The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-05-08
The Golden Opportunity of Michigan
"Dnce 20 every man and nation
comes the moment 10 decide,
IN The strife OF Truth with Falsehoo

comes the moment 10 decide.
IN the strife OF Truth with Falsehood.
FOR the good or evil side"
Such time will come to the voters of
Michigan next November. They will
then have the opportunity, never before
given thenE Of securing, each man for
his mother, the same political rights
which he enjoys. 1t is a golden oppor-
tunity, and we find the people Of that
State stirring themselves to make the
most of il.
The call for the annual meeting of the
Michigan State Woman Suffrage Asso-
citation says: This will be a more i'm
portant meeting than any we have ever
held. The entire State must be can
vassed. Our forces must be organized
and made available for carrying the
vote at that time. The eyes of the
whole nation will be turned upon us,
anxious to know the result of this first
great trial, TO make Michigan a truly
Republican Commonwealth, where all
its citizens are made equal"
The magnitude and gravity Of the oc-
caslon should enlist the sympathetic
help Of the friends of equal human
rights all over the country. There is a
large public sentiment in favor of suf-
frage for woman, which will not fail to
be felt at the deciding hour in Michi-
gan: The Legislature of Iowa have al
ready submitted the question, but it
must be passed by a second Legislature
before il ccn 60 to the voters of that
State. The Ohio Constitutional Con-
vention only lacks five votes of carrying
similar amendment, and there is hope
of those five.
In Maine the question came to tie
vote in the Committee. 1t stood five to
five.
L, Dbl. T-r-..-1 A. IT,. r. ~,
sentatives submitted the question by
vote of A 10 Il, but it was lost in the
Senate.
Inthe Massachusetts Legislature, while
the smaller question of who shall be
United States Senator "drags its slow
length along" a bill has been reported
in the Senate for an amendment to the
Constitution, so that women may vote.
The House has not yet taken action. In
nearly every Northern State, for the
last twenty years, the demand for the
equal political rights of women has been
made without ceasing, except when the
din of battle drowned all sounds but its
own.
Even then, the part the women bore
in the war was argument and proof of
their ability, and of their equal right to
a share with men in the Government.
During all these years a slow but sure
growth has been made. And now Mich
igan steps to the front and offers to its
men the rare opportunity of settling, by
the peaceful power of the ballot, a great
claim of justice, broad principle OF the
natural right of twelve million of women
TO help make the laws which they are
compelled to obey.
To secure this same right on two mil
lion negro men, cannon thundered
.-ukD1lu hrrreF ffr-ar- IF h1nod
shed, countless treasures paid the money
cost, while miles of graves, in solid acres
show its awful cost in human life.
To secure the same right for our small
Colonies, a hundred years ago, history
pages show seven long years OF war
which left men poor in everything ex
cept their victory.
This great boon of equal rights Michi
gan proposes to offer to its women with
out bloOdshed or strife. God speed tn,
right Lucy Stone IN Womdn's Journal