Show THE TROUBLE IX THE CONVENTION It is said that woman is at the bot om of every serious trouble But what world man be without her He would ratner tat the trouble with the wo maL than be delivered of it without her Woman of course is the source of the trouble in the convention which has disturbed the public mind and quickened the nubile pulse in this city for several days past It Is all about one of Womans rights the elective franchiseabout which there need not have been any trouble at all The two political parties are virtually virtu-ally pledged to restore to the women of Utah the suffrage of which they were summarily deprived in 1SS7 We will not go into the reasons for that congressional act There is a dTer ence of opinion about its necessity and its justice But there can be no truthful denial that the reasons alleged al-leged for it do not now exist and that the passage of the enabling act was medicated upon the public and official recognition of the essential change That being so there remains no sound reason why that which was taken fom the women should not be returned return-ed now that it has been restored to the men who were also thus deprived While some of the people have been carried away by the force of Impassion impas-sion lf oratory so that they applauded sentiment and declamation there are but few If any whose convictions have been changed in reference to the mer is of the question There has been nothing new brought forward by way of argument against woman suffrage Although dressed up with some new trimmings the alleged al-leged reasons advanced are the same old platitudes a little the worse for wear They are as familiar to the advocates of womans rights as are the soughing of the wind and the pattering pat-tering of the rain There is perhaps ni necessity to go over the ground again But one or two points we would like to touch First the degradation of woman as a consequence of voting and second the family as the metric unit of the state I Is it a fact that politics lit degrading I In its effects Did the possession of I the ballot ever degrade Its possessor Is not the right to vote an element of power and ane of the highest privileges privil-eges of free citizenship Is It not the sign of liberty and the seal of equality If it tends to elevate and advance man why should it not have the same effects on woman It is not denied that women may talk politics read politics have their Individual views and discussions upon politics But when ft comes to oimply casting a ballot to indicate their choice of r public officer or thelropinlon on a public Question all at once Ft will de gJade them Fudge How much did it degrade the women of Utah after seventeen years of its exercise Did hey not rather feel that they had been degraded as citizens when they were summarily deprived of that great political po-litical privilege Is the family the unt of the state iWhat is meant by the metric unit we do not know perhaps the author of the phrase didnt know himself But the unit of the state is the citizen Laws are made for the citizen The ballot is cast by the citizen There is no such thins in the political system of this nation as a family vote Every citizen of the United States over 21 years of age etc is the language of the law Not every head of a family The man votes as an individual each of his sons when of proper age totes for himself Why not the daughters also who are equally citizcns as the men As to the liability of romen to be swayed by other Influences than political polit-ical convictions the same can be said of millions of men And ell that can be advanced against women voting can be equally applied aganst a large portion por-tion of the menThe men-The debate that has been held over this matter Is well enough Every man on the floor of the convention has equal rights with his fellows No man should be berated for the sincere expression ex-pression of his opinions Those who argue against their own convictions are net worthy of respect Butt > very man who advocates what he Relieves will gain the respect of reasonable people even if they are not convinced s by his pleadings I The trouble In the convention then so far as the women are concerned will not be disastrous to any one in the long run who acts from correct motives and the suffrage will be granted to the fair sex who will show that they are entitled to that appellation appella-tion by fairness in all their political acts ann the exercise of that freedom 1 y which It will secure to them |