The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-06
THE VICTORY OF THE LADIES.

The victory which women have won in
the Methodist churches is too important an
event 10 be passed over with a mere casual
notice. 1t is one of the signs of the times.
1t marks an epoch in the struggle of women
for equality with men. 1t is far more sig
niticant than sporadic concessions of the
suffrage to the sex III unimportant localities
like Wyoming. For the Methodi>ts are not
only one of the largest bodies of church
members in the country, but they are like
wise earnest and intelligent. There is i'm
mense vitality in the Methodist Church.
With Methodists religion is not form nor
fashion, it is a reality. No action taken
by the Meth odist churches can help infiu-
encing the sense OF the country at large.
The question which was submitted to the
churches this fall was whether or no women
should be admitted as delegates to the Gen.
eral Conference, which is the sovereign
council of the church. For years women
have claimed equal rights with men in that
body, but their claims have been resisted.
At the last conference a compromise was
reached by which the controversy was re-
mltted TO the churches for their decision.
The churches have now voted, and though
the returns are not all in. enough is known
TO make it almost certain that the women
have won.
In the early history of the church women
occasionally filled minor offices, and at a
later day became deaconesses and ADDRESSES
yet still the general usage was that men
alone should administer the affairs of the
churches and should have a right to speak
at ecclesiastical councils. The MethodistS
have now decided that this discrimination
between the sexes was unjust, and was the
outgr0wth of a regime in which the inferi-
ority OF women was an assumed fact They
point to the fact that among devout church
members women far outnumber the men,
and that the bulk OF the class-leaders, evan
geliStS, eXhorters and missionaries belong
TO the female sex. They argue that in the
churches as elsewhere majorities must gov
ern, and that as women are in a majority as
the active members of the Methodist Church
their delegates ought to predominant in the
councils which determine It's policy. To an
unbias ed observer the argument appears to
be plausible.
The fifty-six odd millions of Americans
who are not members of the Methodist
Church are not directly interested in the
policy of that church or in the details of its
admin istration. But it is clear that if
women are admitted to the conference they
are likely sooner or later TO constitute ma
jority OF the body, as the sex predominates
among its constituents, and if women Sc
cure The control of one of the largest church
bodies in the United States they will &C.
cupy commanding position for future ope-
rations in the political arena. Heretofore
the efforts of women to secure the suffrage
have been defeated rather by indirection
than by direct opposition. In several States
bills granting the suffrage to- females have
| passed one or both houses, but they have
| failed al the last moment either through an
adverse popular vote or through some al
| legged defect in the law. The general feel
| ing among men is that women had
| better not vote, though politicians dodge
| the question whenever they can. 1t cannat
J be said that any evil results have flowed
| from the failures to establish female suf-
| frage. Our politics might have been purer
| perhaps if women had voted, but that is not
| admitted by politicians, ard the question is
| in allegiance.
This can hardly continue to be the case if
| the fair sex take charge of the Methodist
| Church. Ii the ladies are competent to
manage the temperatures and to dictate the
! doctrines of sect which numbers several
| millions of worshiperS it is violent as
| sumption to declare that they are not COM
petent to run the affairs of city, or a
county or a State.