The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-09-29
THE BULLBTIN TO THE RESCUE.

two takes scare and backslides, and 1
so, like the pendulum OF a clock-or to |
use more pertinent illustration, like
Mrs. Money Of the Beacon " vibrates
back and forth. Its last scare was oc-
casioned 10y its contemporary of the
OregonidH coming out boldly and above
board, with no ''ifs'' or lands, " in favorof
the ballot for woman. 1t comes to the
rescue Of failing mans rights cause
and details what it thinks must inevit-
ably happen to women when they hold
the ballot in the following frantic
style:
For women to vote it will he necessary
for them to begin at the beginning of
campaigns, rs men do. They must at
tend the primaries, sit i'm conventions,
take part in caucuses, and join i'm all the
various phases and machinery of our
political system. Everybody knows
that TO ensure the nomination of good
men for office the primary elections
must be managed to that end They
are the roots from which spring the
campaign trees that bear the fruit of
election. And the voter on election day
has simply TO vote for whichever Of the
competing candidates he prefers-he
cannot, in the broad sense of the term,
vote for whom he pleases-at least with
any efficacy to his vote, unless he casts
il for one or other of the regular NOM
inees.n
Now, if all these things necessarily
attend the possession of the ballot, and
are degrading in their influence, why
not disaTm man of the ballot as well as
woman? ~
To any who are eOnversant with the
manner i'm which our system of politics
is conducted the idea of the presence
and participation Of women therein will
be distasteful and abhorrent-out of
pure respect for the sex.
Oh! spirit Of chivalry, that takest of
thy hat to woman with the most defer
ential bow, that doth most calamity
make haste across the street to pick up
her handkerchief, and then payeth her
half wages for work, how consistent art
thou Thou that pervadest the church,
the social gathering, the theater and
the ballroom, that permeatest every
where in the society of woman, how
hath thy glory departed when we come
to the polls
Woman not welcome at the polls
We warrant that the pure and good
men of our country would attend the
polls thrice as punctually and willingly
as they now do were their noble wives
sisters and daughters there.
At such scenes the bold or the ba,
would attend, perhaps; but we imagin,
few of the good or the gentle and modes
could be brought to engage in the "filthl
pool"
Already the influence of bad womel
Is felt i'm our elections almost as much n
if they had the right to vote, while tina
of good women is not. Would the pur
and virtuous women of Portland, wer
they allowed the right TO vote, stay a
home and let their sOiled and fallel
sisters elect a city government tina
would license debauchery and intern
perance?
They must attend at the polls; the,
must run for and hold office and sit il
Legislatures and in Congress; they mus
serve on juries, practice law, take thei
place upon the Bench, and do all else il
public life that men do.
Hold on, Mr.. BuUctin; not so fast
Surely you would not compel women +
do all these things. They might be re
quired to serve on juries, but you woul
not absolutely thrust Office upon womai
if she did not want it, would you? Tha
would be almost as bad as depriving he
of any chance to vote or hold Office a
: all. No wonder the Bulletin is oppose
to giving the ballot to woman, if, a. Ii
seems TO think, every woman must, i
order to vote, necessarily perform som
public duty or hold some office Of publ
trust. Why, there would have to be ne,
offices without number created, and th
poor men would have to stand aside a
together.
Women do not want office thrust upo
them, but if woman chooses to preseu
her name before the public for a certai
Office within their gift, and she be elect
ed and duly qualified, she most certain
ly ought to have the right to eXercis
the functions Of that Office.
We do not propose to touch upon TIA
BullctiTs article further at this time
Its editor devotes over a column of smal
type to the question, without in tn
least touching upon its real merits
which in itself shows how desperatel
scant for something to bolster up thei
sinking cause our editorial mans right
brethren are, for mo fiattery now upo
almost any other subject the Bulletin
able to present plain, logical, straight
forward, plausible arguments.
MISS ANTU0NV