The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-12-02
lPREssING NECESSITY"

This is an age of facetiOusness-there is a craze
Tor wit-and nearly every newspaper is affected,
more or less There are, of course few clever
bumorsts; but if the photographers do not keep
scribbling, the number will not be augmented by
the appearance of new Twains, Burdettes or Bal
,levs The Baker City RereiUe is a victim of this
desire for fun, and attempts to write up the Wom-
~ Suffrage question in a serO-cOmic vein. The
mirthful strain is not exactly successful but some
good sense Is sandwiched between the layers of
alleged wit. As the editor has for years been a
determined opponent of the rights of women, suf-
5ragists viii readily forgive his mixture of the
sublime and the ridiculous. To ask him to come
out at once as a stalwart advocate of their views,
would be seeking too much, and all are willing to
give him time to change his ideas and develop
new opinions. That the development is proceed
ing steadily is evinced by his latest article After
affirming his belief that women as intelligent
as two-thirds Of the voters, and that they should
have the ballot, he says, in the RereiHe of No
vember oath:
And vet not, some believe any great good
will result from the enfanchisa ment Of Nor do
any particular and pressing necessity
en- together with minors and many other males.
through their representatives. And Vet. the negro
the greaser and the Chinaman each and am
say give the right to also; and when say
women. all OF legal age and who are
idiots. It may be said that negro is
tegent But she is good her husband i'm this plr-ic
uiar II she should, in her verIancy think that ballot
is something good 20 eat il is more than what her hus
hand believed according 10 ex-senator Ne>nh hand
consider him good authority on this subject.
If our contemporary will study the question
carefully, he will find pressing necessity for
Woman Suffrage without taking into considcra-
tion the fact that every individual should have
every right and privilege possessed or exercised
aY any and every other individual. He cannot
deny that corruption is a concomitant OF politics
as managed by men; that by the consent of men
the whisky traffic lives and flourishes except in
two or three States; that under the laws OF men
vices of all kinds and evils of all degrees Of wick
e lness abound everywhere; that the majority of
men, instead of cOnscientiously striving to MAIN
tain and uphold a higher standard of public and
private moral and political life, show decided
Indifference as to the passage of wholesome laws
and a dsgraceful apathy in enforcing the better
statutes that are adopted. He knows that women
DO not claim "whsky-drinking'' and tobacco
chewing" and "cigar-smoling'' rights, but re-
gard and denounce them as wrongs whether in
julged by men or women. Looking earnestly
into the political fog he will find pressing neces-
sity' for better element i'm choosing lawmakers
and officers-an element that will carry the vir-
tues of home life into the administration of public
affairs. If women had been represented" as he
asserts, the moral sentiment of the community
would not have been trampled under foot as it has
been in all too many instances, and there would
not be people bewailing the degeneracy of the
times and worrying over the query, "Whther are
we drifting?r That women will retain their good
qualities, there is abundant evidence from Wyom-
ing, where women have voted for nearly a decade.
We quote "A few words from Cheyenne CORE
spondent of the Chicago Inter OccoH, which were
copied into the RereHe Of the same date from
which we have made extracts
In Wyoming elections. well known, the women are
power which cannot be ignored When tine occasion
require H. the better ladies polls
well as the ignorant and vicious. nay obser-
vaton, should say that the voter, while IA
zniar with character and party principles. is con
soeHlious, independent and nsnciyey right than the
male They scratched their tickets a good deal At
the polls there nothing Objectionable 10 the lady
The law requires cleared space Of fifteen square
Of the ballo-box. The quiet prevails, and
a lady walks up deposit her ballot moth
but Difference and poenesS from officials spcca-
Usually they ride to the polling places in carriages
provided by the party The lady with her
already prepared aghts from the carriage. crowd II
sny, quietly back open the passageyay while she
20 shc window or opening behind the clerk and
.-,econ judges, gives her name, drops her the
hallot-box, and returns
The RcueiIc is doing very well just now, and
Woman Suffragists will smile at its pleasantly
while il is in transition state from prejudice to
justice
The Roseburg PlaindedIer of last Saturday con-
tained an excellent and thoughtful leader in reply
10 the question, "Shall Women Vote" 1t an
swers afTirmatively, coming out fair and square
for Woman Suffrage. We shall reproduce the ar
ticle soon.