Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-05-16
woMAN.s VOTE.

wOMAN'S VOTE.
me Power It Would be In the Making el
Good Government for Cities.
At the remonstrants' hearing. at the
Green Room of the State House in
Boston, a short time ago. Mr.. L. Ed
win Dudley, secretary of the Massachu-
sets Law and Order League, made the
following remarks:
Somebody has said that free gov
eminent is a series of experiments, and
It seems to me moro than probable that
we are about to experiment in the
direction of municipal suffrage for
women. l believe it will be conceded
that women upon all questions involv-
ing a moral principle are more discern
ing and more uncompromising than
men. In all conditions of life the aver
age woman has a higher standard of
morality and lives up to it with more
fidelity than men of the same class or
condition We have only to examine
our records of crimes of all grades.
from the highest to the lowest, to find
that this statement is strongly backed
by the statistics. come before you
to ask that women be given the right to
vote for all municipal and county Off
GERS, because the recent election in
Boston has convinced me that the good
women only need to feel that any of our
cherished institutions are endangered,
to come out and throw their influence
and their ballots on the side of good
government / will not take time to
describe the scenes of that stormy day.
for the facts are fresh in all your
minds The women had realized that
the most imminent peril threatened our
free schools. and they rallied in suffi-
cient numbers to avert the peril The
remonstrants have dwelt upon the lack
of political intelligence of our women.
as one reason for refusing them the
suffrage should have no fear for the
Republic, if the male voters of the
whole country average to possess a
tenth part of the intelligence of the
women of Dorchester who voted at the
last election.
The speakers for the remonstrants
must have Travelled beyond their in
structions. for / do not believe any wo-
men of Massachusetts wish to be re-
fused the suffrage because they are not
sufficiently intelligent to exercise it. If
the salOon-keepers and their followers
are deemed sufficiently intelligent. the
ladies who teach in our schools, day
and Sunday, the thousands who fill the
responsible positions in our stores and
offices, and those who make and move
society. may we'll be trusted upon this
ground. But the remonstrants urge an
other objection. They claim that the
privilege Of voting will impose very
onerous duties upon women which they
will regard as a great hardship if COM
PEELED to exercise them. This reason
is little stronger than the other. With
some slight modification of the law, the
privilege of voting may be exercised
with about as little hardship as writing
letter and going to the post-office and
dropping it into the box. Only sixty
per cent. of our men eligible to vote do
SO in Presidential years. and only about
forty per cent in other years. There
is no law now made, and none is likely
to be made, which will compel any
person. man or woman, to vote. if that
person prefers not to do So do not
find the inherent weakness and dislike
of public life among women which is
urged as a reason why they should not
vote The thousands who perform such
acceptable service in offices and stores
and as teachers, contradict the state
ment. and the society life of another
class is an equally strong refutation.
The preparation for and participation
in ball. to say nothing about giving
one, involves more hard work and more
publicity than woman need incur by
qualifying herself to vote and voting.
"A few more such hearings as We
had here the other morning. with such
reasons as were given why women
should not vote. would be sure to make
me full convert to woman suffrage.
/ was not little surprised to hear the
reverend gentleman from Danvers (and
no one respects him more highly than
y urge the lack of courage as one of
his reasons for refusing the suffrage to
women. We allow many very timid
men to vote. and l can certify to the
fact that you deny the privilege to at
least one brave woman whom / have
seen in places of the greatest peril on
both land and water. exercising a self
and exhibiting a fearless
excelled by no man in the COM
pany. More than once have seen her
cool and brave when strong men at her
side were demoralized by fear. admit
that the same woman who faced hostile
Ute Indians with as much courage as
Custer ever displayed. can be terribly
frightened by a harmless little mouse;