The Portland daily press., 1881-06-02
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ASSO-
CITATION AT CITY HALL.
Speeches bv Mrs. Saxon, Mrs Matilda j.
Gage, Miss Susan B. Anthony and Mrs.
Merriwether.

flowers, whose fragrance tllicd the air in that
vicinity.
On the platform were Miss Susan B. An
thony of Rochester, N. Y.,-whese name and
face are now familiar to almost all our people
either by reputation or photograph-tall with
hair arranged in the good old-fashioned way,
with spectac.es on nose, quick, keen, clever
her words pouring from her mouth In a perfect
cataract, and yet with every syllable enuncat-
ed Mrs. Saxon Of New Orleans, u lady of me-
dunn height, with dark brown hair, aquilne
nose, bright eyes, clear complexion, also a
rapid, ready speaker; Mrs. Gage, tall, with
white hair brushed back from the sesehead q
la Cady Stanton, with a natural elegance Of
carriage and MANNER, 4nd an earnestness OF
speech that was very convincing; Rev. Olym.
pia Brown of Racine, Wis, petite in figure
and sweet of face; Miss Rachel Foster of Phila.
delphia, a charming young disciple of the
faith, in white hat and plume, and light dol.
man; and Mrs. Merriwether of Memphis. OF
the true Southern type, whose brunette fea-
lures and sparkling eyes were well SET off by
her Marie Stuart-like sort of hat These were
the strangers. Then there were several Port
land ladies and gentlemen, most of them vice
fpresidents of the convention.
The object OF the convention is the advocacy
of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution
embodying the principle OF universal suffrage.
which will be presented to congress next win
ter.
At p. m. precisely the meeting was called
to order by Rev. DIR. McKeown Of the Chest
nut street church, who offered the following
list OF vice presidents, who were elected
Mrs. Newell Foster Miss Charlotte Thomas,
Mrs. 0. Il. Grover, DIR. John Buzzell, Ed
fl. Thomas, Geo. A. Thomas, S. T. Pick ard,
Jabez G. Woodman, S. l.. Carlton.
Mrs. Fl. A. Grover was elected Secretary.
Rev. G. A. Hayden offered prayer.
DIR. McKeown expressed his qualification at
presiding over the convention, with whose OBJ
jects he was in perfect accord only regrettine
his brief residence among us, making it seem
more appropriate position for citizen better
known. He thought woman suffrage the
great question of the day, and only regretted
woman seemed so Indifferent to it herself. He
would like to see the man who was willing to
state that woman had no right to a vote in
the Government she was called Oh to support.
He would like to know what becomes of the
definition of republic by Lincoln-a govern
ment of the people. for the people, by the peo-
ple-if woman, who is q part of the people.
had no right to vote. Who authorized the
statement that the wife's political existence is
sunk in that of the husband? If true. why
isn't the woman's religious and educational
life also drowned in the same way? If true.
how about the 10000 widows and unmarried
women in Massachusetts, Who will represent
them? and yet think of the taxes they pay.
Many think all the advantages women would
gain by the suffrage would be lost by certain
deterioratiug Influences that would accompany
the privilege. This he considered an unWar-
ranted assum ption. 1t is the doctrine of ty-
rants that woman cannot be trusted with her
rights.
Mrs. Saxon said woman asks not for charity
or mercy, but justice. The great bar to human
progress is the repression of the female SEX
All the best features of civilization, even bar.
barism, were found in woman. Marco Polo,
in his wanderings among savage tribes, found
woman tender, loving, and man brutal. She
quoted from letter from DR.. Draper, written
in 1873, who then considered this question of
the emancipation of woman would surely gain
strength and become successful. II women
Will only support the woman question then,
said the speaker, there will be no trouble in
getting women to take an interest in the sub
ject She referred to tae work Mrs. Merr-
wether and herself had done at the South en-
the people, and now in that far off
region there was large party interested in
li6 .T6loTui. Lie HOfh UOuS by women all
over the world was dwelt upon. Women
founded colleges for men, but itIwas not till the
present century that we heard of Vassar, and
Wellesley, and the Harvard annex She told
of the courage and pluck of Harriet Hos
mer. bound to learn anatomy, and how
good old DR.. Mcdowell, OF st. Louis,
stood by her. She gave Mrs. Cross
and Charlotte Bronte a rap because
they assumed the names of George Eliot and
Currer Bell because ltbey thought the mans
mantle would win for them the fame denied
woman. Although Southerper by birth, she
had been, and SO had her father an aboltionist
from the beginning, and she wanted the
women of the North, who claimed to have
been abolitionists to show their consistency by
working for the abolition of the slavery Of
woman. There are many wrongs women will
have to suffer until they have the ballot:
wrongs that can be righted in no other way.
She referred to the progress agitation had
achieved for women; thirty years ago there
were three women known in business-a lady
who was hardware dealer in Philadelphia,
DR.. Lucy Stone Blackwell, and Rev. Henrietta
Brown. Now try and count them and you
will fail. She spoke at length of the sums
wasted in rum and tobacco, and finally said we
women want the ballot not selfshly for our
selves alone, but for the great army of women
who cannot speak for themselves.
Mrs. Gage, editor of the National Citizen
and Ballot-Box, read letters from Rev. Dr..
pressing sympathy; Mayor Senter, regretting
his continued hoarseness and necessary absence
from town, and who thought when women
acted as q unit then the end would be obtained;
and DIR. Buzzell, who thought women would
do right to band together and refuse to become
mothers until their wrongs were righted.
Mrs. Gage thought it absurd to call this
republic when only one-half the people had
voice in tho government. She referred to the
Revised Testament and thought if woman had
had hand in the revision she would have
shown the Godhead was equal in woman o.
in man. She showed how women had held
q leading part In the history of this country
She referred to Mercy Otis, wife of James,
and Hannah Adams. She thought if our gov
ernment was based on rights OF property in
stead OF person the progress Of woman suffrage
would be as rapid as in England. She spoke of
Hannah and Rebecca Western those patriotic
women of Machias in the first naval battle of
the Revolution. She showed how the capture of
Fort Donaldson, and the victories that followed,
were the results of plans drawn by Anna El-
la Carroll Of Maryland, who saved that State
to the Union, and yet Congress has never rec
ognized her services or paid her the 81 500 she
spent in the cause.
Miss Susan b. Anthony gave very interest
ing account of her journeyings in the West in
the cause Of woman suffrage. She was asked
by j. NJ. Todd if the constitution didn't give
women the right so they could vote. and Miss
Auohoby Iopiieu tuoy Coulu II we laQ men Ca
pable OF understanding the constitution. She
said when the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court shut tho doors in the faces OF women
then they We're compelled to ask for a six
tenth amendment. She was glad Conkling
was about to die for he had been great foe
to women's suffrage. Ii Cornell should be
elected she would he delighted. She said she
didn't care whether hard OR soft rnoney, Re-
publ can or Democrat ruled, if justice was on
ly done to all. The Senators from Maine were
ali right on the suffrage question. Blaine was
out OF the Senate and she was glad of it. If,
said she, we get the sixteenth amendment
adopted we will go to the legislatures and sit
down till they ratify the action of Congress,
whether Pat or Sambo likes it or not.
Miss Merriwetller, Mrs. Gage and Miss
Rachel Foster will speak this afternoon at $50
O'Clock. Rev. Olympia Brown on "Legisla-
lures, how voting will affect women,' and
Miss Anthony on 'Woman wants bread, not
the ballot" in the evening at 7.45.
Accidents.