The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-07-11
Address of Mary F. Eastman.

DELIvFKED BEFoRE THE SEw ENGLAND WON
Al SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION IN BOSTON, DUR
ISG ASNIvERSARN wEEk-
A piauant writer says-"To stay in
one place among people who are per-
fectly used TO you, and hammer away at
the same old sins, with the same old
truths, and yet strike fire-that is
work" My friends, We have work to
do.
| am humiliated to stand before an
audience almost hundred
years after the Declaration of indie
pendence, TO feel the need of arguing,
First, That all human beings are born
free and equal.
Secondly, That women are human
beings.
Thirdly, That principles really apply
to women.
And yet, to this complexion has it
come at last. Our movement has passed
through various stages and we have had
score of reasons, So-called, first and
last, against our demand for equal
rights, which we might classify as did
Charles Sumner the apologies for the
crime against Kansas, as ''the reason
tyrannicaI, the reason imbecile, the rea-
son absurd, and the reason Infamous"
A careful consideration of opposition
arguments from the pulpit, the press,
and lastly from the Massachusetts, legis-
lature, has failed to furnish one which
cannot be included under these heads.
One Hon. gentleman in the House of
Representatives, during the late dis
cussion on Woman Suffrage, confessed
that the phrase, "TaXatiOn without rep
resentation is tyranny" had an ugly
sound; but 10y a delicate piece of soph-
istry, he put the ugliness out of sight,
by claiming that the principle was
really limited in its application. He
explained that with respect to men the
connection between the ballot and
taxation has only TO do with the poll
tax.
Only with the tax on heads, Did you
ever notice how mOdestly gentlemen
sometimes refer TO the trifling matter of
heads ?
Considering that the sexes differed
morally and intellectually rs well rs
physically, the question to be considered
seems to be this: How can woman best
exert her influence on man? With the
clinching argument that ii women vote
/ il would be necessary to enlarge town
houses, (and by the way his town had
/ Just built new one) the great principle
set down by the fathers had been dis
posed Of.
Another, Rev. gentleman, argued
J that the admission of women TO legisla-
tion would practically nullify the repre-
sentatiOn of men, since no man, oi
whatever class, would oppose woman
even in debate. I thought the gentle
man must live above the sphere of the
daily press, and found speedy refutaI
of his theory on my way home, for
read the shocking account of police
man, who assailed his wife with blows
returning nine times to the attack; ye
that policeman was one of the guardians
/ of the public peace in the city of Lowell
/ a man who, if sickness or death made il
necessary for one of our lady physician
to pass through that city in the night
was her officially appointed protector.
wondered by what exception TO the rul'
the Hon. gentleman who offered tn
argument himself, stood there opposing
petition signed and argued by women
/ do not propose to consider the argu
ment to which we recently listened il
the House of Representatives, some o
which were doubtless offered i'm sin
cerity, nor the crueler words of taun
and insult which / do not like to recall
But those arguments answered conclu
sively the questions asked there an
elsewhere, "Why, if women want tn
, ballot-box, do they not freely ask 70
2" Every listener in that house say
at what fearful cost we were usin
even the right of petition, since, thong
2 our country boasts no more honore
names than were signed TO that appea
member dared say that they VIII
asked for this right were "Only til
e mentally and morally poor" did nc
wonder, when we who were strangers
q our opponents were made to feel :
keenly the opprobrium they keep Il
u women who presume to ask to be men
e peers, that women to whom these me
4 stood in the relation of husband, fathe
brother or son, bought fair words with
meaningless smile, or were dumb wit
y grief and shame.
!. If We could trust protestaiions, "
+ were certainly entitled to expect mo
favorable action from the Republics
party than we received. Yet / was pc
q sonally much less disappointed this
= many of our friends. Legislators u
e exponents Of an average public Sent
ment. Only now and then Sumner
;. q Wilson is strong enough to be lead
II of it. do not think that Woman 81
Ie frage is the sentiment of the body OF G
% people to-day. The uneducated mass,
the foreign element, the blindly pref
diced, the persistently conservative, {
ID thoughtless and the seekers for pop
lie larity, are all against il. | think 1t
to-day the sentiment of the leaders
the people and is rapidly becoming tn
y OF the intelligent classes. With t
lg people then, is our work, not with I
d, legislators. If we want 4 good pictU
IA reflected, we do not go behind the IN
= rOr to produce it, but to the subject
-, fore the plate.
lie Let us not take too much to heart
m adverse action of the Legislature!
of May 1861 the great and general Court
-, Massachusetts condemned Eliops tn
IN entitled "The Christian CommC
oil wealth" on account Of its republic
rk sentiments. In 1878, it refuses to apl
a. the republican sentiments which it =
. fesses. The principles it disclaimed
hg 1861 it fought for in 1915. The refusal
lie apply the principles it processes in Is
he it will blush for before the end Of
m century.
u" WWhat will the Woman Suffrag
va do now ?n said prominent BOs
ess daily. when our motion was lost in
ica Legislature. Do now? Why prir
- pies have not changed. One would 5
pose We nd hitherto possessed the
lte lot and had lost il. oh, no. We hi
nd only submitted the intelligence and
Justice of the representatives of Ma
49, chusetts to the test; II they failed
bear il, We must 60 on with renel
use earnestness Of work and be stirred +
ION deeper fervor when we pray "God s
her the Commonwealth of Massachuset
,rd We have n strong appeal to MAKE
the hold the nawer. and IL i not In acc,