SHALL DECENT WOMANHOOD PREVAIL? [caption title]

[California:]

Verlag: [Oakland, 1912

Handbill, 9 x 6 inches. Tanned, small chips to top edge, glue and paper residue to blank verso. Good plus. A vitriolic political attack from the midst of Oakland, California's first ever recall election. The recall was initiated by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Socialist party, who charged incumbent mayor Frank K. Mott ("the Mayor Who Built Oakland") and his administration with misuse of the waterfront, misappropriation of city funds, and "that the police have forcibly prevented the right of free speech and public assembly," this shortly after Oakland police had dispersed a Socialist meeting, which some suspected to be the inciting event of the recall (THE OAKLAND TRIBUNE, March 11, 1912). This broadside, likely circulated by the III, quotes an almost certainly falsified speech by W.J. Petersen, Chief of Police of Oakland and one of the targets of the recall, in which he espouses a belief that "The human male is a polygamous animal," and that it is his reduction to monogamy that is responsible for the fair and understandable spread of prostitution. The circular leaves the reader with a warning that "This is the man who will be your chief of police if Baccus [also on Mott's ticket] is elected." Regardless, Mott and his compatriots withstood the recall without great difficulty, earning over sixty percent of the vote. This was considered evidence that the city's new recall rules were too lenient, as they gave "too much leeway to a handful of agitators," and it was proposed to increase the percentage of voter signatures required and to institute a fee for those initiating a recall. The opposition's attempts to win over woman voters don't seem to have been successful either, as "special credit [was] given by the victorious candidates to the women, who worked early and late and showed a knowledge of conditions that was little short of marvelous" (SAN FRANCISCO CALL, August 7, 1912). Not individually catalogued in OCLC. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM57106

Bibliografische Details

Titel: SHALL DECENT WOMANHOOD PREVAIL? [caption ...
Verlag: [Oakland
Erscheinungsdatum: 1912