Letter to the Editor
To the Editor of the Herald:
It may interest Herald readers, especially those opposed to woman suffrage, to know that some 25 or 30 anti-suffragist women also made their way to the State House to attend the woman suffrage hearing before the committee on constitutional amendments.
The case of the suffragists has been as usual amply reported through the daily press. It was conducted by Mrs. Maud Wood Parks. The following figures quoted by her from the census of 1900 were instructive: Number of single women in Massachusetts, 277,711; number of widows in Massachusetts, 128,176.
The large number of single women and widows in this state Mrs. Parks considered to be one of the strongest arguments for woman suffrage. However, the fact that so many Massachusetts females are unprotected and unrepresented by a husband’s vote, and yet refuse to try to remedy the situation would seem proof sufficient that they feel neither the need nor the desire for it.
The members of the Massachusetts Equal Suffrage Association, to quote Mrs. Parks again, now number 17,000. The women in Massachusetts of voting age in 1900 number 931,650. When a majority of women of voting age in this state shall ask for the ballot it will be time enough for the men of this state to consider striking the word “male” from the constitution of Massachusetts in the qualification of voters.
ANTI-SUFFRAGIST
Boston, February, 1907.
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
What is the writer’s claim?
(1 point)
Responses
Many women marched to the statehouse in Massachusetts to lobby in favor of giving women the right to vote.
Many women marched to the statehouse in Massachusetts to lobby in favor of giving women the right to vote.
The Massachusetts legislature is considering striking the word male from the section about voting rights.
The Massachusetts legislature is considering striking the word male from the section about voting rights.
If given the right to vote, the women of Massachusetts will soon take over the government.
If given the right to vote, the women of Massachusetts will soon take over the government.
Until a majority of women in Massachusetts say they want the vote, the state constitution should not be amended.