| Show I i I 4 C Q I 0 7ba y A T tc rijJf I QUESTION OF SUFFRAGE The Position of Those Favoring Political Equality ADDRESS OF R S RICHARDS THC WHOLE GROUND THOROUGHLY COVERED BY HIM Poncrs of a Constitutional Convention Conven-tion in Relation to thr Elective Fnneuisc The Argument Prom Principle Ideals and Precedent Colorado nml IVyominr Following is a practically complete report of the strong speech in favor of equal suffrage delivered by Hon F S Richards in the constitutional convention con-vention on Thursday Mr Chairman Beinp a firm believer In that declaration of our bill of equal rights which says that frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual individ-ual rights and the perpetuity of free PTovernment I desire to call the attention d at-tention of the committee to some of the fundamental principles which I should govern us in determining thereat the-reat question of suffrage for our new state Preliminary to the argument that I shall offer It is important to fully apprehend the extent of our powers pow-ers In relation to the question Hence we will first consider The pcwers of a constitutional convention con-vention in relation to the elective franchise Jowcrs of tile Convention A constitutional convention such as we are now holding has a sphere largely determined by the overshadowing overshad-owing constitution of the United States which we have already adopted adopt-ed as a condition precedent to framing a constitution for the prospective state of Utah If wa were sitting as a rev f outionary convention such as that which framed the Declaration of Independence f In-dependence we should construe our J Tnnwers as absolute and independent jt of all other sovereignties but as a constitutional convention our action is conditioned by the organic law of the federal union We are also overshadowed over-shadowed by such general legislation as has served to determine our territorial terri-torial boundaries and to inaugurate us I Into existence as an inceptive commonwealth common-wealth All such permanent features I of the organic act and more particularly partic-ularly the enabling act are inviolable limitations of the powers of this con venzion in the framing of measures for the guidance of the future state But with respect to the question of I suffrage who shall be the electors the L voters of the forthcoming state this convention has plenary power and I the whole subject in its entirety comes I practically before us for determination determina-tion Says Thomas M Coooley in his I great work on constitutional limita Ions I-ons page 752 The whole subject of the regulation of elections including the prescribing of qualifications for suffrage is left by the national constitution con-stitution to the several states except as it is provided by that instrument that the electors for representatives in Congress shall have the qualifications lequJsite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature legisla-ture and as the fifteenth amendment forbids denying to citizens the right to vote on account of race color or previous condition of servitude Participation Par-ticipation In the elective franchise is J a privilege rather than a right and it is granted or denied on grounds of general policy the prevailing view being be-ing that it should be as general as possible consistent with the public safety With this view writers on constitutional law generally agree and it is confirmed by the trend of judicial decision That provision of the national na-tional constitution which requires that The United States shall guarantee to I I every state a republican form of government i gov-ernment would apply as a preventive I I I of too great a limitation of suffrage rather than its extension Hence the powers of this constitution in relation to the elective franchise are practically practical-ly unlimited and ther is no barrier to its enacting suffrage privileges which will fully express the latter and 1 the pendence spirit of the Declaration of Inde I The Question Stated It is my purpose in the brief discussion I discus-sion that I shall present on the present i pres-ent occasion to deal with the suffrage question in its broadest and most comprehensive com-prehensive form and in order to do this I shall discharge from consideration considera-tion all minor and subordinate phases I of the subject The first section of the article reported by the committee on elections and suffrage is elementary and primary It is as broad as human nature and it responds to every possible possi-ble demand of men and women in the complex relations of human society 2t reads as follows Sectwn 1 The rights oi cuiz as ot the state of Utah to vote ind hold office of-fice hall not be denied or abridged on account of sex Both male and female fe-male citizens of this state shall equally equal-ly enjoy all civil political and religious relig-ious rights and privileges All the following sections of this article ar-ticle are definitive and qualitative They relate to residence property and educational qualifications registration f and other minor matters governing p the exercise of the franchise They are the work of the lapidary who cuts anl polishes the precious stone in order that it may be adjusted the foundation + o the social fabric as stone on which the whole shall rest The substance of the first section is the substance of the whole article and that is that man using the word in the broad sense without reference to sex human beings as such are in virtue of their humanity factors and units of society as a whole whether civil political po-litical or religious I means that the true and essential condition to the exercise II 4 ex-ercise of civil and political privileges is human natu human intelligence the Godgiven endowment of humanity fashioned in the image of the divine creator l means that when God has created a member of the human species having the ordinary Intelligence and moral rectitude that are requisite In normal human nature residing in our nora being a citizen of the United is entitled to all States that person entted al the civil and political privileges that surf esf > ntiHl > the lice exercise o full citizenship with l its rights and obligations ctienship ligations I means that all legal quail iicationt and conditions limiting and defining civil and political rights and duties shall be subordinate to the inalienable in-alienable rights which every citizen possesses it virtue of being created human e S mant that the divine Image r man It means Imae Sn man shall be J let afcove the minor physical distinctions whicll appertain lo human beings as individuals It I Ue Bieans that the Declaration of Indepen 0 o v tT u r dence the raga Charta of our nationality nation-ality shall have full expression and full interpretation in the organic law which we are now delegated to frame for the coming commonwealth of Utah I means that the narrowness the selfishness I sel-fishness the passion and the prejudice of the long dark past shall no longer I dominate our civilization It means that men and women equal members of society equally answerable to law equally responsible in