The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-14
srzRrx OF xHn PRnss.
Editorial Opinions the Leading Journals
upon Current TopiCs-oompiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
THE AMAzoNs AT THE CAPITOL.

VHE AMAIONS Al lttE OAIlIOAI.
From the NJ Y. Tribune. -
The assemblage of vocal aud argumenta-
tive women at present bewidering the Judi
ciary Committee of the lower House at Wash
ington ia evidently making the best use of its
opportunities The Senate committee de-
olines to listen to the ladies' so they wisely
determine that the auditors whom they have
secured shall get enough of them. They
probably do not expect to achieve any dis
tinot result. In fact, at the close of the ses-
sion, their situation will doubtless be similar
to that of the grazier who drove his refractory
bull to market, the animal breaking into
every cornfield and upsetting every beehive
on the way; after roaring and paving around
the market all day without finding
purchaser, he was at last
reluctantly driven home by his owner, repeat
ing on the way the picturesque but tedious
exploits of the morning. When at last, after
infinite labor, the brute was safely returned
to the stall from which he had been led forth
in the morning, his owner thoughtfully and
with considerable cheerfulness Observed
'well, had a good drive out of the bull any
how" 1t is likely that at the expiration Of
the session the ladies will solace themselves
with similar congratulations in respect to
Congress. They will have accomplished no.
thing but will have harried and fatigued the
Legislators as effectually as the grazier did his
bull.
OF course this is to be regretted but what
are we to do about it? Our stupid and mar
ow-minded Legislators will persist in think
ing that the fisheries dispute, the San Do
mingo imbroglio, the settlement of the Ala
bama claims, the restoration of wholesome
and friendly relations with the South, the
national Indebtedness, and so on, are sub
jects of more urgent consequence than those
which Mrs. Victoria Woodruff so eloquently
advances. Whether she shall be entitled to
run for President, and whether Miss
Susan b. Anthony shall be entitled to
vote for her, are, we confess, matters of the
deepest concern; but it is difficult to get
your average member of Congress to
think so. Confronted with actual and posi-
tive women not merely the documentary and
recorded shadows thereof, such as petitions,
resolutions, afirmations, and the like, he is
apt to make a present show of concession,
even of conviction, and to promise all sorts
of aid and comfort to his besiegers. But,
alas, he generally backs out as soon as they
are gone, and the wizard spell of their voices
and the compelling enchantment of their
eyes are withdrawn from him. Possibly it
will be so with Mr.. Cook and Judge Lough-
ridge, and even with the fiery and determined
Butler, upon whom, in full conclave, Mrs.
Woodruff emptied her ethical and expostula-
tory urn.
But whether they succeed or fail, their atti-
tude is alike courageous and interesting. 1t
is no joke to beard the Judiciary Committee
in its den, and, in presence of so many
learned doctors, enter upon a new exegesis
of the Constitution. We see no reason why
Mrs. Woodruff should not, 30 far as intrinsic
courage is concerned, be placed upon O
level with Joan Of Arc or the Maid of Sara
gossa 1t is really feather in her cap that
the Senate Committee declined to trust itself
in her declamatory presence. However forti-
fled in their present convictions, that vener-
able and learned body could have no
assurance that at the first wooine
accents of her voice, the structure of their
faith, however solidly buttressed with
biblical citation and contemporary prejudice,
would not topple over like the walls of Jericho
before the persuasive quaver of the rams
horns. They would have been like 80 many
Samsons before the fair and fluent Philis-
tine, and she would have bound them one and
all with her logical withes. They have
escaped that destiny by declining to confront
the enemy and immuring themselves within
the walls of their official Troy. If the
House committee had set similar example,
it is difficult to conjecture what the women
would have done and to whom they would
have intoned their plants. They couldn't
have gone direct to the President,
as he Is known to cling to the old
fashioned notion that women ought to
stay at home and mind their business. Bout
we'll couldn't have given them any comfort,
unless, perhaps, he had assigned them all to
situations in the Treasury Department--ahd
among the remaining Secretaries and
other high dignitaries of the Capitol we can
think Of none to whom in such an event they
could have advantsgeously presented them
selves. Now, if they had gone all that dis.
tance and found nobody to listen to them il
would have been in every particular cir.
cumstance of misery, and we are therefore
moved to suggest the appointment of joint
committee of both houses to be n perpetua
session, whose special function it shall be tc
hold interviews with wandering squads e
women who with supplicatory, denunciatory
or argumentative intent may chance to visi
the Capitol. If anybody deems this sugges
tien irrelevant or needless, we invoke his at
tention to the fact that any of the presen
committees can at will decline such interview
and send the wandering and reformator,
ladies home again without giving them
chance toS unburden themselves of thei
grievances. This will never do. Let u
make it somebody's business to listen pa
tiently to all the feminine 'whereases" an
resolves. We always give them faithfr
hearing, and any quantity of good advice
Why should Congress be less mindful Of il
duties and obligations?
VILLAGE pOpITT ALTON TN ON