The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-08-03

WIZ Hhupn, tucii ploNS anu OnlccS, 10 pass
time at the polls2 Is it a credit to ma,,
to be called a professional politician DO
pursuits ofmcn in the world. to which
they are directed by the natural aptitude
of sex, and to which they must devote
their lives are as foreign from political
functions as those of women. TO take an
extreme case there is nothing more in
compatible with political duties in cook
ing and taking care ofchildrcn than there
is in digging bitches or making shoes. or
in any other necessary employment, while
in every superior interest of society grow
ing out of the family, the stake of women
Is not less than men and their knowledge
is greater. In England woman who
owns shares in the East India Company
may vote. In this country she may vote
as stakeholder upon a railroad from one
end Of the country to another. But if
she sells her stock, and buys house with
the money, she has no voice in the laying
out of the road before her door, which
her house is taxed to keep and pay for.
And why, in the name of good sense, if
a responsible human being may vote up
on specific industrial projects, may she not
vote upon the industrial regulations of the
State. There is no more reason that men
should assume to decide participation in
politics to be unwomanly than that wo-
men should decide for men that it is un-
manly"
The position of woman in regard to the
common schools of the State is the most
absurd and unjust that can be imagined.
She must always be the chief instructor
of the young in point of time and inhu-
ence. She is their best teacher at home
and in the school. And her share in this
ever expanding work is becoming vaster
every day. Woman as mother, sister,
teacher, has an intelligence, a comprehen-
sion of the educational needs of our youth
and an interest in their development, far
in advance of the other sex. She can Or
ganize, control and teach the most diff
cult school in the State yet she has no
vote in the selection of teachers, the build
ing, arrangements and equipment of
school-houses, neither in the method and
extent of instruction. She can pay her
share of expenses of schools, but can have
no legal voice in their management. She
can teach, but she can have no vote in
determining what shall be taught. She
is the very cornerstone of an institution
which she has no lawful vote i'll shaping.
Suffrage alone can carry woman's equal
right and privilege into the district school
And especially let us have her open, avow-
ed and public responsibility and co-opera.
tion,-always safer than indirect inhu.
ence-always more honest and efficient
than kitchen cabinet.
This subject is one that promises TO en-.
gross the thoughts of this generation, and
it will be agitated till in the progress OF
events the right Of woman to vote will
not be questioned. This result is just as
certain as it is that in the end the cause
oftruth ever triumphs.
We believe that woman, married or un
married, was made to be the companion
Gilman and not his mere servant that she
has the same ri ght to control her proper.
ty that he has to control his that she ha,
the same right to aspire to any occupation
profession, or position, the duties Of which
she is competent to discharge, that he has
A right is worth nothing without the pow
err to protect it. The ballot alone can dc
this.
When the black man of the South wa,
made 4 free man, the ballot was givel
him as the only sure mode Of protecting
his freedom and the equal rights freedom
conters.
And we should glory in seeing Yer.
mont, first of all lands, accord to woman
her equal rights before the law, and in.
vest her with their only sure safeguard
the right Of suffrage.
After abolishing human slavery, the
next great conquest Of the United State,
over wrong and error, will be to take wo.
man from the feet Of man and place hci
by his side, invested with every right and
privilege Of her present ''lord and master
that the law can confer. And in this i,
involved his highest. interests. Whatev.
err will elevate her will elevate him. That
they rise Or sink together all history
shows.
The form of an article of amendment
to the constitution is appended, the adop.
ton Of which your committee recommend
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES REED,
H. HENRY POWERS, conn.,
Montpelier, July 9th, 1869.
Proposed Art'cie Of Amendment on JVo.
men Suffrage
ARTICLE No. -. Hereafter womer
shall be entitled to vote, and with nc
other restrictions than the law shall inn
pose on men.