The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-22
LIBERTY AND PROGRESS

DIR. Nolkman, editor Of the Stats
Zeit,mg, little German and American
newspaper which claims to be the her
aid of liberty and progress" is never
theless opposed to the freedom Of wom-
an. When we read his Unanswered
platitudes on the "woman question:"
we cannot but recall an incident which
occurred at one of our meetings some
years since. We had spoken for over
an hour, making an argument, as best
we could, in favor Of the "liberty aud
progress" that rises above sex into the
realm Of intellect and soul, and at the
close Of the lecture were followed by a
sex-coneeited orator, who argued that
women were so easily led astray that it
required the restraining influence of
the law-making power of men to keep
the dear creatures in the paths of recti-
tude. "The destiny of woman is man."
said he. "She ought not to get out of
the home. That is her sphere" Why
woman, who is the author of man,
should occupy a secondary position to
him, was not made clear. And how
woman should "keep in the home''
when, but for her energy out oft, there is
so often no home to keep, he did not in
form US; but, after he had talked for
quite a while in the above vein, waxing
eloquent over the liability of woman to
do wrong unless man restraints her,
leaving the suppositiOn, Of course, that
man needs no restraining power because
Of the superiority of his sex, the orator
closed with the words, in the language
of the poet:
woman, lovely woman,
Without her, man would be a brute" "
When it came our turn TO reply, we
had only to paraphrase the quotation
TO answer him fully, and then, much
improved, and much more to the point,
it ran like this:
Woman, lovely womani
Without her, man-wouldn't be at alIi"
The declaration OF DR.. VOlkman that
woman's "whole life is subjective" may
be the utterance OF a theory that tickles
his vanity and that Of all vain men,
but it is not sustained by facts, else we
should have no objective women, whereas
now we have tens Of thousands of them
women who are married and yet earn q
livelihood; women who are not mar
ried, and don't want to be till they gel
able to support husbands; women who
are the mothers Of large families; who
have brains enough TO be presidents
and yet must support their children il
competition with Cinnamon becaus,
voters take the easy places and monop
olize the big pay.
In spite of the brakes the Doctor woull
apply to the wheels of "liberty anC
/ progress" American women are awak.
ing to the fact that man, being born o.
woman, owes not only his existence
but his bringing up to her, and that sh,
is a not a creature created for his con
venienee any more than he is made FOL
hers. They are le2rning everywher,
that without lhem men 10Ouldn't be q
oii- and they are learning also that the
political atmosphere that surrounds th,
home is not what it ought to be, and Sc
they are determined 20 purify it just a
they purify the home itself.
II oTr brother will awaken a liitl,
more thorpughiS rom his Rip Var
T Winkle slaep and viii acquaint himsel
g scn.ou'has SEith TIE aims and objects o
the authors Of men, he will diseove
that they have taken advantage of hi
long s-est0, and advanced just twenty
years beyond him in the race for "lib
erty and progress"