The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-05-03

1rrTEE oN PRIVILEGES AND FLFcTroVs OF
ItE JNIlED STATES SENATE, JANUAH.1 n AND
-, ISIS.
William IT. Seward said in his great
speech on Freedom and Union" in
the United States Senate, February %,
1860:
Mankind have a natural right, a
natural instinct, and natural capacity
for self-g0vernment; and when, a. here,
they are sufficiently ripened by culture,
they will and must have self-gOvern-
ment, and 10 more"
Jefferson said:
"Ihe God who gave us life gave US
liberty at the same time; the hand Of
freedom may destroy, but cannot dis
join them"
Few people comprehend the length
and breadth Of the principle we are ad-
vocating to-day, and how closely Il is
allied 20 everything vital in our system
of government. OurpersOual grievances.
such as being robbed of property and
children by unjust husbands denied
admission INTO the colleges, the trades
aud professions; compelled 10 work at
starving prices, 10y no means round out
this whole question. In asking for "A
Sixteenth Amendment 20 the United
states Constitution, aud the protection
OF Congress against the injustice of
state law, we are fighting the same bat
tie as Jefferson and Hamilton fought in
l776, as Calhoun and Clay in ls2s. as
Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis
iu 1850, namely, the limit Of State rights
and Federal power The eufranchise-
ment of woman involves the same vital
principle of our government that is di-
viding and distracting the two great
political parties at this hour.
There Is nothing foreigner coming
here finds 10 so difficult to understand
as the wheel within "a wheel in our ma
uoual and state governments, aud the
possibility Of carrying them on without
Irctioni and this is the difficulty aud
danger we are fast finding ont. The re-
cent amendments are steps in the right
direction toward national unity. secur-
ing equal rights 90 all citizens. i'm every
latitude and longitude. But our Con-
gressiouai debates, judicial decisions.
and the utteranCes Of campaign orators
continually falling back TO the Old
ground, are bundles Of contradictions
on this vital question. Iuasmuch as
we are, first, citizens Of the United
States, and, second, of the State wherein
We reside, the primal rights Of all citi-
zens should be regulated by the national
government, and complete equality in
civil and political rights everywhere
secured. When women are denied the
right 20 enter institutions of learning
and practice in the professions, unjust
dlscrlmiuations made against sex, even
more degrading aud humiliating than
was ever made against color surely
woman, too, should be protected by a
civil rights bill aud a Sixteenth Amend
ment that should make her political
status equal with all other citizens OF
the republic.
me right Of suffrage, like the cur
- 9uu lne post Office department.
IN --'''s national regulation. We can
-'-i1 .H.-4 '.e Losses sustained bv
ci'lAeus in travelling from one Stata 20
another under the Old svsfan, "a $50,
banks We can imagine ne eo,,r,,sio,,
ID eacn state regulated its Uo.t o.li-ss
anu the transit of the mails . 80 -,
borders. The benefits we find 81. ,,.s
iormily aud unity in these great i..,..-
ests would pervade all others ,-t.
equal conditions are secured. some al,
liens are asking for a national bankrUr,
law, that a person released from, ~
debts in one State may be free in every.
otner Some are Tor religious freedom
amendment that shall forever senar,fl.
church and stale; fOrbiddiug religions
test as a condition Of suffrage or a ouali-
lication for office; forbidding the read
ing Of the Bible in the schools, aud the
eXempting Of church property and sec
tartan institutionso Of learning or charity
from taxation. some are demanding a
national marriage law, that mau le-
galiy married la one State may not be
bigamist DO another. Some are ask
ing "a national prohibitory law, that a