"A QUESTION OF DECENCY AND HUMANITY"
"A Question of Decency and Humanity" INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSIONER B. H. Meyer, in a recent interview, said he has never heard an objection to woman suffrage which in his opinion has substantial...
...A Question of Decency and Humanity" INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSIONER B. H. Meyer, in a recent interview, said he has never heard an objection to woman suffrage which in his opinion has substantial merit...
...Ever since I have been old enough to have an opinion in the matter I have thought that women should have all the rights that men have...
...Others voiced similar twaddle...
...What can I or any other man have to fear from their participation in all the rights of citizenship...
...What I refer to is, it seems to me, primarily a question of decency and humanity...
...I have heard something and read a little about the invasion of the home, developing masculinity in women, the peculiar functions of women in the social structure, the inability of women to perform military service, police service, etc...
...One learned man declared that a train speed of twenty-five miles per hour would develop delirium fariosum in passengers...
...As long as I am member of the Interstate Commerce Commission it would be highly improper for me to have anything to do with party politics...
...To-day we wonder how intelligent, oftentimes distinguished citizens, could have been so stupid...
...Nor am I in the habit of giving out interviews...
...No man can really believe in democracy and deny women a single right granted to men...
...Please observe that I say public question, not party question...
...I believe that many who are now in the prime of life will regale their children and grandchildren with analogous anecdotes connected with the dawn of woman suffrage...
...I have long felt and now feel that to deny women anything whatsoever which men enjoy is to impeach their capacity, ability and character...
...I should consider it a great injustice to my mother, my sister, my wife and my daughter to even question their right to perform any fundamental function in political life...
...Meyer was a member of the Wisconsin Railroad Commission before his appointment to the federal commission...
...All these things have never made the least impression upon me...
...They remind me of the fantastic prophesies made within the memory of men still living regarding the influence of railways upon human beings, animal and vegetable life...
...I believe there is nothing in them except the phantasies of their authors...
...I have never heard a single objection which in my judgment had substantial merit...
...another, that hens would cease to lay eggs, game would be disturbed, and vegetation blighted along the line...
...I have never been a politician and never expect to be," he said...
...However, I am entirely willing to express my opinion on one of the public questions in which the people of Wisconsin are deeply interested...
...His abilities have long been in the service of the progressive movement...
Vol. 4 • October 1912 • No. 40
