The Marion Daily Mirror, November 23, 1911

SUFFRAGETTE VERSE WRITTEN BY MARION LADY

      The following verse written by Mrs. J. W. Freeland, of this city, was read before the Woman’s Press club at Cleveland, November 3, and published in the Columbus Dispatch, November 6. Mrs. Freeland has written other suffragette verses, one of which will appear in the suffragette official organ, “The Women Voter,” during the year.

Votes for Woman.
Votes for woman! That’s the slogan now.
Shout it loud and clear and plain.
Words of scorn for woman’s votes
Will never be hear again.

Votes for woman! Throughout the land.                             

Injustice wrongs the weak,
And woman’s heart and woman’s voice
And woman’s vote must speak.

Votes for woman! All manly men
Ask mother, sister, wife,
To pledge their strength, to give their aid
To win, in each great strife.

Votes for woman! ‘Tis only when
The woman’s vote is cast,
Oppression, vice, and ignorance,
Shall number with the past.

Votes for woman! It is coming sure.
Make haste and join the band.
The watchword if “Equality,”
Home and native land.

Suffragette verses were poems written by suffragist women who wanted to shed light on the cause. Charlotte Perkins Gillman, a more radical member of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association, published a book in 1911 titled Suffrage Songs and Verses in which she published her suffragette poetry from as early as 1898. She and many other women wrote these verses.

Mrs. John W. Freeland was born Isabella McMurray. During her lifetime, she was prominent member of the Ohio Women’s Press Club of Cleveland, Ohio, and at one point the president of the Ohio Newspaper Women’s Association. She was well-known for her poetry writing and time as a leader of the women’s suffrage movement. Her early journalist work focused on “poor whites,” but during World War I, she was nationally recognized for her work for the Belgians. She led the Red Cross in Marion and served as the first chairwoman of the suffrage movement there. Her husband was a member of the Society of U.S. Military Telegraph Corps; at the reception for this group in 1909, one of her poems, a tribute to the president of the society Colonel William Bender Wilson, was read. She also had six children that survived her. 

Women’s press clubs, both statewide and citywide, gave women a place to discuss their work and trade advice when these women were often the only ones working at their newspapers or in other writing professions. At meetings and conventions, speeches were given and papers were read pertaining to professional issues of the time, such as poor pay, copywrite law, and other issues. These organizations also served to legitimate women’s presence in the profession of writing at-large. Having their events written about also served to publicize the organizations and female writers.

The Columbus Dispatch mentioned in the article was a Columbus newspaper called the Columbus Evening Dispatch at the time and is today called The Columbus Dispatch. This newspaper’s headquarters has been within two blocks of the Statehouse for over 145 years, allowing it to provide in-depth news pertaining to Ohio government. At the time of this article, this paper was printing colored cartoons.

The Woman Voter was a monthly journal published by the Woman Suffrage Party, of which Carrie Chapman Catt was the president, in New York City to keep its members informed. The publication quickly grew into a “machine,” and it was silenced in 1917 when New York voted on women’s suffrage. This journal was one of three that later became the Woman Citizen, which was a weekly publication via the National American Woman Suffrage Association. 

The Marion Daily Mirror ran weekly from 1890 to 1912. It was known for its Democratic leanings, but it tried to present a balanced view with editorial opinions from professionals of all perspectives. This paper reported international, national, and state news to the people of Marion County, including weather, news, politics, crimes, gossip, sports, cartoons, sheet music, and fiction. In 1926, the Mirror merged with The Marion Ohio Tribune to create The Marion Star that continues to run.

The Highland Weekly News (Hillsboro), May 26, 1870

Female Suffrage.

      I see in the News two articles on Female Suffrage, one for, the other against. Both are very well, considering the stand points each writer has taken. I will try to answer some of the questions urged against Female voting, and them—well!

     “Would it degrade or demoralize woman to vote?” I think not.

     Where women have voted in some of the churches they stand as fair as those who have not. I am sure the simple act of voting is not degrading to either male or female.

     “Would it degrade or demoralize women to mingle with men in the affairs of the Government?” I think not. The matter has been fully tested the last ten years, during which nearly every man has urged the women to attend political gatherings, both in day and night, and many did attend, and who will say that it degraded or demoralized them? Too late in the day to use that objection.

    “Would it benefit the Government (people) for the women to vote?” To answer this question, I will cite one case and suppose another. It was said by many Union men that the influence of the Union women during the great Rebellion, was one of the means that saved our Government. If this be so, every Union man would say that woman’s influence did benefit the Government. The Democrats who tried to defeat the Union party would say her influence did harm. Should the women vote, and thereby stop all the doggeries and gambling hells, the Temperance and moral men would say their votes did good, while the “roughs” and “whisky ring” would say they did harm.

      “Are you in favor of woman voting?” Well—hem! If I knew they would vote to stop whisky drinking and whisky selling, then, yes! I, like brother “Noah,” want more light on the subject, before I take a stand pro or con. Yours truly,

FLORA.

 In 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment gave black men the right to vote. This amendment drew Americans into the discussion of women’s suffrage; both for and against. The two major women’s suffrage organizations (National Woman Suffrage Association and American Woman Suffrage Association) could not agree on the Amendment that did not give women the ability to vote. Most Americans were not in favor of women voting. Women were largely removed from politics in the 1870s, but some issues we more considered more appropriate for women. These issues included abolition, education, temperance, and some religious matters. This worry about women being demoralized by voting was in part a worry that she would be exposed to the world’s evils and thus have her moral nature compromised. In that day and age women were largely the ones that promoted the morality of the nation. Alcohol consumption was mostly a men’s activity in the 19th century. Temperance organizations argued that drunk men caused physical, economic, and other hardships to the family and thus it was logical for women if enabled to vote, to do so against excessive drinking. 

Women were a key component in the coalition supporting Prohibition. While Prohibition and the Women’s Suffrage movement drew organizational strength from each other, there was no national alliance and at times butter rivalry between the two causes. Those against prohibition tended to argue against the women’s vote, because women (who made up the majority in the movement) could then vote prohibition into law. While Prohibition was less popular among Suffragist the less extreme Temperance movement was far more popular; with renowned suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton campaigning for both suffrage and temperance. Anthony During the “great Rebellion” or Civil War, women served mostly from their homes: raising money, goods, medical supplies and some women nursed. These support systems helped fill the gap that the Government was unable to fill. 

The Ohio founded Union Party was largely comprised of Republicans and pro-war Democrats. These two groups worked together to support the United States during the Civil War; the Party sought to unite not just politicians, but Ohio’s citizens. Although during the war they were able to unite, after the war beliefs on African Americans divided the Party and by 1868 it no longer existed. 

Little is known about the author, Flora, except he or she was a correspondent for The Highland Weekly News. In an 1860 article, “Flora” asserted that the name was simply a pen name and even indicated that the author was a man. 

The Highland Weekly News, published in Hillsboro, was owned and edited by local Joseph L. Boardman and supported the Republican Party. Since 1853 the owners thought of the paper as a “fearless defender of every principle of moral reform in the interest of religion and good government.”  

Written by Hope Bruce, Class of 2019