The morning call., 1890-06-06
Is 1T DESIRABLE?

Should Women BE Granted All the Priv
neEes That Are Granted TO Men?
Editor VOmdn'S Column, Morning Call
Is it desirable? Is what desirable? Why,
to give women q chance to manage their
own lives and a voice in the management
of all common interests But some claim
that women do not know enough to partici-
pate in the government of themselves. Ii
we judge at all between men and women,
we should measure them by the same stand
ard. not judge either by the noblest or the
worst, but we should judge both by the
average. In the home. with the same train
ing. are the boys more trusted than the
girls? Is the work of the son more complex
or valuable than that of the daughter? In
school, do boys race up the hill of knowledge
with free step while the girls lag behind?
Do not school and college records give the
girls quite as high percentage as they give
to boys? Have we not as many graduates
amoung the former as the latter? To q
no one assumes that boys know more than
girls. What remarkable change occurs in
the masculine organism on the last hour
and day OF his twenty-frst year that he
should step into the sovereign's place. and
his sister, hitherto of as
GOOD JUDGMENT AND BEHAVIOR,
Should become his subordinate, doing or
not doing, according to his political will?
Does not the work of women demand and
receive as much skill as that Of men? All
very noted men are specialists; all great
discoveries are the product of ages and the
work Of many; some fortunate one rivets
the last link and all his predecessors are
forgotten in the glory accorded to him, but
as the invention Of the steam engine is q
growth beginning with Egyptian Hero, so
are most Of the great achievements of men,
and the wisest of them so state. But with
women it is different; each meets her own
responsibility alone; her achievements are
usually counted in with those of some men,
as in our national census; she cooks, sews,
laundries bears and trains her children,
with no reporter to chronicle the amount of
muscular and brain tissue produced and de-
StrOyed in this fundamental work. Her
butter, eggs and her baby are her husbands,
and her work is such that she can receive
but little aid from predecessors. Husbands
inherit farms, stock and machinery in fine
order, but wives can inherit little helpful
in their domain. Theirs is the endless repe-
tition of food, clothes and childhood needs,
such that each woman must
WORK OUT HER OWN SALVATION
With little help from others. YET her work
is essential and more complex than most
done by men. Both are needed to make
the life of either complete. 1t is good for
neither ''to be alone" and we believe that
the corruption of politics is due to the fact
that man is alone. Our political methods
are modelled after the military and mining
camp, and need to be scrutinzed by mother
ana wifehOod. When we examine the
record of philanthrOpiSts we see that wO-
men stand equal with men; but when we
examine the criminal docket we find her in
decided minority. Surely crime is not to
be put in charge of the palladium Of our
liberty and philanthropy shut out! How
ever little woman knows she evidently
knows enough to behave fairly well,
though she is often duped and driven
to vice and tangled in evil laws that
do not touch men. Surely those who obey
law not knowing what the law is, but be-
cause their own sense Of right and justice
holds them from wrongdOiug, would not
make bad citizens. Those who manage
their own lives so as to become neither pau
pers nor criminals might with their ballots
throw some much needed good sense into
national affairs.
AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A MASS
Women show themselves quite as valuable
citizens as men-quite as desirable. But
some say, Women can't fight" as though
fighting is desirable voting qualification.
But women can fight. Many enlisted in
both Revolutionary and Civil wars, ana
proved that it is possible for women to
march and countermarch, to fire a gun
even to load charge. Ann Etheridge raj
lied a fleeing Michigan regiment and led it
back into the hot fires of ChancelIorvile,
and though most women consider war bar
barous and sinful, fit only for savages and
entirely needless TO people of reason
and Christian aspiration, there is no reason
why women should not wade in gore, ex-
cept that knowing the COST of the human
race, they value it too highly to conSign it
to needless suffering and death. The per-
sonal combat, the duel is under the ban.
War, the national duel, will soon follow,
ana women, who furnish the soldiers, should
ceI tainly be consulted concerning war,
which exposes them to outrage and heart
break Church, charity and education con-
suit women; the State does not. She who
owns stock votes concerning it, but not
concerning her home. Physical and polti-
cal needs concern men and women alike.
Why should their rights, which correlate
their duties, be based on physical struc-
ture? SIS.
GiIroy, June, 1880.