bility
and immediate need of suffrage is because they do not see the duty of
it. There is a gradual development of the sense of duty. The first
duty that we recognize is that of self-preservation--our duty to
ourselves. Then comes duty to our own, to our family, to those dear to
us, before which duty to self must and does go down unfailingly. These
two duties to one's self and to one's family are the foundation but
they are the beginning of life, not the end of it. Next comes social
duty.... In America we rank high in personal and family virtues but
not in public virtues. Our great need is for the deep and broad civic
virtues...."

An interesting symposium took place one afternoon on The Need of Women
in Municipal Politics, with the following speakers: Mrs. Marie Louise
Graham (La.), City Politics is but a Broader Housekeeping; Mrs. Carrie
E. Kent (D. C.), The Home--the Ballot the Only Weapon for its Defence;
the Rev. Kate Hughes (Ill.), Justice Dictates, Expediency Confirms;
Dr. Sarah M. Siewers (O.), Men's and Women's Votes the Only True Basis
of Reform; Miss Laura E. Gregg (Kans.), The Stepping Stone to a Yet
Untried System of Government; Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg (Penn.),
Municipal Corruption under the Present System a National Disgrace.
Each topic was treated in a keen, incisive manner. Miss Gregg
described the practical benefit that the women's municipal vote had
been to Kansas. Dr. Siewers gave a dramatic illustration of the need
of women's votes in her own city of Cincinnati, which applied with
equal force to all cities. Mrs. Blankenburg emphasized all that had
been said by an account of conditions in Philadelphia, saying:

Franchises worth millions of dollars are given away to the
faithful. Contracts are let to those who will divide with high
officials; they are granted to the highest "responsive" and not
to the lowest "responsible" bidder. Merchants of vice are
licensed and protected. The police are ordered to be blind when
they should see keenest. Nearly every office has its price. Even
school teachers are blackmailed and forced to pay for their
appointment and civil service fades before political influence.
The assessors' lists are padded by tens of thousands of dollars
and majorities are returned to keep the "machine" and the party
it represents in power, regardless of the actual vote cast....
The cry of the reformer is, "We must waken the bet