Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-03-25
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980&OA AZ I'M &80b
81 ELL HYr.
There have been many reasons give
| nrss and last Why women should No
vote. but desire to say, in the ful
light OF q ripe experience, that some o
them are fallacious- I refer moro par
ncuiariy TO the argument that il vii
degrade women 70 90 20 the polls ana
vote like little man. While am mt
and never have bean . bowler for 70
male suffrage. must admit that it il
much more OF Q success than prohibition
and speculative science.
Ny wife voted eight years with my
full knoviedge and consent. and today
l cannot see bot she 10 as docile and a.
tractable as when she Won my trusting
heart. Nov, those Who know me- best
will admit that an not q ladies' man
and therefore What | may say here il
not said to secure favor and grateful
smiles. | an not attractive and / am
not Ia politics. | believe that I am
homslier this winter than usual. There
are reasons why | believe that What
may say on this subject will be sincere,
and not sensational or selfish.
1t has bsen urged that good women do
not generally exercise the right of suf-
fraee, when they have the opportunity.
and that only those whose social record
has been tarnished q good deal, go to
the polls. This is not true.
Ii Is the truth that . good full vote
always shows list of the best women
and the wives Of the best men. A bright
day makes a better showing of lady
voters than Bad one, and the weather
makes more perceptible difference in
the female vote than in the male, but
when things are exciting and the battle
is red hot, and the toosin of war sounds
anon, the wife and mother puts on her
armor and her seaiskin sacQue and
knocks things oroes- eyed.
Ii Is generally supposed that the fe-
male voter is pantaloOnic, and half
horse. half alligator kind of a woman.
who looks like DR.. Mary Walker and
has the appearance of one Who has risen
hastily in she night at an alarm of fire
and dressed herself partially in her own
garments and partially in her hus-
bands. This Is popular error. In
wyoming, where female suffrage has
ragged for years, You meet quiet, court
eous and gallant gentlemen, and fair,
quiet and sensible women at the polls,
where there isn't q loud or profane
word, and where it is An infinitely more
proper place to send young lady unes-
COrted than to the post Offie in any CITY
In the Union. You can readily see why
this Is SO. The men about the polls are
always candidates and their friends.
That IL the reason that neither party or
their friends can afford to show the
slightest rudeneSs to u voter. The man
who on Wednesday would tell her to 90
and soak her head, perhaps would stand
oare-headed to let her pass on Tuesday.
While she holds smashed ballot
showed under the palm of her gray kid
glove she may walk over the candidates
PROSTATE form with impunity and her
OvershOss if she wants to.
Weeks and months before election in
wyoming. the party with the longest
purse subsidies the most livery stables
and carriages. Then on the eventful
day every conveyance available is DECOR
ated with political placard and driven
BY polite young man who is instructed
to improve the time. Thus every woman
IN Wyoming has chance to ride once
q year at least. Lately. however, many
prefer to walk to the polls, and they 90
- kDAAo1 eAsVo oAu Au6I tCtto0, vOJIuK
their little sentiments and calmly re-
turning to their little cookies and crazy
quilts, as though politics didn't jar
heir mental pOise minute.
1t is possible, and even probable, ths
man and his wife may disagree ON
politics as they might on religion. The
husband may believe in Andrew Jack
Son and relentless hell, while his wife
may be stalwart and rather liberal on
the question of eternal punishment. If
The husband manages his wife as he
would clOthes-ringer, and turns her
through life by a crank. he will no doubt
work her politically; but if she has her
own ideas about things she will natur-
slly act on them, while the man who ia
in other matters till he can't
zee out of his eyes, will be henpeeked,
no doubt. in tie matter Of national and
GOAL politics.
These are few facts about the &C.
.ual workings of female suffrage, and |
10 not tackle the great question of the
Ultimate results upon the political ma
,hinery If woman suffrage we're to be- |
,Ome general. do not pretend to say
As to that. l know great deal, but l |
1on't know that. There are miilions of |
women, no doubt, who are better quail |
led to vote and yet cannot than mill |
ons of alleged men who do vote but |
40 one can tell now what the ultimate |
effect Of change might be. So far as
Wyoming IL concerned. the Territory is |
prosperous and happy. see, also, that |
! murderer Was hung by process of law |
he other day. That looks like the on |
ward march of reform, whether female |
suffrage had anything to do with it or
not. And they're going to hang anoth- |
er in March if the weather is favorable |
md executive olemency remains dor
nant. as l think it will. All these |
things look hopeful. We can't tell |
What the Territory would have been
without female suffrage, but when they
begin to hang men by law instead of BY
the future begins to brighten
Up. When you have to get up in the
liRht to hang a man every little while,
md don't get any per diem for it, you
EEL as though you were q good way
rom home.