Litchfield enquirer., 1868-11-26

tofore to this great reform. Regarding the Convention held last week in Boston, it says
 The friends of female suffrage seem at last to have got upon the right track. The convention infusion of a new and more conservative element, was much more dignifed and prudent in it's pro- ceedings than those ln which the important ques- hon has hitherto been discussed. 1t could also boast of several distinguished converts from among those not hitherto identified with the cause. Among the men was Senator Wilson, who made q good and practical address. L..
 The best speech of the session was made by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, ,chO had hitherto opposed tcon,0rs sgfrage ore the ground that aeelr tndoasty to peJo'na ndudry service t1ds sa.ttcsem reason tOr Neir not g0ttrlg Mrs. Howe: who IS probably the most highly educated, as she certainly is the most brilliant of American women, did justice to her logical m hayng M n"s that h n It lies at the bottom of the suffrage ques- tion whether for man or woman. The logical con sequence of placing the musket ln the hands of the negro, to place the ballot box there also. If man owes his life to his state, as every male citizen does, the state in return owes him share in its and his own government. This is, we be- heye, the whole question of suffrage in nutshell, so far as it regards free, self-goyerning, demo- cratic community. Till the mlenium arrives and it surely will come one day, we fear it IS yet very
 far of, the question of force as the ultimate ap-
 peal lies behind all government. It is that, con-
 ceal it as you may, upon which all government rests. In the good time coming, this will not be the case and it is possible, we are willing to be- ieve, that female suffrage If the women can get around this obstacle, will hasten this blessed time.
 We think. with the Palladium, that this is the most serious objection to woman's suffrage. Nor are We satisfied with the usual answer, that in war time women la bor and suffer equally with men. Un- AL f,so 1o of can show that woman renders service to the state peculiar to her sex, equal to the mili tary service usually rendered by man, she falls short of the right to be considered equal before the state. We think she does render such service:
 Whdt man sufe,'s in bearing arms Co pre- sesce tbe state, IS mora than counter -balanced by csm tconsdn sufers in beoring children 10 preserue the state
 This statement is not founded on guess work. Aside from what woman has endur. ed in bringing the thirty millions of our present population into the world, it is sus- ceptibIe of proof that by the time the last of our war-stricken generation have gone down to their graves, more of it's women will have died in child bed than of it's men on the battle field An examination into such statistics of mortality as we have at hand, especially of the volume of 'Mortali- ty and Miscellaneous Statistics" of the last U. 5. census, shows that one eightieth of all deaths reported are those of women in child birth and in the fever resulting there- rom Of the women dying between the ages of 20 and 40, one eighth die in child bed. In thirty-two million deaths, fol- lowing the usual proportion, 400, 900 would result directly from this cause. The highest estimate of those killed or dying of wounds on both sides Tn the late --ruar ,rill-nnt axnaaa ;f nm, serves us, 200, 900; this estimate will allow another war to our generation as severe as the last, before the special risk ot its men on behalf the state will run us high as that of its women. If it is argued that more men die of disease resul ting from the hardships and overwork of military ser vice than of wounds, is it not true, also, that more women die of disease resulting from the hardships and overwork too often incident to child-bearing, than die in child bed? Our census tables show far higher rate of mortality among women of the child bearing age than can be accounted for by the deaths set down to the above cause, but which undoubtedly result indi- rectly from it.
 It Is coincidence worthy of note that years of a mans life during which the law requires military service (from IS to 45) cor respond almost exactly with the period na ture and usage have fixed for child bearing among women. Among the population, therefore, enumerated in the census of 1860, the capacity to render either of these spe- cies of service will have entirely ceased about the year 1905. We have already estimat cd the number of women of that census, who will by that time have perished in child-bed; but We should count on q great increase from the increase in population. In his preliminary report on the census of 1860, Mir. Kennedy estimated that our pop ulation would exceed one hundred millions in the year 1900. Putting fiat even eighty millions, the increase of deaths among women for the cause under consideration. could hardly fall under 300, ,OOO, making th total deaths in child-bed> in this country from 1860 to 1905, not less than 700. 900! This exceeds the highest estimate of death, occasioned,on both sides, by the war of tn, rebellion. In less than forty years. there. fore, the women of America will have no;d oil mefr war debt. During our generation the havoc of war has been great bevond former precedent or future expectat;on. what shall We say, then, of the peaceful generations who ivel and died between 17S5 and 1860; who, we believe, are to live and die after 1868, in Union that has been proved impregnable?
 Taking generation with generation, there fore the American female sacrifices. her life for the good of the state far oftener