The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-03-20
OBJECTIONS WHICH AMOUNT TC
NOTHING.

In view OF the unansWeraOie argu-
ment offered in favor of Woman Suf-
frage, and of the rapid and triumphant
progress of the movement in our State
and nation, it would seem that intelli-
gent men and women would cease to
advance or urge the thread-bare and
oft-answered objections which have
constituted the entire arguments against
it for the past two decades. 1t would
seem that our opponentss see the necessity
of bringing to their aid other and more
potent arguments or abandon the posi-
tion they occupy as untenable.
Our numbers are being constantly
augmented by the addition of persons
who formerly opposed the enfranchise-
ment of women, from the fact that they
had given the subject no thought-had
never properly weighed and considered
the arguments for and against it-and
whose position against it was solely the
result of prejudice. Being, however,
possessed OF minds broad enough to
comprehend, and magnanimous enough
to accept the truth and justice of our
claims when properly presented, they
speedily overcame their prejudices,
abandoned their false position, and be-
came our earnest friends and jealous
co-workers. That there are thousands
of others who under like circumstances
would do likewise We are assured.
But there are yet vast numbers who
continue to offer the stereotyped objec-
tions, unmindfnl of the fact that they
have become stale from constant repeti-
ton, and forceless from frequent refuta-
ton. OF these the most pathetically
vociferous and iueonsolable is he who
fears that if women are granted the po-
litical equality, which in the name of
right and justice We claim for them,
that their home duties will thereby be
neglected, the children be allowed to
run riot, the husband be compelled to go
puddingless TO bed, only to pass the night
in vain attempts to quiet the screams of
refractory child, and in the morning
as a panacea for his ills be forced to don
q buttonless shirt and breakfast on
muddy coffee and hard-boiled eggs,
while the misguided wife is constantly
occupied in Uoting.
In vain we attempt TO argue with,
console or comfort this poor fellow. The
terrible ghost which his prejudiees have
conjured up will not down; and he daily
attempts to stay the progress of the
inevitable by the rehearsal of feeble and
witless objections such as these.
In close sympathy with him is the
man who fears that women will be sub
jected to jeers and exposed to insult at
the polls, that men will lose their high
chivalric regard for women if they thus
mingle i'm the common crowd. In view
of the fact that women have heretofore
been strictly excluded from all crowded
places this is certainly weighIy objec-
tion. When we venture to remark that
women mingle in our largest crowds, not
only without insult, but TO the manifest
pleasure and profit of themselves and
their brethren, he hesitates a moment
and then Frightening up, as with a new
idea, exclaims with an air Of masculin,
superiority: ''Ohl but elections are dit.
Jerent, you see! There are always meu
about the polls who are drunk and dis
orderly" Here he has unwitlingly made
a strong point in our favor
The evil Of intemperance cannot live
in the presence Of good, earnest and
true women. 1t is one of the first evils
at which the vote Of woman will strike
and one which will thereafter and for
aye hide its diminished head.
Here is one Of a quite numerous class
who, with as much pomposity as if he
were hereditary Sheriff of Multnomah
county, declares that women should not
be allowed TO vote, because, forsOoth,
they would then be eligible TO Office,
and he asserts That they are by nature
and circumstances incapacitated from
office-holding. Perhaps he may succeed
in making some believe that his objec-
ton is prompted by solicitude for the
women only. But for our part we think
it is easy to see what is the matter with
him.
Most of the opposition with which we
meet turns upon one or more Of the oh
jeetions we have noticed, so il is quite
superfiuous 10 mention others. Suffice
it to say that most of them are the re-
suit Of false education, prejudice, selfish
ness and want of proper investigation;
that each and all have been hundreds o.
times completely and easily refuted,
and that in the great progress Of events
each will at no distant day speedily be
resolved in its native element, nothing-
ness. SO when the glorious day ol
woman's enfranehisement shall dawn,
and its erewhile opponents declare as
each and every one Of them will surely
do, "that they had nothing against it,
they will only repeat what we have al
along known TO be the literal truth.
WHY ARE THE PEOPLE POOR2