The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-03-14

butterflies, and she gives instances
showing the recent progress woman has
made in all employments calling for
mental capacity and hitherto restricted
10 the sterner sex. In answer to the
question, "Should women WELD the
ballot?' she replies:
eyes, wherever the law permits her
to weld it, and she has the requisite
knowledge and courage TO do it.
THAT there has been a radical reyo-
luton in the social life oil American
women during the last hall century no
thoughtful or observing person will
deny. That this social charge began
with the middle or educated classes ltor
our ~aristocraoy OF wealth does not nee
essaFily mean eglluEah and Is now per
meating the upper classes, Is also ap,
parent. Few OF the educated women OF
to-day are willing to become simply So
cial butterflies, although sueh a lile
might become absorbing and exhaust
ing, Education, machinery and CO.
operation have given to these women
time for culture and luxurious adorn-
menIs that was not the boon OF queens
u century ago,
"With these added privileges comes
the desire to put into practical use the
added mental culture, and the woman
becomes Interested not only in the poll
ticians but in the politics OF the day, or,
in other words, the system OF govern
meut by which We arc controlled. ff.
Women have come into politics in
recent years, not only because there
has been a demand for them there, but
because they have been forced in by u
logic OF events beyond their control, in
which temperance, labor, school, and
religious questions were involved,
''Ihere have haeH tome motable sue
cesses Of women as lawyers, anti ten
women have been admitted to the
United States supreme court. We are
not lacking to-day, nor have we been in
the past, in successful women dIplo-
mats, veried in international law, who
are making their influence felt in the
politics OF the world.
''The ballot to-day in the hands OF
American manhood and w|omanhood
would be what the sword was to the
retainer OF the lord under the old
feudal tenures-his weapon OF defonse.
"As enrolling and enGrossing clerks
in state legislatures, as Librarians for
state institutions, as commissioners Tor
state boards OF charities, as wardens OF
prisons, as poor commissioners, us po-
lice matrons, as custom officers, as meat
inspectors, us lighthouse keepers, as
superintendonts OF asylums Tor the in
zane, as prison inspectors, women have
been tried with ac%ceptability and sue
cess.
"But the past year has developed n
new phase OF feminine political aspira.
ton not before ventured upon. Added
TO the vote on the school question in
twenty-four states, the municipal ballot
in Kansas, we have had two women
candidates for United States senator
Mrs. Lease, OF Kansas, and Mrs. Bart
lett, Of Wyoming, the latter receiving
senatorial votes.
''The one important step thatempha-
sizes, popularizes, and which will
eventually cement this domestic evolu-
ton is the appointment by the general
government and the states OF q board OF
1l5 lady managers for the Worlds Fair.
"But there is nothing in this that
should causelalarm. The homes will be
kept as Of old, the children will ba
nursed, the bread baked by the baker,
the washing done by the l~aundryman,
the spinning, knitting and weaving by
the manufacturers. And woman will
no longer be q domestic slave or q
gilded toy, but q political helper, and a
brilliant example to the women OF the
Old World, who are very rapidly march
ing along tho lines,
1.-THE discussion OF this question by
the press OF the country has rarely
been in the light Of the taste or happi-
ness Of the women themselves, or OF
their mental, but rather tho material
comfort OF tlieir male relatives.
1--WE havd given the ballot to the col
ored man; the bill before Congress will
mako citizens OF half breeds and
uuarter-breeds OF the five civilized
tribes OF Indians. We have admitted
to the ballot every foreigner but the
Chinaman. Tho educated woman with
the ballot would counterfeit to some eX-
tent tho uneducated foreign and col
ored vote"
These expressions Of opinion from
four women who certainly represent en-
tirely different Constituencies" (using
that term as a social as we'll as political
sense) are important. Don't you think
soP