The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-08-08
ANOTHER wHACK AT THEM.

| ANVIL IA<ACA> ~ ----@--'
From the female suffrage crowd
comes the continual murmur of 'equal
rights" Taxation without representa-
ton" and other abstract ideas which
tend only to confuse the convictions OF
actual experience ana TO distort sentI-
ment.
These abstract idealists ignore the fact
that sex is more than corporeal or PhysI-
cal. They seem never 10 look beyond
the possibilities anu capabilities of the
physical sex being utterly oblivious OF
the Fundamental truth that there is just
as certainly a feminine as 4 masculine
soul. that the spirit is as SHARPLY defined
in sex as the body.
i Universal suffrage and all it implies in
equal responsibility for men and women
in the public as well as in the private
affairS Of life means the abrogation
of marriage as a sacrament. WITH
equal responsibility Will come the de-
mand for signed and sealed agreements
rather than that of the vow and the
! benediction, III which the altar OF the
family and of the church viii give place
20 the nolary's oath and seal. Marriage
| will inevitably become, under the reign
! of equal rights and OF Ike responsible
/ ties, a civil contract or agreement, dis
! solvable at will, with whatever fortel-
| lures previously agreed upon. Ii 1t Is
conceded that marriage, as 1t at present
exists, is IN fact failure, and humanity
shall agree to abolish It, together with
its home duties and responsibilities as
tae unit Of our civilization, substituting
the civil dissoivable agreement; then
female suffrage is not only logical and
right, but a necessity. With civil contract
for marriage woman, necessarily, would
have to be clothed with all the legal
rights exercised by the man. The hus-
band would no longer be the responsible
provider an1 protector, but simply the
associate and equal partner OF a mutual
agreement
We VIII not deny that the tendency of
the times is in this direction. Fewer
people. proportionately, are getting mar
ried, the young mans excuse being that
of inability TO sustain wife IN the style
desired by both him and her, and the
young woman's excuse being that of her
fathers ability OR her own opportunity
for independence. SO hundreds of
thousands of young men are out OF |
places which are being filled by girls !
and women who have no farther taste |
for home duties, much less those of |
wifely burthens. Some one suggests this |
example: Take family consisting Of a |
widowed mother, her son and daughter. !
There is one position which they can get. |
If the son gets it he supports the family. /
But the girl underbidS him and gets the /
place, supports herself and the boy is /
left to join Coxey's army. OF course we
do not ignore the girls capability to !
track around and supercede her brother,
in way, and in her own interest, but
what becomes of that sweetness, that |
womanly dependence which renders her
so attractive to men, that makes the
wife so dear 10 the husband?
So, render the conditions proposed and
which Indeed seem coming, i'll which
the home and family as unit viii give
place to independent indIvidualism and
marriage no longer be held essential or
desir bile, then female suffrage or uni
versal suffrage will be not only logical
but absolutely necessary.
There is another murmur coming from
this crowd, increasingly, which makes
us tired, and that Is that the mere drop
ping of piece of white paper into bal
lot box cannot unsex any woman. Such
declarations are too rotten TO be even
called sophistry. A woman is not going
to walk to the polling place as mere
child is led to Sunday school or to
church. That simple piece of paper
which she carries in her hand is the
potent instrument which holds the life
of the government 1t is the power of the
legislative, the executive, the judicial
and the revolutionary sword combined.
1t embodies her will and convictions,
her preconceived thoughts and desires,
and women will not have exercised the
right of the ballot for single genera
tion before the girls in spirit, aspirations,
and IN self reliance viii not only be
trained but viii act in the spirit of the
boy. 1t viii work a change in man
hood in all that effects her moral and
emotional nature. Sae must become
independent not only. bet assertive, and
i'm Lued with the governing spirit,