Buchanan County bulletin and guardian. (Independence, Iowa) 1866-1869, 1868-12-04

The call for two days meeting in Boston
this week to discuss tie questions relating
to woman's political and social position. is
IN the highest degree proper and timely.
The day has gone by for treating these qaes
tions with ridiculc or with silent contempt,
Woman as worker, woman as a voter, who
shall say that there are nyshere more seri-
oas topics than these, or that any are more
pressing for consideration? We have adj
mitted to the ranks Of factory and shop la
Dor during the past ten years an immense
number Of women who had before been de.
voted to domestic labor aoae,-and we are
continually adding 10 that number. In the
more intellectual kinds of work, such as
teaching, clerical service, editing. writing.
lecturing-tLe change has been equally
marked. In trade the change is lesc pe.-
ceptible, but still important: and its effects
are showing themselves in all directions
There is a greater activity in the minds O.
women. greater diversity in their condi
tioa, their aspirations. their powers.-,hey
are drawn mere directly into the whirl oi
busy life, and their interests are wider and
less purely domestic than formerly. Tbesa
are good results, and there are plenty OF he
other sort. There is more unrest and disan
po D,ment. mere domestic urhanpints
more freedom OF morals, more feminine vice
and crime. Marriage is held in less esteem
while The respect for viryini,y is By no means
increased, there are more divorces. MORE
s-duciions, more of the social evils Fool,
ish perssns, fixing their attention npon a
few of these results, are shocked and fright.
cned. and suppose that the world is erowius
worse: on the contrary, it is only pursuing
its development. Aud one stage in that de-
yelopment is TO be the admission of women
TO an equal share With men in the govern,
ment OF the country.
Women are going 10 vote Ia Massachusetts
before many wears they are going to vote
in Some other states before they do here. and
all over the country before the end OF the
century. That is our prediction, and there
will not be half SO many to pooh>pooh it as
there would have been ten years ago if We
had prophesied that nee eroes would elect
members Of Congress in South Calolina in
the year ls6s. Aud now that we have SAT-
tied the conclusion let US look at the arpu.
ments. This is a country where the will
OF the governed theoretically determines
what the government sail be- Practically
we have not yet arrived at the enforcement
Of this theory, for we have only beyun TO give
the colored men 'sright to vote, and have no.
where collected the suffrages Of women eli,
ther white or black But if the FIELD hands
of Alabama are TO vote, shall not the wives
aud daughters of New England have the
same privilege? If not, why not? 1t is
idle TO say that they will not exercise il as
judiciously. or thst they are not as well fit
ted for it; or that they be more under the
control of others than the negroes are. Ey.
erYbody would be as willing to submit his
life and fortune to the decision of quarter
of a million Of white women of Massachu
sets. AS to the same number Of black and
yellow men in South Carolina, Georgia and
Alabama. Why then should no. women
vote? We say that they should, although
they are BY no means Of our opinion. Prob,
ably less than a third part Of the women
even in Massachusetts would say they ouch,
10 vote, or would have cast ballot il they
had been allowed one at the late election.
And one object Of the Boston convention
should be to pusuade women that they ought
to wish to vote.