The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1878-07-13
ToAsT.--The sixteenth amendment.
Response by J. II. Richards, Esq.,:
Z, and Ladies and Gcntlemen:

| 1t has seldom happened that there has been
Fourth of July celebration in which the women
| of America have not been a fruitful theme fo
some patriotic AMI gallant responsor; but thu
| committee OH toasts has givea me u subject on
| of the usual line, and which, at the very out
start, raises most serious question.
The eloquent gentlemen who have already nd
dressed you, have been inspired by themes upor
which we are all united in one sentiment and il
one voice; but where the statement OF the sub.
ject is the statement of debatable proposition,
the position of the speaker Is not little embar.
RAISING
II he has reflected a great deal upon the une.
| or has attended the deliberations of few Wo-
mems Rights conventions, and listened to the
passionate appeals of u Julia Ward Howe. or the
| spiteful anathemas Of II Matilda JOsylen Gage, oil
| the more ponderOus arguments of a Mary A
LivermOre, if thus enthused, he besieges his
hearers with an impassioned appeal in behalf OF
the sixteenth amendment q very large and re-
spectacle number of his nearer! viii! join obsti-
nate issue with him, without distinction Of sex
And if on the other hand, he has not had the ad.
vsntages of an early education and correct train
of cold, rational, phlegmstic Temperament, and
from such standpoint, deprecates and deplores
sucn movement, even then, there is still just as
who will demur to that position.
But the question raised by this proposed
amendment is question involving the politi-
CAL industrial, educational, and social status of
women. Ii embraces important topics such as
divorce, husband and wife, parent and child,
rights of property, &C., all of which have been
determined in some measure, by the legal text
books and the statutes of the different States.
Notwithstanding some advancement may have
been made by the champions Of this proposed
reform, the attempts to have it recognized by
governmental legislation have proven abOrtive
both in this country anil in Europe
We are told that this movement began in the
United States about the middle Of the present
century, and there are some curious coincidents
connected with its rise and progress.
LIST. 1t began in connection with the Anti
Slavery movement.
ID. At the iirst Woman Suffrage convention
ever held in the United States, there were pres
ent some of the leading AbOlitiOnists of the
country and among them, Frederick Douglas.
3D.. OF all our states and territories, but two
of them have conferred upon women the elective
franchise. 1t remained for two territories on the
verge of civilization to do this-the first in 1865
the far-famed and beautiful Wyoming, then in
IL must be confessed that it would be difficult to
explain why reform like this, supported as it
is by that peculiar influence which is supposed to
be irresistible to men, aud cOtempOraneOus with
the agitation of the slavery question and the
Missouri compromise, should remain so incOm-
plete for years, AFTER both the abolition of slavery
and negro suffrage have become accomplished
facts. 1t can only be accounted for from the fact
that one was more Of . necessity than the other
1t does not seem difficult to imagine greater
necessities to female citizenship and character
than the historic sixteenth amendment. 1t does
not vouchSafe more than political equality, and
politics are essentially coarse and masculine in
their NATURE ana THIS ls not the sort OF an acqul
sition or accomplishment that unselfish admir-
ers of the sex wish to see. Our mothers, and
wives, and daughters are lOyable and beloved
because they are tcomanty, and possessed offhOse
graces of their sex which challenge the love and
admiration of mankind.
Not until recently has Christendom accorded
woman that position Of equality for which she
is pre-eminently fitted, but n0w she reigns =
queen.
Ever since that fatal hour, wherein tradition
teaches us that Eve. tempted, did eat of the for
hidden fruit, there has been cowardly sort of q
sentiment prevailing. which Is found in words,
such As Mii:on's, when he says: ''She plucked;
she ate. Earth felt the wound, and nature, from
her seat, signing through all her works, gave
signs Of VICE. THAT all was lOst.' To such
sentiment rs this has her former disability been
owing, more than than to any fancied political
What more than she now hiss, can she want?
This very day, she rules the to0rid. She shapes
its ends, and makes its destiny. The heart the
BRAIN, and the conscience of the nation are hers
II we have great and good men, she makes them
30, and she has the praise without stint. There
ID no page in history which she does not gid; no
make; no reformation or revolution, social re-
igious or political, wherein she does not appear
rs an important factor
Wherever there are deliberations, there Is her
influence felt. The legislations Of congresses |
psriisments and assemblies are all stamped with |
her views: ibis very day owes its existence to !
ler loyal devotion to the country, and hardly . !
port with the biliowy wind, that was not made |
But the brightest jewels in her disdem, are her !!
vomanly qualities, her personal embellishments, !
md not her political acquirements, or her rels- |
i've rights