matter of the manufacture of garments know that clothes are made in factories and finished largely in sweat shops, and you know that those sweat shops are often rooms where exist infectious disease, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, diphtheria-heaven knows what. We have many actual cases on record where that has been proven, and we know that every year, at the time that the winter clothing is taken from the shops and factories and scattered through the length and breadth of the land and put on sale in the retail stores, there is an outbreak of infectious disease which can only be attributed to the shipment of dry goods, of clothing, of garments, from the centers of manufacture into the little towns.

Now, the woman who has to buy these clothes for her children takes their lives in her hands every time she does it, and she should, she must have, the right to help to control the conditions under which this clothing is made and is handled, and to use her strength, so far as she has it, to protect her children and her home from all these dangers; dangers that did not exist in the old days, dangers that have developed as the result of the modern industrial and economic conditions of our great congested cities and the development of machine work and all that makes our life now so different from that in which the individual was able to control her surroundings in the old days.

Mrs. KELLEY. Mr. Chairman, I now call on one who speaks in the name of many thousands of voters in our behalf, Mr. Arthur E. Holder, who will speak on behalf of the working men.

STATEMENT OF MR. ARTHUR E. HOLDER, OF THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR.

Mr. HOLDER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I appear to-day in behalf of the American Federation of Labor. This organization has for a number of years considered and passed resolutions in favor of the suffrage of women.

Mr. CARLIN. Just one moment, Mr. Chairman. We should remove that congestion at the door. If those parties at the door will come in, there will be plenty of room.

Mr. HOLDER. For the sake of the record, Mr. Chairman, I have reproduced for presentation before the committee some of the resolutions that have been adopted by the conventions of the American Federation of Labor for the last four or five years; but, rather than consume too much time, I will read only one, and that was the last. That was adopted at Toronto in 1909. I will simply submit the others. They are these:

RESOLUTIONS ON WOMAN SUFFRAGE ADOPTED AT THE CONVENTION OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR.

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 1904. · Resolution No. 49.-By Delegate Mary Kenny O'Sullivan, of the National Women's Trade Union League, and James Duncan, of the Granite Cutters' National Union: Resolved, That the best interests of labor require the admission of women to full citizenship as a matter of justice to them and as a necessary step toward insuring and raising the scale of wages for all.

The committee concurs in the resolution.

The report of the committee was concurred in.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., 1906. Resolution No. 62.-By Delegate James Duncan, of the Granite Cutters International Association:

Resolved, That the American Federation of Labor at its convention at Minneapolis, urges upon the members of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives the duty of making a favorable report upon joint resolution 86, which provides for submitting to the legislatures an amendment to the Constitution of the United States allowing women to vote; and

Resolved, That the American Federation of Labor urges upon all Members of Congress and Senators the duty of adopting said joint resolution; and

Resolved, That the secretary is hereby instructed to forward to President Roosevelt, and to the Speaker, copies of these resolutions as well as to the chairman of the committee on Judiciary in the House of Representatives; further

Resolved, That this convention request its delegates to use every opportunity during the coming short session of Congress to bring to the attention of Congressmen of their respective States the merits of joint resolution 86 and to urge favorable action upon it. On motion of Delegate Bablitz the report of the committee was concurred in.

DENVER, COLO., 1908.

Resolution No. 52.-By Delegate Max Morris, of the Retail Clerks' International Protective Association.

Whereas the economic platform of the American Federation of Labor, adopted by the Minneapolis convention and reaffirmed and amended by the Norfolk convention, among other planks in its platform, affirms its belief in 'woman suffrage coequal with man suffrage;" and

Whereas in the annual report at the last national convention of the American Federation of Labor it was expressly stated that it was the "much-abused trade-union movement which stands for the recognition of the rights, political, social, moral, and industrial, of women:" Therefore be it

Resolved, That this, the Twenty-eighth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor does now reaffirm this platform and expresses its belief in the need of full political equality for all women. That this political equality is as necessary to their economic independence as it is for their brothers in all branches of labor, and we pledge the affiliated unions of the land to earnestly work for this political freedom.

The committee reported as follows:

"Your committee approves the substance of these resolutions, the subject-matter of which is provided for in the official declaration of principles adopted at previous conventions of the American Federation of Labor."

On motion of Vice-President Morris the recommendation of the committee was concurred in.

