National Republican., 1876-02-01
TIE BALLOT.

Wtmsn Suffrage In the District OF Columbia
The District Of Columbia COMMITTEES room Of
the Senate was filed to overhowing at l:So p. N.
yesterday with citizens of the District and the
ladies of the recent convention, who assembled
70 besr arguments before the committee IN behalf
of equal suffrage In the Distrie: for men and
women citizens, as set forth. in the memorial in
troduced by Senator Sargent. There were pres
ent Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mrs. sara ].
Spencer, Rey. Olympia Brown, Miss Pha23e Coz
Eins, Miss Kate Stanton, Mrs. Belva A. Lock
wood. Dr.. Caroline B. WinsIow, Mrs. Ellen O.
Sargent, Mrs. Ruth q. Denison, Mrs. Lily De
Sofia Wood, Mrs. Kicker Rad many Washington
women, representing not only the intelligence
but the hard Intellectual and materielworklng
women Of the District, teachers, ply ysiciaRs, ar.
lists, writer's and domestic house women.
Mrs. Gage, president of the National Woman,s
tee. She said that the District Of Columbia
being in the special care OF Congress, offered the
best field for the sIgeIinssns s. Of suffrage; thl
ings. There were 1913 women in excess OF men
in the District, and that weary wolf, the taxes,
temperance the women engaged declared they
were opposed to suffrage, were not women's
rights women, tut the crusade proved better
educational measure than they had dreamed, for
IN their second convention they declared that
they desired the ballot that they might vote for
temperance measures.
Hecaulay says "Governmsnt is q progressive
institution" Our rights do not date from the
framing Of the Constitution, but from the Decla.
ration Cf Independence. II had been suggested
that :f Congress failed to-not grant their de-
mard, they denied the right OF that body to grant
what was already theirs-eut secure to thsm the
they should all wear Grape on their arms during
the Centennial; but she preferred that they might
should guarantee to them their rights and pri5I-
lsgss: SI: ,s,r,1 sr,r,.- or the D,,.-,o. ot r.,
lum bia Franchise Association, said:
The decision Of nine Judges of the supreme
Court upon the rights and privileges of ten mil
lions OF women citizens need not, does not, change
the convictions OF one woman in regard 10 her
own HeaVen-endowed rights, duties and ooliga-
tions.
"For any right ever claimed in court or else
where in the District of COIum0 0ia, ask no other
charter than the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution OF the United States as IL
wSs before the fourteenth amendment was CON-
ceiyed in the minds OF men.
''All the expsdients to which we have ever re-
sorted to secure full recognition Of our citizenship
from those who rule over US in the strength Of
might, Dot right, have been adopted with con-
tinual protest against the obstacles they have
ave are daughters Of our Father in Heaven,
and joint heirs with you there-me-e daughters
ofthis Republic and Joint heirs with Jou there.
When any man suggests TO me doubt as to
whether / or any other woman would make q
proper use Of the ballot If It were accorded say
What IS that to you; II y you have for years ds;
last, from policy or late conviction, conclude to
restore 10 me my own domain, must ask you
huClleI 10 SOW II Win HOWeEe, or planL WlI1
corn, or make it a pasture for kline? If you have
been wise in using your property and mine,
shall be glad TO learn Of you. but injustice is
not wont TO yield harvest OF wisdom. Grapes
do not grow OF thorns, nor figs of thisties.'
"As result Of the cruel subjectlon OF woman to
man, We have in the United States ll6,01O
of blind and deaf and dumb, insane, feeble
minded and idiotic youthful criminals and chill.
well pray for the utter extinction of the human
race rather than for perpetuation after its own
kind.
The wisdom of men licenses the dram. shop, and
then reaTs stadOn-houses, jails and gtb5ets to
provide for the victims. In this District we have
i3j fchool-teachers and 23S police officers, and
the last report shows the need of 90 officers to
protect the rights Of property. We have in the
District Gl,6Tl children OF school age-2lG71 rea-
sens why / want to vote"
Mrs. Spencer gave a history OF the successive
failures to establish al efficient government for
the District, and declared poue had been Just,
therefore rcne prosperous. She proposed TO sub
NIT a plan. Including equal Suffrage for men and
women citizens with an educational qua ALLEGATION,
which the committee said they would be glad to
receive.
Mrs Belva A. Lockwood said that It was prac-
ticallY question Of new government for the
District. Women outnumber men here by 7SlG.
and fully one hall the taxes are paid by women.
She said that she had applied to Judge OIn to
grant writ de luRdiicO against several men, on
lie plea of wives Of d!unkards He had done so
in enc case. The board of audit and the District
attorney had repeatedly told her that they could
give her no comfort in cases OF debts, collie :ons,
NC.s mat every IlluG Noulu SODu ne relGTTe1 TO
Congress. Senator Spencer, chairman Of the
committee, said there were two o. three prop0-
sitiCrs before tie House for new government IOr
the District.
MISS Ph"be Cozzeas, the weman lawyer OF s..
Lcuis said that cS member of the commit
tee she had very little TO add 10 what had bsen
said, but she would like TO say that she had IuSt
come irCm Massachusetts, wIere the subIeyt of
suffrage had been under discussion for three
weeks, whole days being given to It's dcIoera.
tiLn. Massachusetts thus acknowledges the in
ruTtaGce Of the question. She gave portions OF 4
consultation with Judge hingman IN the uueS-
tIon in Wyoming. lie rad declared that there
was no comparison between Wyoming Territory
to any other State or Territory in the Union for
purity, propriety and general quiet. Men went
TO the polls with their wives Just as they went to
the theatre or the cOncert-room. Woman did not
Iush to the polls 10 dance around them every day
in the three hundred and siNty-hve, but when
any question touching the morals Of the commu
nifty, school questions, SC, they were always to
the fore. She hoped to see Senators throw of
tte uImRnly tear Of ridicule, and be ready to
come forward on the WomanS platform, and
openly espouse their cause.
Rev. Olympia Brown based her remarks on the
golden rule, and coupseled the Incorporating OF
II into the Government, and begged that the eX.
pertinent might be tried in the District. She
doubted that women did not want to vote. She
believed that those women who loudly declare
that they don't desire the ballot would be some OF
tie first 10 go to the belot-box. Before the war
IL was really the case that woman, as o sex, did
not really know much OF government, but the war
they should have long ago learned. She begged
that the experiment might be tried in the Dis
trict, right here where Congress could watch the
experiment.