taxes for the I support of the state equally creators and consumers of wealth shall no longer I lon-ger find themselves subjected to discriminating dis-criminating legislation degrading to onehalf the population and dishonoring dishonor-ing to the other half while the foundation I foun-dation of all legislation the source and ground of all obligation and all right I is the same in both classes all being created equal all being endowed with I the same inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness I The Argument From Principles and Ideals I Principles come before precedents I although it is by means of precedents that we sift our principles To act from principles is to make truth incarnate to give it body and form in the world of act and history Life is a syllogism with intelligence as the major premise and historic realities as the conclusion Our free Institutions are great facts they are conclusions in the world of real life from the intellectual data eternally subsistent in the world of intelligence We have our social framework frame-work our actual social life under I the shadow of certain forms of law our statutes and our constitutions All these are conclusions wrought from larger principles of intellitrennp nn In sr I faras we differ from the nations n of n the J east that are warring today that difference I ference islargely due to certain broad principles of liberty that have entered I into our national life and from which we are constantly making history as i I conclusions The principles that I allude I I al-lude to are those that are formulated in the Declaration of Independence They were she full and free expression of the spirit of liberty that moved the hearts of the American people They were the utterance of the divine life for that grand stage of human development develop-ment They were the major premise or the civil and political history of the American people As the words of Christ cover all ages of the church and as those words are increasingly fulfilled ful-filled as the ages progress in knowledge and righteousness so the words of the Declaration are for all advances in government gv ernment and they will be fulfilled In proportion as government is perfected I can here only occupy your time long enough to turn the light upon a few of the inscriptions upon the temple of liberty that you may read them as they stand emblazoned there and thee apply ap-ply their meanings to the subject we have in hand When the fathers stood together in that revolutionary council they stood free and independent of every nation naton on earth The only sovereign to whom I they sought to declare allegiance was I the God of heaven the creator of all When they said that All men are created I cre-ated equal they meant to recognize the handiwork and institution of the Almighty When they spoke of the inalienable I I in-alienable rights they spoke of them a I being made inalienable only by their creator When they spoke of human governments they spoke of I them as being inferior to the constitution constitu-tion Implanted in human nature by I God himself They said that govern i I ments were made to secure these rights and that when they failed to II do so they should be altered and abolished and others framed that would more fully carry out the purpose I pur-pose of God They said that the only condition on which government should operate and control the lives of men I was the consent of the governed These are some of the divinely illumined illu-mined principles that bear upon the subject in hand The Fathers meant by saying that all men are created equal just what is expressed in the first sectioq that we have in hand that men and women shall equally enjoy all civil political and religious rights and privileges These prvi ges Thee principles princi-ples are selfevident in their verity I do not need to argue or explain them We ca read them as we run the wayfaring man though a fool need not misunderstand them Men and women in the Declaration of Independence Indepen-dence stand on an equality just as they did in the mind of the Creator when he said Gen 1 26 27 And God sal let us make man in our own image after pur likeness and let them have dominion Here we have the same divine image for both they have the same blood the same nature the same intelligence the sale moral law the same responsibility iJie same destiny des-tiny The conscript fathers recognized this sameness of essential qualities and relationship and on these grounds they said that All men are created equal Their declaration was expressive of the purpose and counsels of the great Creator and this first section expressly declares the purpose and intent of the I declaration of the fathers Moreover when government steps into In-to perform its office in the world I must be in subordination to these principles prin-ciples that Is to secure these rights And the condition precedent on which alone government can exert its authority author-ity over men is the consent of the governed On any other terms government gov-ernment is usurpation and tyranny Wihatever the right may be whether of life liberty or property government must first obtain jurisdicton through the consent of the governed by means of normal and equal representation I representa-tion There are thousands of women taxpayers in Utah more in proportion to population than in any other state so long a they acquiesue in b fng represented by the other half of society we may conclude that no open violence is done them in respect to their civil and political rights But whenever such women disclaim such representation representa-tion whenever they claim their right to be governed only as they yield their consent according to the Declaration Declara-tion we are guilty of usurpation and tyranny whenever we resolve to make them amenable to our government without first providing for obtaining their consent through the ordinary channels of representation We know that the entire American revolution originated in the refusal of Great Britain to accord representation as a condition of taxationand is i possible than in this dawning of the twentieth centur any member of this convention conven-tion would seek to perpetrate the same Injustice in the institutions that we are now to frame for Utah The Argument From precedent J recetcnt Precedents arise when the world of intelligence and principle becomes embodied bodied in the world of fact and histo > L < 7 f c ry Principles are eternal so that with respect to them in absolute reset + an sense there is nothing new under the sun But as successive ages present new phases of principle we may say with every epoch in history Behold I make all things new We say of the past that It is 9 light and a guide to the present Patrick Henry said There is but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience ex-perience I Is to experience that pro foundcs wisdom appeals The system of law that conserves our rights and liberties Is a system of well ordered and well preserved experiences Tt is a system of facts and precedents comprehensive com-prehensive diverged and rising into 1 a body of harmonious practical