The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-03-06
CALIFORNIA LETTER.
BY MRS. cARRIE z. YOUNG.

BY MRS. CARRIE +. YOUNG.
Dear Mrs.. D,nit0ay and readers of
The Nc,g North,ccst:-How goes the
battle? What are the new ISSUES and
interests? This way they are turning
against monopolies, king-craft and
priest-craft.
Strange that in this wide-awakeAge
of the world, and i'm republican Amer
lea, too, monied men and priests have
only to say, edo this or lose your
wages" "do not CO." or "you must go,
or else incur the displeasure Of the
Church" The Catholic prohibitionists-
from listening TO or attending on the
Protestants, in turn rs tyrannical against
the scientists and spiritualists-both, in
very many instances, oppose our work
simply and purely because we are
women.
Yet the fact remains that women, the
mothers and sisters of men, must feel
deeply and be affected by every measure
that promotes or-depresses their and our
interests-social, political and spiritual
Men and women rise and fall together.
are taught TO ask the reason why of
everything political, social, moral and
religious, and rs far as possible to obtain
a satisfactory answer, will they be able to
mould the characters of their boys and
girls in harmony with justice and truth.
Supp essed, brow-beaten, discouraged,
children will not respect or honor the
mothers that bore them; neither will
they fulfill the ambitious expectations
OF their fathers. The children OF the
past and Of the future are and will be
mirrors, tuuthfully rejecting every
passion, deceit or ambition that de-
pressed or encouraged the mothers.
The best interests of the future OF our
Nation imperatively demand Equal
Rights, immunities and privileges for
women as wife, mother and sister.
You and your readers will rejoice
with us that one branch of the Califor-
mia Legislature, by vote of twenty -one
for to seven against, consented that
woman may hold all offices that she is
MT prohibited from holding by previ-
ously enacted laws.
As result Of this move, look out for
the removal of the "fossiIs" who fire.
quently act as Superintendents of
Schools. Even though the Senate tables
the bill, the Grangers-where woman is
nloUiRg as well as a moulding power
will, at the next session, help cleanse the
California Senate of its miasmatic va
pors and dead weights.
Take courage, OH faint-hearted, weary
wives and mothers! The world moves!
We OF California are not doing much
by conventions, but by preparation and
educational modes much more is going
on. We expect harvest. 1t will be
glad day when our boys are brought up
to believe US, as a class, not superior or
inferior, but equal with our husbands in
fact as well as in theory.
Where is the justice in saying-as
men do-'law is public opinion, written
upon statute books" then, when count
ing time comes, their Individual opin-
ions count one, ours nothing! Men ad-
NIT that women have opinions. From
the pulpit and the press we are ex-
tolled to "do all we can to mould and
form public opinions" Then how un-
reasonable TO deny us the privilege Of
expression at the one place where they
~ r. rrnn1 nd hod
measures, policies and principles!
The spirit of the age points toward
emancipation of all who are oppressed.
The slave population of the recent past
are advancing gloriously in knowledge
all through the newly-acquired right to
OWN THEMSELVES,
And think and express their strength
with ballots.
When women own themselves and
the price of their labor, and can protect
themselves with the ballot, they, too,
will stand in the light and help to de-
velope the grand future of America.
Last week we spent two evenings
looking at Reeds Panorama of Oregon
and Washington. 1t is grand. True to
nature. Tourists at once recognize IA
miliar scenes. Our only regret is that
there are not a hundred instead of
thirty-one paintings. One thing only
is lacking to make it the means of
bringing to Oregon hundreds of fami-
lies to make homes-sOme allusion In
in the descriptive lecture to the produc-
tiveness of soil and orchards, to the
.odded meadows and grassy door-yards,