The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-03-05
EMPORIA NEWS
FRIDAY, MARCH ., 1875.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

The recent defeat of the Woman
Suffrage Amendment to the State
Constitution of Michigan has at
tracted comparatively little atten-
ton, owing mainly, we suppose, to
the general political revolution that
accompanied it. The greater swsl
lowed the less; yet the significance
of this defeat ought not to pass un-
appreciated. In a fair fight, on a
free field, the advocates of the
charge were overwhelmingly beat
en-, and that in q state where there
were no such preponderance of fe-
male population as to arouse the
fears of men that they should be
placed by the proposed reform in a
minority. 1t finishes up the matter
for Michigan for many years, If not
for allIime, and cannot fail TO have
a most discouraging effect upon the
whole movement. That that move
ment is wanting in power must b.
painfully evident to its friend and
we trust the time may come when
they will rejoice in the fact as hearth
ly as we do.
1t has had u good many burdens
to carry that 1t did not anticipate
burdens which, however, in the ma
ture of the case will always encum-
Der it. Wherever the movement
has come to a social head, il has
come to an abscess or an ulcer. IL
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 protest.
Bright women who have lost caste
socially, in any way, have seized
upon the movement TO keep them
from sinking. In short, il hes
seemed impossible to keep ii out of
social bad odor. There is reason
for this deeper than it appears, but
IL involves a broader discussion
than we have space for at present.
So we do not mention IL. We have
before US a private letter from a
public man in Wyoming Territory;
and as it seems to be written with
out prejudice, we reproduce some
passages that are very instructive:
GAS to the question of woman
suffrage, l have no hesitation in
saying that experience has demon-
strated the truthfulness of some of
the arguments of its friends in its
favor. The woman vote in the
worst crowds without any danger
or insult. 1t is neither dcmoraliz-
ing to them, nor in any degree de-
grading. Most of them vote as do
their husbands, except in cases
where candidates are Of VIGOROUSLY
bad character. However, Ia such
cases we find the vote of the re-
spectacle portion of the woman
offset, to some extent, by the disre-
putable 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 influ-
ehced by like considerations, we are
not surprised that experience should
establish the fact that the general
results of ON election are not mater
tally changed by woman suffrage.
It also has it evils or burdens, which
are felt most by that class of woman
who prefer not to enter the political
arena, yet whose services there are
most valuable. When the disreput-
able classes turn out TO vote on one
side, it becomes a matter of me-
cessity on the part of the better
classes to go out and counteract
their votes. So they are forced to
go out, much against their will, and
to their great inconvenience. On
the whole, therefore, l think that
woman suffrage adds to the burden
of campaign, without materially
affecting its results.
"As TO 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 il. Women do not make
as good jurors as men, for IA good
many reasons.
Under our laws woman never were
competent jurors: but so anxious
were some of the judges to try the
experiment that they allowed them
10 sit, over the protest of the bar,
as piece of judicial legislation, and
that kind of legislation does not
stand unless the end sought war
rants it. In this case, the expert
ment was not a success, and so the
whole matter fell at once into dis
use."
In all this letter, the highest evil
dence of the success of the move
ment seems to be that the women
can vote without being insulted by
the men. 1t does not seem particu-
larly remarkable to us that men
stand by and protect their wives,
mothers and daughters, but perhaps
1t Is. The facts that on the whole,
election results are unchanged and
jury duty a dead failure, are very
suggestive and it seems far more
likely to us that within ten years
Wyoming will ego back" on her
woman suffrage record, than that
any state of the Union will follow
her present example.-Dr. j. G.
Holland; Scribner for March.