The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-03-04

s corded to his sister. She was consti.u
c tionally and in the order Of Divin
{ Providence a use-plant, and in tn
= house she must remain, and any mate
] rial deviation therefrom would be Outr
= and unwomanly. True, she was no
veiled and roomed like her Turkish sis
ter, nor were her feet compressed lik,
those Of the women Of the Celestial En-
pire, but for most practical purposes il
the serious business affairs of life she
was, in the new order Of things, nearly
as helpless and dependent. There il
another fact in this new order OF thing.
worthy Of consideration, aud which re-
suits greatly to her present advantage,
: which is that machinery is the great
drudge in modern industry. There is
now but little Of laborious aud exhaust
Ing work in the departments of agrieuI-
tOre, and woman can, therefore, without
sacrificing her health and womauly in
stincts, euter upon almost any depart
ment Of business that it is proper for
man to prosecute. Seated upon a ma
chine, she can plow and SOW, reap and
NOW, and enjoy the exercise and fresh
air at the same time.
In war aud physical strife, woman
can rightfully lay 10 claim to equality
with her brother. feel warranted in
predicting that when woman shall be
allowed a voice and vote in the affairs
Of state, the army and navy, with whips
aud chains and scaffolds, will in due
time become relics Of the past and be
known only in history. When she
shall become an active factor in matters
Of business and Stale, further predict
that she will turn her attention In the
direction Of poverty aud crime. aud as
certain, if it be possible so to do, the
causes that enable the few to pile up
untold wealth, which can be of no pos
sibie service to them, while the great
mass who are 50 fortunate as to obtain
employment are forced to struggle con-
tinuously to keep the wolf from the
door, while his wife aud children share
his hard fate, deprived of the numerous
comforts and luxUries which this beau
tiful earth Of ours would joyfully yield,
If properly interrOgated, to a population
fifty times greater than it has at the
present time. l shall greatly mistake
If she will not in her investigations
couple poverty-or the fear Of poverty,
which haunts the rich as well as the
pOor-with crime, and in removing the
former eventually displace the latter.
A few wards as to what is being done
in California in behalf of women, and I
will conclude this hastily written epis-
tie. 10 my letter to your previous con-
vention, told you that our Coustitu-
tiOn-makers, then in session, were too
busily engrossed in questions pertaining
to finance, taxation, corporations and
the "hesihen Chinee," to afford the
question Of human rights, human
needs and human Improvement much
attention or consideration. The major
ity Of that body ignored the claims of
woman, though a large minority IA
vOred her political acknowledgements. II
will be a al ifficult matter to amend this
Constitution, as it requires a vote Of
twO-thirds Of all the members elected to
each House to initiate an amendment,
while il only requires a majority of
those votes on the ratification of any
proposed amendment. There are only
eight States in the Union that have this
mOnstrous provision.
Here women are eligible to any State
office, while the Oregon Constitution, if
my memory serves me correctly, spe-
officially denies the right of any one but
an elector to bold any office. Our Con-
stitutiOn nowhere denies the right to
confer suffrage on woman for most Of
the county, municipal and township
officers. Mrs. FOltz is Secretary Of the
Assembly Judiciary Committee, aud is
doing yeOmanis service for her sisters at
the Stale Capital. The Hastings Law
School was forced to suecumb and allow
women admission on the same terms as
the mOnOpolizing sex. We now have
three women lawyers in this State, and
several others are pr, pairing to enter the
profession. There are in this city al
least dozen women who are ptaclicing
physicians.
Mrs. Senator Sargent resides here, and
is very active in the cause of Woman
Suffrage. A meeting of those friendly
to the movement was held few days
since, and plans were matured for ex-
tensively circulating petitions to the
Legislature for constitutional amend
ment striking out the word "male"
from the suffrage article; another, to
confer the common property on the
widow, without probate, on the death of
the husband another, to allow women
to vote for Presidential Electors and
another. to allow women to vote for all
school officers aud on all school matters
not denied 10y the Constitution.
trust you will not forget that to
VIM. Lloyd Garrison, who passed over
to the other side few months since, is
woman indebted more than to any man
living (and in saying this much anl
not unmindful Of the great labors and
eloquent efforts Of Wendell Phillips in
her behalf) for his advocacy Of her rights
more than forty years siuee, when it re.
quired no little courage to announce and
defend her claims.
The eauaa l. r,nv;.. rt