The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-02-16
Man and Woman.
u,, u,srrI scHTSDLER, EDITOR or THE CHRIS
IIAS RADICAL.


persons or things to be radical, and, so
TO subordinate or put the one into bond
age to the other, must rise in different
planes OF being. Such are the differ
enees that subsist between vegetable and
animal life, and again between animal
and human life. Each of these orders OF
life includes a specific purpose, comes
about IN answer TO a specific creative
thought, and has, therefore, its specific
sphere of agency and privilege. And
whatever differences one may see IN
such specific sphere, they are not collie
tive nor variant; they are not proofs OF
inferiority en- the one hand, or superior
ity on the other; they do not mean that
one has more or less privilege than the
other They are only the bass and alto,
the tenor and treble that blend in one
song, that swell up into the choral SYM
phOnies of one hymn. They may be
differences of sex, they may be diiter-
enees of physical conformation, of tenn
permanent, mental and moral tendency,
but as there is right development and a
coming into normal conditions, they all
accord, complement each other, and are
made mutually helpful. And not one
can say TO the other, have no need of
thee, or i am more than thou.
The differences of the sexes are not
essential. Trace them TO their sources,
and you have accord, the male and
female clement poising in the unity of
one Nature. They are not altogether un-
like the difference between the tongue
and the groove. 1t would be impossi-
BILE TO tell which came first into the ar
lists mind. simultaneously they must
have entered his consciousness. BY
itself, neither means anything. They
differ, nevertheless. And yet the one
takes the other. They unite in one thing.
They complement each other. Yet
neither loses its individuality i'm the
other. Out of mere differences, there
fore, no man can construct an argument
Unless they rise out OF different creative
intents, they are invalid for an argu-
ment, and may as well be turned against
the man rs the woman.
For the ends of n Human Economy
the mann and woman elements have
each become the basis of an individual,
personal life. And that there is no rad
ical unlfkeness between them, and that
the one is not over the other, in point of
personal privilege, is further seen in
their vital resemblances. In God, the
masculine and feminine elements exist
under one will. And even in the hu-
man sphere one always sees the man
uniting the masculine and the feminine,
and the woman uniting the feminine
and masculine. And IL is common also,
to see the man dominated by the woman
and the woman dominated by the man.
For sex of character does not alway con-
form to sex of body. In its most in
trinsie sense, its exists, often, contrary
to the physiological Indications. II,
therefore, sex is TO determine the matter
of frauchise-or any other question con-
cerning persons-then the feminine man
ought not TO vote, and the masculine
woman ought 10 vote. / mention this
in passing to show how utterly shallow
and arbitrary is the argument that un-
dertakes to determine franchise by sex.
No male but has the female element, no
female but has the male element. And
| do not want 10 see the man who has
not the female element, or the woman
that has not the male element. And
what Gods meaning in this solemn
fact is, is quite clear to all eyes, except
those Of politicians and priests. IT Is
Gods way to utter his voice against all
tyrannies of one sex over the other, and
to assert that personal rights are eter-
nally the same for each. For this lying
of the male element across into the
across into the sphere of the male, makes
it impossible to draw the line of demar-
cation between the two.
Now it comes in order for me to note
the vital and substantial resemblances
of the sexes spoken of already in n more
specific way. Has the male human
body? So has the female, and Of kim
dred susceptibilties to pleasure and pain
Has the male an intellect? So has the
female, and so essentially the same that
ONE communicates its thought to the
other as understandingly as does one
sphere communicate its gravity to an
other. Has the male speech? So has
the female, and Just the same, coming
to each in the same spontaneous and
mysterious way, and bearing from one
/ to the other messages of truth, herald
ries of faith, and the tender freightages
of love. Has the male an understand
/ ing, a conscience, a power Of intuition,
n reason, will, a moral faculty, 4 re-
/ ligiOus sense, a spirit? The female has
/ like rich and divine endowment, an
swering sweetly and elOquently across
I to that Of her brother.
Now, ii is this endowment of moral,
intellectual and spiritual faculty that
! assumes personality. Personality, ~
/ least in human beings, is the condition
of liberty. Liberty eliminates i'm the
/ free State. The free State culminates
/ in granting full range TO the exercise oi
all the faculties of the rational person.
1 The rational person has the native right
I of franchise in entire indifference to the
matter Of SEX complexion or physioiOg-
/ ical conformation. The State does not
create nor confer this right. 1t is in
born, God-given, inwoven into the per-
son in creation, and exists prior To and is
condition of the State. 1t comes from
/ personality, and is the innate heritage
of the soul. ..a
If not 50 whence our own Republic,
with its millions OF sOvereigns, whose
fathers talked 50 of "inalienable rights
rights that dawned up in their inmost
spirits from their profoundest depths,
that kings paled on their thrones and
despotism blanched throughout all the
earth? The State may regulate the
I franchise for safety's sake, and i'm the
I interest of the common veal, but the
right of franchise inheres and antedates
the State. And the States right 10 reg
ulate must forever turn upon the morals
of the voter Otherwise the State be-
comes tyrant and only needs the pretext
or the opportunity TO vest itself I'm a
king. The question TO be asked is not
what is the sex of the voter, nor what
is the color or shape of the voter, but is
the voter person, soul, in self-con-
sciousness Of the ideas Of justice and lib
erty. And TO all such the pathway to
the ballot-box must be thrown open
wide and kept clear Of hindrances,
though they be poor as Lazarus, and
fragile and timid as children, though
they be black as night, or tender, deli
cate, fair and fragrant as angels.