The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-03-11

MRS. BELLE ". COOKIES ESSAY.
READ BEFORE THE OREGON STATE w0s1Ai
SUFFRAGE CONVENTION.


/ shall not eudeavor to prove to this
enlightened audience the righkof woman
10 the ballot; that has been done often
and most eGectgaliy to all persons Of
intelligence whose prejudices are not
stronger than their sense ofjustice; aud
those persons who deny it ouly furnish
striking illustration Of the power Of
the human mind 10 resist knowledge.
OF our country's right to woman's
ballot, 1 could say much. The var
against wrong Of every kind, against
bribery and iueiliciency in the admins
traiion Of our government, against inn
morality sud drunkenness, was never
more bitter or more necessary tLan At
the present time.
Men say that "womeu cannot fght. -
Tie DAY has come. let Us hope, when the
weapons Of warfare are not necessarily
the sword aud the bullet. but the mar,
sure weapons that conquer mems con
victious and prejudices and give victory
over their self-Iove and self-grat!fica-
tiol. In the war Of the good against
evil, surely woman may continue to he,
as she has been in the ages past, q most
valiant soldier In the words OF Miss
willard on tie Fourth Of July at Wood
stock, "Our Republic will prove herself
the greatest fighter Of the nineteenth
aud twentieth centuries but her bullet.
will be nodded into printers type, her
war will be a war OF words, and under
meath the white storm Of men's aud
'Come's ballots her enemies - State
rights, The drinking saloon, aud the
commune shall find their fitting
shroud."
One Of the chief arguments Of our op-
poneuts is that "the majority Of good
women do not wish to vote" So long
as the rallying cry OF the suffrage party
was, Taxation without representation
is tyranny" it is not much to be won
dered at that many women we're not
convinced or moved by it. for the aver
age woman has no property to be taxed,
and therefore fails to feel the force
Of this great principle Of free govern
meut; but just as soon as good women
begin to perceive that the ''Ten COM
mandments and the Sermon on the
Mount are voted up, or voted down, on
election day" SO soon will they be con-
WINGED Of their duty in the mater; and
when once put upon this higher plat
form Of duty, instead Of self-interest,
they will never finch when called upon
for help.
Another objection has been urged that
"the evil voters will out-number the
good" Let a few statistics on the tenn
perance vote upon the license question
answer this objection. 'In Des Moines.
Iowa, last season, as test Of popular
opinion, the women voted on the
license question, y declaring in favor
Of saloons aud 500 against them. In
Newton, Iowa, at an election ordered by
the Council, 172 men voted for license to
3l9 against-not to I against-while
the women's vote stood in favo. to 39i
against licensing saloons. In Kirkville,
Mo, 10 women favored the liquor traffic,
20 declined to vote, and 500 wanted no
license In the Illinois campaign,
which resulted in 5000 names Of
women who ex pressed their wish to vote
against saloons, and not one woman in
ten declined to afliX her name TO tie
petition"
The liquor-seliers know that their
traffic will be in danger as soon as
women are allowed the ballot; conse-
quently they are the strongest and most
bitter adversaFies that our cause has to
meet.
Having thus cursOrily glanced at
few Of the arguments against, let US DOW
look at the two chief reasons in favor of
woman's enfrauchisement.
First-Her own condition will be ele-
waited and improved.
have no new arguments with which
to prove this assertion; but pretty much
all facts in this world are old, and as
long as Nature repeats her facts over
year by year, and people appear to need
them, we may be excused for initiating
her.
All persons may see the difference I'm
the place which the negro occupies to-
day in the valuation placed upon his
opinions, as well as his position before
the public, and 1t cannot be denied that
the power to back his opinion by a vote
has at least doubled his influence in the