The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-09-30
oumAl on FENIALE SUFFRAGE.

OUIDAt ON FEMALE SUFFRAGE.
To the Statesman:
In the September North American Re
view, there is an article on Female Suf
frage, by "0uida,n the distinguished
writer of fiction. A careful perusal OF
the article will naturally tend TO strength.
en- the appreciation of many admirers OF
her special talent as novelist "of strict
construction" For when we have wit
messed blacksmith, whom We know to
be master of his trade, but who knows
nothing of surgery, amputate human
limb, we are better prepared to appre-
ciate his skill in shoeing horse.
"Women of wit and genius" she writes,
must always be Indifferent to the oppor.
tunity of going up to the ballot
booth in company with their own foot.
man or coachman. Hypatia, when she
feels herself the equal of Julian, will not
readily admit that Dadus, however af-
franchised, is her equal"
That women of judgment would permit
no such silly pride to deprive the commun-
ity of their intelligent votes and influence
against the more ignorant and harmful
element of the elective body, ia fact
known even to many Il coachman, whose
practical common sense contrasted with
that lofty indifference of the women OF
wit and genius" indeed verifes that the
two persons are not equal"
"If women be admitted at all TO the ex-
ercise of the franchise they must be ad-
mitted wholesale, down to the lowest
dregs of humanity, as men are now ad
mitted. The apple-woman will naturally
argue that she has as much right to it as
the heiress; how can you say she has not
when you have given the apple-woman as
much electoral voice as the scholar"
What greater objection there could
be to female than to male
"dregs" as voters it is not stated.
1t seems that one would be an Offset to
the other, even admitting equality In num-
bers, which is not the case. 1 doubt if all
the prostitate, the Incorporate and the
illiterate females would foot up one-tenth
the number of all the drunken male rab-
BILE at city elections the loafers, the
illiterate, the professional topers who sell
their votes for drinks, and on through the
whole of the spurious element OF the male
vote. The avocation of the apple woman
does not necessarily render her less COM
petent to vote than the heiress. Likely
the latter has had collegiate education;
she may be able to talk nonsense in half
dozen different languages, and from much
experience and cultivation of taste she may
have acquired most exquisite and per-
feet judgment as to the proper shape and
position of a hustle, or of an article of
head gear; but with respect to judgment
of men and their honesty and fitness for
public positions, that acquired by the
apple woman in her contact and traffic
with all sorts of people in the markets
and on the streets, is probably as trust
worthy as that of the heiress.
"Again, are women prepared to purchase
electoral rights by their Willingness to full
fill military obligations?"
This question is about as pertinent to
the case as to ask: Are men prepared to
purchase eating rights by their willing
ness to fulfill culinary obligationsY A
soldier is an employe of the nation in the
same sense that postmistress is, and the
natural fact that he is physically more
able to WELD gun and endure the hard
ships of camp life than the woman who
distributes mail, gives him no better
moral right to vote than the woman, or
than man who is a born cripple and can
neither handle gun or distribute mail,
bat who, nevertheless, is allowed to vote.
"The much graver and truer objection
lies less i'll the physical than in the men
tai and moral inferiority of women.
use moral in its broadcast sense. Women
on an average have little sense of Justice,
and hardly any sense whatever of award
ing to others freedom for which they do
not care themselves.
1t is SO hard to believe that 0uida, with
all her varied and extensive experience
with the world, could know SO little of the
humanity of her sex, or that she would
thus grossly misrepresent women on pur-
pose, that can only excuse the extraor-
binary assertion last quoted as due to her
accustomed habit of writing fiction. Other
unjust or fictitious assertions appear
further on; for example: "Were women
admitted into public life, bribing would
become a still greater factor in that life
than it low is, which is needless" And:
"There is in every woman, even in the
best woman, sleeping potentiality for
crime, curious possibility of fiendish
evil. Even her material love is dangerously
near an insane ferocity which at times
breaks out in infanticide or child mur-
der"
Compared with the number of wife
murders and child murders by drunken
husbands and fathers, frequently re
ported in the papers, child murders com
mitted by mothers in state of insane
ferocity arising from extreme or de-
ranged maternal love, are, indeed, such
Curious possibilities" that / have never
yet met with an account of a single in
stance of the kind in print, unless it was
in some yellowbacked dime novel or
other work of fiction.
The offer of bride is an insult to any
honest man or woman; and il is an insult
which (if there is anything in the lesson of
human nature) more women would be
found to spurn than men; for women, as
rule, are more sensible to insult touching
their virtue or honesty than men. The
number of women who would accept a
consideration for their votes, compared
with the number who would "hy off the
handle" and Indignantly resent the insult,
likely stands in about the same proper
ton as the number who would sacrifice
their virtue for money to those who would
not.
And since ''it is poor rule that won't
work both ways" / submit it as an open
question if the same proportion does not
exist between the number of men who
l. n