The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1889-06-27
woMAN,s SUFFRAGE.
An Association Organized in Canton
10 EHpOund lta Claims,
mroellent Speeches by the President and
q Prominent Massillon Lady,
onioaru nleoled,

for the purpose OF forming "WOmana
Suffrage Association" Mrs josiah
Elartzell was chosen chairman and on
taking the chair said
LApIHa-After thanking you for
this evidence OF your confidence, l am
compelled In justice TO myself 10 say
that aaaume this place with more diff
lidenee and reluctance than ! am able to
express. / believe realize something
of the difficulties and dlacouragementa
that will have 10 be met and overcome
twenty-five years or more ago, came
TO Canton just M fully imbued with
this idea, and perhaps more oourag'
eoua and enthusiastic than / find my
self to-day,
| cannot remember the time when !
did not most emphatlcally and
thoroughly believe In woman'a
sullraqe, believe that through
il and by II, many Of the evils of socle'
ty and outragoa on humanity might be
If not entirely remoyed-greatly mitl'
gated. And | was always palned TO
find 40 many we'll educated and intelll'
gent ladies' In other reapecta unwilling
10 give II any thought whatever but
ever ready to discuss the subject with
the threadbare expression, III have all
the rights | want" Happily that is
past and streak Of light on the horl
zon foretella the coming OF II brighter
day for tie workers IN this good cause,
Let us begin this work with an earnest
ness born of our convictions OF right
and Justice and keep step with the
great army of noble women who are
laborIng for the sucoesa OF this move
ment.
After the address the chair appointed
committee OF llye 10 draft 4 o0nBtltu
tiOn. Az 4 o'clock the committee re'
ported constitution and bylaw, which
were received and adopted, The or
QanlzatlOn will be known 40 the Can
ton Womans Suffrage Association.
Election OF officers by ballot being In
order, the ladies cast their first vote,
The president, Mis-, Haluell was
elected by reclamation, aud the other
officers as follows: First vice presi'
dent, Mrs. l.. V. 1hurston; Second vice
presldent, Mrs. NJ. IL. Erwin; Execu'
1--we committee, Mrs, Mary II, Miller,
Mrs. Maggie A. Stewart, Mrs, Emma II,
Harmount.
Mira. Erwin was appointed essayist
for the next meeting, which VIII DO held
at the same place on the last Tuesday
of July, when II 10 hoped tho already
large list OF members VIII be lucreaSed'
The meeting was conducted In an or
derly manner according TO parliament
tary rules,
Mrs, Caroline NJ. Eyerhart, one OF
Massillona foremost ladies', came over
10 Canton 10 deliver the address, Want
of space prevents It's being published IN
full. The following Is the substance OF
her remarks:
MRS. EyERuARD's ADDRESS,
LApfEs'-You have convened this
afternoon for the purpose Of organi2
ing n Womans' Suffrage Society. Doubt
less some OF your friends or acqnalnt
anoes have Pald 10 you, "What do you
wnnt 10 vote for? What good vii
come of itY lshould think you could
find enough TO do without troubling
yourselves about politics" True w
can lind enough 10 do. Each day there
ia something left undone, at the setting
of the sun. But II stands In the line Of
our duty 10 accomplish these thlngi
which promote the highest good of The
greatest number; 10 strive 10 do all w
can and let the things which must 70
main undono be those OF minor im
portance
Fifty years ago the legal existence Of
a married woman was not regarded ~
necessary or even possible, Now, IN
Ohio, "a married woman can hold ~
her head q little higher; some of heI
chains have been stricken of, and she
can now control her individual prop
erty As her husband can control his eB'
tate, and 30 II was discovered that the
idea of perfect unity Of two In one
with the feminine hall left out was not
40 charmlngly satisfactory In practice
as In theory. Each one should draw his
own bone story. Woman's wants and
necessities are somewhat different from
those OF men; and there are crimes
against women which cannot be com.
mitted against men; there are educa-
tional matters In which the Judgment
Of women is better than that of men,
and for all these, woman needs her
vote.
The objections against women suf-
frage have been 80 often and 30 thor
oughly discussed and answered. that we
would think nothing new could be said,
ms indeed there is nothing new that can
be said, 80 we must say over the old,
The objection that Is very frequently
brought forward 10 the disreputable
condition OF the polls. They think w0-
men would be contaminated bys0 much
coarseness and impurity. Did you ever
know place where only men went, that
was distinguished for rellnementY II
the polls are not nc for women they are
not llt for respectable men aud need to
be- thoroughly reconstructed and as
Mrs. Wallace said at the Akron conven-
tom "Women are especially apt ut re.
novating and cleaning up: they are used
TO that kind of work" Those who are
opposed TO women suffrage because wo'
men must 90 TO the polls, should study
the Kansas elections: There they find
women In the exercise Of this right, aud
they find also the elections carried on
in the most orderly manner, and as ex-
Judge Green OF Wyoming said: "a few
women at the elections are worth a
whole squad of police for securing or
der and security" There Is law In
Kansas called the fifty foot law
by which persons are prohibited
| from standing within fifty feet
of the polls except when casting vote
When women vote other satisfactory
laws will be enacted and the polls vii be
made as unobjectionable as the shops
where women 60 every day. In
conversation about the municipal
elections ut Topeka, q most estima
BILE woman Of much intelligence
and we'll known TO some of Won. said t(