Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-11-09

Election times are upon us, and the
country exhibits the usual number OF
drinking men and sorrowing women
that mark this period in our national
affairs. The heart of the liquor ven
der is light. The heart of the wife.
the mother, the daughters heavy
A lady, whose husband is not in the
habit of drinking inordinately, tells NE
that, for TIVE weeks, or ever since he
became the nominee of party for Of
fee, he has not spent an evening at
his home, but has remained careusing
at drinking soloons until midnight =
Another lady has said to me, "This
electoneering is fearful. I am resolv-
ed my husband shall never again be a
candidate for Office
Among the most noatable of the eff
fects of Woman Suffrage | should
place a salutary change in the manner
eff carrying elections. Bribery by Ii
quor is the most popular manner of Sc
curing an elective office AS a custom.
it can scarcely be called general, it is
more nearly coorect to speak of it as
being universal. The political support
of few, Of very few women, could be
purchased by means of intoxlcatin "
drinks. The craving for alcoholic
stimulants is felt, or succumbed to, al
most exclusively by men, And thus,
even in the absence of prohibitory
laws, and with drinking saloons open
ing their unholy portals to receive
politicians and their purchased consti.
tuents, the Inauguration of Women Suf-
frage would secure to the nation about
eight millions Of voters who would be
wholly inaccessible to bribery by
means of liquor. This, of itself, must
bring about salutary change in the
character of men nomidated and elect
ed to public office. But Woman Suf-
frage must exercise still greater in
fuence on the custom of seduction and
bribery by liquor.
Woman not wholly abandoned,
would refuse their Suffrage to man
whom they knew to be seeking his
election by making inebriates. No
surer way could be devised of forfeit
ing the support of the female members
of Il household than that of carouring
with father or husband or brother:
nor do we believe the sense of resent
ment would be less pronounced against
the man who had brought drunkenness
to the hearthstone of a neighbor.
Thus, if politician gained one vote
by means of liquor, he would be very
certain Of losing several Influence
exertcd in this way would defeate the
most popular candidate, carrying him,
with every effort, farther from victory
Woman Suffrage. then, would not
only give US several millions of voters
who could not be bribed by liquor, it
would present a powerfcl argument to
otfice-seekers against offering this spe-
cies of bribery.
When we consider how general brib-
cry by drink has become, how it is
profferrd by ofice-seekers as if its
profering were part of the established
order OF an election, and how it is
everywhere demanded by the masses
as the reasonable price of political sup
port, we must acknowledge that Wo-
man Suffrage, as its antagonist and
and destroyer, must be an invaluable
auxiliary in any effort to purify cleo
tions.
We believe it is knowledge Of this
fact that to-day, more than any other
cause, operates 20 prevent the admission
of women to a participation in COVER
nsnt. The hatred of liquor venders by
American women is instructive. They
seem animated by it, as by common
sense of danger. Drunkenness means
to women the destruction, if not of
home, at least, of all that makes home
desirable. and the liquor vender is the
incarnate minister of evil who sets a
snare unto this destruction. Greater
than to live by the sweat of her brow,
greater than that she should yearn to-
ward her husband and that he should
turn from her, is the curse that liquor
selling puts upon her.
The struggle for Woman Suffrage to-
day lies not between men and women,
as men and women. 1t lies between
women as the enemies of vice and de-
bauchery, and vice and debauchery as
the enemies of women.
VIRGINIA T. RUSSELL.
Austin. Nevada.