The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-12
The Political Rights OF Women.


The Political Rights OF Women.
Editorial Correspondence of NJ. Y Tndenend.n,
beyond my expectation, have found in the
west ripening and fruit-promisine thought.
tuiness on the question Of the political rights
Of women. 1'0
any man supposes that the discussiop Of
Suis question IS confined to few writers and
speakers, radical in their views and consnicu.
VuS In thelr minority, he does not discern the
signs OF the times. The claim of woman, as a
citlzen, TO possess the citizens franchise; the
duty OF popular Government to acknowledge
this democratic right; the pecuniary necessities
Oh great mulhtudes of American women, to whom
the elective franchise is the only hope of multi
plying their employments, and of increasing
their wages; the public need of woman's direct
and personal influence on political opinion and
civil adnIinistrstion-all these and many other
branches of one and the same central subject
are now eliciting the attention of nearly all the
intellectual women whom have had the good
fortune to meet in the West.
Of course, tastidousness. prejudice, and
iashlon deter many excellent and wellmeanlpQ
ladles from giving, as yet, serious thought to
question which is to occupy public attention in
the future as the question of slavery has occu.
pled IL IN the past. Many pers onS who are not in
the habil of treating other grave subjects with
Ldlcule, treat this with an unpardonabe levity.
buJ let these testing critics remember the great
army OF women in this country who are forced
to struggle for their daily bread; let them re-
MEMBER the poverty-stricken mothers of father
less children; let them remember the dependents
sisters OF half million slain soldiers; let them
remember the hosts of needle-Workers, who
nave now grown so numerous as to reduce their
own wages TO mere plttance; let them remem-
Der the school teachers, whose slender salaries
are disgrace to the system of free schools: let
them remember the daily increasing throng of
young women who, either IN stores or factories
either by one employment or another, are earn
ing Just enough money to make them feel that
they are earning none at all. Such solemn and
sorroWful facts as these-seen by all ewes eXcept
those that are wiltully blind-ought to make
the great mass of well-to-do American women
attentive rather than frivolous towards pro-
posed remedy.
Whether or not women ought to vote is
question on which women, like men, may en-
terta1n diverse opinions. But whether or not
women ought to have a wider range of en-
pigments, and higher scale of wages, is a
question on which neither any humane woman
or man can generously hold dissenting view.
Thee purest soul and the farest body with
which God has honored human nature He has
awarded to woman. 1t is pity, therefore, that
so many true, good, and heroic American
women are hardly able to keep soul and body
together.
man has hundred chances for earning a
living where woman has one.
This is neither generous nor Just 1t is a
is this moment working keen cruelty-nay, a
bitter agony-to thousands of the noblest
daughters of the republic.
am not speaking at random. Here in the
WeSt-where nobody is idle-where all men and
women work. have listened to many an ap-
peal from indefatigable women, saying, "God
forbid that we should complain of our work;
but is there no device by which we can earn
better payW met lady In Iowa, teacher eff
Greek-a woman with more brains than Queen
Victoria or the Empress Eugenie-and yet
klav
profession were forty dollars month. met
the most respected and capable woman of
Western town, who having suddenly lost her
husband, and having three children to
support, told me she knew not whittier to
turn for livelihood; and she wept in
despair. These two instances are types
of two great elasses-the class OF under
paid teachers, and the class OF dependent
widows.
What is the remedy for each? Shall we ipdict
the Board of school-trustees for not paying a
res pectable salary to the teachers? No. The
question of salary is not a question of gene
4 roslty, but of business. Shall we make u chari-
table collection for the widow and her babes?
\ No. A sensitive woman will not consent to live
\ on charity; or, if she will, she cannot find
charity enough to live on. The remedy for both
cases is 10 open the gate to wider field of con-
genial and remunerative employment; so that a
teacher, when teaching fails to command good
market, may find in something else better
reWard so that the mother of a family, If sud-
denly made widow, may, with reasonable
- eXerllOn, achieve Selt.earneu IlVe1n0O0.
Now does any silken-clad lady, rocking in q
velvet chair, exclatm, What hinders this teacher
u from seeking already better-pald occupation?
or what hlnders this widow from opening
already what door she will? Then, madam to
speak frankly, let it be said that the hindrance
i is your own unsuspecting self-your blindness
to the necessities of your own sisterhood-your
UNCONSCIOUS contribution to public sentiment
which crowds dependent women into the mar
" row circle OF a few standard occupations, under
III the penalty, il such women venture outside of
these of suffering loss OF caste man may
81 choose to be banker, or choose to be me-
chanic; and yet, alter either choice, one never
thinks of saying that he has either gained or
lost caste. But it makes prodtgious difference
in public respect whether woman lives at ease
on her husbands income, or whether she cuts
and fits dresses to earn her children's bread.
am sorry to say that women are more
aristocratic than American men. Now, OF
course, it is better for a woman to have money
than to have none; it Is better for q woman to
have position than to have none; but let q
woman who mas money and position, and be-
longs to aristOcratc circles in the East, come
and soiourn while in the democratic circles
of the West and she will soon be washed clean
of the tainted assand-caste notions with which
her money and position may have contaminated
her mind The truest democratic equality
e. which l have ever seen in any community
whether between nan and man, or between
Dwoman and woman, exists in some of the com.
munites of the far West The spirit of equality
strtkingly pervades not only Western men bu
Western women. And 1t is on this beautiful
base the prediction which lately ventured IL
& these columns that the first State of the UnioI
40 achieve the political equality of the sexes will
= he q State west OF the Mississippi-I mean Iowa
In the chief universities and colleges of Iowa
-already the most radical State in the Union,
hot