The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-10-26
The WOmnn,a Parliament.

l
thing practical and at least prospectively
beneficial will result from all the vague, wild
talk and misdirected, wasted energies Of the
advocates of those women's rights which all
honest men, except Horace Greeley, are now
! inclined to recognize. Hitherto so much
irrelevant matter has been mixed up with the
discussion of rights to which intelligent white
women have certainly as strong claim as
| stupid negroes 80 much nonsense has been
uttered at private tea tables and in public con-
| ventions, and even well-intentloned women
have wasted 80 much time in vainly beating
the air and blindly cropping in the dark after
they knew not what, wearying the public ear
with incoherent speech and gadding about
the country like restless, idle gossips, bitterly
and too truly, but somewhat indefinitely, COM
planning that ''women have been repressed,
oppressed and protected until there is very
little energy or individuality left among
Them" in fine, so Intellectually have ''the hens
tried to crow" that it is relief at last to hear
less uncertain sounds from women's rights
woman, so called, than those which had almost
exhausted our patience.
At the second session OF the Women's Parlia-
ment last Saturday, in Packard's Building, one
eloquent speaker, Mrs. Croly, hit the nail on
the head by insisting upon the right of woman
to just payment for her labor, to less
restricted field than is at present open to her,
and to a provision by law securing to wives
an acknowledged share in the income and
voice in the disposition that shall be made of
it. She declared that nine tenths Of the
women are absolutely dependent upon the men
for the bread they eat. ''This destiLution of
women is not because they do not work, but
because their labor is not acknowledgement
other words, is not paid. Women as wives
work harder than the members of any other
class or profession, and yet are precisely in the
condition of girls bound out. They get their
board and clothes, and no more; they have no
acknowledged share in the income, no voice in
the disposition that shall be made of it. This
is necessarily the case so long as no provision
is made for wives by law. The ballot would
help this if women were Independent enough
to make the best use of it; but with their
present ignorance and helplessness it could
not very materially better their condition 1t
would not furnish them with means of livelihood
any more than it does men; it would simply
remove one of their disabilities. The great
fact will remain that they are and must be the
mothers Of the human race-that this is the
highest and noblest Office in the world when con-
scientiously and religiousy performed" Such
is the substance of Mrs. Croly's remarks, which
offer temperate, sensible and definite
platform of woman's rights. According to this
platform the only remedy for the actual state
of things is that women shall render them
selves Independent of marriage, and demand
certain conditions with it, the primary one
being share in the income and legal right
to the disposition Of it. ''This provision would
make marriage more desirable to the best class
of women. 1t will make intelligent women
more desirable as wives and hold them to
stricter performance of duty" Surely it is
encouraging to find that the duties as well as
the rights of women are to be taken into con-
sideration by our modern reformers.
At the meeting in Packard's Building resolu-
tons were adopted declaring that there is at
the present time an imperative demand that
the influence and intelligence Of women should
be concentrated into moral and suggestive
force and brought to bear upon all legislated
subjects of interest to themselves and their
children-inviting for this purpose the women
of New York to organize themselves into
council, which shall be united with similar
councils throughout the country, and propos-
ing that these various associations, by their
delegated representatives, shall constitute a
Women's Parliament, which shall be the recog-
nized channel of womans opinion upon every
subject which has to do with her life and we'll
being. The women of this city are invited to
meet at two o'clock next Saturday in order
to form Woman's Council. Thus the
woman's rights movement has taken new
point of departure, and it may yet lead to
something better than waste of words.