Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1874-05-22
MARK TWAIN ON THE TEN
PERANCE WOMEN.
from the London Standard. 1

D | 1MAkA TWAIN ON THE TE4t
PERANCE WOMEN.
Il From the London Stsndard.l
Would you consider the conduct {
these crusaders justifable I I do tho
,, oughly justifiable. They find then
selves voiceless in the making of law
ami the election of officers to execut
them. Born with brains, horn in tn
county, educated, having large intel
ests at stake, they find their tongue
tied and their hands fettered, Will
every ignorant, whisky drinking, fo'
} eign-b0rn savage in the land may ho,,
Uhlco, help to make the laws, degrad'
the dignity Of the former and breal
the latter at his own sweet will. The,
see their fathers, husbands and broth
crs sit namely at home and allow tn,
scum of the cOuatry to assemble at tn.
primaries" name the candidates fo1
Office from their own vile ranks, and
unrebuked, elect them. They live il
the midst Of country where there is
no end to the laws and no beginning
to the execution of them. And when
tile laws intended to protect their sons
from destruction by intemperance lie
torpid and without sign of life, year
after year, they recognize that here is
a matter that interests them person.
ally, matter which comes straight
home to them. And since they are
allowed to lift no legal voice against
the outrageous state Of things they
suffer under in this regard, l think it
is no wonder that their patience has
broken down, at last, and they have
tried to persuade themselves that they
are justifiable in breaking the law of
trespass when the laws that should
make the trespass needless are allowed
by the voters to lie dead and illOpera-
tive.
The present crusade will, doubtless,
do but little work against intempcr-
ance that will be really permanent,
but it will do what is as much, or even
more, to the purpose, 1 think. 1 think
it will suggest to more than one man
that if women could vote they would
vote oh the side of morality, even if
they did vote and speak rather fran
tically and furiously, and it will also
suggest that when the women once
made up their minds that it was not
good to have the all-powerful "pri-
maries hin the hands Of l0afcrs, thieves,
and pcrnicious little politicians, they
would not sit inflOlently at home as
their husbands and brothers do now,
but would hoist their praying banners,
take the field in force, pray the assem-
bled political scum back to the holes
and slums where they belong, and set
up some candidates fit for decent hu-
man beings to vote for. dearly want
the women to be raised to the political
altitude of the negro, the imported
savage and the partloned thief, and al
lowed to vote. It is our last chance,
l think. The women will be voting,
before long, and then if a Il. F. Butler |
can still continue to lord it in Congress; |
it the highest Offices in the land can |
still be occupied by perjurers and rob-
bers; if another Congress, like the 42d,
of Is honest men and 296 of |
the other kind, can once more be Gre
lted, it will at last be time, fear, to
give over trying to save the country
ly human means, and appeal to Provi-
lence. Both tho great parties have
allied. wish we might have a wo-
mans party now, and sces how that
would work. / feel persuaded that, in
the suffrage to women, this
country could lose absolutely nothing
md might gain great deal. For thirty
centuries history has been iteratinx
md reiterating that in moral fight
voman is simply dauntless, and we all
NOW, even with our eyes shut upon
congress and our voters, that, from
he day that Adam ate of the apple
nd told on Eve down to the present
ay, man, in q moral fight, has pretty
Uniformly shown himself to be an ar
ant coward.