policies which had not
the endorsement of his party's platform; and as the representative of
his party he was under obligations not to promulgate or intimate his
individual convictions. On February 3, 1914, the Democrats of the House
in caucus, pursuant to a resolution of Mr. Heflin, refused to create a
woman suffrage committee. So the constitutional amendment was quite
lost. In the following July Mr. Bryan suddenly issued a strong appeal
for equal suffrage in the _Commoner_. Among his arguments were these:

"As man and woman are co-tenants of the earth and must work out their
destiny together, the presumption is on the side of equality of
treatment in all that pertains to their joint life and its
opportunities. The burden of proof is on those who claim for one an
advantage over the other in determining the conditions under which both
shall live. This claim has not been established in the matter of
suffrage. On the contrary, the objections raised to woman suffrage
appear to me to be invalid, while the arguments advanced in support of
the proposition are, in my judgment, convincing."

"Without minimising other arguments advanced in support of the extending
of suffrage to woman, I place the emphasis upon the mother's right to a
voice in molding the environment which shall surround her children--an
environment which operates powerfully in determining whether her
offspring will crown her latter years with joy or 'bring down her gray
hairs in sorrow to the grave.'

"For a time I was imprest by the suggestion that the question should be
left to the women to decide--a majority to determine whether the
franchise should be extended to woman; but I find myself less and less
disposed to indorse this test.... Why should any mother be denied the
use of the franchise to safeguard the welfare of her child merely
because another mother may not view her duty in the same light?"

The change in the status of women has been significant not only in the
political field, but also in every other direction. A brief survey of
the legislation of various States in the past year, 1913, reveals the
manifold measures already adopted for the further protection of women
and indicates the trend of laws in the near future. Acts were passed in
Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, and Ohio to punish the seduction
of girls and women for commercialised vice, the laws being known as
"White Slave Acts"; laws for the abatement of disorderly houses were