and j authoritative knowledge But mark j you the world would have perished long ago had it not been possible for < i to grow out of above and beyond i I the precedents and experiences of any I preceding age It is wisdom to respect I re-spect precedents but 1 is folly and destruction to be bound by them to the extent tihat we shall not miodlfy them i reform them cast some of them away and Interpret the deeper meaning of others Suppose the feudal system 1 which was so deeply rooted into Saxon i civilization during the middle ages i had held full sway on the score of precedent pre-cedent and experience Today if in I existence at all we should in a vast majority of cases be held In the most abject bondage Suppose our forefathers fore-fathers had been governed entirely by I precedent and usage Today we should be in a state of colonial serfdom to Great Britain Suppose the train of I I legal precedentsthat culminated in the Dred Scott decision of Chief Justice II Taney had been acquiesced in by the I American people Today we should be oligarthV n I I dominated by the slave olgprV r the enfranchised millions would still be the chattels of their owners ww I I the great thought underlying all this I contradiction diversity and apparent contradicton diveriy is that 1 of experience and precedent I while absolute truth and principle are I eternal and immutable yet i is only in proportion as humanity grows to its I full stature that they can be incorporated incor-porated into human life and institutions institu-tions Hence every age has a deep kernel of truth within its social life I but the purely practical and super I tidal beliefs experiences and precedents prece-dents must be sloughed off like the bark of the eucalyptus tree for they are misleading for any subsequent age valuable only as milestones that mark the progress of growth from crude beginnings to larger and truer civilization In relation to the subject in hand the first section of the article on suffrage suf-frage the proposition that I lay down as a conclusion from the foregoing remarks re-marks under this head is that the distinctive principles of American po Htical history were promulgated oy i the fathers in the revolutionary convention con-vention of 1776 and that America precedents will grow in harmon therewith from age to age until the fullness of those principles shall have expression in American political and civil life We have seen already in the light of one of the most sanguinary sanguin-ary and persistent struggles in the history his-tory of the world that while Tomas Jefferson perceived the application of those principles to the condition of the slave and said I tremble when I remember re-member that God is just yet the body of the country did not feel the fore of the divine truth that weighed upon i his soul So it was left to the people as a whole to grow Unto a knowledge of truth until i should burn upon their hearts and reveal to them that slavery was in direct violation of the principles of liberty laid down in the declaration When the time finally arrived and the genius of liberty struck the hour for old things to pass away and all things to be made new the inhumane precedents of all past years were swept to the winds by the besom of destruction Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln stood out as the servant of God to give effect to the words of divine inspiration through Thomas Jefferson and the other seers of American freedom free-dom With one desperate carnival of death the dark cloud like a funeral pall rolled away The sk became clear and slavery was gone The constitution of the United States had sloughed off the dead bark of selfish and inhumanity that had ness an grown upon i from the precedents of Rome and Greece and all the barbarous past That constitution was renewed by incorporating in-corporating within it the eternal principles prin-ciples of the Declaration of Independence Indepen-dence So it must be with the question in hand Lincoln saw and declared that under the principles of American liberty I was a violation of the trust reposed in us by the God of liberty to hold half our population in a state of disfranchisement He declared that women as well as men were entitled to the franchise He knew too that the time had not come for action in the matter but we may rest assured that i our country is to have a future it must be on condition that the truths which lie at the foundation of our nationality must have freer and tiller are in our civil and political life as the years roll on Political Equality of Man nnd AVomnn I At the start of our countrys his tory the women by custom and usage gave a tfccit and implied consent that in public affairs they should be represented by the suffrage of the male half of the population The precedents pre-cedents have largely run in this direction direc-tion But a In the case of African slavery the political equality of man and woman as a truth of the declara ton has stood out in manifestations of dissent through many years At first this truth was but a speck on the horizon not larger than a mans hand like the rising cloud before the eyes of the prophet of old Soon equal suffrage as an issue began to fill the sky and now we know that a great change in political life is upon us Old things must pass away all things must be renewed in the light of the undying principles of American liberty We have now a respectable number of precedents on the lines which I now advocate The section that we have in hand is taken bodily from the organic or-ganic law c an adjoining state The case of Wyoming is peculiarly instructive instruc-tive Its natural resources and topography topo-graphy are similar to our own Her gapY wealth and population are inferior and in respect to educational facilities and popular intelligence we may perhaps per-haps claim an equal precedence according ac-cording to the United States census But the point of importance is that Wyoming legalized womans suffrage during twenty years of the territorial government preceding statehood On the eve of statehood the governor gave public testimonials jof the highest character char-acter in behalf of < the ffiiimey and value of womans enfranchisement He predicted that It would be incorporated incor-porated into the state government And It was so Incorpor vt d notwithstanding notwith-standing at one point of the I > oce dings d-ings In Congress relative to Wyoming statehood there came an opportunity to carry the measure n case the woman suffrage feature of their constitution con-stitution were eliminated Senator Carey wired the Wyoming people telling them the circumstances and r J > y 7 asking if they wished statehood on condition that equal suffrage be changed to male suffrage The Wyoi ruing popple replied that unless women were admitted to equal suffrage they preferred to remn a territory In the end the objections to the equal suffrage suf-frage feature were overcome and hence we have the section before us ming as a part of the organic law of Wyo Equal Suffrnpre in Wyoming Under date of March 23 1895 Senator C D Clark of Wyoming writes concerning con-cerning equal