The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-05-06
rae WOMAN QUESTION.

TIE WOMAN QUESTION.
Written for the Sunday Journal.
AS We walked up the broad stairs leading to
the Democratic con, milton. carefully protecting
our spring suits from the pools of tobacco juice
and the ashes and stumps Of cigars, ayelling
and whooping met our ears that fairly made the
building tremble. WAS the womans council at
Washington anything like thisl' / asked Of
Mrs Sewsll 20, no. was the reply. although
the great opera house was filled day after day
and night after night with immense audiences
of men and women, all was as elegant and re-
fined as in our parlors at home. The applause
was manifested by the clapping Of hands or the
waving of handkerchiefs. Flowers were banked
on every side. the air was filed with fragrance,
the music was beautiful, the toilets lovely. the
speeches dignifed, and the whole tendency OF
the meetings was to educate, purify and emo
BILE mankind" In contrast to this the whole
tendency of political caucuses, convictions and
elections is TO demoralize men, and bring out
their worst instead of their best qualities.
When one considers the drinking. smokinR.
chewing. splitting, swearing, crowding, wrang-
ling. which seem to be inseparable from these
political assemblases. the wonder il not that
the results are SO bad but rather that they are
no worse.
Daring the ten or 6fteen very unpleasant mo-
ments that was obliged to spend in the Grand
Hotel the evening before the late convention.
delegate, one of the best of men, said. Now, 1T
would be all right for women 10 vote but II they
could vote they would want to run for Office and
elecrioneer and can think of nothing moro
horrible than TO bring women into such a scene
as this" In reply to this view OF the question
it may be said tkatthe same argument has been
advanced regarding every progressive movement
OF this sex; higher education, speaking IN pubic.
engaging in all kinds Of business. etc.. and not
one Of the dangers predicted has come to pass
Instead of woman being overcome by the evils,
the evils have disappeared through the influence
of the woman Politics is conceded to be the
most corrupt feature of our country. 1t Ia the
only one from which women are totally ex-
cluded. Is it not logical to give this as one
reason why it has so degenerated, and is it not
reasonable to assume that since women have i'm
proved the moral tone of every other depart
ment, they will exert the same influence upon
that of politicsl
A prominent lawyer OF this city said yester-
day II see you are going to hold another con.
to have our annual convention the 10th and 10th
of May "Well, do you know what your srf-
frage conventions and your memorials to the
political conventions remind me OIL They
make me think OF the Pope's bull against the
comet; there is just as much sense IN tnem' ana
they do lust as much good He is leading
politician one of the kind that carries his ward
in his vest pocket, and wondered If he would
make that remark to any other class of citizens
about to hold convention The journal q
few days ago, referring to the triumph of the
law-and order ticket in various places, and nota-
bly, In Indianapolis, says: The Democracy did
not and will not assist in these trumphs Of
morality; and, come TO think of it, neither did
the women, except by that powerful influence
which woman commands as well without the
ballot az with it," If women commands just as
great moral influence without the ballot as
with il, why cannot the same be said OF
men. and why is there so tremendous
an effort TO secure every vote that can be OBJ
tainedf But il it is claimed that the women in
fiuence the men and the men cast the votes,
then will the writer OF that paragraph please
explain why it lie that every ward In my own
city of Terre Haute was carried this week by
the saloon elements Is il because the moral in
fiuence of the women of Terre Haute is not so
powerful as the moral influence of the women
Of Indianapolisi This is the only reasonable IN
ference, since influence counts for just as much
as ballots on election day.
One of the formidable arguments that has
been used against woman suffrage for forty
years lie that women could never vote because
no one of them would ever'admit that she was
twenty-one years Of age. Within few days
after the woman Mayor and Council were elect
ed at Oskaloosa, the age Of every one was tele-
graphed all over the country. and not single
case of Mysteries in consequence has been re-
ported up to date. Twenty-six thousand women
registered in Kansas at the very first OPP
portunity ever offered, but the weighty
old argument still goes meandering through the
press l read in this mornings paper that ''the
severest trial encountered by the womsns coun-
ell WAS when a. president asked those who
were PRESENT. Seneca Falls convention,
forty years a. o stand up." Each of these
women had been ltvertised for six months be-
fore hand to speak at this pioneers meeting, but
that does NOT make the paragraph any the less
funny.
At the recent school elections in Nebraska
another tremendous argument was answered:
s.Mothers of fam lilies cannot take the time to
vote, or if they do. who will care for their
children when tho mothers 60 to the ballot-boxF
At one small town. Humphrey, where only
twenty-eieht votes were cast by women, five of
these were the mothers of fifty children. In
many places the mothers took their babies on
their arms or their little ones by the hand. and
went TO the ballot-box just as they would to the
postofhce or the market. 1t seems . pity TO
freeze out all these tender, Sentimental argu-
meuts with cold, upsympathetic facts, but the
exigencies of war demand IT. IDA A. HARPER