Show I 0 VIEWS I Mrs Godbe Expresses Some of Hers Editors Herald I have the honor of having been born in a city Boston Mass where the women are said to hold views and wishing to sustain the reputation of my eastern sisters in the city of my adoption I would ask the privilege of expressing some of my views in the columns of your useful paper Perhaps to a greater degree than any other class of women have tIle women of Utah the pioneers to a Mountain wilderness demonstrated to the world the possibility of women occupying and with executive exe-cutive ability filling and discharging discharg-ing offices of public trust Jn every town village and hamlet throughout through-out Utah Territory are organizations organiza-tions composed of women with women only for executive officers There is a general society called the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Improve-ment Society having for its aim the circulation of general information upon all subjects of education May it not be that in years to come this embryo organization shall show to the world a ful grown child of gigantic proportions Mountainous regions have always been said to favor physical strength then mental development with proper cultivation must be a power when I growing upon a sure foundation I such as physical force can secure An active mind must be sustained by a healthy body or its great power for general usefulness is lost It has been said by some pro foun thinkers that a high altitude was conducive to spiritual development develop-ment and freedom of thought Surely it must be here that freedom free-dom of thought is facilitated by freedom of pure air and in our home among the llockies we certainly enjoy plenty of fresh air unrammeledand as years go on we hope to show to our sisters throughout through-out the civilized world that we have not thought in vain We have a number of small stores in the City of Salt Lake sustained entirely by the business enterprise of women We hold property in our own names and pay taxes upon it We have held the elective franchise fran-chise until recently when some have been deprived of it Taxation without representation is a great injustice I fail to see a legitimate reason for depriving us of this constitutional right although al-though wise men are arguing and agitating this subject and have deprived us of the right to vote upon questions of as vital interest to us as they possibly can be to any man or set of menThe men-The era for woman has dawned aDd in union only lies strength When earnest women can strike hands of fellowship and clasp them around the world in unite > effort setting aside all petty ambition and personal gain then and not till then will men accept us as the power we really have it in us to be My heart is deeply pained by the di viaionnn thewomans suffrage ranks No thought of personal difference should enter into a question of public pub-lic interest Nor should theology in any wise influence the united effort ef-fort of women when struggling at fearful odds to gain political justice from the hands of men We Utah women pioneer women to suffrage are slow to relinquish relin-quish our prowess as a great step tor women everywhere was taken when we g were admitted as citizens of the United States well qualified to raise an intelligent voice in the interests of our Territory We are really more independent than our sisters in the east In many ways Our lives as pioneers into a desert wild have fitted us to meet the stern realities of life and while there is a kind of compassionate feeling for the unenlightened women of Utah throughout enlightened Christendom we in our home have some cause to give sympathy During my travels of several years in the ula world and the new it has been my good fortune to meet the broadest charity ana largest liberality liberal-ity among purely literary people This is proverbial It is only the bigot who is narrowminded The intellectual are ever reaching out for information so they cannot afford af-ford to beccme fossilized in any given opinion As the tree dies when it ceases to grow and put forth new shoots so does the life in man oecoine deadened when he ceases to grow in all good works As a Mormon woman I have received as much consideration and respect as though I had been a Methodist or Catholic When invited in-vited to give views upon the Mormon religion I have done so conscientiously hoping to breakdown break-down the wall of an unfounded prejudice and wherein my own personal views might differ from from some teachings of this religion I have given them as my own views and not as doctrinal points To benefit the community among whom I was raised has been the effort of my life realizing there were plenty whose desire seemed to be to represent the Mormon religion by the darkest light 1 have endeavored to show a clearer view by the light of an unbiased judgment and under the mangle of charity which the spirit of Christ teaches My belief is that each individual should do his or her work where God has cast the lines but I have no taste or inclination to be drawn into the discussions so rife in our midst and I do not consider the subject of polygamy the all absorbing absorb-ing one and the only one calling for ventilation here While there is a drinking saloon at nearly every corner cor-ner of the business streets and other miserable dens of vice and temptation increasing steadily in our midst I see plenty of work for women and until the earnest women of Utah without regard to sect or parts take up the question of intemperance and Its kindred evil sin will not diminish but misery mis-ery will be increased tenfold Respectfully C I G |