suffrage in that state as follows So far as the operation of the law in this state is concerned we were GO well satisfied with twenty years experience ex-perience under the territorial terrtorIal government govern-ment that i went Into our constitution with but one dissenlng vote although many thought that such a section in our constitution might result in its rejection by Congress I it does nothing else i fulfills the theory of true representative government and in this state at least has resulted in none of the evils prophesied It has not lowered womanhood I has not been tho fruitful source of family disagreements dis-agreements feared Women do generally gen-erally take advantage of the right to vote and vote intelligently I has been years since we have had trouble at the polls quiet and order in my opinion being due however to two causes the presence of women as well I as our very efficient election laws One important feature I might mention and that is that in view of the woman I vote no party dare nominate notori I ously immoral men for fear of defeat by that vote Regarding the adoption adop-tion of the system in other states I perhaps am not qualified to judge but I see no reason why its operation should not be generally the same elsewhere else-where as it is with us It is surely I true that after many years experience Wyoming would not be content to return I re-turn to the old limits as in our opinion opin-ion the absence of ill results Is conclusive con-clusive proof of the wisdom of the I proposition because in theory at least the plan is right As to Colorado As to Colorado Senators Tejler and Yolcott say Women bring to the exercise of the right of equal suffrage an intelligence fully equal to that of the male voter One of the apparent results of the j presence of women as participators in i political mabters is that political parties par-ties must exercise greater care than I before as to the character and standing stand-ing of nominees for office The presence pres-ence of women at the polls is looked upon as < an undisguised blessing and I the question as to whether the right I of suffrage should be bestowed on women should be again submitted to tihe voters of Colorado it would be I carried in the affirmative by a far greater majority than i received a year ago Principles and Precedents in Utah I Te same expedient has been resorted resort-ed to in Utah to prevent equal suffrage suf-frage that was tried in Wyoming Ve are told that statehood will be im perilled by it that a widespread fear prevails that with the franchise restored the old overwhelming force would destroy the present equality of parties and awaken a terrible trmpta ton on the part of those who ruled before be-fore to resume their sway by working upon the generous imoulsfs and religious re-ligious instincts jf women which would result in political if not social and business ostracisii of the minor ity I cannot beli3e that this fear Is so widespread as the opponents I of equal suffrage would havE us believe I seems to mo impossible that it can be so but even If there were such a fear it is utterly groundless and without with-out justlfi ation if any people ever gave evidenc flf pitulne sincerity in their political conduct the majority of the people of Utah have unmistakably demonstrated the most unfeigned sincerity sin-cerity in their division on national party lines To say that women would be swayed by i their impulses and religious instincts is to insinuate insinu-ate that they are either lacking in intelligence in-telligence or wanting in integrity Our opponents expressly disclaim the former form-er and we emphatically deny the latter lat-ter terThe same apprehensions that are said to exist concerning the women could just as well prevail with regard to the men and general distrust would be the result indeed they were so entertained till events proved their I utter falsity I you believe that my wife cannot be safely trusted with the I ballot do you not also believe that it is unsafe In my hands And if not I why not She is just as solicitous for the public weal a I am and could not I do a wrong to society more easily than her husband Is it not a fact gentlemen gentle-men that the objection is fanciful or to say tho most that could be said is it not sentimental rather than real This fear is idle and futile The suspicion sus-picion is unjust The women of Utah exercised the privileges of electors for seventeen years and I have Set to learn of a single instance in which that sacred privilege was abused The franchise was not taken away from them because they were deemed unworthy un-worthy or unfit for the trust but for other reasons which have long since ceased to exist The least we can do is to restore it in the constitution Experience Ex-perience has shown that new responsibilities responsi-bilities carry with them the determination determi-nation to fit ones self for the new duties imposed As opportunities have been afforded to women to acquire the higher branches of education and become be-come learned in the professions they have embraced those opportunities Their minds and characters have responded re-sponded to their enlarged opportunities opportun-ities and they have shown themselves as capable of independent thought and action as men So it will be in the new state Women will qualify themselves them-selves for the duties of citizenship and they will think and act from their cwn trained intelligence They will perform per-form their mission as vital members of the state with as high a degree of wisdom and prudence and certainly with no less integrity than men wih integt So I say that 1C the price of statehood state-hood Is the disfranchisement of one naif of the people if our wives and mothers and daughters are to be accounted ac-counted either unworthy or incapacitated C incapaci-tated to exercise the rights and priv leges of citizenship then however ieges precious the boon may be It is not I worth of the price demanded and I am content to share with them the disabilities of territorial vassalage till the time shall come as i will come in the providence of God when all can stand side by side on the broad platform plat-form of human equality and equal 1 rightsXor Nor n Menace to the Home I Is claimed by our opponents that equal suffrage Is a menace to the home If I believed that rather should my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth and my hand forget Its cunning cun-ning than that I should say or do aught to promote it I yield to no man in love and veneration for the p home I believe with the supreme court of the United States that the sanctity of husband and wife const tute the greatest solace of human existence istence But I believe in the home where husband and wife are equal where they are companions partners If you please in the labors and cares and joys of life I know that such a home and family can exist without the impairment of a single womanly attribute at-tribute and that greater happiness is thus attained than by preserving the old time distinctions of the spheres of the sexes Neither men nor women can know their true sphere till there is