The St. Cloud journal., 1875-03-04
WOMAN SUFFRAGE,


.-1iA.y<. 81 L-.>-4!l:*:i@
WOMAN SUFFRAGE. ,, -
The recent defeat of the w oman
Suffrage Amendment to the statl
Constitution of Michigan has attract
ed comparatively little attention, owl
ing mainly, we suppose, to the general
political revolution that accompanied
it. The greater swallowed the less
yet the significance of this defeat
ought not to pass unappreciated. In
a fair fight, on free field, the advo-
Gates of the change were everwhelm-
ingly beaten, and thatin State where
there was no such preponderance Of
female population as to arouse the
fears of the 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 all time, and. cannst fail to- have
a most discouraging'edect upon tie
Wholemoyement. That that movement
is waning in power must be painfully
evident to its friends; and we trust
the time may come when they will Ire
joice in the fact as heartily as we do.
1t has had a good many burdens to
carry that it did not: anticipate
burdens which, however, in the: ma
ture Of the case, will always cucumber
it. Wherever the movement has
come to a social head, it has come: to
an abscess or an ulcer. It has al
ways 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,
ihave'seized upon the movement to
keep them from sinking: 3 In short, it
has seemed impossible to keep il out
of social bad odor. There is a reason
for this deeper than what appears,
but it 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 pub
lie man in Wyoming Territory !; and
as it seems to be written without pref
udice, we reproduce some passages
that are very instructive
"As to the question of woman suff:
rage, I have no hesitation in saying
that experience has demonstrated the
truthfulness Of some Of the arguments
ofits friends in it's favor. Tie women
vote in the worst crowds without any
danger Of insult. It is neither de-
moralizing to them, nor in any de-.
gree degrading. Most Of them vote
as do their husbands, except IN cases
where candidates are of. notoriously
bad character: However,, in such
cases we find the vote Of the respect
able portion of the women Offset: to
some extent, by the disreputable .clas-
ses and when we take into consider
alton that women occupy all the vari-
Gus places in the social and moral
scale that men do, and that they are
generally influenced by like consider
ations, we are not surprised THAT ex-
perience should establish the fact that
the general results of an election are
not materially changed by woman
suffrage. 1t also has its evils or bur-
dens, which are felt most by that
class of women who prefer not to en-
ter the political arena, yet whose. ser
vices 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 60 out and counter
act their votes. So they are forced
to go out, much against their will,
and to their great Inconvenience. On
the whole, therefore, I think that
woman suffrage adds to the burden oli
a campaign, without materially affect:
ing its results.
GAS 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 repeat.
ed it. Women do not make as good
Jurors as men, for a good: many 'rea.
sons. X \ X X Under, our laws
women never were competent Jurors
but so anxious were some of the judg.
es to try the experiment that they al
lowed them to sit, over. the protest o.
the bar, as a piece Of judicial legisla:
ton, and that kind Of legislation doe<
not stand unless the end sought war
rants it. In this case, the experimen,
was not a success, and so the whole
matter fell at once into disuse."
In all this letter, the highest evi
dence of the success of movement
seems to be that the women can vot'
without being insulted by the MEN
It does not seem particularly remark
able to us that men stand by ant
protect their wives, mothers ant
daughters, but perhaps it is. Th'
facts that, on the whole, election re
suits are unchanged and jury duty I
dead failure, are very suggestive; ane
it seems far more likely. to us tha
within ten years Wyoming will e.
back" on her woman suffrage record
than that any State Of the Union viii
follow her present example.-Dr. j
G. HoNand; Scribner for March.