The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-08-09
THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE
ASSOCIATION.

THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE
ASSOCIATION.
To the UOmen Of The United States:
Women of the United States, the hour
for political action has come. For the
first time in the history of our country
woman has ever been recognized in the
platform of large and dominant party
Philadelphia has spoken and woman is
no longer ignored. She is now officially
recognized as part of the body polite.
The fourteenth plank of its platform de-
clares 'the Republican party mindful
of its obligation to the loyal women Of
America; it expresses qualification that
wider avenues of employment have been
opened to women, and il farther declares
that her demands for additional rights
should be treated with respectful consid-
Grafton" We are told that this plank
does not say much, that in fact it is
only a splinter" and our ''liberar'
friends warn us not TO rely upon it as a
promise OF the ballot to woman. What
it is, we know full better than others.
We recognize its meagerness; we see in
it the timidity Of politicians, but beyond
and through il all, we farther see its
promise of the future. We see in it the
thin edge of the entering wedge which
shall break wOman's slavery in pieces
and make us at last a nation truly free
"A nation in which the caste of sex
shall fall down by the caste of color,
and humanity alone shall be the critic
rion of all human rights. The Republi-
can party has been the party of ideas, Of
progress. Under its leadership, the ma
ton came safely through the fiery or
deal Of the Rebellion; under it slavery
was destroyed; under it manhood suf-
frage was established. The women Of
the country have long looked TO it i'm
hope, and not in vain; for to-day we are
launched by it into the political arena,
and the Republican party must hereafter
fight our battles for Us. This great
party, this progressive party, having
taken the initiative step, will never 60
back on its record. 1t needed this new
and vital issue to keep it in life, for Gin
cinnati indorsedits work up to this hour;
the constitutional amendments, the
[ payment of the bonds i'm gold, the civil
/ service reform, the restoration Of the
States. 1t thanked the soldiers and sail
ors of the Republic, it proposed lands TO
actual settlers. The Republican party
went up higher; it remembered all citi-
zens. The Scido,cs and orphans of the
soldiers and sailors were not forgotten;
it acknowledged its obligation to the
loyal women Of the Republic, and to the
demands for additional rights, of all
women, whatever their class, color, or
birth, it promised respectful considera-
ton" Its second plank declared that
complete liberty and exact equality in
the enjoyment of all civil, political and
public rights should be established and
maintained throughout the Union by
efficient and appropriate State and Fed
eral legislation These two planks are
the complement OF each other and are
the promise of exact and equal Justice
to woman. They were the work Of rad
ieal woman suffrage RepubIicans-oi
Wilson, Sargent, Loring, Clafiin, Hoar,
Fairchild and others. They were ac-
cepted by the candidates. Gen. Grant,
in his letter, expresses his desire to see
''the time when the title of Citizen
shall carry with it all the protection and
privilege to the humblest, that it does
/ to the most exalted His course since
his elevation TO the Presidency has al
ways been favorable to Increased rights
for women. He has officially recognized
their competency and has given them
many government positions. Senator
I Wilson is an old and stanch advocate of
woman suffrage, and his letter IN pointed
terms refers to the recognition given
woman by his party, and says, ''to her
new demands it extends the hand OF
grateful recognition and il commends
her demands for additional rights to the
calm and careful consideration of the
nation" And, too, thus early i'm the
campaign, the strongest men of the
party, among whom are Forney of the
Philadelphia Press, Gerritt Smith,
Bowen Of the New York Independent,
and President White of Cornell Univer-
sity, speak of this recognition as intro
ducing new era into politics.
While the old and tried Republican
party in its platform and candidates
thus gives woman assurance that her
claim to equal political rights is to be
respected, the other party in the field
gives her no promise either in its plat
form or the letters Of its nominees. The
Riberal Republican party is new
party; it has no record; it ignores wom-
en-, and by its silence in regard TO the
equal rights of one-half of the people,
the most important question now in the
political horizon,-it proves itself un-