Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-04-02
For the Ellsworth American. /
Suffrage for Women.


\ How long will the intelligent. wide
awake women of Maine send up their pc
| titions to our Legislature for the right
/ no-the liberty of suffrage, only to be de-
/ MED without cause or apology? How long
( will the assembled wisdom" Of the State
I lack the aggressiveness and courage to &C
I knowledge a right that God, nature and
common sense declare to exist?
! We challenge the whole train of anti
, sutfragists to produce single argument
against woman suffrage that will not apply
with equal force to man. 1t is a sad com
ment on the wisdom of our Republic that
We have citizenship that is chiefly based
on sex qualification. The glory of every ma
ton has been gagged by the estimation in
which woman has been held
We have far outstripped the Oriental
degradation in which woman is kept as
beast of burden" and gone perhaps to
the other extreme and recognize her as on
ly thing of fashion and beauty, an object
to be adored, petted and caressed-as a
society. We have entered into a COM
promise with woman by agreeing to de-
clare to the world that while WON
man is inferior to the lordly sex in in
tellect, She Is superior in morals. We
have come t. believe that it is more to our
credit to be reputed brainy sex than to
carry of the laurels for good character.
Now, am not one Of those hereto phys
biologists. who would place woman's brain
in all the essential qualities that go to
make up intellectual force one whit below
that of mans. What She may lack in the
quantity She makes up III the quality of Der
brain force Ii man wields arguments
with greater facility, woman grasps CON
, illusions with greater rapidity. II man
has stronger logic woman has kcener iu-
tuition. If man has deeper insight into
philosophy, woman has finer touch in
ethics. If man has more skill in manag
iug the machinery Of the world. woman
has greater aptitude in handling the wire.
that lead to the human heart. If man has
a cooler sense Of right. Justice and equali-
~. woman has quicker and more tenacious
sympathie>
If the union of these two natures. 50
unlike, vet so perfectly interbleuded IN af
fection and purpose, i good for the home.
good for society. good for all bushes, re-
lation>hips, then why 81 aid they act and
Interact upon each other with less potency
and benedcence in the iealm Of politics:
We find the two sexes side BY side, wing
with each other in our higher schools AMI
colleges. We find woman in all our facto-
rie- and shops aud ~ mercantile business.
a. sale>womln, book keeper and manager.
in all the professions where skill and nerve
are required, fully equipped and able to
| compete with the sterncr sex, in our pull
pits disc lur>ng on sacred truth, with
learning and eloqlence; and why should
man have the audacity and egoti>m to re-
serve this one sphere of activity, politics
| for the exercise of his own peculiar gen
| ious and elastic moral structure: 1t is
| simply relic of Darbarism" The moss
| covered preudices Of antiquity still cling
| around our higher forms of civilization
| and states of government. This singular
! notion is rather product or outgrowth Of
| the past aud is being fast outgrown, thsn
| an innovation Of m pdern American life
which is likely to endure for period.
| If there be any place on earth that the
| presence aud Influence Of woman is need
| ed, it is in the politics Of our country.
| Scarce campaign passes bnt the air is
| filled with rum0r> Of fraud and corruption
| votes bought and traded, caucuses pack
| ed, political cards played with dishonesty
and deception rum used without stint to
| sway voters from their honest convictions
| and convert them into tools for more
| beastly politicians. We find, too. great
| moral questions trodlen in the mirc Of
ambitious aSprants for public favor, who
would willingly s.a til. pillars Of our MS
| tional edihce crumble into dust could they
but rise on its ruins % temp )rary fame and
| glory. We are just now in this state
| clamoring for ballot reform law, osten-
! sibly to lift Us ont Of a state of political
| degradation in which designing and cor
rupt men have plunged their parties. If
man has proved himself - undt to guide
the old ship of state, freighted with the
liberties of more than sixty millions of
people, isn't it about time to give woman
the helm, and say. steer Us into port of
safety"
We need an infusion. reinforcement of
conscience, of sympathy of moral purity
in politics to weld all classes into closer
brotherhood and community of interests,
to preserve the honor and glory of Ameri-
can citizenship. We need the clearcut
moral nature of WON IN to strike down
specialism in legislation, to exercise the
evil spirit of expediency which often
stealthily usurps the place OF right in poll
tics, to uproot corrupt party methods, to
make politics fitting sphere in which to
exercise the highest and noblest rights of
| freemen.
1t was once said by an eminent jurist of
one of the greatest and best of our public
men THAT his private character was stain
less, but somehow in public life his moral
nature seemed to lose its strong hold on
principles when he left his wife at the
threshold of politics, he lost one of the
most potent restraints over his life"
We often hear little men say won en-
are not strong minded enough to exercise
the right of suffrage. they are too easily
led" Now the greatest leaders in the
world to-day are women. If they do not
lead armies to battle, or marshal clans on
the fields of political strife, they wave the
banner of supremacy over more domestic
| governments than man ever had the pluck
to contend for-not by physical force, not
by dnt of superior might, but by the sub
tie power of tact, by the influence Of their
moral graces, or by their unconquerable
wills; strong minded? Let man never boast
of his superiority in this respect. You
will find ten men who are slaves and cast
their tribute at the feet of king alcohol,
where you will find one woman who bows
to the subtle tyrant. Search our jails and
states prisons through and through and
you will find twenty-five male criminals
where you will find one female.
Then tell me that the sex that does most
to tear down the bulwark of law and
order and good society the safeDnards