Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-05-09

ion, and all who are not sound in mind
and body are exempt And yet all
these exempt persons may vote to de-
clare war for others to fight, and in the
case of those who are between the ages
of eighteen and twenty-one, military
duty may be forced upon them by the
vote of exempts. and they have no voice
in the matter. But this is not ALL Wo-
man bears her part in the war, and it is
not less important than that performed
by the fighting men. Well do 1remem-
Der that April day in 1861 when |. lad
not yet eighteen, wrote my mother that
/ felt that duty called me to enlist for
the defense of the country. Her reply
came promptly: "The country needs
you and you may 60" Three times
after that, before the struggle
ended, my mother was called upon
to surrender other sons, young
or than myself, to the country. The
younger celebrated his fifteenth birth
day as a private soldier in the ranks OF
that grand command then defending
Nashville under the lead OF General
Geo. H. Thomas The patriotism and self
sacrifice OF that mother were greater
than mine or that of any OF her sons.
She deprived herself of support, and
sent her Sons into different armies and
fields, so that she was never free from
anxiety for one or the other Of us sup
posed to be for the time in peril. The
soldiers know how much they owed to
their mothers, wires. sisters and sweet
hearts No, Mr.. Chairman, you will
not deny this petition, because a per-
son, himself exempt from military duty
on two grounds at least, and who was
of fighting age and did not fight in our
last struggle for the life OF the nation,
objects that "woman must not vote be-
cause she can not fight" If there's no
stronger argument than that to urge,
the opposition had better stand aside
and let this measure become u law. l
would remind these clergymen that the
women support their churches. The
public duty assigned them in church
work are not unlike those the ballot
would impose upon them, and when
rightly understood are fully as disa-
greeable.
1T does not necessarily follow that
women shall perform jury duty because
they are given municipal suffrage. But
if they do | shall have no fear that
their verdict will be more prejudiced
than are those men. believe you
will find them far more inclined to re-
gard their oath, and their verdicts will
be moro in accordance with substantial
justice than those you now take from
men. / am sure there will be much
less compromising of verdicts that the
jury may get home TO dinner or for the
night. Let me tell you case which l
knew in Virginia some years since.
Twelve white fire. eholders had been
impaneled to try negro for an alleged
offense, the punishment for which was
Imprisonment for term not exceeding
eighteen years. In that State the jury
not only decides upon the guilt or in
nocence of the prisoner, but also deter.
mines the punishment in all cases where
the statute gives discretion. In this
case, q full history of which l learned
from members of the jury to be used tc
support an application for pardon, two
/ members of the jury believed the de-
! PENDANT innocent, and wished to bring
, in verdict of not guilty; the other
, ten believed the man guilty, and
t differed about the term OF imprisonment
from one who would have sent him 70,
one year to another who wished to i'm
prison him for eighteen. The jury DELHI
: Grated long. The court was about t.
lock them up for the night, when they
, speedily agreed upon verdict bring
J ing the prisoner in guilty and sending
, him TO prison for two years. l do no
, believe that two women who believed ;
person innocent would have yielded
. thus easily, finding him guilty of {
1 State-prison offense. | am sure W,
, should have more verdicts of guilty il
Q cases where disagreements and verdict
of not guilty are now rendered, If wo
Q men were on the jury. Then on
1 reverend gentleman is very much alrai'
a that the boss in politics would hav
t his power increased if women voted
0 do not believe it. am sure it woul
l be the reverse, and as this is a matte
e of speculation and opinion, perhap
t mine is as good as his. The men hav
e generally made a pretty bad mess G
n the government of our cities. | doub
: if it is easy to make them worse tina
S they have been. / feel certain, fror
i what / saw on the last election-day
r that to enfranchise the women will
r more than any other one thing kno'
It of to promote good government in GU
q cities"