Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-03-14
Woman Suffrage.


The recent defeat of the Woman suf.
rage Amendment to the State Constitu.
.ioh OF Michigan has attracted comnara-
'lVeiy little attention, owing mainly. we
suppose, to the general political rcyolu-
tloh mat accompanied it. The greater
swallowed the less; yet the significance
OF TINS defeat ought not to pass unar-
preciated. In a fair fight, on a free field
'he advocates of the change are over.
whelmingly beaten, and that in State
where there is no such preponderance of f.
male population as to arouse the fears of
the men that they should be placed bv tba
proposed reform in minority. l. finishes
up the matter for Michigan for many
years, II not for all time, and cannot
Ian 10 have most discouraglng effect
upon the whole movement. That that
movement is waning in power must be
painfully evident to its friends; and we
trust the time may come when they will
re)olce in the fact as heartily as we do.
IL has had good many burdens to
carry that it did not NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
winch, however, in the nature of the case.
Will always cucumber it. Wherever the
movement has come to a social head II
has come to an abccss or an ulcer. II
has always had special attractions for
those entertaining loose social theories.
and the good and pure men and women
engaged in it have been obliged, again
and again, to wash their hands, and pro
test. Bright women who have lost caste
socially, in any way, have seized upon the
movement to keep them from sinking. In
Short it has seemed impossible to keep
1t out Of social bad odor. There is a rea
son for this deeper than what appears,
but involves a broader discussion than we
have space for at present So we do not
mention it. We have before US a private
letter from a public man in Wyoming
Territory; and as it seems to be written
without prejudice, we reproduce some
passages that are very instructive:
"As to the question of woman suffrage,
have no hesitation in saying that expe-
rience has demonstrated the truthfulnsss
of some of the arguments of friends in
its favor. The women vote in the worst
crowds without any danger of insult. 1t
is neither demoralizing to them, nor iu
any degree degrading. Most of them
vote as do their husbands, except in caps
where candidates are of VIGOROUSLY bSa
character. However, in such cases w
find the vote of the respectable portion
of the women offset, to some extent, by
the disreputable classes; and when we
take into consideration that women oc-
cupy all the various places in the social
and moral scale that men do, and that
they are generally influenced by like con-
siderations, we are not surprised that ex-
perience should establish the fact that the
general results of an election are not ma
terially changed by woman suffrage. 1t
also has its evils or burdens, which are
felt most by that class of women who
prefer not to enter the political arena, yet
whose services there are the most valuable.
When the disreputable classes turn out to
vote on one side, it becomes a matter of
necessity on the part of the better classes
to 90 out and counteract their votes. On
the whole, therefore, l think that woman
suffrage adds to the burden of cam
paign, without materially affecting its re-
suits.
Gas the other aspect of the case,
that of having them on juries, We tried
the experiment in 1870 in two counties,
but have never since repeated it. Women
do not make as good jurors as men, for a
good many reasons. Under
our laws women never were competent
Jurors; but so anxious were some of the
Judges to try the experiment that they al
lowed them to sit, over the protest of the
bar, as piece of judicial legislation, and
that kind of legislation does not stand
unless the end sought warrants it. In
this case, the experiment was not sue
cess. and so the whole affair fell at once
into disuse."
In all this letter, the highest evidence
of success of the movement seems to be
that the women can vote without being
insulted bv the men, 1t does not seem
particularly remarkable to US that men
stand by and protect their wives, mothers
,, and daughters, but perhaps it is. The
facts that, on the whole, election result,
are unchanged and jury duty dead
failure, are very suggestive; and 1t seems
far more likely to us that within ten years
Wyoming will ''go back" on her suffrage
J record. than that any State of the Union
i will follow her present exampie.-Dr' "
G.. Holland; Scribner for Aare"'