perfect freedom to both It is said by our opponents that women wo-men are better than men and therefore there-fore they ought not to have the franchise fran-chise I have heard this argument used if argument It may be called a great many times but I have never yet known a woman who folt complimented mented by the statement that she was too good to exercise the same rights and privileges as a man My exper E C Contlnued Page 6 c o i > < < = QUESTION OF SUFFRAGE Continued from Page 5 > fence and observation lead me to believe be-lieve that while they seldom aspire to 1 superiority they deeply appreciate the recognition of their equality and that equality we are bound in honor 1 to concede There is a world of meaning In the woids of that bright woman who said Women need justice as well as love It has been said that women do not want to vote This may be true of Borne women but no one can truthfully truthful-ly deny that the majority of the women wo-men of Utah demand the suffrage To say that some of them do not desire to vote Is no argument because there are some men who do not care to vote but no one would think of depriving de-priving one man of that privilege because be-cause some other man did not prize it There are women who are dependent depend-ent upon their own exertions for support sup-port and they should have the aid and protection of the ballot to help them in the struggle for existence even though some of their more favored sisters sis-ters do not desire it Womans Intuition It Is claimed that women are more likely to be governed by impulse than by reason I do not believe that such is the case What we call intuition in woman is oftentimes the very essence of reason She arrives at conclusions quicker than man but her conclusions are nevertheless correct She reaches the truth at a single bound while mans man-s clumsily striving to reach the same result by a slower process of reasoning reason-ing Wny is this It is a scientific rtruth that her nervous structure is arranged ar-ranged with more density and compactness fitted for receiving pac + ness and is better ceiving and transmitting vibrations with certainty and swiftness than that of man Intuition has a mechanism in physical organism of the nature of toer e a ier delicate electric plant By it she is brought into closer relation with aerial aer-ial Intelligence than her duller companion She is never finally deceived panion the for she is in direct relation with subliminal soul and receives the inspiration In-spiration of the divine spirit Why then should not the intellectual endowments en-dowments be utilized in the councils Sf the state and her womanly Inflenee go forth for the welfare of society Surely no one The minority say desires a return to the contentions of past Certainly not and least of the ni the women But why should equal aU suffrage produce such dire results If the division of men eta national party lines has been its own vindication in she f production of harmony and good wil among the male element of soci will similar ety why should it not produce among women and cause them results know and appreciate each other to better They will undoubtedly align themselves with the great political Demo LarHes Even now they are parties crats and Republicans Populists and IProhibltionists No reasonable man believe that the women of Utah cart listened to the political discus knave without of the past five years sions convictions and taking sides forming friends great contest No my 1n the danger is unreal and if the imagined shall ging disaster we Instead of presaging confident turn our eyes to the light faith In human nature renew cur heart help purpose of with true tonavStanttcoated evils I feel from avert r SU Depths of my soul that no the very the Ifm To do this is r evil duty will as I ever conceive come of every citizen of TTtSh How much better such a course Utah their rIghts because i than to deny women to cherIsh a fear that choose cause we come I do not believe in evil may doctrine To do wrtmg i jesuitical such rIght is never may come ood ma good that remains but the The wrong always It is only by fidel comes I good never conscience and right that we ity to to maintain selfrespect and can hope state the welfare of the promote believe in an exPediency not I do departure from the counsels a that remedY a pos to order in Ses right It is too closely sable wrong of tyranny l1ment the argument tyranny allied to requires a fuller view of But thiS Argument From Expediency t > ike In the best sense and In ExpedIency broadest form is the highest wIs 1 the statesman and that expediency d ° SL of the equal suffrage at our w asks w pediency quires the use of Expediency 1ands means that circumstances will the best for the highest and truest ends supply attained under the conditions that can be There are abso ditions principles that prevail at the foundation of Kins as unchangabl PS These are JS1 adorns of mathematics There ate the attained in the pro f ideals to be Mt t perftl TwonJs evolution We are of the ceSS JraSe those approximating after age age But the whole course of progress ideals is beset with failures and imper gress defective Implies s section Progress CJ J 1 U C Q V 0 I i c r I J f conditions to start with Knowledge I and experience customs and habits laws and institutions are all to be acquired ac-quired by the race in its onward march There has been no stopping place for I society from the beginning At every stage there is a better and truer beyond be-yond If absolute principles have been enunciated in the past it is the work of the ages to incorporate them into laws and to embody them in social life Hence it is only as proposed measures meas-ures are expedient under all the circumstances cir-cumstances broadly considered that they should become laws In a barbarous barbar-ous state of mankind it would he in vain to commence with free institutions institu-tions of any description for such institutions in-stitutions are only adapted to a people of advanced intelligence and experience experi-ence All such savage tribes will provide pro-vide for themselves various forms of absolutism and chieftainship until they are prepared for something better But passing by the consideration of barbarous bar-barous races and remote times I call your attention to the present state of civilization and to the people whom we represent What is expedient for I Utah and especially what is expedient with respect to the electoral system I that we are about to pass upon I claim that the section that we have in hand will reflect in its adoption the highest expediency on the part of this convention Sovereignty The first thought to which I call your attention is the most comprehensive of all that enter Into the complex notion of governmentI mean that of sovereignty One of the most acute foreign writers that ever philosophised on American institutions De Tocque ville says Vol 1 page 36 of his Democracy De-mocracy of America Whenever the political laws of the United States are to be discussed it is with the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people that we must begin Beginning with that