The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-01-10
Our Political sunerinrs.

Our Political Superiors.
"A1y dear madam said the Judge.
taking from his lips acisar which cotir-
tesy forbade him TO light in the pres
ence of a lady, though it did not forbid
him to bring into her presence his at
mosphere redolent of stale smoke and
departed spirits, "you utterly misap-
prehend me. 1t is not because L am less
the friend of woman than you are that |
oppose what is popularity called woman's
rights, but because / am too much their
friend to be willing to see their purity
sullied by dabbling in the dirty pool of
politics. / adore the sex; woman has
been the guiding star of my existence,
and / would have her as far removed
from the coarseness and corruption of
politics as the stars in heaven are from
the fogs of earth.n And having uttered
this bit of cheap sentiment, which he
evidently thought reflected great credit
upon him, the judge, with an elaborate
bow, bade me good morning and took
his way to the polls.
1t was the morning of election day;
the whole town was astir. All business
was suspended; every man was intent
upon doing his duty as a voter, eager to
secure the election of his favorite candi-
date. There was no danger that the ex-
istence of any old, or sick, or paralytic,
would be forgotten. No matter how
many horses were sick there would be
enough found to take every voter to the
polls who was not able to walk there.
Watching the groups go by, could see
that Pat was fully aware of his rights as
an American citizen, and that, early in
the day as it was, the sense of his i'm
pOrtance as one of the sOvereigns, and
little extra whiskey, had filled him to
Overlooking with PIt-riOt-iSm. One
after another the colored men went by
dressed i'm their Sunday best, proud and
happy in their recently-wOn manhood.
Every type Of man, black and white, in
telligent and unintelligent, moral and
immoral, felt that he had a personal in
terest at stake, talked wisely or foOlishly
of men and measures, felt that he could
do as much rs any other towards bring
ing about the desired result. L
too felt an interest in the election.
Hundreds of women with whom / was
acquainted were interested in il, and yet
they, like me, were looking from thsir
windows, mere spectators of scene in
which they knew they ought to bear an
equal part. / wondered, rs | watched
group after group of men go by, if any
of them realized, rs / did, the aflront
which the men of the country were
that day putting upon the women of
the country; that to these fellow citi-
Zens, their peers i'm intelligence, out
numbering them by some hundreds of
thousands, property owners to the eX-
tent of millions of dollars, they were
virtually saying, 'You have no lot or
part i'm this matter, nothing to say about
the laws that shall govern you, about
the objects forwhieh you shall be taxed.
It is no concern of yours if we choose to
declare war, and draft your sons and
husbands to carry it on, no concern of
yours if we decree dram-shop on every
corner to brutaliZe and destroy them.
It is our business to govern-yours TO
obey. We honor you too much to allow
you to NEEDLE with politics, but we do
not honor you enough to give you the
same means of protection against wrong
and injustice that we demand for our
selves. We decree that what would be
intOlerable oppression for US, is quite
right and proper for you; that while we
would fight TO the death to maintain
our rights as American citizens, you,
our mothers, sisters and wives, shall not
share those rights; that when great hu-
man interests are at stake, interests
that involve all you hold dear, you shall
stand powerless, unable to advance those
interests by 50 much as the weight OF
single ballot"
l could not help pondering these
things in my heart that morning as
looked into the faces Of the men who
went by to the polls. / thought of
their wives, many of them women
whom knew, intelligent, earnest, con-
scientious, who had stood by them in
poverty, nursed them i'm sickness, sus-
| tained them under Encouragement and
/ | wondered if these men felt altogether
comfortable as they set out alone to eX-
ercise their masculine prerogative as
voters. / looked at the young men,
some of them going to cast their first
vote, still living at home, so dependent
upon their mothers, owing to them the
I best part Of what they knew; such lit
/ tie while ago Graded in the arms of
those mothers, indebted to them for
more than life, and wondered how this
newly acquired superiority impressed
them. Glancing from my window i'm
the midst of those thoughts, saw the
crowning indignitY Of the day. The in
mates Of the county oOOrliOlsc on their
tCdy to the polls. The drunken, the
weak-minded, the blear-eyed, the filthy,
] AAAG ultlc iltHS anu SthllltHl Ol lluIilall-
ity. "And these are our political su-
/ periorsw / exclaimed, my heart hot
with Indignation; "these be our mas
ters. II any thoughtful man can wit
ness such a sight as this, can see those
men vote, exercise right from which
the best women in the land are de-
barred, and then look into the face of
an intelligent woman without blushing,
1 marvel at the stuff of which he is
made.n Still more do 1 marvel that
any women should be blind to the in
dignity of her position, blind to the inn
portance of bringing to the aid of the
government, enlisting in behalf of So
eiety the intelligence, the conscience,
the devotion to duty, that are embod-
led in women. To men of the country,
l say, try your experiments, gentlemen,
do without us as long as YOU can. but
be sure that no just or permanent gov
ernment of men and women will be de-
vlsed Till men and women unite i'm de-
Yising il. CELIA BURLEIGU
For the Centennial of American indie
pendence, Philadelphia will erect a
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