The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-10-27
CORRESPONDENCE 0. S. W. S. A.

UURRESPUNDENUE U, 5, W. 5. A.
Mrs. II. 4. Loughary, President O. s.
W. S. A.:-Your kind note of invitation
to speak in the interest of woman's en-
franchisement at your State meeting is
at hand, and 1 hasten to express my re-
grets that it is impossible for me to do
so, as at that time l shall be in Eastern
Oregon; but be assured that your cause
is my cause, and for it 1 shall never
cease to labor.
am highly gratified with the health
full growth and rapid strides in public
sentiment in your State in favor of ex-
act and equal justice to the women of
our country before the law and in social
life; never before have 1 felt so deeply
the urgent need of honest, earnest la
Dor in the field of reform, and more es-
pecially in the woman movement. In
woman's enfranchisement are involved
principles high as heaven and broad as
the universe; principles holy as the in
cense from the altar of eternal truth !;
principles which underlie the well-being
Of the family, the church, and the State.
The record of past history is reveal
ment of the great truth that the status
of the unit or individual is the measure
and status of the nation.
At what a fearful cost has our own
dear country taken lessons in the dear
school of experience! At what sacri-
fee of blood and treasure did we redeem
our fair land from the blighting and
cOrroding curse of negro slavery! The
principle involved in that question was
justice and individual sovereignty. The
same principle is involved in our strug-
gle to-day, and the same prayer is going
up from a multitude of hearts that are
bound down under the burdens of legal
and social disability. Is our social sys-
tenn permeated with corruption? And
are our courts flooded with petitions for
divorce? Is our political economy a
sham? And are fraud and peculation
the order of the day? Is not the popu-
lar religious sentiment of the day al
most a farce, exerting but little influ-
ence in staying the uprising tide of in
Temperance and crime? Is it not true
that our whole social and political
structure is suffering to-day from mora
pollution, which takes root in woman's
slavery? But, oh how hard it is tC
beat through the prejudice which, like
a cloud, hangs about the reason of oul
people! How hard it is for our people
to profit by the lessons of the past
How hard 10 realize that God, the Eter
nal Father, is not only the father of al
truth, but of justice and freedom, anC
| that freedom is not Christian or Jewisi
or Gentle, or male or female, but likt
the goodness of Go / it comes streaming
down the ages, rich inheritance to ;
common humanity. Thus it is, ever!
attribute of God is pledged to the fina
triumph of human freedom.
Be not weary in well-doing, nor ye
fall out by the way; be of one mind
with an eye single to the enfranchise
ment of woman, leaving out all side is
sues-not praying by petition, but de
manding on the ground of Justice, nat
ural right, and Individual sovereignt,
the ballot, that emblem of heaven
highest gift, the crowning glory of civ
ilized life, and lever to elevate a com
mon humanity into the sunlight of free
dom.
With all good wishes, am heart an
, soul in the work of reformers,
J. L. YORK.
DOrtloDd SaDfeDobor 1915