doctrine we inquire what sovereignty means In an organized governmental form whether that of monarchy aristocracy aris-tocracy or democracy it means the supreme pow T of the state In our country as iie basis of our government govern-ment sovereignty lies in the whole population the entire citizenship of the country Says Jameson in his excellent excel-lent work on constitutional conventions conven-tions page 26 having previously discussed dis-cussed the question of sovereignty In the general discussion of sovereignty in the preceding sections that power has been supposed to reside in the body politic comprising the whole population popula-tion of the commonwealth without distinction dis-tinction of age or sex Says Pomeroy in his Constitutional Law page 5 The sovereign power consists in the collective collec-tive will and in the faculty of wielding and disposing those forces which obey that will The constitution of the United States begins its preamble with these words We the People All other constitutions of the American union plant themselves upon the same conception either in the same words or in words expressing the same meaning mean-ing They all assume that the supreme power resides primarily in those human souls into which the Creator has breathed the breath of immortal life But what is meant by the people to which all these definitions and constitutions consti-tutions point We know of no higher authority than Professor Franklin H Giddings perhaps the foremost writer in the United States on sociology He says in his work on The Theory of Sociology page 22 How is it with the theory of the state Political science sci-ence finds its premises in the facts of human nature The motive forces of political life as also of economic life are the desires of men but under another an-other aspect They are desires no longer individual merely and no longer a craving for satisfactions that must come for the most part in material forms No they are desires massed and generalized desires felt simultaneously simul-taneously and continuously by thousands thou-sands or even by millions of men who are by themselves simultaneously moved to concerted action They are desires of what we may call the social mind in distinction from the individual mind and they are chiefly for such things as national power and renown or conditions of liberty and peace Transmuted into will they become sovereignty the obedience compelling power of the state Society is an organism or-ganism and recent writers coming in even later than Spencer the most notable perhaps Professor Lester F Ward in Pshychc Factors of Civilization Civil-ization all teach that the central force of society Is the social consciousness conscious-ness will and intellect There is a social so-cial mind independent of any Individual mind and it is this social mind that constitutes public opinion popular sentiment sen-timent and national sovereignty This social mind writes its will in statutes laws and constitutions but when the social mind changes as it does from age to age the laws grow obsolete the constitutions are framed anew or abandoned aban-doned and the forms of government c e > < = c 1 r > < thus superceded fade away into shadows of the past But the social consciousness the fountain of sovereignty sove-reignty is ever renewed with the vigor of eternal youth With this exposition of sovereignty as the social conciousness and will of the people we are prepared to appreciate the solemn and I may say lamentable significance of a doctrine laid down bi Mr Cooley in his Constitutional Limitations Lim-itations page 40 He says When we say the sovereignty of the state is I vested in the people the question very naturally presents itself what are we to understand by the people as used in this connection What should be the correct rule upon this subject it does not fall within our province to consider con-sider Think of it Here is the foremost fore-most constitutional authority in the world perhaps who declares that if does not fall within his province to state the correct rule Presumably what he does give as the general rule of the states is not the correct one The rule that he gives is as follows on the same page As a practical fact the sovereignty is vested in those persons per-sons who are permitted by the constitution consti-tution of the state to exercise the elective elec-tive franchise Certain classes have been almost universally excluded ith woman from mixed motives but mainly perhaps because in the natural relation of marriage she was supposed to be under the influence of her husband and where the common law prevailed actually was in a condition con-dition of dependence upon and subjection subjec-tion to him Here you have gentlemen gentle-men of the convention in language true and clear a statement of the rule actually obtaining in the framing of our state constitutions in general with respect to the greatest of all facts entering en-tering into the structure of government govern-ment that of sovereigntythe social consciousness and will the voice of God in the human soul It is noble of this great author to say that he does not propose to state the correct rule that it is no part of his work to say what should be The truth is the rule that he gives is the rule that we have followed hitherto in most of the states and that rule is a lie and a fraud on the Declaration of Independence Indepen-dence and on the original constitution of human nature by the Creator and it is usurpation and tyranny over one half our population many thousands of whom are independent wealth creators cre-ators and taxpayers in Utah and in all other states of our union Shall we perpetuate this injustice Shall we give further sanction to a perversion so vital to the fundamental principles of our free government I have shown that on the score of principle we have no warrant for such an unjust and inhumane In-humane discrimination I have shown that our best and truest precedents are now pointing the other way I now wish to conclude this head by showing that the highest expediency confirms the logic of principles prin-ciples and precedents Woman the Conservative Power The sovereignty of human aggregates aggre-gates gathered together as they are Into nationalities over the earth is the region in which the Infinite life manifests itself and in which the purpose of the Creator and the destiny des-tiny of nations are wrought out Whatever happens to a nation is the result of the nature and conduct of its sovereignty its mind and will as an organic whole We know that the nations of the past have all faded into sepulchral gloom They live only in the annals and ruins that mark their oblivion We can now see how fragmentary frag-mentary and partial their national life was And if we are hastening onto on-to a similar fate the central cause of our danger ds that our real underlying underly-ing sovereign life is not truly represented repre-sented in our government Permit me to illustrate The forces of the universe uni-verse are all correlated There is no element of force or atom of matter that is lost or wasted All are renewed In some correlated form It Is in