New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-06-01
THE LOGIC OF SUFFRAGE.
1T REQUIRES THAT WOMEN HAVE TIE
BALLOT.
ARGUMENTS or DR. RYLANCE-No SALVATION
IN MINORITIEs-NEW FORM OF AN
OLD BATTLE.

OLD BATTLE.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
! Sir: The woman suffrage discussion Is a reveia-
ton Of crudity. passion and rrationalty almost
! beyond comprehension. Opponents of the extension
OF the right OF suffrage to woman. In their vche-
mence forget the lessons Of history. and TO
disdain the common dictates Of Justice And 1t Is to
be deeply dcplored that OF the most bitter OF
these assaults have come from clersymen.
The Rev. ]. y. Haldeman. for example says that
! the last analysis OF the ballot Is the bullet and
hence that should be allowed to vote
| because she cannot become n soldier. What trash
and heresy against the beauty OF peace IA this and
from Christian pulpit, For not only Is the age OF
force passing away before the advance of science
and moral ideas, bat invention and discovery have
SO usurpcd the functions OF muscle and Drawn that
mere superiority of physical strength is the idest
! of threats The Hercules OF mythology. who
strange1 the Nemean Hon and slaughtered the
! Hydra. puny weakllns compared 10 the giants
of Steam and Electricity summoned by genius to
| aid in the cause OF human progress.
| The Rev Madison G. Peters denounces manhood
| suffrage declaring that millions OF ignorant men,
less intelligent than horses and birds. are driven
like cattle to the polls, and that comforting upon
woman the right to vote would double the pricstly
| piottinRs In politics"
| But It Is reserved for the Rev Or. Rylance to
| dcnounce the movement In favor OF SUI
! frage in immeasured terms and to characterize as
| mad. mad those who raise their voices In sup
| port Of making humanity. rather than prop
erty the basis OF social and political rights. Says
| the Rev Doctor: II don't believe IN universal suf
| frage for either women" 1t may be re-
| piled: Neither does the Car OF all the Russas
| But II universal suffrage prevailed In the Cars do
! mnions there would be Siberia to echo the
signs and groans Of the Cars victims. and Prince
Krapotkin might visit his ancestral halls without
| danger Of arrest and Punishment. Or. Rylance's
hostility to universal suffrage was shared by the
| Roman Emperors. Nero and the rest and by the
tyrants Of all the but this fact does not COM
mend the sentiment to the approval OF the moro
enlightened people OF this age.
Or. Ryance also opposes too stringent liquor
and Sunday laws" and in this position he is sup
ported by the Saoonkeepors' Association: but the
women who have husbands sons and brothers to
be tempted 10 their hurt by too many saloons
agree neither with DR. Ryiancc with the Sa-
loon-keepers' Association on this subject Indeed,
the Doctor realizes this fact for be declares that
women stand ready to vote for radical social re-
forms unconscious OF the havoc which would en-
sue" But will the Doctor tell the public how he
knows that radical social reforms Will produce
havoc? It is a move! idea. Peradventure Il might
be well for I'VE men" to begin TO DO right for
rights sake and leave the issue with the God u
social reform battles,
The Pauline doctrine OF contempt % woman was
shame 10 tha; early period Of Church history. and
It Is shocking - the moral sense u this age. But
as -. Paul spoke bodily OF the women of hts time
ID "A
Christian clergyman speaks with urdissuscl scorn
OF the educated enlightened women ~ this time.
After comparing them 10 tht Tow. Ignorant men
who share IN The conduct OK the government ana
asserting tina, woman suffrage would double exist
Ing evils he says. The overwhelming majority y
women have no conception Of the duties OF citizen
ship They would become the easy prey ~ mi K
stcrs and the intr.gucs OF sch.ning priests ar!
preachers" Doubtless DR. Ryiancc hero confus"s
the pas, with the present When women were *
moran. they may have fallen victims 20 the Who's ~
priests and preachers bat since the era ~ common
schools there has been a vast progress
Nearly "A hundred years Mary WollstonrcrAft
uttered the bitter cry for Justice IN behalf q woman
which IL the eiernaly recurring question that no
man can answor-"Who." she exclaimed. made
man the exclusive Judge II woman shall pnrtake
with him the glft OF reason.
