The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-07-18
IN WOMAN'SA BEHAEE..
iRREFuTABLE ARGUMENTS.

Why Woman Suffrage Il Right and Il
Bound to Come.
think it is custom among the Yam
I kee people when any new plan is sug.
gested. especially. II it has been advo-
Gated for long time and with great ur-
gency, to settle the matter in the only
sensible way, which is, to put it to the
test. Has it occurred to You that a
great many intelligent peopfe-whether
or not you agree with them-advocate
woman suffrage? Do you remember
that the claim has been advocated for
many years? Are you aware how easy
it would be to settle this question by
| putting it to the test?
The question of woman suffrage suf-
fers from its very familiarity. IL it
could be sprung as a new question; If,
for instance, the right to vote were alto
| gether new right conferred ON the peo-
pie in this year, fegO for the first time,
there would be no more question of
| granting it to both men and women than
of permitting both males and females to
attend to the public schools, or acquire
and hold property, or do any of the 9TH
er things which both now do in common.
sOr put it in another way-for, in home
| ~ phrase, what is sauce for the goose is
| sauce for the gander-suppose that up
| to this time suffrage had been limited
! to women. and that no man had ever
been permitted to vote except for school
committee. Suppose, meantime, that
men had developed their natural capac-
/ ity for every department of business life
and enterprise. and were demanding the
| ballot. How much nonsense do you sup
pose they would stand from any body
who should answer them by saying that
suffrage is not a right; that it is mat
ter of expediency; that there are too
many voters already; that men are vir-
tually represented by their wives and
mothers; that to give them the ballot
would result in the disturbance of fam
lilies and endanger the home; that it
would lead to violence at the polls; and
that men ought not to be perverted from
their sphere or distracted from their ap-
propriate business of making money,
raising corn, transporting freight, and
all the great masculine concerns and
economics of production and commerce?
How they would roar you the great
truths of the Declaration of Independ
cnce, that all mankind are created free
and equal, and that government derives
its just powers only from the con-
sent of the governed; and that whoever
is taxed for the common benefit and af-
fected by the making of laws should have
a voice in the process of taxation and
legislation,
Let us be honest, and admit what we
alrknow; that the real reason why the
right is denied to women. is because
there is just trace enough of ancient bar
barism lingering in our civilization to
bar them out-the same barbarism that
made women slaves, that made them
beasts of burden. that made them pets
and playthings: but that-thank heaven
is gradually passing away. The whole
logic of the thing lies in nutshell.
Either women should vote or men
should not vote. Human ingenuity can
not suggest a single distinction be-
tween the sexes so far as the right of
voting is concerned. They are equally
competent to judge of the merits of
measures and the comparative merits of
candidates. Men and
women have an equal stake in the Gov
eminent and laws; they each hold prop
erty to be protected and taxed; they
alike have children to be educated, and
lives and limbs to be made secure. am
told that you will find many street in
our towns. on which, of the adult resi-
dents. majority are women owning
property on which they are taxed for
the municipal expenditures in which
they have no voice. And vet in every
such community the average intelli-
-ence and competency of the women is,
at the very least. equal to that of the
men. Some of the women don't know
much; some of the men don't know
much. Some of the women would not
vote if they could; and many of the men
do not vote, although they can. Some
of the women would vote as they were
led or misled; and many of the men do
the same thing. Most of the women in
these instances would, If they were
voters, exercise the suffrage with care.
conscientiousness, understanding and
advantage; and the men do no more.
These same men and women meet to-
gether many times year and engage in
the same interests. not only in private
life, but in public relations Il
In view of this, what patience can be
had when some hardshell tells us that
this is all so; but the heavens would
fall, society would DO ruined, the State
would collapse. if the same women. once |
in March and once in November, should |
enter q decent town hall or ward room
all the more decent for their presence
walk to ballot-box, and put into it a |
piece of printed paper expressing in |
concrete form the results of their previ- |
Gus consideration,
Right? OF course it is the denial Of a |
right, and every body knows it To |
deny a right is an outrage. 1t is idle to \
mystify this matter with reffnements |
about natural right and artificial right. |
Somebody even has suggested that wom-
en- are not particularized in the Declare
ton of Independence or the Constitu-
ton Neither are slaves. Even as to /
them some used to argue that freedom
is not natural right; that children are
not free; that offenders against II e law
and insane persons are not free; and /
that freedom is matter of expedient \
discrimination. As matter of COM
nonsense, you and l know that if we
contribute out OF our property to a COM
mon fund, if We are taxed for common
if our rights, our liberties,
our persons, our children, are affected
by certain laws, We ought to have a
voice in the arrangement and if you
doubt this, try the experiment with a