Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-02-09

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speaks deliberately and sometimes quite elo-
quently.
Mrs. Stone commenced by remarking that
it was with pleasure that she had accepted
the invitation to address the committee on
Legal Reform, on a matter in which she had
taken lifelong interest The right of
woman to vote is not a question that requires
argument; it is so fair and reasonable in it.
self, that the mere presentation of it should
lie enough to induce people to believe and
accept it. The hour once was when to speak
on this question was reproach-the advocate
OF it.would be assaied on every hand. Our
fathers were assailed during the war of the
Revolution, while struggling for great prin-
ciple, But the slow years have rolled around
and this question has been carried to Congress
and is being debatedin every State of the North
and in some Of the Southern States. In al
most all the States this demand of the wo-
men for the right of suffrage has modified
many Of the laws relating to her sex.
She referred to twenty years ago, when
she stood on that platform and addressed
the Maine Legislature. She was sure
| there had been q change in our stat
utes since that time. The demand she would
make was not the clamor of few mad women,
seeking notorety, but the noble plea of such
men as Curtis and Beecher, seconded by the
| first women in the land She claimed the
| right on the principles of the declaration of
Independence-thatc consent ofth governed is
necessary to ust government. Taxation with
out representation is tyranny. In the State of
! Massachusetts, alone the women are taxed for
1883, 100000 worth of property, and still are
denied the right of representation. The dec
iaraton of Independence is not a 'glittering
generality" but the consent Of the governed
is the rule of justice. We take up the bill of
| Rights and find it to be an inherent right.
Under our theory of government persons pos
sessing the capacity of rational choice should
vote. By our laws women are counted with
idiots and Indians. 1t cannot be denied that
she has a mind capable of exercising choice
| but she seems to be disffanchised simply be-
| cause she is a women.
| Last week 81 900 women sent petition to
Washington and it was presented in Con-
grees by Gen. Butler; in twenty-five of the
States Woman Suffrage Societies are organ
lied and working, and we know that the an
swer to the prayer of these petitioners can
not long wait.
The opponents of this measure cannot
bring arguments, but objections; for no ar
gument can be made against self-evidept
| fact. They ask ''what good would it do? ?"
AS a man values his vote, SO would a woman
hers. Women are poorly paid in every de-
partment of labor and thought; were they al
| lowed to vote, their remuneration for labor
would be increased. The full rights were not
granted to the negro until he was armed with
the ballot. The ballot protects the vote,
whatever else it does. ''Do women know
enough to vote:' is asked. The school boy,
with beard unsprouted, asks it in his decla-
mations--the boy whose mother taught him
all he ever knew. Older persons don't gen.
orally raise the question. When you find one
| W il tp
easily find man to match her. Newspapers
are read by women and she has open to her
| all the avenues to gain intelligence to fit her
for holding the ballot.
Some say that the comforting of the right
will make no difference in the result, for
woman will vote as her husband votes. If
| this is So and so much money is expended to
| buy votes, why is this an argument against
comforting the right? But others say the
women won't vote as their husbands do and
then will come family jars and discords. You
can't find the man who admits that the rup-
ture will occur in his family, but he has neigh
bors whose happiness he knows will be broken
up. But if domestic troubles were to arise
from this cause, it is one of the most cogent
arguments in its favor. If the wife cannot
| have an opinion of her own, then she is under
a despotic tyranny indeed.
She always went down to the polls to see
how her political superiors voted, and to no.
tice the devices resorted to in procuring votes.
These respectable looking men do not try to
gain votes by abuse and cross words, but by
Establishments and kindness. The poor man
comes to the polls and is cordially grasped by
the hand by this respectable looking gentle
man; he wants to know how his health is,
and the health of his family and all his friends
and the man feels honored and flattered,
and goes forward and deposits the vote which
has been put into his hand. So don't you
see that if the husband wishes to gain his
wifes vote he will do it by the exercise of
kindness and amiability. And for a like rea-
| son, for like purpose, the wife would do the
same.
Then there are those who are afraid that
women will want to hold office. This will
| have to be considered, for it is result that
will follow In official stations wonan's in
fluence has been for good, and only good, and
that continually. Mans and woman's CO.
operation in political affairs has been the
great want in this country. She cited many
cases to show the Partially of laws in favor
of the male sex. Were mothers to make the
laws would the father have the exclusive
right to the children? She whose love lasts
when all other loves, save Gods, fails-she
who wiped the first tear from his eyes aud
taught him to lisp his first word, has no legal
claim upon her child.
No one class can legislate for another class
and do it right and well. A woman owns
house. and by the side of it stands the house
of a man. A railroad must pass over the
spot where these houses stand. The man
has legal rights and must be consulted The
woman has not these rights. Where is the
justice? So, turning back to the first prem
ises, woman's right to vote is declared in the
declaration of Independence. She owns
property, must be taxed, and has the right of
representation. On nearly every question
the feminine influence is wanting in our
politics. BY so much as your homes are
better for the influence of your wives and
mothers and children, so will our politics be
better when purified by womans work and
and example. In the Crimean war; when the
Fsoldiers in the hospitals, lacerated by fearful
wounds, were shvering with the cold the
officers, bound by the rules of red tape, did
not dare to give out the blankets that had
been received. Florence Nightingale saw
the situation, and woman's perception broke
the bands of red tape, and before midnight
every suffering soldier had blanket. No
| i A. II l. Ia