The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-07-27
ghe aaleta Daily eagle grday 5flurnug, Gully II, 1884,

| our constitution, you are doing something
which demands the careful consideration
Of patriots and statesmen.
A constitutional mistake cannot be so
readily reached. There must he elected
legislature, willing by two-third vote TO
again submit the question TO the people.
4 constitutional provision which eularges
the rights of the people or adds to the
number OF our voters, may, with thought
less chivalry, be passed; the hour Tor re-
pentauce sooE come, but the regrets may
he long drawn out without any remedy or
relief The old motto, ''hastea slowly"
would at this time apply to the suffrage
question with remarkable force.
Ii there was ever time in our history
when we should go slow and avoid politl-
cal experiments IJ Is now. Our people
seem To he passing through cycle Ot un-
res. They would flee from the ills they
have unto those they know not of. They
-eem 10 possess strange couglomeration
If imagination, GistruSt and crenulty.
| ! hey diStrust demonstrated c-TtaintIes.
! Their i'm agIua ton reve!s in imDossibilities
aud their cr,duIIty Is given full play IL
he domain OF the improbtbl bic. a poiiti-
cal mouutebank with wild look In Ills eye
and hn angular gesture, leaps into the
arena, advocating some exploded Yagary
o: a bygoGe age and AT once some are ready
TO proclaim him hero and the leader OF
II coming revolution. A woman with
stately form, pretty face and Il b
tongue takes the platform, hurts few
sarcastic epiJhets at official lncapacty,
prescribes female suffrage the panacea
for ali political aches and pains and SOL
emily announces that II Will produce
mileunial pc ace, harmony aud states man
in mn a.
then the men who permit siren songs to
shackle reason, smother Judgment and
deaden conscience are ready to exclaim
amen.
The air is full of isms. There
are too many microbes OF dis
body polite There has been a sur
feit of i~ms upon the Kansas stomach.
That useful organ does not need more
medicine and more isms as badly rs it
does more rest. Purge the system of its
political bIliou>ness first and arrange for
experimental vlandS after we know the
patient is going to live. Get back to "A
normal condition. Let Kansas be herself
again with restored honor and credit, he
fore we place in our constitution a law
which doubles our voting population. At
this time in stale aud nation We do not
need more voters as badly as better voters.
There WAS time when it was right for
ward so that oppressed and dOwu-:roddeu
humanity could find an asylum of defense
and protection, but now let those gates
swing outward. The duty of the hour is
to educate, assmilate and AmericauiZe
the voters we have or else di-franchIss
them. 1t is often said, and with much
reason, that a mistake was made in the re-
construction of the Confederate states
when the right of suffrage was conferred
by wholes tle upon an iliiterate and un-
trained citizenship IL might have been
bsJter for the south, better for the colored
man, and have kept from our national his
tory many dark aud bloody pages, if their
franchise had been delayed until the
primary elements of citizenship were
learned. This Illustration must not in
any sense b taken as n slur upon Amerl-
can womanhood but simply to show that
i'll the heat of political passion or the en-
thusiasm OF the time, constitutional
change may be enacted which the calm
and impartial historian OF later period
is compelled TO say was prem iture an /
should not have been done nutll the recip-
tents of the right were better PREPARED.
Let Us see how well prepared the women
of Kansas are at his time to have thrust
upon them the duty and responsibility of
the ballot. The average American boy
almost soon as he energies from the
dreams of babyhood begins to look for
ward TO the time when he will become a
voter. 1t must be admitted that only
very small per cent o. girls under the age
of q have ever thought or cared anything
about voting or the governments tai machIn-
cry under which they live. Only very
small per cent of the married ladies haYe
taken time enough from domestic cares TO
study the complications of political ma
chiuery and stateCrait. y few gather the
trend of events from papers, periodicals
and political speeches aud take their par
tisan positions IL is not so much a Ques-
tion as to their ability to become voters
and politicians as 1t is a fact that they are
not at this time, As class. 80 prepared.
Give them the right of suffrage aud the
unprepared will simply vote with their
husbands, fathers and brothers without
affecting the general result.
A careful observation shows that a very
large per cent of the married ladies in
stead OF having an ambition TO vote, think
1t Il more sacred duty to train their sons
aud daughters for honorable citizenship
aud useful members of society. Such as
these will always be reluctant to mingle
with the motley throng that frequents
polling places.
Then 10 our great cities there is another
class. From their countenance modesty
has vanished AID the angels of purity no
longer hover over their souls. But when
election day comes they will always be
there with vote and influence never upon
tue side o. the rigGt.
When we sum up the situation what do
we have?
Some casting votes as honest and pat
riotic as ever went Into the ballot box.
Some wisely and some unwisely deposit
ing ballots which express the sentiment of
husband, father or brother. Some of the
grandest women on earth refusing to go to
the polls. All bad women eager TO eXer-
else the right of franchise Such is the
condition that confronts us. VIII it, if
enacted into a law, help Us out OF the
woods or will it plunge US farther and
deeper into the thicker, the swamps aud
the feus of political despair? For three
yeHrs Kansas has been experimenting
with amateur politicians. wild eyed way
aries and tin horn craftsmanship. Let Us
this year say, with no uncertain sound,
that we viii not introduce into our politI-
cal system new complications, an ineXper-
fenced element, AN unknown quantity.
{. A.
TEE LABOR RIOTS.