The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-07-08
LETTER FROM CHICAGO.

paper Of June llth came to hand, that
full particulars from the womeu's mass
meeting in Farwell Hall had been tele-
graphed you, as they should have been,
for publication, while yet the news was
fresh but, stale as it may Low be con-
sidered, its facts and principles have lost
none Of their importance CT Specification
through the lapse Of weeks. Being Oc- I
cupied in q business way in the matters /
pertaining to the Republican Colylu- .
ton, I saw little OF the ladies' meeting, /
except the reports Of the leading dailies.
But l saw through the Republican and
Greeuback Conventions and compared
notes Of each, aud am more than ever
disgusted with the place-hunting greed
Of my own sex, enormously supposed 10
be chivalrous It had been generally
expected by every body that the Repub-
lican Committee on Resolutions would
present one demanding Woman Suf-
frage plank in the National platform
but, though there was such a resolution
offered 10 was smOthered in committee,
aud no delegate in all the six hundred
had the bravery snd manliness TO offer
it Independently before the Convention.
The just claims Of women were totally
unrecognized by the party, and oue-half
Of the people Of this great Union were
turned away, unrecoguized, except as
taxpayers, and unrepreseuted, except
as servants without wages, and the
great door Of government was shut i'm
their very faces. They were treated po-
litically as tramps and beggars, with no
rights that men, as Republicans, were
bound to respect. In the uHdignilied,
disgraceful and unprincipled grab game
for the Presidency, human rights, JUS
tice and principle were trampled under
foot. Ii was DO time for the still, small
voice OF conscience to be heard the cry
of office drowned all else, and the just
claims Of wife, mother aud sister were
/ lost in the general clamor.
Let women remember this against The
Republican party. Let them refuse to
aid this party hereafter iy pen or hand
or tongue.
Women will never get their rights
until they are strong enough to take
them. They need expect nothing from
the boosted courtesy Of men. Men have
the power in their hands, and women
may depend that they will hold it as
Republicans till such a pressure is
brought to bear upon them politically
as to compel them to be just for their
own selves sake, after which, just as
they did in the negroes case, they will
take great credit to themselves for H5er-
dlity.
If the Greenback party possessed an
organization Of any strength, or even if
it contained the elements of future
strength, there would be much to hope
/ from it ultimately; but this party has
its constituency yet to make, snd,
though it undoubtedly has a. a.missiou,
there is no question but this mission
will develop far different results from
those at present anticipated by lis
I friends. 1t is stimulating a growing
I war between labor and capital, and is
/ probably the one agitation out Of which
will grow an antagOnism equal to that
between negro slavery and human lib
erty, which resulted at last in an ad-
vance war movement Of the enemy bya
route not contemplated by its leaders in
the beginning. This party, like the
Republican and the Democratic parties,
is founded upon the wants and ambi-
tions Of voters, and its agitatOrs care
nothing for the rights Of women, since
women cannot give them the one thing
needed-UOfcs. The recognition of
Woman Suffrage by a party without in
fiuence carries no weight, since it is
well known that it is money that the
Greenback party lacks, as well as nun
bers; and the money platform they have
given Us thus far is on par with the
issuance Of Confederate scrip.
There were better speeches at the
Greenback than at the Republican Con-
vention, and far better at the Woman's
Assembly than at either. For logic.
eloquence, enthusiasm, brilliancy, pop
ularity, order and common sense, the
men did not and could not approach the
women in comparison, and the reason
was that, while the womeu's appeals
were for ? principle, the mems were all
for place, place, place. Their actions
were devoid Of either honor or principle,
and resulted in nothing but a game Of
barter and dicker-a shameless and
open prostitution Of the uoblest public
principles 10 tie basest personal uses.
What prospect can there be in store for
woman's enfmnrhisemeut under such
conditions? ~ present I cannot see
but one practical way for woman to
worl, for liberty, aud that is in her own
home. II all women knew their power
and would combine TO use It, they
would soou bring men TO terms. Let
them refuse 90 trorkor IN any way min
lister to the demands Of men till justice
be granted them. Let them combine
on this one system Of action, and there
is not a political club In the land that
will not surrender at discretion. Let
them cease, st once and forever, to sue
for their rights, for the time to demand
them has fully come. A.F. q
Chicago, Ills, June %, 1850.
The Democratic wing Of the Work