this view that universal nature becomes perpetual Were forces or substances lost the world would run down and become extinct In a way somewhat similar the two halves of human nature na-ture are correlated and ito restrict the sovereign functions of a nation to the will of one half its inhabitants is to injure such a partial representation and correlation of the social consciousness conscious-ness that imperfection and failure must result The testimony of scientific scien-tific investigation is that with the establishment of the family even ins in-s rudest dorm carne the idea of property pro-perty There could otherwise be no conception of the need for property and consequently the value of it With the family property originated and with the family government took its rise All through the ages women have been the conservative power that has prevented nations from being wrecked into fragments The home and the family ihave always been < the Sheet anchor of prosperity rather than the cabinet and council The destruction + destruc-tion of nations has largely resulted because its councils were divorced from the home life from the people at large from the social consciousness conscious-ness There was no correlation and Interaction within the central source the powerthe sovereigntythe popular will I am bold to say that within the aggregate mind of the disfranchised half of our population in these United States there are elements of reserved power that will prove invaluable tour our national security and prosperity We have laid hands upon the sacred ark of God and stricken down half Its potency for our welfare and in the end we could not do otherwise than eap disaster Why should a nation fail except that it falls into discord with > itself and how could it do otherwise other-wise so long as only one class of its population embodies its sovereignty So long as women in the past have tacitly consented to lie represented by the other sex here has been rn excuse for unequal rpresentation But now that millions of tax paying women in the United States aslt to form part of the actual and visible sovereignty it is but just and right to enfranchise them and by every principle of truth and liberty it is unjust and tyrannical to refuse them this endowment In this view and from the deepest sources of our national life I claim that the highest expediency and the most profound statesmanship enjoin upon us the clearest measure of justice jus-tice under our boasted free Institutions institu-tions If we cannot see these things there is no need of sunlight if we cannot can-not do them there is no need of conscience con-science and a sense of civil obligation The Argument From tIle Progress ot Civilization The ideas of religion of life and destiny were revealed to men through the Bible and other inspired writings and that the Ideals of philosophy those that appertain to thought and being were made apparent to such thinkers as Socrates and Plato and those of the far east who preceded them as also those who have followed them as guides and luminaries of the human intelligence These have been stars in the firmament shining in the midst of twilight intelligence if not barbarous darkness and ignorance Aside from these meteoric displays of religious and philosophical knowledge the race has been for thousands of years emerging from conditions analogous anal-ogous to those of the lower order of animals This is the testimony of secular history and the organic sciences sci-ences A few thousand years ago men and women lived in the most abject savagery sav-agery These conditions still prevail in some regions of the earth In all such places brute force holds supremacy supre-macy Might is right and moral perceptions per-ceptions are based on the sway of physical force and brute strength The survival of the fittest is the survIval sur-vival of the strongest It Js the reign of force horn and tusk knife and club these are the symbols of power and sovereignty in the early stages of human development whether those stages exist now or have been superseded super-seded by ahigher order of life In the outset of human progress woman is subordinated to the selfishness selfish-ness passion inhumanity and brutality bru-tality of man His life is mainly muscular physical sensual and brutal His reason and affection are undeveloped unde-veloped Woman because of her motherhood is incapacitated for the shock and struggle of physical supremacy supre-macy hence in the early stages she is in thralldom > to her brutal lord In the writings of travellers we learn that even recently in some barbarous regions the suitor for a wife could think of no other charm than a club with this he would lie in ambush and when the object of his regards came within range he would spring from his lair strike her a stunning blow carry her off to the tepee and ever after hold her in such subjection to himself as his nature and passions would dictate dic-tate Even in this rude barbarism we have the beginning of the family the dawn of the home the inauguration inaugura-tion of the idea of property the inception incep-tion of government for government is but the growth of a rude and barbarous bar-barous family into a cluster of families fami-lies with the adjustments and improvements im-provements that naturally arise with the increase of knowledge Therefore while written history and formal government indicate considerable consider-able advances in human progress they both point backward to a period of brute forces a supremacy of physical might in which woman figures as a slave to the superior powers of mann man-n the other hand in the very nature and essence of progress we find a remedy It is this That in the process pro-cess of evolution the motive powers of lifethe desIresrise from mere animal impulse and instinct to such a V + 1 r as are more rational and intelligent That is as mans mind develops he is i governed more by reason and less by force His affections grow more enlightened en-lightened and spiritual He becomes more humane kindly benevolent and philanthropic He grows naturally more and more into the perfect life The Christian principle is native to the human soul and ito realize it man must grow from the brutal into the spiritual Hence progress as a process pro-cess rises more and more into the psychical nature of man for its motive mo-tive power Progress brings the race under the control of the law of love and benevolence Our laws and institutions in-stitutions grow more humane We provide more amply for the poor We provide educational facilities for all Freedom enlarges her sway liberty grows broader and more generous Nations submit their grievances to arbitration International law and comity prevail In a thousand ways the world comes under the control of the higher and more spiritual affection affec-tion and intelligence of the human mind This is the process and tendency ten-dency of progress The Mother Love Now from the standpoint of the most advanced science we may affirm af-firm that the key and clue to all this progress humanity benevolence and altruism is found in the female instinct of motherhood affection In