| Show WOMAN IN IH POLITICS POLITIC 3 THE north jorth american to for tor r august contains the previously advertised verti bed sed article from the pen of dr william A hammond on tho subject oct of woman in politics poll poil tics bics 2 Y from the reputation of the writer in another sphere of uee ube usefulness ulness we were led to expect something uncommon in his promised literary effort the position which ho he endeavors to establish ta blish is that woman la Is unfitted by grave anatomical and physiological peculiarities hosul for taking tating pa part rt in pub lic affairs ehst chills Is in effect that chois bhe ehe Is constitutionally unfit to hold office or vote at elections after a careful examination of hia facto and arguments candor compels us ns to tossy say that he has completely failed in his purpose in opening dr hammond coni con 1 descends to an undignified attack on the originators of the movement in favor of lomana rights which he heis heia Is compelled to admit has led to bene hone floiad reforms like the following at the present tl time me sho bho cn can tico we medicine almost anywhere in the civilized world several roil reil religious alous denominations permit her to expound their faith some bome of the states of the union admit her to ta the bar and one territory gives her judicial powers her right to work in any field of labor bhe eho my may select is granted her person arnd annd property are as well protected by the law as those of man she has all the rights and privileges necessary necea sary for her material and mental prosperity and ahe bhe is not required to serve inthe in the militia or the posse comita I 1 to sit bit on juries or to take her turn at the tho pumps of a sinking ship these being as admitted the re suits balts of the work of those agitators for the rights of women we think the D doctors attack on en them pa aa short haired women and long haired men and impracticable fa natica in very bad taste and quite inconsistent with the outcome of their labors but nut let us consider the arguments brought forth by the learned doctor the first is that the governing power of the world is to be ba found in the brain brala of mankind the average male brain is found to weigh about forty nine nino ounces and the average female brain about forty four ounces showing a difference in favor of the male brain of about five ounces exceptional brains malo maio or female do n nob not ot of course figure prominently in the argument but it 13 shown further farther that thattie th atthe the anterior portion ot of the brain comb comprising rising tho the frontal lobes lobea in which the highest intellectual faculties unties reside is much more developed in man than thau in woman in the average malo brain compared with the average female brain th the e convolutions vo lations are more Int intricate e and thore there la is bome some reason for ball beli believing lovingly not enough however to warrant nt the positive assertion that the gray cortical matter of the bra brn brain in of corresponding parts of the two sexes la 19 thicker in man than in woman and the gray matter Is falato sald said to bo be If especially concerned in the tho ovola tion of mind all of thia is ia in tended to show that both in quan city and quality the brain of man is ia superior to the brain of woman it is in next argued that woman la Is guided more by reason that she bhe Is ia emotional r nd and imitative more than reasoning and original that she jumps at conclusions and if asked for her reasons give rive su sueh buch ch as are irrelevant or insufficient thai ehe bhe judges as ehe feels rather than as aa she thinks and therefore she is wanting in judicial mind now kow admitting all this for arguments sake bake what doea doaa it amount to in establishing the post tion that woman should take no part in politics simply this As a rule ruie woman is to pc antiona requiring the exercise of strong ner nea reason renson son bon sound judgment purely intellectual process and argumentative menta tive force that she is ia not nit fit fitted for the gubernatorial chair the judicial bench the head of an alt army or other public 0 office ce requiring force of intellect d disinterested sinter binter ested judgment llo lio and enlarged views of pub ho policy in other words it means nothing moro more than that women v as a a class ares are in these respects in th the e bame bamme condition as a large number of men but would dr hammond r attempt to argue that all emotional men nil nii men with brains below a aln ain oie olg certain rt calibre all fill men who are unable to give valid reasons for the conclusions at which they arrive s should be denied the suffrage sin bin gul gui gulatto gu larto arito bay say the only example which ho gives ol 01 a person who arrived at just conclusions but could only give reasons for an east easi indian judge whose fd decisions on points of law and equity always commanded respect till he gave nis nib reasons masons for them and then they appeared to be ridiculous 3 this is lust just ost the situation with dr hammond himself whatever respect might be entertained for his general opinion that woman is unfitted for fon politics politicos as soon goon as his reasons are given for fon such an opinion they are axe the poor cat we have ever been seen advanced among the many untenable and ridiculous things spoken and printed against comans womans political nights rights rj gats dr hammond considers that the conferring of the tho franchise upon women ought in common justice to carry with it the right to hold hoid any office for which she bhe might have tho the privilege of voting that is sound bound enough the two rights ought torun to run nun together but when hear he argues gues a that because she Is ia foz tor cel certain tain offices in the git alft of the people bhe sha ought to be ineligible for all and be deprived of the right even ev en to voie voto for sor men to fill nii them his hia reasoning is very unsound for it leads to injustice and would be quite as applicable to the majority of men as to women only a few men are fit to be go governors vernon J judges commanders of mens meus men or to nili fill any high position in the gift gitt of the people nut nat this j does not argue that they should hold no office whatever or Ahat they are unfit to v vote ote fo for tor men who rne are fitted and capable dr hammond admits that there are many offices the functions of which are of a clerical or routine character for which she la Is admirably qualified and which therefore sha bhe could nill nili with advantage to hercell and to the public and yet with singular ency denoting in dr hammonds Ham monds monda brain a small email proportion of the gray mat matter ter constituting the cortex or a deficiency in the intricacy of the convolutions the depth of the or the specific gravity odthe organ he argues that the revolution which has taken place and advanced so far as to give woman a sort of restricted suffrage contrary to the ord ordinary luary course of procedure ought to go backward in other words she should not be allowed to take any part whatever in politics As wo we have shown the reason advanced by dr hammond for the exclusion ot of women from any part in public affairs would shut out the great majority of men so 80 it is with moat of tho tile arguments that are brought forward by those who are opposed to woman suffrage frage euf many of which are far moro more plausible than those contained in the august number nummi ber of the worth amerlean american review acoman A woman citizen is part of the body politic us na much as it she were a man in 1 a government of the people by the tho people and for the people she has as clear a right to a voice in publia public affairs As far as tho the law Is concerned she ought to be politically free an educated white woman should at least be on a a p political Il equality before the law as an ignorant black man if she Is for certain positions in n the nation so are many men and this should not exclude her from legal any more than personal unfitness in men and there is no reason that can bo be advanced from Ana anatomy tomys physiology political economy or common bense sense to prove that lin in a gove government rement Ilke like ours citi z ens zana ns who are amenable to the laws should be de barred from any voice in the mailing making or execution of the laws directly or indirectly indice 0 alys solely on account of sex bes it never has bee beeh brought forward it never can be b es because it would be against tr truth uth justice and consistency just like tho the present unsound reasoning of dr W V A hammond |