TORONTO, CANADA, 1909.

Resolution No. 33.-By Delegate Agnes Nestor, of the International Glove Workers' Union of America:

Whereas the economic platform of the American Federation of Labor, adopted by the Minneapolis convention and reaffirmed in an amended form by the Norfolk and Denver conventions, affirms its belief in "woman suffrage coequal with man suffrage;" and

Whereas in the annual report of the Norfolk national convention of the American Federation of Labor it was expressly stated that it was the "much-abused trade-union movement which stands for the recognition of the rights, political, social, moral, and industrial, of women;" and

Whereas the political enfranchisement of women is essential to the economic independence of the working class and has become a world-wide issue of immediate and vital importance to the very existence of democracy: Therefore be it

Resolved, That this, the Twenty-ninth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor, does now reaffirm this plank and expresses its belief in and its intention to secure full political enfranchisement for all women, and hereby pledges its affiliated unions earnestly to champion and work for the political freedom of women.

The committee recommended the adoption of the resolution.

On motion the recommendation of the committee was concurred in.

A few days ago, Mr. Chairman, one of the most eloquent Representatives in Congress gave vent to some expressions dealing with the progress of humanity generally, and with the success that had been attained through the passage of amendments to the laws of Congress since the year 1897. He made use of these expressions:

This is the age of progress. To be progressive, therefore, is to be in harmony with the times. This is equally true of individuals and political parties. In our country the progress that has been made during recent years in population, wealth, industrial development, commercial expansion, science, inventions, art, literature-in short, in all fields of thought and endeavor-is without a parallel in history.

Again, he said:

The rapidly changing conditions in the industrial world call for new legislation, state and national, and the people demand that their Representatives, intrusted with governmental functions, shall be men of true progressive spirit.

If the gentleman in question from whom I have quoted had been making a speech in behalf of extending the ballot to women, he could not have used phrases that would have met with our approval better. These phrases are crisp, and they ring true. They are broadly significant of two great facts. The first fact acknowledges with precision that wealth is increasing and that material interests are developing. The second fact is much more inspiring, because it unhesitatingly recognizes the voice of the people as the foundation of the future of our Government. It breathes the spirit of first principles, that government exists for the people, and not the people for the Government. We ask this day that the utterances of this eloquent statesman be duly heeded by the Sixty-first Congress. ask for progress in harmony with the times. We ask for a more perfect and complete form of government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

We

We want the right of representation of all the people, women as well as men. Women have been disfranchised in our country long enough, and we now ask for that measure of providence that will constitutionally grant the right to vote to the women of our land. We believe that women are, and of right ought to be, free agents, free selectors, free voters. The law is no respector of persons. Women can not shirk their responsibility because they are women; neither should they be longer denied their normal citizenship rights and privileges because they are women.

Mr. CLAYTON. Mr. Holder, I want to ask you a single question. Can not the States confer upon women the right to vote? And if the States can confer upon women that right, as some States have, what is the necessity of an amendment of the Federal Constitution?

Mr. HOLDER. You ask my opinion on that, Mr. Clayton?
Mr. CLAYTON. Yes.

Mr. HOLDER. The States have the right to extend the franchise to women as well as to men, but the reason we come to the Federal Congress is to set an example to the whole nation and add as a stimulus the thought that we are asking here for all the other States to follow. We believe that when women are vested with the franchise the public conscience will be quickened and that the rights of man will be a matter of greater public interest than the so-called rights of vested interests. We believe that the inspired principles contained in the Declaration of Independence will be more readily attained and more easily made practicable when our women have the ballot.

Mrs. KELLEY. Mr. Chairman, if I may volunteer an additional answer to Mr. Clayton's question, it is this, that while it is true that the States have the power to confer the ballot upon women, and while 4 States have made use of that power, there are States which show no disposition whatever to do so, and it is a slow process inducing the 42 remaining States to follow the example of the 4 great States which have acted justly. And we believe that it is within the power of Congress greatly to expedite this procedure, and it is for that reason that some of us have come year after year asking this committee to recommend the submission of such an amendment to the States.

STATEMENT OF MRS. ELIZABETH SCHAUSS, FACTORY
INSPECTOR OF OHIO.