the brute world we find the mothers love for offspring stronger than the Instinct for self preservation This fan f-an unfailing passion throughout the whole course of organic life whether brute or human This is natural altruism altru-ism or mother love and in Christ it broadens out to include the whole human race As nations progress become humanized Christianized they are drawn more and more into the altruism al-truism of nature the motherhood principle prin-ciple of the race Men may feel reluctant re-luctant to make the acknowledgement but it is true that in proportion as outlaws out-laws institutions and social customs become humane and philanthropic in that same proportion they conform to the instincts and affections that are naturally and historically characteristic characteris-tic of womanliness and motherhood It was through this channel that the creating love and charity first flowed into human nature and thence into all human social relations We may say therefore that humane and benevolent benevo-lent progress is essentially womanly and has its origin in motherhood altruism al-truism This principle in its development develop-ment will give us educational institutions institu-tions charitable foundations a larger brotherhood in social relations a more vital cooperation in government As I have already stated a nation 5s an organism and has a will and intelligence in-telligence peculiar to Itself it is an enlarged family Government is a species of housekeeping It is equally true that all modern ideas of government govern-ment such as are given in the Declaration Declar-ation of Independence locate the source origin and foundation of government gov-ernment in the whole membership of the household in the several individuals indi-viduals that constitute the family Monarchical aristocratic and class government gov-ernment withdraw from the membership member-ship of the family An elder son or child of fortune usurps authority over his kinsman In this country ithe principle of family government has been adopted in theory to the fullest extent We the people is the formula for-mula for the beginning of all government govern-ment The only question is Shall we adopt our own theory and put it Into practice That we should do so in Utah and all over the United States is the logic of the situation It is the lesson of the past the hope of the future An Alarming Type Moreover our civilization in its wealthier centres is now exhibiting a type which is really most alarming and which in my opinion can only be remedied by enlarging the sphere and functions of woman so that she will be vitally connected with the real and substantial interests of society I mean that among people in the great cities who are in possession of all the accessories of wealth where true civilization ought to be the highest and most refined there it is already a comparative failure Women are absorbed absorb-ed in fashion frivolity vanity display and the thousand trivialities that render ren-der life frivolous and worthless They have no part nor lot in the real work of society they are utterly ignored in the substantial realities of industrial civil and political life and being thus driven to the delusive shadows of opulent vanity they become the moths and butterflies that float about in the halls and parlors of palatial mansions and air themselves at watering places the creatures of caprice and weakness the gaudy glare of ill gotten wealth under our lopsided economic system This is the wealthy excrescence of H I our civilization As long as womans sphere is divorced from the realities of civil political and economic life we dare not become greatly prosperous asa i as-a people Because under such circumstances circum-stances wealth leads to destruction Such people do not perpetuate their own species and if they did and if suoh progeny should become numerous we should become a race of dudes and vanish from the earth in pure disgust dis-gust What is necessary in all such cases is that woman should become a real helpmate for man a companion In the highest and truest sense of the word She should share his knowledge know-ledge his toils his cares his pleasures and his sorrows God made her to be a companion in the fullest sense of the word He gave her intelligence and sympathy and intuition for such companionship and man destroys his prospects for human progress by making mak-ing her a creature for his vanity and an instrument for his selfishness I repeat again that we dare not become prosperous until both women and men are put in a way to learn and be educated edu-cated by the great realities of life political and social and so long as men pervent the plans of the Creator they will reap failure and dishonor Value to the State Only recently women have been permitted per-mitted to enter the professions and the business walks of life and while this has been beneficial to the women and has made them more independent and self respecting it has at the same time tended to purify business and add to public life an element of brightness I bright-ness and cheerfulness We all know something of the Influence of the woman I wo-man nature in a mining camp When composed of men exclusively it soon recedes backwards into rudeness profanity pro-fanity and vulgarity and oftimes drunken and bloody fatalities Let I the scene and a woman come upon transformation soon takes place Men I become human loving selfrespecting and courteous The better and higher I impulses of life are encouraged and the mining camp puts on the air of respectable and orderly society Is any man so dull as not to perceive that what is accomplished here in a little mining community would be of inestimable value when put into operation opera-tion in the state and in the nation at large Government is simply national housekeeping and we must be very has blind not to realize that woman peculiar gifts for housekeeping She housekeeper and home is the original maker s Out of her very life and in she made the her deepest sympathies Some she guarded the little Inmates through her the little of the home about bunch of chattels was gathered the home and if she Is given a chance Godgiven and he will do a noble she In and perfecting the part in purifying national household Right and ExpedIent Because it is Just pedient Therefore I reaffirm that equal suffrage should be provided in the constitution frage because it is just and right stitution and and because it is in the highest expedient I know that a best sense of the members of this convention majority concur with me in this belief vention that a majority of the people I know Utah entertain the same view and of assured that it will be incorporated I feel so organic law The corporated in our constitution wIll be adopted by the will be admitted into state people our Union equal suffrage will prove he Utahs brightest and purest ray of the in star It will shIne forever glorious galaxy as a beaCon the immortal light on the tops of the mountains beckoning our sister states and territories terri-tories upward and onward to a higher civilization and a fuller plane of measure of civil and religious liberty |
