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Show JiiXOEITY REPORT ON SUFFRAGE. We surrender our editorial space this evening to the minority report of the committee on suffrage. It is arj important im-portant paper, upon an important subject sub-ject and the questbn with which it deals is to play a very important role in the future of Utah: Mackintosh, Kie3el and McFarland presented the following minority report re-port on the woman suffrage question, which was ordered printed and referred to the comoiittee on the whole. "The minority of vour committee on elections and suffrage regret that they feel it a duty to disagree with the majority ma-jority of the committee on the question of woman suffrage in. Utah, and beg to present briefly their reasons for such disagreement. "We do not seek to dispute in the least the argument that in all intellectual intel-lectual attributes and attainments women are quali tied to vote asinielli-gently asinielli-gently as men, except that women are better than men; they are ruled more readily by their eympalhies, impulses aDd religious convictions, and do not realize as much as men that law is an arbitrary and impartial machine and Knows neither impulse norisympatby. But conditions are presented to us that never confronted a people betore. The masses of the people of Utah haye only juet begun to study seriously the principles of the government of the United states and the duties which pertain to citizenship. They have been reared in a school which taught a sincere allegiance to a local government govern-ment and in that allegiance has been woven an absorbing affection and pious devotion. It is hard for a woman's wo-man's nature to swiftly change when her sympathies and sense of duty have long controlled her in her particular par-ticular channel. 'Again it is but a few years since the congress of the United Stales thought it necessary to withdraw this privilege from the women of Utah, because in the friction between the nation and the ruling power in Utah, the sympathies sympa-thies and devotion of the women, all bending in one directum. In the judgment judg-ment of congress made it necessary to take suffrage from her in order to begin be-gin to place this territory in harmony with the union under the laws. "A widespread fear prevails that with the privilege restored, the old overwhelming over-whelming force would destroy the present equality of partiee vhich always al-ways leads to confusion, if not tyranny and awaken a terrible tempation on tbe part of those who ruled before to resume their eway by working upon the generous impulses and religious instincts of women, which would result re-sult in political, if cot social, business ostracism of the minority. ! "This reeling is not on : t...-! vu, uut it awakens deep apprehensions and forebodings throughout through-out the nation at large. "Aa a people we are poor. We need the strong arms and the capital of the more thickly settled portions of our country. "To adopt the report of the majority will be to keep both away until the unnecessary un-necessary experiment snail be tried, liut it is not on selfish grounds that we int.firnosfi this rennrt. Wn arA Inciting not only to the prosperity, but to the future peace of this region. Surely no one desires a return to the contentions conten-tions which prevailed here only seven years ago. As true citizens, none of us can look forward with anything but apprehension to the possible placing plac-ing of the entire power of the government govern-ment of the new state in the hands of a power in our midet which might easily, under statehood, become omnipotent. omni-potent. "We are reminded of the pledges of the respective political platforms. We do not forget them, but we remember likewise that all platforms are changed from year to year and we are forced to take cognizance of the fact that a most decided change of thought haB been wrought on the people of this territory on this particular subject since they began to seriously contemplate the possible results of the carrying out of the will of the majority of t.e committee. commit-tee. "Why not permit the question which is making so much unrest in the thoughts of men to be held in suspension suspen-sion for the present? "With the adoption of the constitu tion, a legislature will speedily be convened, con-vened, the members of that body will come directly from the people. Why not leave the question to them? "We respectfully oppose the report of the majority of your committee, and recommend that the suffrage of women be kept out of the constitution." After such a plea as the above we cannot see how the convention can possibly refuse to let the matter go over for the consideration of some future legislature which, with the added experience of a few years in the union, they would be enabled to adjust ad-just with a broader chance of serving the interests of Utah better. It is true there is a big majority in the convention conven-tion in favor of the suffrage aiticle, but that is no sound reason why the article I must go in. When majorities cease to be tyrannical they should Le omnipotent, omni-potent, but not till then. Give us a few years experience with statehood before calling upon us to decide such a question as this. Let the fair ladies of Utah not be in too big a hurry. The cause of the just never goes out of date, never passes the limit, and it can be taken up any time. |