Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-25
SHOULD WOMEN Vote?
Marion HarIand Vigorously Handles
Woman Suffrage--Men Not OPP
posed TO Woman Suffrage.
What Would be Wom2n's IDfiuencsi
She Might Better Politics, bat
Wsuld Politics Better Hefl
What the Ballot In the Hands of Weman
R1esrs-A Prscticsl Discussion
OF an Important Subject,
Copyrighted, 1857

| Copyrighted, 1857
Written for the Gazette.
Thoughtful study Of the history OF re-
forms ELECTS the fact that these are as
often wrought by successive notifications
of existing evils as by violent overthrow
of the same.
The radicalism that would impel public
opinion to the extreme of condemnation
of that which 1t opposes, does best and
most enduring work when the vibrant
| pendulum finally rests between the two.
Radical yeast is acrid and turbulent: few
pslates relish 1t su naturel. Given plenty
Of meal and plenty of time. 1t quietly
lesvens the whole lump. Witness the
effect Of Chsrtism upon the poor
laws; of homeo apathy upon aIlo-
pathY; Of vegetsrianism upon diet;
of the broad school OF theology
upon Dogms and BigotrY. The change
that comes to the barren tree through the
digging about and fertilizipg and pruning
runs parallel with the divine grace that
amends, not makes over character.
The leaders in the van of what ia pop
ulsrly known as "The Women's Rights
MovemeI {" struck hard and high. How
audsciously the contemporaries of Abby
Kelly Foster and LucretiG Mott remember,
but the present generation cannot COM
prehend. As their visible reward, they
earned contumely and defamation. Be-
! lieving with stout hearts in the coming
of new day, they turned expiring eyes
| In tine rayless east, and died without the
sight.
The dust has cleared away, the smoke
lifted from those esrly battle-1elds
Even those who disapprove bitterly Of
the doirgs Of the pioneers in the work,
must confess that the amendment of
property laws restricting the right OF 8
wife to make and to hold money, woman's
admission to boards Of education and
public charities, and her entrance upon
Independent business pursuits Of almost
every kind, and respect paid to women's
| colleges and literary organic ations-in
short, woman's acknowledged right to
make the best of herself. always and
evsrywhere-sre boons for which graft
tude is due to those who fought desper
ately in despised cause Snd died dlrsp-
pointed that the full measure of their de-
mands was not granred.
Have we gained the divine mean be-
tween the extremes of woman's undeni-
able wrongs, and what the fighting party
maintain are womsn's still denied
rightsH
Before pressing the question, I would
do merited honor to the sex that should
never, in the heat Of controversy, have
been Srrayed against us as natural and
Inveterste enemies. That this was done,
sometimes by inference, often directly by
the heated combatsnts aforesaid, was an
error we of calmer period are bound to
set right. 1t Is always serious mistake
to antagonize those we would convert.
II Is double blunder when the attack
precedes offence.
II, in the ignorant times al which lust
and plying God had need TO wink, man
enacted laws that oppressed us, he also
made laws unjust to himself. He has been
IS ready to modify and sbrogate the first
as the lsst.
Miss Willard, in recen. psper, gays
on this head:
at was our big brother, Man, who st
the banquet OF Minerva, said to his sis.
ter, 'Sit down beside me- And since he
said 1t we have gone dutifully to school. |
1t Wss ne who read our books and en-
Goursged us TO write mere. 1t S1sa be.
who listened to us on the platform and /
applauded everya good thing we said: |!
it is he who invites us to his couusels-t
medical and philsnthropic." |
Varying the peroration of the Just trib- |
ute to those who thus far have yielded |
with royal magnanimity every step we |
have clsimed, let me add that If women |
seek to vote it is not our bic brother Man |
who will say them "Ney." In this year
of grace, 1888, he stands, not patronizipg- |
ly, but frankly benignaut, holding ont the |
ballot box to Us and Saying: "If you
want II 1t is yours. Take it and share |
the responsibilities of suffrage with Us."
The issue rests with us. None except |
Beurbons and simpletons try now to |
laugh the question out Of court. Men |
see the infinite risks, the solemn posi- |
bilities for good and fer evil involved III
the discussion more clearly tnsn we
There is no longer dispute as to the COM
psr8tlve ability OF an intelligent woman
and stupid man to understand pc itics.
Hootings and eXecrstioDs and threats,
the vaunts Of mans supremacy, the bonn
barGment with shells Of Scripture-all
that fevered pulses and brain h.ye died
away in great calm, more tremendous
In significance and importance. The
query is no more, "Msv Women Voter"
but, "Should We Vote?"
Be it remembered that the original
question is as dead IS American slavery.
as q sex, we have no specific ana mon
strous wrongs to be redressed. The IN
ilnching demand that mems wsges shall
be paid for mems work when performed
BY women, as In schools and factories:,
that no college Shall have 8 charter that
does not matriculate girls on the same
terms as lads; that women shall be I'D
nitted to, and projected In the practice Of
Gw as they are in the practice Of medi-
cine, being unhlnching, will, II JUST, be
granted in due, or undue season by mas
culine law-makers. There is not even q
corpse to fight over. Il has had honor
lole burial, and the contestants have
shaken hands over the grave.
One of two ends is to be furthered by
admitting, we will say, million more
7oters to the polls:
l To uphold existing legislation.
2. To oppose, and, il practicable,
% subvert 1t.
A ten-yesr-old child could perceive the
Lbsurdity Of seeking to further the first
FAMED by swelling the aggregate of votes
without altering the result of the can
Ass. majority Of 1000 sets 5 cardi
late IS certainly in Office as 10000, and
With less Inconvenience and expense. II Z
mans sllies are Of his own household; il
lis wife and daughters, "his sisters and
lis cousins and his aunts," esp his ball
OF with theirs; il ties OF consequently
nd friendship have perceptible weight in
a.ndTdatata Y,olJf;oal Go