The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-09-29
WOMAN SUFFRAGE AND ITS ADV0-
GATES,

that paper OF recent date iull Oh tne
most outrageous Misrepresentation.
Many opponents of the Woman Suffrage I
falling TO find any reasona-
BILE argument against it, resort to the
cry of "Free LOvel Free love % The
contributor to the OrcgOnian is one Of
the worst type of this class. Hear him;
In this State, as well as almost every
state of our Republic, the question OF
Woman Suffrage is being agitated, and Il
with arguments the merits OF which
cannot be gainsayed. Every man oil
reason admits that woman IN her pres
ent state is in condition OF practical
seTvitude, and while many, almost All
oppose granting the ballot to her some
being ruled by one reason and rs many
by another, they see no feasible plan by
which Justice can be done to the purest
and noblest half of mankind. The
strongest argument we know against
the Woman Suffrage movement Is IN the
principles put forward and advocated 6y
prominent woman suffragists of the
United States. We have been permitted
to read the RerOlutiOR, WOOdhmU q
Cydfin's IVeeEIy. The Golden dgc, The /
Christian Union, THE NEW NORTHWEST, 1
The Pioneer, and other periodicals adj
vOcating this political change. Almost 1
all Of these papers hold forth the most |
corrupting and anti-religious social ideas
possible to be advocated.
That is Il pretty good mixture, to be I
sure! Coupling the Christian Union and
WoodhuH d Cidfin's Weekly together
Phobus, what mess of fish The next
thing this verdant speciment Of obsolete
antiquity will do will be 10 charge lread-
er, we intend no blasphemy, but cannot
spare the comparison) that Jesus Christ
and his Satanic Majesty are going about
together seeking whom they may de-
vOur
He also gravely informs us that Theo-
dore Tilton is a Congregational minister
tone who has as great an influence in
the Church as il is possible for one man
to exert" etc. Now won't it be news to
our Unitarian Bro. Tilton that he Is a
minister, and a COngregationalist at
that? Indeed, Mr. IT'S ideas about the
identity Of men seem about as obscure
rs his ideas on Woman Suffrage.
He then proceeds TO give some garbled
extracts from various sources which we
do not propose to consider, for the SIM
pie fact that the great army of noble
men and women who have espoused our
cause are not responsible for the peeul-
/ iarities or idiosyncraeies of n few of
their cO-laborers. We suppose this cor
respondent is member of either the
Republican or Democratic party. Would
he deem it fair play for us to quote the
views and opinions of a few ultra, OBJ
noxious politicians of the party to which
he belongs, and then insist that he and
every other member of his party ncccs-
sarily indorse those views and opinions,
and that his party's success would event
uate in their permanent establishment
and incorporation into the institutions
of the country?
In closing, however, he threatens to
show from our columns that we advo-
cate what he calls "Freeloveism." Ex-
actly what he means by this term we do
not know. IL is used with different in
terpretations by different authors. II i
not i'm the dictionary, and we can only
arrive at its meaning by taking the def
nitions of the two words "freer and
Glove and putting them together. Ifby
it is meant the free and unrestrained
intermingling of men and women with
out regard to law, order or dccency, then
: does this correspondent utter a SANDER
/ upon the fair repute of the Woman Suf-
] fragists of America which can emanate
, only from an ignorant brain or corrupt
! ed heart. We DARE him to produce
: anything from our columns in the slight
. est favoring any such odiOus doctrine.
: This charge of ''Free Love" is "stop
2 thief cry uttered almost universally by
those who know that their propensity
to indulge their unbridled passions
l would be summarily destroyed when
{ women hold the ballot. Docs woman
/ only remain pure and virtuous because
= man makes the laws? Not so. She
stays pure and virtuous in spite of il.
This fact is attested by the thousands OF
struggling women who every day wend
. their way to and fro from cherries toll,
rewarded by pay so scant rs to be hard
! " sufficient to last from one day to an
other, past palatial dens Of infamy which
are licensed and protected by the legis-
lation of men. When these women have
r the right TO vote and thereby protect
Reconsideration the terrible tempta-
tions which cause very few to fall
, from the pinnacle of virtue shall he re-
moved by a chance for fair race i'm life
when they can command i'm the worlds
market of labor equal pay for equal
work-will these swomen, We repeat,
. then consent to institute and make world
wide the very sin whose attractive and
delusive destinations, Haunted in their
faces every day of their lives, they have
successfully resisted when stared in the
face by poverty, hunger and often death ?
Our views upon the marriage and di-
vorce question have been so clearly and
distinctly given in these columns that
r the ''wayfariRg man, though a fool,''
r need not misinterpret them. There
should be no such thing as divorce. The
marriage state should be indissoluble.
f That is the ideal. But, as there is moth
p ing Perfect ON earth, ideals are not what
we have to deal with, but with practical
4 realities. Ii Is too sweeping TO say that
there should be no divorce, but on the