Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-16
wOMAN'S CAUSE,
A Hopeful Address as q Preliminary to tn
Coming Suffrage Convention.


Coming Suffrage Convention.
The annual meeting of the National Ameri-
can Woman Suffrage Association will be held
in Abaugh's Opera House, beginning February
rs, at the close Of the first triennial session of
the National Council of Women. An address
has been issued by Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Alice Stone
Blackwell, Rachel Foster Avery and Jane II.
Spofford, the officers of the association setting
forth the present state of the cause for which
they are battling.
Each annual convention" the address says
has recorded an increasing public sentiment
in favor of woman's legal and political enfran-
chisement. Largely as a consequence Of our
movement the industries and learned profess
sions have been opened to woman, laws have
been changed to secure protection for her per-
sonal and property rights and she has been
welcomed to a partial participation in govern
ment, as a school voter in twenty-five states, as
a municipal voter in Kansas and as q holder Of
important public Offices in nearly every state
IN the Union. But the coming convention will
have fuller significance than any that pre-
ceded it.
"For the fifth time the United States Senate
committee on woman suffrage and for the first
time in our history the Judiciary committee Of
the House of Representatives have brought in
majority reports in favor of amending the fed
eral Constitution SO as to prohibit the states
from DISTINGUISHING citizens because of sex,
thus placing this question fairly before the
American nation. The educational influence
OF the discussion on woman suffrage in both
houses Of Congress can hardly be estimated
The admission Of Wyoming into the Union
as state with equal rights for women guaran-
teed in its organic law not only sets its sover-
eign seal Of approval upon woman suf-
frage after practical experience for twenty
one years, but makes women q recog-
nized factor in national politics. Hereafter
the chief executive and the members of
both houses Of Congress will owe their election
partly to the votes Of women. The injustice
and absurdity Of allowing women in one state
TO be sovereign rulers and across the line in
every direction obliging them to occupy the
position OF subject class, taxed without rep
resentation and governed without consent, and
TINS In nation which by its COnsttu-
t ,Sa qua, guarantee equal rights to all
the citizens, must soon be manifest even to the
most conservative and prejudiced. We there
fore, congratulate the friends of woman suf-
frage everywhere that at last there is one spot
under the American flag where justice is done
to women. Wyoming, all hail the first true
republic the world has ever seen.
The able advocacy Of the proposition TO en-
body qualified suffrage for women in the ne
constitution OF Mississippi gives us reason to be-
suffrage with an educational Qualification a.
the safest and surest remedy for evils arising
from the illlterate vote. and that it will con-
tinue to receive their earnest consideration
notwithstanding that woman suffrage failed
to receive a majority Of all the votes cast at the
recent election in South Dakota, many local
personal and partisan interests claiming the
first attention Of the voters, realize the great
educational value Of the campaign, and rejoice
that the leaders in that state are not disheart-
ened, but are determined to continue their ef-
forts to secure a speedy reversal of this de-
cision.
The present is q time Of upheaval in politics.
New ideas are pushing to the front. The
brotherhood of humanity, the establishment
OF justice. the protection of the weak, the
value Of the individual the right Of all to equal
privileges and opportunities, are now not
only the rallying cry Of moral and social
leaders, but are pressing forward to
the ballot box as the expression Of the
popular will. These all include and hinge
upon the Acknowledgement of women. Let us.
therefore, gather to this convention a. those
who know that their cause IL the outcome of ali
the heroic struggles for freedom which have
been made in the past and the forerunner Of
more perfect realization Of the principles Of re-
publican government"