Omaha daily bee., 1888-12-11
WOMEN AND The FRANCHISE.
The Address of Mrs. Stanton Last
Monday Night.
FIGHT eooDLeRs WITH BALLOTS.
How the Ignorance Inc Indifference
of the Citizen Arc Responsible for
Political Corruption-The
Gospel OF Equality.
what Society owes the Sex.

propose to talk this evening TO women on
their duty to vote; TO take an active part in
government; to cultivate the virtue of patri.
otism, and thus stimulate their fathers,
husbands, brothers and sons TO a conscicn-
tious discharge of their public duties.
The majority of men are so absorbed in
the daily struggle for wealth that the most
important interests of the masses are left
to the management Of a small minority of
politicians. We need every influence we can
summon to-day to rouse men to their duty.
If women would use as much persuasion to
get men to the polls and primary meetings as
| they do to get them to the church, the opera,
or evening parties, we should have better
government. But women use no influence in
this direction because they have no apprecia-
ton of the Importance of suffrage for them
selves. Many men never go to the polls,
many more never attend a primary meeting,
and many, right or wrong, si'uply vote with
their parties, quite regardless of platforms or
candidates. The consequence is corruption
and imbecility in every department of gov
ernment.
Our journals, like faithful watchmen on
the towers are continually warning the people
of the danger of this apathy and Indifference
of good men to their public duties, but few
heed the warning.
An editorial in THE BEE (the best Jour nal
this side of Chicago of November -, urging
good men to attend the primary meetings
and reconstruct your city council, shows the
| pressing need of rousing men to their public
duties.
at is the duty Of every citizen, whether
| he be republican or democrat. to attend his
respective primary. He should see to it that
only reputable and trustworthy men receive
the nomination of his ward. This ought to
be no idle appeal. Tn welfare, the pros
perlty, the future greatness Of omaha hang
in the balance. Nine honest councilmen can
| infuse vigor and honesty in the city govern
ment. But nine boodlers can sink the city
into corruption and hurry it into bankruptcy.
1t remains in the taxpayers hands which of
the two he will take. The exertions of a
few hours at the primaries and the polls on
the part of our citizens for the selection of
men of character to the council will be
worth more to the city of Omaha than all
the endeavors made by our business men to
attract capital and immigration.n
This appeal from one who understands the
situation is an admission of the fact that
those who constitute the governing power of
this city are not faithful to their trusts.
Now one reason of this is the ignorance Of
women in regard to questions of government
and their indifference to all interests out
side the home. To my mind the sphere of
man and woman is the same, only with differ
ent duties in that sphere. Their life work is
side by side. Men should take more inter-
est in their homes and women more in the
state. If woman's desires and ambitions are
limited to personal adornment and family
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, we need not look for much
public spirit or lofty patriotism in the men of
their families. If we would cultivate q
higher political virtue in the men of this Ma
ton; women must be made to feel their re-
sponsibility in the, success of the grand ex-
pertinent of republican government.
What should we think of a woman, who,
having inherited n SnlpnniI nStntp cbpr,lJ
through the ineficiency of a husband, allow
everything to run to waste and ruin, house
dilapidated, leaks in the roof, water in the
cellar. lawn and garden overgrown with
weeds, grapery and conservatory dismantled,
fences down, orchards and woodland plum
dered, children playing in the streets and
highways in rags, ignorance and vice.
Sensible people would consider her as great
q failure as the man by her side, and far
more guilty, if possessed of ordinary common
sense and executive ability. 1t would clearly
be her duty to supplement if possible her
husbands incapacity with her superior
ability and to take the helm of domestic gov
eminent.
The religion Of women is too often a sickly
sentimentality, born of APATHY and super
~stitlon, leading them to accept with patience
their present condition, rather than meet the
necessary friction in getting out of the old
grooves of thought and action to conscien-
tiously assume the new duties, that in this
transition period, woman is called on to dis
charge.
The family is but the nation in miniature,
and the duty of the wise wife and mother in
the supposed case, is the duty of the wise
women of this republic in the present hour.
There is a large department of legislation
that belongs specifically to women. CUES
tionS of education and religion, the sanitary
conditions of our homes, school houses, jalls
and prisons, temperance, charities. the treat
ment Of criminals, marriage, divorce, prosti-
tuition, the rights of children, and the protec-
ton of our domestic animals that cannot pro-
tect themselves. Our daily papers are filed
with crimes of every variety and degree,
that thousands of women weep and. pray
over in their homes, without a thought that
they are III a measure responsible for their
existence.
The question is often asked why is it that
the moral and spiritual progress Of the race
does not keep pace with its intellectual and
material achievements. l would answer, the
moral and spiritual world belongs specifi-
cally to women, and she is not yet awake
to her duty in this realm of thought and
action. The world OF trade and commerce.,
of material wealth, discovery, exploration,
invention, belongs specifically to man,
and we can look with pride and thank
fulness on the wonders he has achieved in
the last half century. In fact man has &C.
exceptions. He has tailed to find out the
nature of women, and the latitude of the
north pole. Nov / do not think ! could
throw any new light as to the voyage to the
NhA IA lNVA1A DNN NeA hSAh AAAiAA ~ Nitb II
researches as to the idiosyncracics of Ewes
daughters. The key to the whole situation
is found in the golden rule. If man will
simply accord women precisely what he
would desire for himself under similar cir.
cumstances, he will understand her nature
as well as his own. Had woman fulfilled
her duties in the world of morals as well as
man has in the material realm, we should |
now welcome as marvellous changesin social
ethics, in the progress of the race toward q
true manhood and womanhood, in that inner |
life seen by the eye Of Omnipotence alone. |
As citizens of this great republic we have |
an inheritance, unsurpassed in the history of
nations, boundless acres, majestic forests, |
lakes and rivers, meXhaustible mines of |
wealth and the institutions Of a continent, to
make and mold TO our will. In our federal /
constitution, Declaration OF Independence \
and republican theory of government, we
have a magma charta' of rights, such as the
daughters of kings and emperors were never
pledged. Andrew carnegie, in his 'Tri-
umphant Democracy" has painted in glow
ing colors the grandeur Of our present. out
look as a nation, and the infinite possibilities
of our future. Russia and America are the
only nations still in the act OF growth. The
rest have reached the zenith of their power
and are looking toward the setting sun.
We are the only nation that has proclaimed
the true idea of government. In the old world
sbatv ,,v, gr,,,a,np,antu and .aarIn. ba,o $50 /