Today in Herstory: Suffragists Make Their Final Plans for New York’s Election

[niyad]

Today in Herstory: Suffragists Make Their Final Plans for New York’s Election




November 5, 1917: It’s nearly all over but the voting!

Tonight, the final suffrage meetings and rallies are going on, and leaders are making sure that their armies of volunteers who have been working almost non-stop through two successive campaigns are ready to shift gears overnight and work just as hard to assure a fair election, as well as make sure that every man in New York State who wants to vote for woman suffrage gets to the polls tomorrow.

The battle in the newspapers continues unabated, with paid advertisements by both sides, and free editorials by the papers themselves. The New York State Woman Suffrage Party has an ad in many papers today entitled: “To Win The War!” It notes that the Empire State is:

… the largest, richest State, nearest and most vulnerable and desirable a prize for an invading enemy. Yet half the force of the State has been fighting with hands bound. The men and women who ask you to vote for woman suffrage are not suggesting it as a pretty compliment to womanhood. They ask it as a vital, sound, tremendous step in putting every ounce of power that can be marshaled behind our country in its time of need.

President Wilson’s words of last week: “This is the time to vote for woman suffrage,” were also featured in the Woman Suffrage Party’s ad. It concluded by saying: “Your country needs not half but all her power! Without the vote, the women of New York cannot give their whole great fund of strength. Release the added power that has been held in check! To win the war, vote ‘Yes’ Tuesday!”


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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/11/05/today-in-herstory-suffragists-make-their-final-plans-for-new-yorks-election/