The Red Cloud chief., 1881-07-14
Woman's Column.

snsnt, On Snufasc Tor omen
"L.rise sir. 10 propose an extension
OF the suffrage. which can excite no
party or class feeling. which canno:
offend the most Jealous democrat ss
AN Infringement: Of popular rights, or
privileges granted the oae ciass of so
cicty nj the expense e another.
There i, nothing ID distract or minds
from the sia;le considerations, whe,h-
er there i any reasonable ground for
exri,,iins ail entire half Of the nation,
not oily from actual admission. bu,
from the very possibility OF being adj
mittei within the pale Of citizenship.
though they may fultill every one of
the conditions legally and consti,u-
tionally sufficient III all cases but this.
There IS no other example of an cx-
clusion which l. absolute, neither
birth, nor intellect, nor cxe.;ion, nor
merit, nor fortune. nor even accident,
can enable any woman Ia have her
voice counted in those common con-
Germs which touch her and hers rs
nearly as any other person in the ma
tim. This exclusion violates the
ablest 81 or constitutional aNioins,-a
principis clear 10. ail reformers, and
acknowledged by a.! conservative
that taxation and representation
should be co-e1tensive. that the taxes
should be voted by those who pay
them. Politics IL Is said is not a woia-
ans business. Well | am not aware
that politics is a mans business either.
unless he IL one of the few who is
paid for devo,ing his time Ia the
public service. The great majority II
men have their own business which
engrossess nearly the whole OF their
time. have not heard that those
who vote are worse merchants, or
worse lawyers, or wen worse clergy
men than those who do not. The oc-
equations of most women are likely
to remain principally domestic, but
the idea that those occupations are i'll
compatible with taking an interest in
national affairs, is as futile rs the ter
Tor once sincerely entertained lest
artisans should desert the workshops
and the factories, if they we're taught
to read. 1t may be said that women
can take interest III 4 great nata,ional
question without having a vote. They
can certainly, but how many will?l
All that society and education can do
Is exhausted III intoxicating on women
the rule of their conduct ought To
be what society expects from them,
and the denial OF the vote is Il proc
lamation ineligible To every one that
does not expect them To con
Germ themselves with public interest.
Why the whole of a girls feelings and
thoughts are tanned down by il from
her earliest school days, she does not
the interest eve in national his
that a boy does, because it is To-
be no business of hers when she grows
up. IL there are women, and particu- !
there are now, who do care about
these subjects, and study them, it IL
because the force within is powerful
enough to bear up against the worst
kind Of dislargemcnt, that which not.
by interposing obstacles b. he strug-
glcd against. but by dcadcning the
spirit which PAGES and conqucrs OBJ
We are told that women DO not wish
for suffrage. If this be so, it only
proves that nearly all women are still
under this deadcning influence, and
the opiate still benumbs their minds
and conscience. But there are many
women who do desire the suffrage and
have claimed it by petitions to this
house. sIIow do We know how many
more thousands there are who have
not asked for what they do not hope
to get, either from fear of being i'll
thought of by men, or by other won-
en-, or from the feeling so reluctantly
cultivated by the whole of their edu- |
catiOn-aversion to make themselves
conspicuous. Men must have a great
Of selfdelusion if they suppose
leading questions put to the
Of their families or of their ac-
quaintances, will elicit their real SEN
timents on the subject. No one is so
we'll schooled as most women are in
making a virtue of necessity. 4,
averst little TO disdain earning for
what is not offered; and frankness in
expressing feelings that may be dis
agreeable or unflattering to their
nearest connections, is not one Of the
which 4 woman's education
tends to cultivate. At all events those
who do not care for the suffrage will
not use it; or if they DO they will vote
ss their male relatives advise them
and no harm would be done.
Those, whether they be few or many
who do value the priyalege. would ex-
il and would experience tina;
to their faculties, and that
widening out liberali.ing influence on
their feelings and sympathics which
the suffrage seldom fails 10 exert ovcr
every class that is admitted to a share
in it. Meanwhile an unworthy stigma
have been taken OF the whole
sex, the law would have ceased to
them as incapable of serious
would have ceased to proclaim
their opinions and wishes do not
deserve to have any influence IN
which oncern them equally
with men, and in many that concern
them much more than men. They
would no longer be classed. with chill