignorant vote that is going to come in when women
are enfranchised is that of the leisure-class woman, who has no
responsibilities and knows nothing of what life means to the rest
of the world, who has absolutely no civic or social
intelligence. But, fortunately for us, she is a small percentage
of the women of this land, and fortunately for the land there is
no such rapid means of education for her as to give her the
ballot and let her for the first time feel responsibilities....

Now the time has come when the home and the State are one. Every
act, every duty of the mother in the home is affected by
something the State does or does not do, and the only way in
which we are ever going to have our national housekeeping and our
national child-rearing done as it should be is by bringing into
the councils of the State the wisdom of women.

James Lees Laidlaw of New York was introduced as president of the
National Men's League for Woman Suffrage and after stating that such
leagues were being organized throughout the country he spoke of the
great change that had taken place in the status of women and said:

Most important of all is the change of woman's position in
industrial, commercial and educational fields. We are all
familiar with the exodus of millions of women from the home into
the mill and the factory. Today they may enter freely into
business either as principal or employee. I was astonished to
hear reported at a recent meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in
New York that in the commercial high schools of that city, where
a business education is given, 85 per cent. of the pupils are
girls. We have today a great body of intelligent citizens with
many interests in the Government besides their primary interests
as mothers and home-keepers. If men are not going to take the
next logical step they have made a great mistake in going thus
far. Why give women property rights if we give them no rights in
making the laws governing the control and disposition of their
property and no vote as to who shall have the spending of tax
money? Why give women the right to go into business or trades,
either as employees or employers, without the right