Mrs. SCHAUSS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of this committee, it seems almost superfluous that we should come here or anywhere asking for the ballot when we know that it is the only thing that will give the wage-earning woman the protection that she needs and should have in a republic. And yet, in view of the fact that this right has not been extended to her, we are here. The wage-earning girl or woman to-day has absolutely no chance beside her brother. Although she gives the same quality of work, although she performs the same amount of work, yet she can not command the same wage. And why? Simply because she is not a recognized citizen by virtue of the ballot.

If you go into the factories, into the mills, and into our mercantile establishments and meet with these girls, these women, and learn from them the indignities to which they ofttimes are subjected in order that they might retain their places, you would not wait for any one to come here and argue the question with you. You would see for yourselves that it is the only thing to do; to grant to them that same protection that you give to every man over 21 years of age in this country. The girl and the woman so employed submits in a way to these things. And why? Because she is thinking of the day when her factory days will be over. She is looking for the day to come when she will go into a home, and make a home for husband and children. And God forbid that the time should ever come that our girls should lose sight of this, their greatest vocation! But before they are competent to take charge of the home in every sense of the word, before they can give to these children all that they should have, they must themselves be placed upon a basis of equality with their husbands. When the Declaration of Independence was signed it was done for the purpose of securing a larger freedom and greater liberty, and through all these many years the struggle for that larger freedom, the struggle for that greater liberty, has been going on on the part of our men everywhere. We recognize it and know it now. Why? Where is there something that we can trace back and find and land at the feet of the women? Just this, that just so long that women are themselves denied the right of liberty and freedom, they will bring men into the world who are not free as souls, but must struggle to gain that freedom. We can not have free men until we have free women in the full sense of the word.

Do we want to enter politics just for the fun of it? Absolutely there is no fun in it. Do we want to go into politics for the privilege

of dabbling into the things that men dabble in? No. But we want the right of franchise because we recognize in that the only means whereby we can assist our men-our husbands, our fathers, our brothers, our nephews, and our sons-to do that which the Constitution of the United States places before them to do, and to do it in the right way. We recognize that we can be of assistance, and we are only asking to be permitted to give that assistance by being given the right of the ballot, so that we may exercise in every way that which we believe to be right and just.

Some years ago, when the franchise for school suffrage was first given to the women of the State of Ohio, we had a campaign in our city, and it was quite an interesting affair, and among other things some of us were delegated to go out and call out the women who otherwise would not come some of them because their husbands said they must not. [Laughter.] They did not happen to know that coercion was really an act against the law. We went and got many of them, and in my own personal experience I want to tell you this one thing: A man who came along and I honored him for his very appearance with a dinner pail hanging on his arm, all covered with iron ore, the dust of it, and he said to me, holding a facsimile ballot which he had cut from the newspapers, "Can you tell me where Mr. So-and-so's name is on here?" And I looked for it, and I said, "This is the man you are looking for." He said, "Will you make a cross there for me?" I did so, and he asked me then for another name, and so on down. He folded that little paper very carefully and went into the little booth. I was there with a committee of women whom I had brought to cast their ballots, and when the man came back I said to him, "Now, did you find just what you were looking for?" And he said, "Yes." And he said, "Yes." I said to him, "My friend, some day we will submit to you and to all other men the proposition to give this right of ballot in full to our women. Would you be in favor that women should have the use of the ballot the same as you have it?" He answered, "No, no, no, no; wimmins don't know enough!" [Laughter.] And that, after I had marked his ballot for him, so that he could go and cast it! "Wimmins don't know enough!" It is time men were taught a few things. That man was honest. He believed that way.

Mr. CLAYTON. Madam, you surely do not insist that that man was of the average intelligence of all men, while I admit that you are of the average intelligence of all women. But you would not judge of all men by that man, would you?

Mrs. SCHAUSS. No; I did not finish what I was going to say. [Laughter.] The fact is this, that while this man looked that way at it, he forgot the other side of it. We know that men are not all that way. If they were, there would be no use in coming here before you. [Laughter and applause.] We are not classing all men together. We know better than to do that. Mine was only one experience out of many, and others have had like experience. But this is the point: Why should I, a taxpaying woman, be denied the right to go and by casting my ballot say how these taxes that I am paying shall be expended, and yet that right be delegated to this particular man and others just like him?

Now, in the light of progress and of American civilization, we know that these things can not continue. We have great things at stake