Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-10-23
In WOMAN'S BEHALF.
AN EQUAL SUFFRAGE ADDRESS.

AN EQUAL SUFFRAGE ADDRESS.
The Feasibility and Justice of surren-
derng to Woman Her Right of the |
Ballot.
The following able address was given
by Rev. H. A. Cleveland, at the South
Dakota Lawn Fete recently held in In
dianapolis:
The admission of the American woman
TO tho prerogatives of the ballot, and as
consequence her occasional elevation
to office, certainly would not render the
political condition of the country any
worse than it now is, while undoubtedly
| it would make our political life much
more interesting, and would tend great
ly to improve our politicians and also
their methods and manners. The COM
ing of women practically into the arena
of our politics would bring to it the
healthy influence of higher idealism,
and make a purer morality operative
there. The presence of our American
women at the caucus, and at the voting
stations of the country on election days,
would work the regeneration of the ma
tons heart, and the reconstruction of
all our political procedures.
want that our women should stand
side by side with our men, and be their
equals in every privilege and honor, &C.
clestical and political. They are en-
titled to this by tho charter of
nature, by the nobility of their powers,
and by the splendor of their achieve
mentc. Always they have adequately
filled up the measure of their opportu-
nifty. There are good reasons for be-
lieving that they would make better
use of the ballot than men have made
of it., and there is noreason for believing
that they would make worse use of it.
The victories they are achieving and
the prizes they are winning in litera-
ture and mathematics at Harvard, at
Cambridge, England and Paris, furnish
new proof, If this were needed of their
ability to master the most difficult of
political problems, and to pass intelli-
gent judgment upon all questions that
may come into political debate.
There can be no rational objection to
the enfranchisement of our American
women that does not apply with equal
force against the Acknowledgement of our
men. If it be eaid that mot all women
should vote, and not all should hold Of
fice," tho same is to be said of men.
Men themselves have so recently come
to the art of voting that, like boys with
a new toy, thoy are jealous of sharing
its privilege and power with persons
who are as skillful as themselves, and
who live with them in the Same houses
We let Poland and Germany, and Ire
land, and Africa vote, and we tax tho
property of women as we do that of
men; why is it that we withhold the
ballot from our own sisters, whose rights
and abilities we acknowledge are as
great as our own? 1t is only because the
tribal vanities and preiudices of our pa
gan and savage state still survive in us.
90 not object to womans voting but
earnestly advocate it. For thirty years
! have advocated it. The most efficient
teacher of my early days was woman.
For thirty years have been ruled with
diligence by one woman, and always to
my great advantage. The barbarian
sentiment, by whatever chivalric Ian.
guage expressed, that regards woman
only as the plaything and slave of man,
/ scorn and with indignation resent.
And the cooking argument is not
much better argument. Doubtless a
woman does q good thing who learns
how to become good cook, Perhaps
Abraham Lincoln might have become q
good cook and earned large wages But
what loss that would have been to the
nation and to tho world. This tall,
which we sometimes hear, that woman's
sphere is in the kitchen, and her prime
relation is to the cooll-stove, is not the
talk of reason but of men whose con
= trolling logic proceeds from their APP
petites and passions When women
themselves indulge in such talk, it is
usually in their weary moments when q
culinary life seems to them easier than
an intellectual one. When the tribal
chieftain comes back VIGOROUSLY to his
tent door. tired, hungry and Annually
. selfish, and loudly proclaims that WON
l. ans sphere is entirely domestic, and
G that only in that is she queenly, his ut
. terance is wholly unenlightened, stom
K achic and barbarian
The test of nations culture, as of it!
. Christian virtue, is the place it accord:
to women. The logical outcome of on
J girls schools and of woman's literary
4 clubs is just such meetings as the ont
J you have called in the interest O
/, womans suffrage in the new State o
: Dakota. Our times are marked by 18th,
new attitude of woman" Everywher,
G increasing enlightment is extending
q the ballot. Let us do what we can t,
e make the ballot in our own country tn,
4. expression of mind, of the American
o mind, of mans and of woman's. TIL,
time will come when our girls will b.
: less attracted by foreign titles than in
= fluenced by American patriotism. Gu
~ women do not enough interest them
ii selves in politics. When they have tn
q ballot they will become more thought
fully and earnestly patriotic. Their en-
, reimbursement is inevitable 1t is tn
: dictate of justice and of political pru
:, dence. The event is transpiring. Whe
" it is accomplished, as it surely will be
: do not wish to be seen crawling out Q
y some fence-corner, and trying to max
my neighbors believe that l have Away
been in favor of it
A LADY TO BUILD IT.
Miss Parker Is the Designer of the Quee