The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-11-26

- 80 &
.1As Neg ysskHsss1 r. - 49, = -
male sa9Id ), - al 3, go -, ~
question q iassl1,shea, sspa vhlGA ~ -
frarchissnsnt q soaersaksulg hiasss; thas'
is, whssher, viii al ~ - 1so~l ), vonsa
would sxssriss the privilege Of he slsetiEs
franchise uspreisl;Ssd saas~ish = thorosef
undsrstaadisg n lhsir duties = electors"
And il The incrsasisg iaaliintioa Aad isciii-
ties for the education Of women, 4 augurs :
future in which vo6sn ~ havS tAe ballot
and intelligence fsr it, viss ass.g his opm-
ION is, we apprehaad, based on . nisconcep-
ton. So far ftom shs question 81 woman
suffrage Ringing upon confederation of her
deficient intelligence, wsssenturs to say that
not more than oas in hundred Of the most
pig headed .mascstue opposers Of that suf-
frage rests his oppositiono on that ground. Il
is always noticeable that the persons most
fearful Of .Negro Suffrage ana Negro
Equality" are, for the most part, mean lndi-
viduals, whose chief claim to superiority
over the negroes are ,hasthey can vote and
the latter cannot. So there may be Quilps
and stupid dolts who assert their masculise
Intellectual sapefiorisy over vo.ens and the
assurance Of thst self~aAertion il propor-
tionate to their infefiofisy 10 any woman 10.
absolutely idiolic. But not fifty sensible men
in the United States base hostility TO female
suffrage primarily upon the ground tina. wo-
men don't know enough to vote. In its ca
gerness to Gnd !, in the result Of the suffrage
vote in Kansas, an argument against negro
suffrage, tbs World conArues that vote in
consequentialy.
Female Suffrage failed in Kansas; it would
and will fail anywhere in this country, be-
cause women have not demanded lido not
demand it. No Acknowledgement comes as q
graauny. II must be extorted. De Tocquc>
vile says, in substance, that when nation
begins to extend the suffrage, 1t cannot stop
short Of universal enfranchisem mt. But
there are always two elements IN that pro.
duet. Development 20 invasiahiy involves
counter activities, that Herbert Spencer finds
The secret Of the Universe and the Philoso-
ply Of existence 10 those unceasing antago-
nisms which he Gala Evolution. Enfrsn-
chisement comes out Of strife between th.
enfranchised and the unenfranchised. The
latter must claim before the former ever give.
The resultant conservatism and radicalism
are the conditions OF the growth Of popular
rights. There have been successive extern.
sions Of the franchise in England. and al.
ways the same old bitter struggle. The effort
OF the New to get in, and the effort of the
Old TO keep the New out. And the new
heavens and the new earth are no, made
from Order, but always from Chaos. So, az
ter all its former experiences, the recent ex-
tension Of the suffrage could not be made in
England, until the body polite was in con-
vulsion. changing of cabinets, monster mass
meetings, threatened riots, hootings at Males
~ and Msjesty's most obedient conservative
lscquies, not until the unenfranchised got
thoroughly in earnest, and then suffrage was
conceded.
This being the rule, it was not to be ex-
pe"ted that Female Suffrage would carry in
Kansas. The class for whom it is claimed
do not claim it themselves. II there be one
thing more certain than another, it is that the
great majority Of American women do no,
want to vote. They would not vote il they
had the right TO do so. Il makes no differ,
ence why this is SO. To our mind the reason
of 1t is, that nine hundred and ninety-nine
out of every Thousand Of women and men 10
this country think it nnwomanly for woman
to vote. And, thinking so, they do not want
to put the ballot in her hand. It;sn't, as the
World suggests, the matter of intelligence, i.
is the matter Of dehcacy and womanliness
upon which this question hinges
Doesn't everybody know that if American
women would become earnest and unanimous
in demanding the ballot that they would get
it, with never the question mooted rs TO their
fitness for its intelligent use The time NAV
come when they will be so cares, and so
unanimous, and then vpu will certainly have
female suffrage. The subject Of negro saf-
frage is differently conditioned Thet is a.,
ready established, is exercised and demand
ed by the freedmen themselves, and its com
pete establishment is necess,ated by funda-
mental political principles inherent in our
democratic theory Of government.