| Show REPLY TO WOMAN SUFFRAGE A communicated article on woman suffrage appeared in 1 the he editorial columns of a morning paper a few days dais a ago go on which wo we ha have ve been requested to made some remarks narks the article was well written though it contained nothing now new in argument but was waa free from that ridicule rid icele and those puerile platitudes platitude a which are usually to be found in the fusions ef eff batons of opponents of the political enfranchisement of the fair bair sex the article is very tory lengthy length and thA therefore requires some space to give it anything like a detailed reply the writer offers the following objections to woman suffrage we give them in a condensed form but so as to convey the gist of thew them fully and fairly first government belongs to mar map and for this he is appointed of god and qualified by nature second the right to vote should be given only to those in circumstances aces to vote independently women ar are under the dictation of their husbands husband and therefore should not have the lan f franchise I 1 third the true unit of government is in hot the individual but the family fourth if women enter politics poll ties and acar aca independently the unit in government will be divided against itself if husbands and wives vote together then the family will cast two votes instead of one and party results will remain unchanged fifth giving women the suffrage would introduce an uDe uncertain ertain element into IBIO mat is 18 when an issue was wae involved that was of particular ir interest terest to women they would vote at other times they would not the first objection here urged to woman suffrage is in under our republican form of government an argument in its ita favor if government belongs to man and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed then to deny to women a voice in the choice of those who are to govern mew in un republican fratic and a manifest injustice observe this is a question of political government let it not be confounded with government if men are to govern politically women should have the suffrage that they may give their consent to the government by ex expressing ng their arc choice oce 0 of the 0 men n aw who 0 are to 0 govern them nationally and locally the he objectors s references to the list flat of the almighty in the beginning and to pauls doctrine that man Is the head of the woman as an christ is the head of the church are very unfortunate for his argument for god gives to woman her choice of a husband a head to rule over her la in the family and therefore she should have a similar choice as to her political rulers in the state moreover in the church both men mein and women vote on an equality on all matters and persons relating to the government of the church and by parity of reasoning the same rule should prevail in the state the second objection would deprive all men of the suffrage who it might be alleged are not in circumstances to act independently 71 every young man of age to vote who to is still under his fathers oversight is subject to the mime alleged dictation 1 as an jbv mother but in a gov government emment of the people where the secret ballot protects every voter this assumed dictation 12 would cut no figure it does not follow because a man la Is the head of the family that he Is i to dictate hit his wife in her religion or her politics or her opinions on any subject any mor ethan in her food or her thoughts the dictation of woman in any of these things is out of place in a free country and in an argument on human rights the third objection is a political heresy the matu matured red luli individual vidual is the political unit in a popular government if the family to is the unit ther then all the sons who are unmarried after they are twenty one years af f age and remain members of the family should be de barred from the franchise for it to is claimed that the husband and father casts his vote not for himself alone but for his wife and children however pretty this notion may be as a matter of poetic sentiment it to is not correct in political practice for the male voter as is well known goes to the polls for himself and not for an another and be casts but one vote whether his family numbers but on one or ft a score while if he voted for a family justice would give the family man more votes than the single man inal and they proportioned to the numbers of his hi household if the matured sons may vote each for himself why may not their more matured ri mother iother exe the same privilege for hersell her seli then there are numbers of women widows and otherwise who sire are themselves each the head of a family on the rule that the family la Is the unit of government every woman in that position ought to exercise the elective effective fran franchise chike if a woman creaks the law jaw the bust husband and does rot cot go to prison forber for her sue Is judged as a member of the body politic if the Is ie to obey the law as an individual she ought to have an individual voice in the making of the laws by voting for the lawmakers there Is no such euch thing in the abe nation as an family suffrage it Is IB individual suffrage and a woman woman Is in an individual as an much as to a roan mant the fourth objection to is based on oil the third and goes down dorn with it all the argument as aa to the abe dividing of the family unit or the doubling of the votes vote il applies equally against giving sons the franchise who remain in the family after becoming of age Dt in the family circle la Is not a bece necessary gaary result of individual franchise practice in this thia territory for fifteen years and in wyoming up to the present time proclaims that women may exercise the suffrage in their own right as they exercise their religious lobs freedom without any serious results either to the family or to society prognostications of evils to come if a woman should be permitted to cast a ballot are not argument they are only guesswork and further women can be and many are enthusiastic republicans or democrats without the franchise giving them the right to put a piece of paper in a box will not be likely to alter their nature or disrupt the social foundations or the family structure and there are millions of women who have no husbands to differ with on politics politic why should they be denied the suffrage be cause someone fancies that voting would cause wives to quarrel with their bu husband fifth the uncertain element in I 1 already exists and it has ham not net been introduced by woman suffrage men do exactly what it is olaf claimed mod women omen would do if they had the voting power when an issue is involved that specially interests men they flock to the polls in large num numb berr erp when they are not so interested hosts of them stay away what of it if the objection urged is an argument against woman suffrage it is an argument adaina man suffrage Antin an n nc ertain certain element in politics eh what are the certain elements in poli politick tich As to women shrinking from elements that are uncongenial how much worse to is it for a woman to go the polls in it a civilized country and deposit her ballot than to crowd into a theatre or a circus or a racecourse race course or any ged public assembly and why should there be an election so conducted that any ialy could not with perfect propriety go to the polling place and exercise her sacred right of frala chist what is thereabout there about such euch a ar proceeding ele ding that is unwomanly or repulsive p ul there are men who seem to think it quite womanly for women to wah the their r dirty clothes tut but very unwomanly wom atily to put in a bux box a piece of clean white paper stamped with the names of persons she wishes to act in the public ser service vicel I 1 As to whether women would purify polities or not it dees nut nu matter we do not exclude any class of men from the suffrage because they do not purify politics that politics would degrade woman if she had the right to a mere and made without sufficient ground for women discuss political matters t now and it does not degrade but elevates them some of the noblest women citizens in the land arminter are inter ested in politics and are yet denied the right to say who shall govern them while the most ignorant brutal and degraded male citizen wt 0 has scarcely any right bonc conception eption of the principles of government can cast a ballot and at the same time a sneer at woman suffrage all the th homilies homilius ho milies about women at the fireside and in the home are a waste of words because the simple right to a voice in the affat affairs ra of government as one of the people as one of the governed as a citizen of the country is not incompatible with the most tender and sacred relations and duties of the wife and mother and it does not necessarily involve and rush to the hustings or the forum P or any struggle for place or power but is simply a right if the f franchise mn chise to is to any body a right withheld from at least one half of the people in a government said to be of the people and by the people and for the people 1 who are thus governed without their consent and when they have property ahre are taxed w without phout representation sen tation this is tyranny and injustice according to the fundamental principles of republican ind and there to is not a single argument raised against the political enfranchisement of woman that is not equally applicable to certain classes of men and ae does not thereby furnish its own refutation |
