The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-26
FEMALE r.


FEMALE SUFFRAGE.
The advocates Of female sutfr car
advance no sounder plea in behalf Of TIN
cause they have most at heart than the
resolute eagerness with which the mem
bers OF the gentler sex have trod the nv.
enues Of educational and social advance
ment, when once they were thrown oper
to them. Within the past few decades
women have adopted new ideals ant
successfully encountered studies and la
bors hat were formerly deemed capable
of attack only by masculine brains and
masculine hands. As a result they have
become possessed OF independent world
ly comforts formerly undreamed Of by
the '.lone female" and in spite Of the
cheap jeers Of the professional jester,
they have not, al a class, abated n jot
OF feminine charm and grace. There ia
no thinking man who objects to the
progress of the movement. 1t has added
one more link to the bond OF common
interests that should join the sexes to-
gether in elevated friendship. 1t means
much for the state, since the advance OF
the individual means the advance Of the
body polite. Our greatest men have
always been prompt to attribute the
brightest elements Of their genius to
maternal influence. II their conclusions
were correct, and there seems no valid
reason to doubt them, the country that
is most honored by the presence Of cul-
tured mothers in its homes, will prove
the most potent factor in the triumphs
OF the future. 1t is a wonderful tribute
to the earnest sincerity and resolute
purpose Of womankind that even in CON
sentative England, with it's cherished
passion for the traditions of the past,
opposition to female suffrage has no
backbone to it. Male domination is
passing away. The enactment of the
Married Women's Property Act in 1882
dealt a death blow to the old common
law theory that the identity of a wife
was merged in that of her husband.
Married women have now a legal claim
to a separate personality in the posses
son of property, and a later act has adj
mitted their title to a right in the guar
dianship Of their children.
In a recent number OF the Contempt
rary Review, Mr.. r. B. Haldane, a dis
tinguished lawyer and member of par
lament, discusses the subject from
another point of view. From his stand
point, the political emancipation of
women is an economic question that
concerns the relation of capital and
labor, and affects the theories of
both the production and distribution of
wealth. Workingmen have realized the
advantage of combination in securing to
themselves a better social condition.
Combination has secured it for them,
and their labor is no longer valued en-
tirely by an employers standard. In the
absence OF such combination among
working women, competition has been
unrestricted, and wages have fallen to
the starvation point. While the social
and industrial conditions of Great
Britain are not those OF the United
States, there is a world of suggestion in
his words when he says that if the in
huence of these women we're to become
the object Of direct. in the place of indi-
rect, interest to politicians. there would
be for hope that the political dis
cussions Of the relations OF labor and
capital would cease to be practically
confined to questions affecting men
only. 1t is a mockery, for example, he
goes on, to talk about the case of
miners as if it were the most pressing
and urgent case for parliamentary at
tention to the circumstances and hours
Of labor. Those OF many classes Of in
dugtrial women are enormously worse.
But the miners form a compact body of
voters, and the women do not. In one
word, organization is the key that must,
in Mr.. Haldane's opinion, unlock the
door Of female suffrage.