Woman's chronicle. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1888-1???, 1890-09-06


mind, in the performance Of which the body is
merely an instrumentality The object of voting
in free country under the forms of free gov
eminent, is the creation and enforcement of law.
Its only object is the preservation and prosperity
of society as whole, which is accomplished by
the preservation Of the life and liberty and prop
erty of the individuals who compose society.
Women equally with men are indispensable to the
constitution of society and its perpetuation.
Equally with men they have life, liberty, and prop
erty to create, defend, and transmit. Physically,
the only distinction which is or can be claimed to
be relevant to the discussion is that of physical
strength, which, being somewhat less in woman
than in man, creates necessity that for the benefit
of her personal entity she should have a greater
rather than less participation in the governing
power. Inasmuch as and so far as her physical
powers of defence the less certainly she should
be permitted to call in those intellectual and moral
forces for her preservation, of which she is an
equal or larger participant than man.
Those who object to the exercise of the suffrage
on the part of woman are those who most loudly
and ostentatiously descant upon her superiority as
a mental and spiritual being. All the questions
which arise in society concern woman as much as
her in every conceivable relation She is governed
as much as he, and in those attributes Of the soul
which really constitute the governing power, under
the same conditions, she is in no wise the inferior
of man.
On former occasions your committee, in favor
ably reporting this joint resolution to the Senate,
has argued at length the reasons which have in
duced them to recommend the adoption of the
resolution, and has endeavored to show that woman
has
|. Equal or greater occasion for the benefcent
application of the principles of free government to
her condition in society; and
2. That she is quite the equal of man in those
powers of mind which are indispensable to the
comprehension and right decision of questions
which concern society, and has adequate physical
capacity TO cast an honest ballot to be fairly
counted.
Further, we report this resolution favorably not
merely because of our belief in the abstract right
Of women to vote under any form of government
where that right belongs to men, but upon the
broader ground that the spirit of your committee
or of the legislative power may differ as to the
right or proprety of the exercise of the suffrage
by woman, those who do believe in woman suffrage
should be given the opportunity, under the forms
of the Constitution, to seek its amendment so that
it may confer upon her that privilege which, under
the existing construction of the Constitution, is
denied to her.
For many years the subject has been necessarily
and quite generally agitated by large number of
the greatest and best of men, as well as women, in
all parts of our country, to say nothing of the
rapid growth of the same sentiment in other parts
of the world.
In fact, the enfranchsement of woman seems to
force itself irresistibly upon the minds of those
who reflect upon the principles of liberty and their
application to human society. One Of the States
of the Union has just been admitted with con-
stitution in which the suffrage guaranteed to all,
without distinction of sex. For nearly quarter
of century the right has been exercised by women
in Wyoming with the most favorable results.
Probably the dominating sentiment to-day, if it
could find free and impartial expression, after in