The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-04-28
WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
BY BILLY BUSTER.

You claim for the women equal rights
with the men, do you? What nom
sense! You know not what you are
doing. Your doctrine would lead to the
inevitable destruction of the human
race, the overthrow of all religion, and
the breaking down of that ennobling
and heaven-sent virtue which now
adorns most of our women-modesty;
the annihilation of the marriage rela-
tions, and thousand other blessings
which protect, inspire, and encourage
noble deeds. Only think of the conse-
quences which the baleful evils of giving
to woman the right to vote, to hold Office,
and to be an individual, separate and
alone from her husband, would entail
Reason candidly and fairly, and you
must admit, as it has proved with the
negro, when we had granted to him the
right of liberty, it carried with it all
other rights. They were entailed upon
the word freedom" in this wise: First,
if person is free, that is, if person is
not owned by any other person, that
free person has a natural right to
breathe, eat, sleep, work, and go from
place to place at pleasure; he has the
right to labor, and to receive the re-
ward or benefit of that labor; he has
then the right to honestly acquire prop
erty, and enjoy the proceeds thereof; to
accumulate wealth, and to pay taxes
upon that wealth; and, if he pays taxes,
the general principle is that taxation
and representation must go together;
so, then, if he pays taxes, he has a
right to say who shall make the laws
which tax him; in fact, to assist by his
voice either directly or indirectly in
making these laws; and, by this rea.
soning, don't you see that when a per-
son once has the right to earn and keep
and use property, it carries with it the
right to spend it, just as that person
may please? Now, if these premises
be true, land deny them if you cam, let us
let US see what point it will lead to in
respect to women. fright here let me
stop and put in peg.) My reverence
for the old common law-writers is
great; my faith in the Bibles being ar
inspiration is larger than a mustard.
seed, and my admiration for those ole
patriarchs who walked with God anC
received knowledge and inspiration
from Him is almost unlimited. mus
frankly say that, in their wisdom, they
placed woman in her proper sphere. Il
was impossible to do otherwise. She
was a mere thing, made by the AL
mighty for companion and helpmeet
and not for self-relying, Independent
identity. She was intended to be like
the puny vine clinging to the gigantic
oak of the forest-incapable of raising
her head high enough to receive the ra'
dance and glory of the sunshine of the
Almighty without the assistance of hel
companion, the oak-the man! The
Mormons have come near the right
conception of what woman should be
They say that she cannot be saved with
out being sealed to man-that is, be-
ing drawn into heaven by him. 1t was
in accordance with this doctrine tha
Joe Smith, the founder of MormOnism
, used the expression in regard to Emma
his wife, who, by the way, he coulC
never make full Mormon of, and WHIT
, often rebelled against the Church anC
her lords authority, and it was on ont
of these occasions of rebellion when Jot
said that che would have Emma il
heaven if he had to rake hell over will
fine-tooth comb to find her."
+ But, coming back to the Bible, TO