The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-04-10
The Woman's Temperance Movement.

Far from opposing the heroic effort Of
Western women to save society from
the curse of intemperance, Woman Suf-
fragists, almost without exception, ap-
prove of their object and bid them God
speed.
How>can we do otherwise? 1t is
woman's movement, and as such, is en-
titled to the sympathy of women. We
cannot doubt that many drunkarcs VIII
be reformed, many men and women
saved from ruin, many homes purihed
and blessed, many crimes prevented,
many nuisances abated-in, short that
much good will be done by this move
ment. So
But more than all this will be the
beneicent educational influence of this
movement upon the women themselves.
They are learning to think and act upon
the great public questions. They are
becoming trained to the exercise Of citi-
Zenship. They have taken new de-
parture. Hundreds of women who q
month ago would have trembled at the
sound of their own voices in public
meeting, are to-day making eloquent
erteDlpOTe addresses to crowded audi
ences, are lifting their voices in prayer
and song amid promiscuOus assemblies
of curious spectators, are managing
masses of human beings, and conduct
ing complicated negotiations with angry
and brutal liquor-sellers.
Above all, these women have broken
loose forever from the tyranny of rou-
tine. They have left the "sacred pri-
vacy of their homes - generally with the
approval of their husbands, sons, pastors
and acquaintances, and with the noblest
and most unselfish motives. Never
again will these women be haunted by
the ghost of publicity. The women who
has braved the saloon and the brothel
will never dread pollution at the polls.
The woman who upon the icy pavement
at midnight has sought to cOerce the
rum-seller will never refuse to coerce
him at MONDAY by casting ballot.
Then, again, women has emphasized
by this movement her right to represen-
tation, and to the heexpressiOn of her sepa-
rate individuality. Being different from
man she finds the Legislation of man so
radically defective that she is driven to
the most revolutionary proceedings
against it. She has learned that the
domestic interests are not repre-
sented, and by all her highest and
most wOmanly instincts, as the
daughter, the wife, and the mother of
of men, she is forced into an attitude Of
vehement protest and sublime self-asser-
tion. These are lessons which, once
learned, will never be forgotten.
But while we are in full accord with
the object of the WOman's Temperance
Movement, and regard it as a hopeful
sign of the times, it is our duty as suffrag
/ lists to point out the radical imperfeetion
of its method. In doing so we are in
danger of being misunderstood.
A lady correspondent from Worcester,
Mass, complains of the brilliant poem
which appeared in our last weeks issue
entitled "My vote is my prayer" and
several correspondents from different
parts of the country complain of our
criticism upon the sensational phases
of the Woman's Temperance Move
ment.
But these complaints are not we'll
founded. All eXperiance proves that
moral and religious enthusiasm, however
admirable, is temporary. 1t cannot long
be sustained. This war against physi-
cal appetite and passion will not be
ended in a single campaign. When the
bended bow is slackened, when the pop
ular interest subsidies, when the ner-
vous energy is exhausted, then women
will discover that new weapon is
needed, and that weapon is the ballot
| II. g. b., IN IYOmdH's Journal.