The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-12-25
AGITATION WHAT DOES IT AC-
O0MPLISH

Rather, what does it not accomplish {?
Glancing backward through the past de
cade, and noting the great changes that
have taken place in public sentiment
upon some of the vital questions that
have been and are still engaging the ear
nest attention of the worlds thinkers
aud laborers, we see in agitation the
mighty power that has worked the SEEM
ing miracle.
Who OF us but remember hearing our
venerable and conservative grandsires
deplOre the agitation Of the question of
human slavery? For years the great
majority Of men preferred "ignoble ease
and peaceful sloth," to the energy and
spirit that was willing to close in deadly
combat with frightful wrong, rather
than allow it to exist by sufferance. But
the representations of the wise and the
warnings of the timid were alike pow
erless to quell the agitation that oppres-
sion sooner or later surely awakens, and
the few dauntless and determined souls,
who for years led the van of what
seemed the forlorn hope of universal
freedom, found in due time their num-
bers augmented by mighty host, who
bore the banners of justice on to victory
The agitation of the "Woman Ques-
tion," though still perhaps far from cul-
minating in victory, has yet planted
seeds of truth that not all the hosts ol
oppression will ever be able to exter.
inmate. In many localities where q
few years since people plodded on
with scarce human interest, save their owl
MonOtonous round OF small economies,
Or the poor scandal of the neighbOrhood."
The gospel Of equal rights has pene.
trated, and agitation giving rise to dis
cussion, and that in turn to investiga-
tion, men and women have thereby been
lifted out Of the ruts, where Custom, un-
reasoning tyrant, had so long held them
in bondage, and by the aid of newly pre-.
sented facts have caught glimpses oi
future possibilities. Even though the
principles of equal rights be waited into
a community on the wings of prejudice
and suffer from the Misrepresentation
of ignorance or selfishness, yet is the
primal object accomplished, for the agi.
tation quickly sets the people to think
ing, and no place so benighted but some
soul will stumble into the right path.
The assertion Of George William Cur.
tis that whenever an intelligent elias:
ask for recognition Of their rights
they will continue to ask louder and
louder until their demands are acceedeC
to" is one thatthe history of the Woman
Movement abundantly sustains. 81
to those timid souls who, encased In al
invulnerable armor of selfishness, anC
beset with bodily and mental inertia
not only care not to think or work them
selves for the good of humanity, but de
plOre the energy that drives Others for
ward in the path Of progress, we woul
say, do not hope that your counsel vii
be needed, that agitation will cease, an
that the multitude OF intelligent ME
and women who have espoused tn
cause of human rights will permit tn
foundations Of the noble structure c
universal suffrage, upon which so muc
labor and care have been bestowed, to de
cay through neglect.
1t will take more than one Michiga
defeat and more protestations than tn
conservative element is capable of max
ing, to quell the agitation known as th
Woman Movement. 1t cannot die,
will not be ignored, and best of all, !
will continue to spread and grow unit
the claims Of justice are properly me
and equitably adjusted.