Fifty years later William Lloyd Garrison refused
10 SIT in an international convention whence women
were excluded and IN THE I.bera'pr' declared
for universal emancipation--thc redemption OF wo-
man AZ well man. from s"rvile - an equal COM
dition These two events stand FOR greI; strides IL
wornan's progress And. in view ~ ne fact I'm;
go years ago women were not recE'uel among tlr
patrons OF the public library Of Hos'on. whereas
now that Institution has NOR" female tnth rn'ic
Tylanc. deciircs that he overwhelming majority
OF women have 10 conception - nc duu's 81 'i,I-
easy prey IL tricl,s,ers and u The in'risu"S ~
srhrmlng priests and preachers; 30 n'i hesitate
hence sandcr1us. assumption x the IN arance -
the masses Of women who have bon ciucit'd ia
Presumably. as Or. Kylance sc'rns universal SUI
frage. he scorns universal ciu alton nor Is ne Io,
in this view. University men VINO ought t. knox
better have. with unbushing enrontrry, declared
tina, the way 70 say ne masses j. 70 rduca,e Wv
classes" Or Won Hoist. noted g .rmhn s'l""H,
who has spent twenty 1--we years In the preparation
u history of our G"ygrnment y"'T iSc i,i-
Of Chicago. OF whose faculty nc IS acinDrr Win
; ;ian e' II does no.; appear from the cTt q ad
dress. even by lmp.icn,lon that BE- deems popnla.
eontrary. he adopts the Mathc~ Arnold l~
all virtue resides IN a rcmnan, ~ small minor,y OF
the people Thus IL presented III" Spectacle OF tn
famous author OF a constitutional history ~ the
greatest Democracy the word has ever seen gTlVry
Nation rests in the elevation. through the university
Of small minority Of ihc rep ,so T , rrl' cSnr INN,
as "thc unsound majority, and Of say!nE the state
from their destructive hand not by educating them.
but by more highly educating tn rrrmnani' or
small minority! 1t is obvious, think Htt - Ir2-
perish. The theory that there - "A saving remnant
Is the folly md the crime Of the ai7es y part can
not save the whole. unless. at least tnai part Is
But ii is this doctrine of "a saving remnant IN.
vented by an English HristOcrat. and lndor5ed by
a German classcist which Is thrust forward as an
arg neson of resfintnq the Suffrage Of men in
this country still open for debate!
sugage bur they cannot be deprived Of It, There
are two ways 20 improve suffrage conhiti9hs IT,
places OF the men who now exercise me righ , OF
suffrage. and second. by conferrlhg ul'oH "oi''"s
the right and imposing upon her the duty OF
suffrage on the ground that she Is FAR more IN
telligent and far moral than man. ana hence
better equipped for its exercise. 80, 49,
Mailing is sacred from the tongue OF this cham
pion OF caste and privilege. Lafayette IL one OF the
most venerated Of leties in the American pantheon
hut DR. Rylance assails the memory OK me man
who fought his way out OF France. ana clinc 10
America to shed his blood In the cause Of liberty
and equal rights a sentimental poHticihn'
I'm the following paragraph -,
'"The notion that every man has n right 20 have
everything that every other man has was brought
to this country by sentimental politician named
Iofavctie but the claim was not indors'I by us
until the adoption of the XVIII Amendment AZ
etract or absolute. rights are things intangible 10
practical politics II s. therefore, silly to claim any
The demand for equal rights In behalf Of all mon
nv the ''scntlmental politician from France VINO
came here In lT6 TO hgh for lbery W. no, , ~,