Some Common Questions Answered.
Decker, Sarah Platt. Leaflet: "Some Common Questions Answered.” New York City: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1914.
Small leaflet: 6-1/8" x 7"; printed both sides on off-white stock; folded across middle; some rumpling; two short closed tears at right edge (not affecting text); about very good; with the stamp of the Penna; woman Suffrage Association at the reverse.
Decker describes the effect of woman suffrage on Colorado, stating that (1) women do vote; (2) no, the vote of disreputable women does not outweigh that of respectable women; (3) no, women do not vote as dictated by the male head-of-the house ("Suffrage makes women individuals"); (4) no, woman suffrage has not purified politics nor outlawed saloons, though there presence at the polls and in political conventions have improved both; and (5) yes, woman suffrage is a success in Colorado with the result that "there is much more…respect on the part of men, who look upon their sisters not as playthings, not as property, but as equals and fellow citizens."
Sarah Chaste Platt Decker (1852-1912), civic and social reformer, suffrage advocate and leader in the woman's club movement, moved to Denver, Colorado in 1887 with her second husband in 1887. For the next twenty-five years she involved herself in a wide variety of reform activities that left a remarkable imprint on the state. She played an important role in the 1893 campaign that successfully gained suffrage for the women of Colorado. The following year she was elected president of the Woman's Club of Denver; and under her leadership the club oversaw a variety of social welfare projects. Her addresses at national conventions so impressed fellow members that she was elected vice-president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 1902 and subsequently served two terms as president. (NAW notes that she was known for her plain speech and outspokenness.) As President, she emphasized social service programs and, to the surprise of Eastern members, conservation. She declared "In the aid Southwest irrigation is not politics, it is religion!" She persuaded the Federation to support the establishment of national parks (the existence of Mesa Verde, one of our great national parks, was due in large measure to Decker). In 1908 she was the only woman invited to President Theodore Roosevelt's conference on the conservation of national resources. Her activities in Denver and Colorado politics aroused enough respect that she was considered as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate. When she died unexpectedly in 1912, government offices in Denver closed down the day of her funeral and their flags flown at half-mast. Three Colorado governors were among the honorary pallbearers.
Not recorded by Krichmar nor Franklin (though the latter notes other suffrage pieces by Decker). OCLC records a 1913 printing of the leaflet held by two institutions and of a microfilm of yet an earlier printing. (NAW I, pp. 451-452)
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