The Days of a Man 



vote 



" 



Amendment by a considerable majority. I myself 

 spoke for it in two counties, San Francisco and 

 Ventura, both of which we lost, the former because 

 of its large foreign population, the latter because of 

 the adverse vote of naturalized laborers employed 

 in the bean industry. 



Taking The measure having carried, a delegation came to 

 responsi- me to as ^ wna t immediate results the women should 



biiity -11 T i 



seriously attempt to secure with the new power. 1 then sug- 

 gested that a study of the career of a certain well- 

 known state senator reputed to be the trusted agent 

 of corporations seeking " favor" or concessions, 

 might lead to some useful constructive effort. The 

 investigation over, they beat him at the polls - 

 although his district was regarded as the " safest 

 in the city - - and elected Edwin E. Grant, an admi- 

 rable young man, known as a tireless worker for 

 social sanitation. 



But the matter did not end here. When all was 

 quiet "the bunch" circulated a petition for Grant's 

 recall on the ground that his recognized activities 

 made him inacceptable to the district; and at the 

 special election then ordered the original incumbent 

 came out ahead because most of the women neglected 

 to vote again. 



The This circumstance indicates the chief argument 



absentee against the extension of the franchise. The absentee 

 vote, discouragingly large among men, is relatively 

 much greater among women, and particularly so in 

 "by-elections"; it takes popular agitation to bring 

 out the body of the people. But this is not a conclu- 

 sive argument against equal suffrage, though it may 

 hold against the recall and special elections. 



In its present form the recall is not a step forward. 



C 344 3 



