The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-10-27
HAVE THE PEOPLE VOTED 2

The dispatches every few days come
to us announcing the triumph Of this or
that party in some portion Of our
country. Speeches Of jubilation are
made, paeans Of rejoicing are sung, can
non are fired, bOnfires are lit and otherex-
pedients resorted to to celebrate the vic
tory. The appeal has been taken TO the
ballot box, and the people" have re-
turned the verdict! What libel, when
one-half of the citizens of our country
are denied the right to vote, and when
consequently not one of that number
has the chance to pass an opinion upon
the questions at issuel
Come with US, reader, and take sur
vey of the voters around the polls at
election. You see the professional poll
tician, the willy attorney, the wealthy
merchant, the devout clergyman, and
last but by no means least, the sturdy
workingman. They are here to-day to
protect, each in his own way so far as in
his power lies, his own particular, indi-
vidual interest. Who will say on such
an occasion as this that the ballot has
no power? Yonder workingman feels
that he is the peer of any in the land.
He can deposit his ballot, giving eX-
preston to his wish as to who shall hold
office and frame the laws, and the mil
Honaire can do no more. Should he
have wrongs to redress he will remem-
Der them here, and woe to the candidate
who has incurred his displeasure. How
assiduously he is courted by the party
kings, and how politely and affably is
he treated withal Let those who say
the voting power has nothing TO do
with the regulation of wages come and
take items. Suppose you this laboring
man, holding the grand birth-right of
freedom in his hands, will deposit his
vote in favor Of any party or candidate
interested? And do you further sup
pose that any party or candidate, know
ing that this wOrkingman-the type of
the great mass of our voters-holds in
power the political say-sO, will run
counter to his wishes?
Having suggested these thoughts in
reference TO the workingman, let US
now turn to the workingwOman. But
you will look in vain for her here to-
day. Toiling for half pay day after day,
there is for her no grand court of appeal.
The iron grasp Of the employer may
grow more merciless still, but she is
powerless. She casts no vote; she helps
make no laws; she has no govern
mental voice. She is a mere machine.
Her work may be in every respect as
good as that Of the wOrkingman, vet it
is only paid half as much for, for it is
merely the work of a machine. See
you not here the great reason Of wom-
ans inequality of wages
And now, why has not this working
woman voted to-day as well as the
workingman? Has she no rights to
protect, no wrongs TO redress, no kind
nesses to remember, as well as he
Does she not need the protection of laws
in the making Of which she has some
voice, as well as that the workingmau
should be enabled to insert i'm our stat
utes provisions favorable to his inter
est? But perhaps you say this work
ingwoman's is an exceptional case.
Behold the haggard faces of thousands
of her sisters, toiling for remorseless
taskmasters-the factory girls, the
seamstresses, and the multitudes i'm
various other employments-their re-
muneration but n pare pittance scarcely
sufficient to keep body and soul to-
gether, and then reflect that upon the
earnings Of many of these women de-
pends the support of aged parents or
orphaned brothers and sisters. Have
the "peOple" voted while this vast army
OF toiling wonderland them not only,
mt every woman throughout the land
mas been denied the elective franchise? ?
some day, 'rhen the people do roto,
ana That day has nearly come. there
VIII oe general renovation of our
ia"s anu customs. Equal paw for equal
"orh VIII oe as readily accorded the
Workingwoman then as the ,vorl-;,,o,
man now. Speed on the GOOD ,i,,s.
coming when the women of o,,r oc,,,,..---
shall no longer be powerless, wbe1
they shall no longer be mere machine
but the free, independent, resnonsiI1l
beings their Creator designed tba,.
should be-