Who Shares the Cost of War?
[Suffrage]. Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association. Small Broadside: “Who Shares the Cost of War?” Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association, [ND, but c. 1917].
Small broadside: 5 x 6-15/16,” printed on pale brown stock (one side); considerably nicked along right edge with one 1/2” closed tear (no text effected); corner lower right tip lacking; small nicks along bottom edge; about very good.
Pennsylvania, like its neighbors New Jersey and New York, had defeated the woman suffrage referendum in November 1915. Two years later the United States was at war, and women continued their own home front battle for the vote. This time they reminded voters that women are as much a part of any national conflict as men. The broadside’s rhetoric is unrelenting:
Who face death in order to give life to men? Women.
Who love and work to rear the sons who then are killed in battle? Women.
Who keep shops and schools and work in factories while men are in trenches? Women.
Who nurse the wounded, feed the sick, support the helpless, brave all danger? Women.
Who see their homes destroyed by shell and fire, their little ones made destitute, their daughters outraged? Women.
Who must suffer agony for every soldier killed? Women.
Who are called upon to make sacrifices to pay the terrible tax of war? Women.
Who dares say that war is not their business? In the name of Justice and Civilization give women a voice in Government and in the councils that make or prevent war.
One of the most effective suffrage demands for not only the vote, but justice to women.
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