The record-union., 1891-03-06
LEGISLATURE -2sTH SESSION.
The Senate Holds to Its Position in
Favor Of Woman Suffrage.
Senators Carpenter and Preston Pay
Eloquent Tributes to Woman,
But Vote Differently.
SENATE.

| Ihe Senate met at 10 o'clock A. NJ,
F.! Lieutenant-G Governor Reddick in the
chair. Roll called, and quorum present
Prayer by the Chaplain. Reading of the
journal dispensed with.
Mr.. DeLong offered a resolution pro-
viding that the deficiency bills on the file
be considered cases of urgency and placed
on their passage. So ordered.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
MIR. Everett called up his motion to re-
consider the vote whereby the woman
suffrage bill was passed on the preceding
day. A call of the Senate was ordered,
and Messrs. Britt and Mead We're found
10 be the only Senators absent without
leave.
When the former was brought before
I the bar OF the Senate Mr.. Bailey moved
that he be excused. provided he would
promise to vote against rcconsidering the
vote, Without giving such promise the
Senator was finally excused
After considerable delay, and Mr.. Mead
not having been found, the call was dis
! pensed with, and business resumed
Mr.. Carpenter addressed the Senate on
! the question OF woman suffrage, speaking
III favor Of the bill. He delivered an eo-
| fuent tribute to wonlanhood. and ridi-
contaminated by going 20 the polls He
hoped to see the day when the ballot
| would not be considered merely priv
ilege, but its use the noblest and highest
duty OF Il citizen. Women could not be
| degraded by attending the polls, for had
they not visited the prisons and hospitals
| on missions of mercy, where they had
met men not always of the highest char
actor. and who ever heard of one Of these
angels OF mercy having been contami-
! mated? Woman, in her noDleSt efforts
for the elevation of her sex, and the good
OF mankind, could perform no higher
nor nobler duty than in voting to frame
laws for the benefit of mankind. She is
| intellectually the equal of man, and
morally as high above him as heaven is
above the earth. Some men did not want
women to vote because the intrigues OF
! bosses and scandals Of the ballot boxes
would be at an end whenever woman
ascends the throne of citizenship.
The gentleman's remarks were greeted
with applause.
Mr.. Preston addressed the Senate at
length against the bin in favoring,the mo-
ton TO reconsider. He said the advo-
Gates OF woman suffrage would make il
appear that they alone espoused the cause
OF woman-that they only are the advo-
Gates Of her rightful privileges and social
prerogatives. They had spoken of her
intellectual qualifications, her property
rights, her social prerogatives, Of her in
| huence i'll the publication OF politics: of
her heroic and self-sacrificing deeds of
mercy on the battlefield, and her efforts
| to relieve and reform the unfortunate and
the degraded. They of the opposite side
OF the question didn't yield TO their oppo-
nents one iota in a due appreciation of
those admirable Qualities and noble mo-
tlves that prompt woman to those deeds
OF herolsm, mercy and reformation. He
! Ventured to assert that no one had q
| higher appreciation of that moral courage,
intelligent action and heroic fOrtitude that
has prompted woman to engage in
these acts of mercy than himself. and
| that no one placed a greater value
on those indefinable charms that consti-
tute the crownlng glory of true woman
hood thar he. It was because of his
reverence for the mothers self-sacrificing
devotion; the sisters unsuspecting conf
dence; the wife's restraining affection,
and the daughters trustful 1aith-it was
because of these hallowed relations that
he lifted his voice and cast his vote in op-
position to the bill. 1t was because he
would not subject them to the blighting
influences of political intrigue, and the
corruptlng associations of political
ambition, that he desired to lift his voice
and cast his vote in favor of preserving
in woman that indetinable charm which,
once lost, is never regained. The advo-
Gates OF this bill had asked of their op-
ponents if walking up to a ballot-box
and deposlting g. ballot on election day
would corrapt a woman. He answered,
! unequivocally, no. 1t was not the ballot.
but political intrigue, inordinate political
ambition, the corrupting influences to
which the unprincipled politicians resort
to carry their measures, that made the
measure Objectionable. His own expert
ence, as well as his observation, con-
/ vinced him that influences corrupting
| N OF tlanr Ss,,,
than corrupting to woman. He had
! been in politics more or less for
the last twenty years, and was
confident that the politicians with whom
he had mingled and the political infiu-
ences to which he had been subjected
were not worse than the politicians and
political influences of other sections of
this State, and yet he was constrained to
admit that the tendency had been to de-
grade rather than to elevate his own
moral standing. In admitting that much
OF hlmseif he was certain that there were
many of his honorable colleagues who. if
the truth were told, would make like
confessions. The associations OF political
! lie were OF such q character that no hon
! orable man would wish that his wife.
sister or daughter should be subjected to
them. If 1t be true that woman By her
| presence may exert some influence to-
ward purifying the ballot, it was equally
true that she may become the victim of
! political intrigue, and lose that good
name which is the immediate Jewel of
| her soul. To invest women with the bal
| lot would be to subject her to the politi-
cal influences and methods which the
ballot carries with it. For these reasons,
he felt 1t his duty to himself to his prin-
/ clples, and to his unfeignedly high regard
/ for all that is pure, admirable, cnnobling
ana holy III true womanhood, to oppose
the passage of the bill. LApplause.l
We're 20 ayes to Is noes, and the Chair
ruled that the motion was lost, on the
| ground that it required as many votes to
reconsider the vote on bill as it did to
pass lt-namely, majority of all the
members of the Senate.
Mr.. Britt appealed from the decision of
! the Chair.
| Mr.. DeLong upheld the ruling, and Mr..
SeaWell argued that it was wrong. He
| claimed that motion to reconsider q
vote was purely parliamentary matter,
and did not come under the rules govern
ing the passage of bills.
There was some further debate on the
subject between Messrs. McGowan. Pres
ton, Crandall, Dray, and others. Mr..
Goucher stoutly supported the ruling of
the Chair, which he held to be strictly in
accordance with the silent but no less
potent rule of the Constitution.
BY a vote of "a ayes to II noes the decis-
ion of the Chair was sustained and the
Senate refused to reconsider the vote cast
on the passage of the bill, at which there
was considerable applause on the part OF
the ladies and other friends of the meas
ure.
MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS.
Mr.. Crandall offered a resolution re-
mn irwin bn1 lprl-r. - T. Re.