Enemies of Votes for Women, The.
[Women’s Political Union]. Broadside: "The Enemies of Votes for Women.” [NP: c. 1915].
Broadside: 7-1/2 x 12-1/8", printed in light purple ink on cream stock; illustrated with a cartoon by Herbert Johnson; folded, creased and age-toned with some darkening at the margins and edge tears; lower portion of the broadside, which printed a membership blank, torn off (as common) with the last line of text affected; good.
Harriet Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter, established the Women’s Political Union to re-energize the flagging suffrage movement in New York. The Union adopted techniques of the British Women’s Social and Political Union—outdoor rallies, parades and street corner speeches; it also adopted the WSPU colors— purple, green and white. The purple ink on white stock bears the distinctive look of WPU material. The Herbert Johnson cartoon which originally had appeared in The Saturday Evening Post shows Mrs. Anti-Suffrage swooning as five gentlemen representing anti-suffrage interests present her with a large bouquet of flowers; the 'gentlemen' are labeled "saloon keeper," "child labor exploiter," "white slaver," "food doper," and "political boss.” The boss, a large, fulsome figure, says: "We have called to express our extreme gratichude fer the bee-utiful fight you are making in our behalf.” The cartoon emphasizes suffragists' assertion that anti-suffrage leaders, usually wealthy and politically naïve women, seldom realized the character of the forces with which they had allied themselves. The body of the broadside asks: "THE LIQUOR INTERESTS OPPOSE WOMAN SUFFRAGE WHY? / THE VICE INTERESTS OPPOSE WOMAN SUFFRAGE. WHY? / THERE ARE NO ANTI-SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES IN THE SUFFRAGE STATES. WHY NOT?" The thrust of the broadside, however, is the extent of prostitution in New York (especially New York City) and the extent to which corrupt politicians and officials benefit from this evil. The broadside is distinctive for its look, the presence of a graphic and for the tenor of its suffrage argument.
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