Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-03-07
WOMANS REALM.
Under aod The People Rule H1stto
ofSoutt1 Dakota.
ARE WOMEN PEOPLE??
Conducteahy LoEIa II. Blank associate editor.
FEMALE SUFFRAGE.
ARTICLE II

who possess the proper amount of pa
triotism and intelligencehave the right
of suffrage, and should be allowed the
free exercise thereof. We might rea-
sonably expect these propositions to
meet the most violent opposition
among thenations of Europe, which
prejudice and tyranny could arouse;
but TIVE should not expect such opposl-
tirn in a republic where the right of
suffrage is regarded as thehighestpriv-
llege of an American citizen.
l admire the ability and Justice Of
those who so ably championed the
cause of the negroes few yearssago;
but it did seem little iuconsistant to
display so much zeal to enfranchise
less than one million negroes and over
look ten million white women whoar
certainly the black mans equal! "Rut"
say our opponents, "the right of suf-
frage is one which belongs exclusively
to man." Let MS inquire whence comes
that power which clothes man withau-
thority to say to woman thai she shall
or shall not exercise the right of suf-
frage? This of course is the sum and
substance of the issue now before the
people of South Dakota. and unless they
can give US some ground on which to
predicate this authority, there is no ar
gument required to prove it an unau-
thorized usurpation. The most search
ing and impartial Investigation Of all
have seen written upon the subject.
fails to discover single argument to-
support such position.
Before presenting our argument in
support Of the proposition that woman
possesses the right of suffrage, and
therefore should enjoy the liberty Of
exercising it, let us first notice some of
the favorite arguments(?) of the oppo-
sltion. One writer says the "ballot is
the most potent means of advancing
the in terests of our Republic, and as
woman is intellectually disqualified to
cast her ballot intellige ntly it could
be of no possible value" We shall no
tice this further on, but let MS first ex-
pose the boomerang character of such
an assertion and see if its rebounding
effect is not Us damagingto the males
as its direct force could possibly be to
the females, Does this modern Sqlon
believe the men all intellectually quail
ifed to cast their votes intelligently
Is he blind to the events which are
daily transpiring before him? Does
he not know that it is the unanimous
verdict of the leaders of all political
parties that large pei cent Of the
males do not know how they should
vote? Does he notknow that every four
years our nation is turned into Il po-
litical college, headed by faculty Of
demagognes whose only object is to adj
vance their Individual interests regard
less of the public welfare2 1t this is
not SO why should millions of dollars
be raised to conducts a presidential e!ec-
tion? Are these immense campaign
funds raised to buy votes? IT so, that
is sufficient to disfranch,se all whose
votes are in the market and all Who'll
would offer to buy them. Is it raise(l|
to disseminate campaign literature? \
If so, that is a tacit admission that al
very large per cent of the men are in1
te.lect ually disqualified ito cast theii|
votes intelligeatly and therefore they
could be of no possible value" and fol
this reason according to the gentle-I|
mans argument they should he dist
franchised at once Thus we see llis|
argument(9 is boomerang and wou] 7
dlsfranchise at least as many males ~
females. But is woman thsintellectli
al inferior of man to the extent that
would make her the political ward d
man? In every avenue which the al
vanced thought ct the present age his
thrown open to TO the females to Il
low them to compete with man. thy
have proved themselves able colnpst-
itors, Tens of thousands OF femalas
are to-day holding positions all oyar
the nation from the national Cappl
down to the smallest villages, whi;h
were few years ago flied exclusivtly |
by men. About twenty-five years aio
Mr.. Skinner spoke to Secretary Chase
with reference tc employing femass
in the treasury department. MIR. Ch;se
at once authorized him to make the
experiment: and to-day there are o'tr
5000 in the departments at Washing
ton; and by virtue of their ability tfey
retain their places notwithstanding
the fact that political leaders are hoir-
ly besieging the heads of the depart
ments to secure their places for men
who aided in their election.
(To be continued next week.)
JOSEPHINE B. GERBEi
Be sure and vote for woman's !pf-
ffage.